Near or Far?

Dom was stood facing forward in the white space again, his blood stained clothing was now gone, replaced by a white jumpsuit. Opposite him was Game Support, seated on a simple wooden chair. Her legs were crossed and her chin rested on her hand, as she looked upon Dom with a pondering look.

"Congratulations." She started, "You performed surprisingly well, better than I expected from someone of your age."

"Thanks." Dom replied happily, he smiled at Game Support. Tutorial complete, now time for the actual game.

She stared back at him, before also smiling. A red strand of hair came loose from her smartly tied up hair, and fell on to her face. She blowed at it, but it wouldn't move. Dom laughed inside at the awkwardness as she had to sit up straight and use her resting hand to move the hair over her ear.

"Right." She continued. "Mission score and awards. Your overall score has achieved you with a grade S. Which is the highest that is achievable. So congratulations."

"What are the rankings?" Dom asked in response, happy with scoring the top and wanting to find out as much information as he could before he dived in.

"Ranking's start at the bottom with an F and then work up the alphabet to E then to D, C, B, A and then finally S. To get an S grade on a mission, you must have completed all of the objectives and scored highly on the hidden objectives." Game Support replied, "Do you have any other queries before we discuss awards?"

"Did I get anything additional during the mission?" He asked.

"You did, but you'll have to check your inventory when you arrive. It will all be placed inside a chest that will be in your room within the starting village. You will note, that realism is a key aspect of this game, so you will not have an inventory. If you want something, you'll have to take it with you. Unless it is a key game item, which will be tracked by the game instead."

"Ok, great, I think. Let's see the awards for the mission then and I'll ask any other questions?" Dom asked.

"Of course, I'll always be available." She replied with a smile, "Let's sit first."

As she said it, a small mahogany table appeared in front of her, with another seat opposite her. The table looked antique, and something that Dom had only seen in museums, as hardwood such as mahogany was hard to find these days.

Dom walked forwards and sat at the table, looking down at the contents that were on it. On it was a 2d map of the globe. With one large land mass that looked similar to Pangea of ancient earth. Amongst the one giant supercontinent, that was inlayed with large rivers that separated the landmasses that adorned it, were some large Islands jotted around in the super ocean that encompassed the landmass.

"This is the world of World Conquest Online." She started, pointing down at the map below. "You will note that it looks very similar to the prehistoric world of the past, as you will be aware, it is 10 times the size of the earth that you live on. The map may evolve as the game continues, but this is it as a starting point. The major continents that you are aware off, and the kingdoms and empires that you live with do not exist on this map. So do expect to be surrounded by all kinds of players on your journey, as there is only the one master server."

"Fantastic." Dom exclaimed, looking down at it. "I'm assuming then that the land won't be segregated."

"It will not." She replied, "In fact, one of the key aspects of this game is the earth and the people that live or lived on it. So expect some interesting challenges ahead."

"Exciting!" Dom replied, "I can't wait to get started."

"Yes, it is." She replied, matter of fact. "Now, your rewards. For achieving an S grade in the Lord tutorial mission, you will receive an S grade village. This means that you will start with a village with S grade stats, with additional buildings and villager draws that would come with that. An additional award is that you will get to select a location for the village to be in. Villager draws are random spawns for the people that live in your village, you can draw them from your Town Centre that we will come to shortly."

"Thank you," Dom replied politely, "What else comes with the S grade village?"

"You will receive an S grade Town Centre, this is the heart of your city, and will be where future missions will be given to you, and any players that eventually join your village. The Town Centre can also be upgraded by completing missions, who knows how far it can grow? Secondly you will receive a Granary, which will hold an ample amount of food for your starting villagers. Thirdly you will receive a selection of Houses for your villagers to live in." Game Support started, "Realistically though, all successful lords will receive those items, except of a lower scale. For example, a B grade Town Centre will be a smaller building and has higher chance of awarding B and below grade missions, unlike the S grade that has a higher chance of awarding S grades and below. As an S grade village, you will also receive a few items that others will have to earn through hard work or luck."

"And what are those?" Dom asked quickly, already excited at what he was hearing. This was going to be much better than Andrews adventurer class, hopefully Andrew would spawn nearby so he could join up with him quickly.

"If you had waited, I was getting to that." She replied, rolling her eyes. "An S grade Heroes Hall, will allow you to roll for heroes to appear within your village, these could range from warriors and strategists, to seasoned craftsmen and key people. You will be given regular rolls, based on your in game achievements, you will also have the opportunity to get additional awards for mission completions. There are other ways to gather heroes in the game, but this is the simplest, the other ways, I'll let you experience yourself. You will also receive a Warriors Hall, which will spawn troops of certain types to your village, they can fight with you, to complete missions for you and even conquer other villages, these are the base of your army, however Warrior types will be limited at the starting phases. Finally you will receive a lucky box, this will spawn another building type, but this will be in relation to your village starting location and your luck."

"That all sounds great, is luck a stat point?" Dom asked.

"Luck is luck, you either have it or not. It's not a stat point." She replied, "This isn't one of those pay to win games, where you can buy your own luck. You need to earn it. Stat points are in the game, but they are realistic, the you in the game is based on the real you. If you are strong and athletic, so you will be in the game, if you are not, well, not everyone needs to be. Most of the greatest minds in history haven't been strong and athletic."

"So, what are my options for a starting location?" Dom questioned, looking down at the world on the table below him.

"Rather than let you point on the map, which is just too big. I'll ask you some questions and then let you choose a number between 1 and 100." She replied, "Simple, and keeps things interesting. So, ready to begin or do you have more questions?"

"I'm ready!" He replied eagerly. Looking down at the world map below him, trying to gauge where he'll be.

"Question 1, will you be on an Island, or Inland, by a river, or by the sea." She asked.

"By a river, much better for creating a prosperous village and allowing easy access for exploring" He replied. "I'd rather not be on an Island, as I could be stranded until late game."

"I doubt you'll be stranded, but nevertheless that is your choice. Question 2. What temperature would you like in your location? Hot, Warm, Mild or Cold?" She asked.

"Warm please?" He replied.

"Safe option then. Question 3. What about surrounding terrain? Forest, Mountain, Swamp, or Desert?" She asked.

"Forest?" He replied, "I'm not finding that much of a choice, maybe a mountain if not, as I expect we'll need to mine for ore?"

"Probably" She replied, "I'm just having fun trying to see the kind of game you are going to play. Would have been fun starting point if you had chosen a cold, swamp on an island though. Some poor E grade lord will get that, don't even get me started on the F grades. Ok, last question, Near or far?"

"Near or far to what?" He replied with a questioning look.

"Just near or far?" She replied, with a grin.

"You said I could ask questions?" He asked.

"I did, but I never said I would answer." She replied.

"Far then." He added, with a slight shake of the head in self awareness that he had been tricked by the game.

"Great choice! so, choose a number!"

"Erm, 7?" He replied.

"Super choice, you'll be very happy. Enjoy your adventure Lord Lazarus. I'll see you soon! Remember, any questions and just shout for me!"

She smiled, before disappearing from him. He looked down at the table, seeing a red mark flash on the map, beside a long river that led to the ocean on the east coast, that it wasn't so far away from. The world around him started to fade again. For the last time he hoped. It was now time for him to play World Conquest Online.