Chapter 12 - Real or Virtual?

The alarm woke me up far to early for me to be happy. I might have been the one to set the alarm but that didn't mean I had to be happy about waking up.

I groaned a bit as I crawled out of the bed.

"What is it?" Vanessa asked from her bed sleepily.

"Late night booty call." I replied evilly.

"Just don't wake me up." she replied then rolled back over.

I looked over at the lump lying in the other bed then shook my head. If I could actually pull that off, I was pretty sure I should be ashamed of myself.

Ignoring the sleeping beauty I tapped the orb to turn off the alarm then headed for the door. There were a lot of crops I needed to water, and it was the perfect time for me to think about what had happened today, as soon as I was fully awake.

Watering the crops was a simple task when the watering can would only let you give it the perfect amount of water, brain numbingly simple in fact. It was a good thing I had plenty to think about.

With a bit of sleep I was more willing to believe what Vanessa had told me. Firstly it was because the runes on her back, or the other her's back were bad, no other way to say it. The spell didn't even come close to working the way it was supposed to unless they were intending for her to get assaulted. I still wasn't sold on the fact that the company didn't require it of her, but it honestly didn't matter much either way.

However what was concerning me more than anything was the fact that she knew something I needed to know. I was considering whether she had just said that to distract me from what else had happened, but it was the look in her eyes that made me believe her. Plus it would be better for me to prepare for something to happen only to be proven wrong, then dismiss it and be proven right. Especially if it might cost me my life.

I wanted to drag Vanessa out of the house and question her some more, and I was sure I would later. However the middle of the night wasn't the best time for that, and I was getting the impression that we were being watched through the orb.

That also raised an issue with me. How was I going to examine the orb and discover what the runes on the orb were. Since I had seen the runes on Vanessa's back I had become sure it was runes that I would find on the orb.

Speaking of runes, seeing the runes from Runic Shift appear here got me back to wondering if this place was reality or a game. I couldn't tell. I could feel like it was reality, and if was a game it had the best graphics I had ever seen. Yet I could use the runes. I thought back to how it felt to manipulate the runes. As I mimicked that my finger began to glow again, calling out mana into my finger was a lot easier the second time. I traced out a few runes in the air. It was a simple spell that didn't take much mana to create. A few moments after I had drawn out the last rune and the spell gathered together to form a ball of light that glowed brightly illuminating the second floor bright enough that it was like being under the sun again without blinding me.

I stared at the ball of light for several long moments as my feelings and emotions twisted and turned within me. Runic Shift was a puzzle game that my parents had introduced to me before they disappeared. It was supposed to be a learning game that helped develop your intelligence and problem solving skills. When my parents had disappeared I had played the game almost religiously for a while. It took me three years of playing before I really began to understand what the different runes meant and the best way to combine them. After that my mastery in the game shot up quickly. There were many ranks within the game. Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Practitioner, Expert, and Master were considered to be the lowest tier ranks. Above those were the noble ranks, Lord, Baron, Count, Duke, Prince, King, and Emperor. Before my kidnapping I had reached the peak of Runic Master only a little bit away from finally advancing into the Runic Lord rank. It had been a goal of mine for years, yet I hadn't been able to make any real progress on the higher level puzzles I needed to move into the next rank. Now I had to wonder. Was all of this real, and my trouble with advancing was because I wasn't willing to admit that mana and runes were real? It would explain a lot about the Runic Shift puzzles I needed to solve to advance. They didn't seem to fit on the devices I tried to play on. Neither on my smartphone or tablet. The puzzle was just to large I couldn't see all of it or scroll around to see the rest of the puzzle. I had tried to contact the games' help maintenance because I thought it was a glitch but I never heard anything back. Worse I couldn't find any other player that was nearly as far along as I was.

I shook my head, was I losing my mind? None of this could be real, I had to be in a game, and given how real the Neglism worked in my head, I could believe that they were blocking my memories of signing up for this. Yet I didn't want that to be the truth. Since I was a kid I had wanted the runes to be real like other kids wanted to have super powers. With my dedication to the game I hadn't ever lost that desire. I wanted this to be real, and if it wasn't. Then I was sure I was going to buy this game the moment I could and spend hours upon hours in here.

