Money

The first alarm for banks was patented in 1853 before the inventor sold it. It would create an alarm that would go off if anyone tampered with the doors or windows. This wasn't a problem if the bank was still open, which it technically was.

After the invention was sold, the first alarm company was made. Not long after, Alexander Graham Bell decided to use his telephones to create a network of banks that could inform others of robberies.

It wasn't until 1907 that Isaac would have to worry about alarms getting more advanced and being located in a vault. So, luckily, he could take his time while robbing the bank as quietly as possible.

Isaac walked slyly to the back of the bank and turned the doorknob to the backdoor. It was still unlocked, and he slipped inside. The bank was comprised of two floors, with the upstairs being dedicated to an office.

Isaac pulled out his knife and crept forward into the hallway leading to the bank. He hid himself slightly behind the wall and looked in. There were only a handful of employees closing up everything. That's when Isaac spotted the vault in the back of the room.

It was a magnificent large metal door with fancy lettering depicting the company that created it. Standing next to the walk-in vault were two people. The man from before who was currently imputing the vault's code and a bank teller who was holding some money.

Besides them there were four more people to create a total of six, and all of them besides the man with the code were players. According to Isaac's research, civilians had practically zero combat skills available to them so as long as he wasn't seen, no alarm would go off.

He crept forward to the nearest employee who was separated from the rest and grabbed them. He pulled them down to the ground while covering their mouth. They desperately tried to get out of Isaac's grasp as he choked them out.

Eventually, their arms grew sluggish and fell to their sides. Isaac pulled them by their arms into the hallway, before heading up the stairs as quietly as possible. He carefully placed them behind a desk and went back down the stairs. Three more tellers, excluding the one by the vault.

At this point they were opening the large vault. Isaac face grew more serious as he quickened his steps. He couldn't allow them to close the vault and leave. He drew his revolver and went up to the next teller. He covered their mouth and his them in the temple with his gun, knocking them out instantly.

They collapsed into his arm and this time he just dragged them into the hallway rather than going up all the stairs. He placed them on the floor and quickly headed back.

'Two more.' He thought to himself. The bank teller and the NPC by the vault were finishing up their business now.

Isaac knew he needed to go now. He quickly ran forward to the two tellers at the counter. One heard his steps and turned; a slight gasp escaped their mouth before they got hit in the head with the revolver. As they collapsed the other teller turned but was instantly hit and they too fell over.

That's when the NPC and teller finally left the vault and saw Isaac standing there with no employees in sight. The two of them froze in panic before the teller opened their mouth to yell.

Isaac raised his revolver, and the NPC silenced the teller in fear. The teller began panicking even more as he thought the NPC was in on it. The truth was different however and the teller soon recognized that.

The NPC was also scared, they didn't want to die and seeing the revolver, he thought the two of them would if they yelled. Isaac began walking towards the two and bound them in his lasso before knocking the two of them out. That's when he finally stepped into the large vault.

By his standards it was cramped but back then, something like this was a luxury. On the walls were various small boxes. Isaac quickly began rummaging through them but only found some documents and personal belongings. That's when he finally saw a box that contained the cash.

A menu appeared as he grabbed it.

[You've collected $203.82!]

Once he stuffed the money in his pocket the alarm sounded. It was absolutely deafening to him. He spun around and found nearly everyone on the floor, but somebody had cracked open a window and the alarm had already been set for them.

The person who did so was all the way on the other side of the bank and they gave Isaac the middle finger as they crawled through the window. Isaac cursed and began running out the back.

That's when he noticed that the hallway was empty, meaning the person who had opened the window was that one. Isaac clicked his tongue as he made it to the back door. Then unexpectedly, someone crashed into him bringing him to the floor.

It was the person he had stuffed upstairs. They wailed their fists into Isaac's face and his health declined surprisingly fast for the weapon they were using.

[92/100 Health Points]

[6/100 Fatigue]

Isaac raised his gun and pulled the trigger. The man's head exploded into chunky bits and Isaac pushed away the dead body. He stood and took a breath before running through the back door. The sun had nearly set now as Isaac began running through the small town's streets.

As he did so, the bank's siren got quieter and quieter, and the whistles of the police got louder and louder. The whistles spread throughout the town and Isaac could see lawmen riding their horses with blinding speed looking for the outlaw responsible.

