Back in the Game: Volume 2 (Dream State Saga) - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Growing up in the small town of Timaru, New Zealand, Christopher Keene broke the family trend of becoming an accountant by becoming a writer instead. While studying for his Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from the University of Canterbury, he took the school’s creative writing course in the hopes of someday seeing his own book on the shelf in his favorite bookstores. He is now the published author of the Dream State Saga, as well as his new epic fantasy trilogy, A Cycle of Blades. In his spare time, he writes a blog to share his love of the fantasy and science fiction genres in novels, films, comics, games, and anime (fantasyandanime.wordpress.com).

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Chapter 1
A Lucky Find
This is the last time I train in the Penance Peaks by myself!
Cold sleet rained down from the dark clouds. Frank&;s heavy boot sunk deep into the snow until it hit the frozen rock below. He&;d heard that a Heavy climbing the Alps was a sure-fire way to gain quick experience, but at a cost. 
All extreme environments in the Dream State gave the player a level of discomfort that was tantamount to masochism. It only made sense&;after all, the game designers didn&;t want everyone who played it to be overpowered in their first week.
Flipping up the visor of his helmet, Frank squinted into the chilly breeze. He could almost see the entrance to the cave that held the Tertiatier Dungeon&;s Gateway. He&;d heard a rumor that a Wanted Ranked player had gone missing from the game after entering it and that his ghost now haunted Rubik&;s Castle.
Noah-something? Something-Noah? Maybe if he&;d been on the Wanted Boards for longer than a week, I&;d have learned his name. Mostly, I just want to know how he managed to get Wanted ranks in Prima and Secotier dungeons so fast. The theater district&;s weekly rankings never mentioned him again after he vanished&;maybe he cheated and got kicked off? 
A sudden, howling wind set his teeth chattering. When he started his climb, he thought his tolerance to the cold would rise to the point that the temperature wouldn&;t bother him, so he hadn&;t visited other dungeons to steadily increase his temperature tolerance and strength stats. Now he wasn&;t sure if it was possible to climb the mountains without a mount. He was regretting that he didn&;t have enough Moola to buy a horse or something that could carry him to the top.
He heard the sound of crunching snow behind him and suddenly remembered another reason why the Penance Peaks were such a great place to train&; and die. He turned to see a spotted Mountain Lion prowling on a boulder, baring its fangs and snarling at him. 
Fortunate to see it through the snow before it could attack, Frank flicked down his visor, equipped his Broadsword in a flash of light and raised it high. When the Mountain Lion leapt at him, he quickly stepped to the side and smashed the heavy blade into the beast&;s back. The lion let out a yelp loud enough to draw every monster in the region.
Didn&;t expect a Heavy to be that fast, huh? 
The large cat rolled to a stop on a ledge that led down a steep slope. Deciding to finish off its remaining Hit Points, Frank stalked forward, the weight of his sword dragging down the arm that was already heavy from his full suit of plate-armor. He planted his boot on a jagged ledge of ice and lifted his sword. He was just about to swing it when the ice crumbled, and the overall weight of his armor made him tip to the side.
&;No, no, no!&; He waved his arms to stop himself from going over, but soon realized his attempt to regain his balance was futile. &;Oh, come on!&;
He began to roll, making his sword vanish so he didn&;t cut himself. The fine powder flew as his vision went from sky to snow to sky again before the slope ended against a dark cliff face. His armor stopped him from losing too many Hit Points but he bounced off and landed on his face in the frozen slush. Groaning, he looked up, hoping that no monsters had followed him down. For some reason, a portion of snow ahead of him was glowing a bright green.
What the heck&;s that?
He rose to his knees, seeing something hidden in the snow that was lighting the cliff face in a green hue. His eyes widened and he scrambled forward on his hands and knees toward it. Hoping for a rare item, his thick gauntlets dug into the snow until the glow shone through the slits of his visor. It was an orb, and as his hand clutched it, the item&;s information popped into his vision.

I can&;t believe it. How&;? Why is such a rare item hidden all the way up here?
Frank laughed as he rose to his feet, raising the Transfer Orb high and shaking it at the sky victoriously. Someone with his experience finding such an item was unheard of. Not only were they uncommon and incredibly useful, but expensive as well. They were so valuable that if he sold it, he could use the Moola to buy a mount that could support a Heavy like him, maybe even four. On the other hand, he could train in Tertiatier dungeons with it, knowing he could use it to escape whenever he needed. The possibilities were endless.
Did anyone see?