With a sigh I finished watering the plants in the lower level then headed for the surface level to water the last crop. I didn't enjoy watering all of these crops, but I enjoyed planting them, organizing where each went, curious how they would interact with each other. Add that to the newly discovered ability to use the runes, and this place was almost perfect for me. If I could just get rid of the company and the trouble it seemed to bring, and if Melissa could be here.

I stopped at that thought then sighed again. It had been over a month since we broke up, but I have to admit I still wasn't over her. She continued to linger at the back of my mind, I wondered what she was doing, did she miss me, had she even noticed I was gone.

I frowned then as I realized that despite the fact I had no idea if this was a real place or a game, despite the fact that everything was pointing to the fact that it was a game. I had already subconsciously convinced myself that this place was real. What was wrong with me?

Then again that was also why I was so worried about my reaction to Vanessa, if this place was a game then it wouldn't matter if I had forced myself on her. She would just be an NPC. something that would cease to exist the moment the game was over. I also hesitated to flirt with her, try and convince her to sleep with me, it wasn't cheating on Melissa if she was a game character. Then again she did look identical to the woman I met in the bar. Could she be another player? Though even if she was real it wasn't cheating, we had broken up.

I was pathetic, but it had been three years, plus the years we had known each other as acquaintances and then friends. It was sad and pathetic, but at least I hadn't become the crazy stalker.

I went through the portal then looked around gazing out over the endless plains. My golems didn't move as I stood with them like a small flesh golem. The quiet and view did nothing to settle my mind. Not knowing if this was real or a game was driving me crazy. I had one idea how to figure it out one way or another. I watered my last crop then returned to the portal.

There was an angry growl then a hiss as something hit the newbie shield. I looked over my shoulder to see a dark shape slide down the barrier as angry golden eyes glared at me. I considered staying to help but remembered what Vanessa had said. I decided to ignore the attacker and went through the portal I could check the logs later to discover what it was. I also needed to discover what to do with the mouse corpses and slime cores, were the golems saving the slime? If so where was it going? Those were all questions for later. I made my way to the small house my pace quickening as I made my decision. At the door I stopped taking a deep breath I began to draw runes in the air. It was a more difficult spell than the light orb, but I was convinced that I needed it.

After a long chain of runes the spell activated then swirled around me until it faded into nothing.

With a smile I reached out and opened the door softly then slipped in before closing the door again.

Before I tried to answer my question, I needed to be sure my spell had worked.

I walked over to Vanessa's bed. Even sleeping she was pretty. I reached out and gently brushed several hair away from her face.

Feeling my touch Vanessa frowned for a second then her eyes shot open. She sat up quickly and looked around frantically. I backed away so we didn't accidentally collide.

Vanessa looked around the small room several times before she seemed to relax. She stared right through me several times before she shook her head then laid back down.

I smiled to myself, my invisibility spell had worked.

I gave Vanessa several moments to fall back asleep before walking over to the orb. It was time to see what runes were on the orb and discover if this place was real or a game. Everything revolved around this orb, so there had to be some kind of answer.

Reaching the orb I peered at it for several moments but no matter how hard I looked I couldn't see the runes on its surface.

I bit my lower lip for a moment then decided to use a reveal spell in hopes it would break whatever was concealing the runes from sight.

Bringing up my finger again I traced out a new spell under the orb hoping that whoever was using the orb to observe us wouldn't bother to monitor the area under the orb.

When the spell finished the spell converged then flowed up and over the orb. After several moments the spell disappeared and to my great relief the runes I had felt earlier appeared.

I traced the runes on the orb for several long minutes. The rune spell etched into the surface of the orb was tiny and intricate, yet I was slowly able to understand parts of what the spell was meant to do. It was a control device, rather than controlling me or even the farm, it was controlling something inside of it. Tracing the rune patterns some more I was able to make out several different indentions on the surface of the orb. Carefully placing my fingers on those location I pressed in while hoping the whole thing wasn't booby trapped.

With a click the orb split open in quarters like a flower blooming. It was hollow inside revealing its content to me. Floating in the air just above the open orb was a clear glowing crystal three inches in height and one in width and length. It was beautiful in its appearance.

I felt a strong attraction to the crystal, so strong in fact that I had already reached out and placed my finger on a facet before I even realized I was moving.

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You have found a dungeon core shard. Do you wish to bond with the core shard?

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