He quickly peered around before making it vanish into his inventory, wondering if anyone had followed him. If another player saw that he had a Transfer Orb, stronger players would be targeting him as soon as he entered a Tertiatier dungeon in the hope of stealing it from him. Seeing no one around, he trudged through the snow, following the cliff face back to the path heading down.
He didn&;t feel the cold as much on his way down. His thoughts whirled with what he could do with such an item, whether he should keep the orb and use it to play chicken in the higher tier dungeons, or sell it to get enough Moola to buy whatever he wanted. Both would be of benefit to him, but both also came with risks. If he kept it, he risked having it stolen, but if he tried to sell it, he risked being grifted by a player willing to sell his name to rare item hunters.
There&;s only one thing I can do that makes sure I get something from this without the risk of being hunted down. I have to put it up on the Anonymous Auction. If I put it at a high enough price I can get a decent haul from it. Until then I&;ll be able to use it if I ever need a quick getaway.
He grinned now that his plan was set in stone, leaving the Penance Peaks area of the mountains and making his way down to the Galrinth Fields. If he could get to the city before anyone spotted him, he wouldn&;t have anything to worry abou&;
The sound of a group of players arose from the frozen wind and his gaze shot to the bend in the rock they were emerging from. He shook his head and tried to act casual as he descended the frosted track, although he knew a single Heavy up this high in the mountains was suspicious enough. As long as he didn&;t try to run, he would be fine.
There were four of them, a guy and three girls, one from each of the different Niches. As usual, the male player was the Heavy in massive armor similar to his own. The two smaller females were a Spellcaster in white robes and a Range fighter in black leathers, but the one that stood out the most was the Warrior. Frank could tell she had altered her avatar to decrease her waist size and increase her hips and bust, as well as make her long hair a blood red. Not only this, but her chainmail ended at her thighs to reveal lean legs. The four of them together were quite a sight.
They look like a normal party. Not a group from a hunting guild.
Their eyes scanned over him as they crossed paths, but other than a slight lull in their conversation, there was nothing that made him feel nervous. He sighed in relief as they moved from sight and he jogged behind the bend, breathing like he had a thousand dollars in his wallet and was expecting to be mugged.
Calm down, Frank. No one suspects you. Just get to Galrinth and put the auction up. It seemed to take forever for him to reach the Galrinth City. He considered using the Transfer Orb to teleport himself there, but he didn&;t want to risk any players seeing him reappear. Half of the players going up the Penance Mountains had enough strength and accumulated Skill Points to physically drag him to a Tertiatier dungeon. He&;d heard that some resorted to such methods to steal rare items.
Although the Galrinth City was plain in comparison to many in the Dream State, the streets were another story. Thousands of colorful avatars of every Niche filled the wide medieval roads as others flew over the thatched rooftops. The smell of forges and spiced foods wafted from the buildings. He passed the bright blue avatar alterations building and stone forges before entering the Synth Square. Beautiful gardens weaved between the branching turquoise-tiled paths leading to the synth stores, spell shops, and the auction house that rose tall against the clear azure sky.
Frank moved into the hall where dozens of players browsed the available auctions. Frank hadn&;t put anything up to auction before, but he&;d been told by his friend Tessa that the system made it easy for newbies. In the center of the murmuring hall was a panel that rose from the wooden floor when he approached. He stood before the terminal, flicking the screen until the catalogue was replaced with the option to make an auction. He selected the option and a form popped up with the entry commands: Followed by: So the form doesn&;t ask for a name. That&;s a relief.
Frank accessed his inventory menu and pulled up the Transfer Orb&;s item details. Every item had a unique code so it could be identified. With so many items in the game, it was unlikely that anyone could connect the item to him. He memorized the code and then inserted it into the panel: E40Y78Z5
After he had entered the last number, the image of the Transfer Orb appeared on the screen. Although he would keep the item on him, he would get a notification whenever a bid was placed on it. Frank then entered the password to claim the Moola offered by the highest bidder, using the same password he had for his email account. He pressed enter and a new screen appeared, asking him what price he wanted to start the auction with.
He grinned, thinking of a ridiculously high number and ending at 70,000 Moola. As soon as he pressed enter again, the auction was confirmed and a notification popped up in his vision. He smiled. Tessa had been right; it had been incredibly easy. As he stepped back from the terminal, the panel lowered into the floor. The light on the screen passed over the floor and then up the wall like a hologram before showing his item on the wall with its absurdly large price tag.
Satisfied with a job well done, he made his way to the hall&;s exit. As he was about to leave, he took one final look around. Frank saw that there was someone already looking at his auction, a blond male archer in beige leather. The expression on his face appeared determined. Although he doubted the player had enough for the asking price, he thought he might have a potential future bid appearing in his notifications very soon.