Isaac got to the edge of town and took of his bandana. He leaned over gasping for breath. He had ran for nearly three full minutes at a sprint. He looked at his fatigue number.

[19/100 Fatigue]

"Oh, for god's sakes." He muttered as he calmed himself down. He needed to level up and increase his stats quickly. Hopefully the quest rewards for robbing the bank would be good.

"It's you, isn't it?" Isaac heard a voice from behind him. He quickly turned to find DefiantTomato looking at him with his hand hovering over his holster.

In response, Isaac smiled. His arm went and hovered over his holster where his gun rested and DefiantTomato's face grew grim.

The two concentrated on each other and waited for a signal, any signal. That's when a man walked out carrying a glass of something to watch the commotion from the bank. He hadn't expected however, to the see a lawman and an outlaw preparing to duel each other.

And as such, he dropped his glass of water. As the glass hit the ground and shattered, the two hands shot towards their guns and a single shot rang out.

DefiantTomato fell to the ground holding his hand that was missing nearly all it's fingers. His gun was on the floor and his eyes eventually made their way over to Isaac who was walking towards him. Isaac placed his gun on DefiantTomato's head.

"W-wait. I have a family to take care of…" DefiantTomato pleaded desperately as tears began to buildup in his eyes.

Confused, Isaac asked, "Why would I care about that? It's a video game." He cocked the hammer of his revolver.

"W-what? That's the only reason people play in this hellscape! You've seen the conditions outside! If I can make money some other way, I'll take it! That's why the game is so popular!" He explained.

"My family, we were evicted last month, this game is my only hope! Please don't kill me!" He pleaded some more, with tears now falling down his face.

Isaac hesitated, but eventually withdrew his revolver. He began backing up and started running again since the gunshot would've alerted the rest of the lawmen.

It was at that moment he felt a searing pain in his shoulder as a loud crack resounded in the air.

He whipped around instantly and shot DefiantTomato in the head who was holding his revolver in his other hand. He fell to the ground and sank slightly in the muddy street as blood trickled out of his body.

As if the game wanted to taunt him, he didn't die instantly, instead he had to watch his health count slowly trickle to zero before he watched the money disappear from his eyes.

Isaac watched the body for a moment and considered why everyone actually played this game. Even he was currently playing it to make money. Considering how much worse off others were, it'd make sense that all these people were playing it.

'No, you can't hesitate. The game was designed to be dangerous, you have to kill the others regardless of their position in life.' With that, he prepared to escape.

Before Isaac started running again, he realized he had a witness. He pointed his gun towards the NPC who used to have the glass in their hands and shot another round. The NPC fell to the ground dead and Isaac finally made his getaway.

He didn't stop for hours as he heard horses and bloodhounds barking behind him. Eventually, the noises stopped after he had hopped into a river to mask his scent. He emerged absolutely soaked but made his way over to a safe spot.

Before he logged off, he decided to check a few things. First of which was if his money had been ruined by the water. After a moment, he sighed a breath of relief. He liked realistic games, that's why he had been complaining about all the fantasy stuff, but sometimes realism be damned!

He really didn't want to have to rob another bank, so if the money had been ruined, he would've had a few select words to share with the developers.

Then he checked his quest progress. He had gotten a notification during the chase, but he had been slightly too preoccupied to read them.

[You have completed: Getting Started!]

[Difficulty Level: 10! Additional awards are being given for beating the highest difficulty!]

[You knocked over a bank for your first robbery? That's befitting of legends! Awards: (Skill) The Greenhorn, $50, and (Trait) Sharp Eyes!]

A skill and a trait? He looked back at his stats and didn't see anything different besides his karma which had dropped significantly, his money that had risen significantly, and his level. So, he went to the top and changed his tab to [Abilities]

[Skills: The Greenhorn]

[Traits: Sharp Eyes]

He pressed on [The Greenhorn] first to see its description.

[Whenever the player so desires, they can revert their karma color to beginner (0) which is grey. Your real karma color will be hidden with exceptions to select talents and traits that other players may possess.]

A wide shit-eating grin spread across Isaac's face. Now that was a good skill to have, now he could act like a nobody idiot whenever he felt like it.

He then pressed on [Sharp Eyes].

[During Deadeye, the player can see further, and time slows even more. For players at a lower level than you and animals, you can see their important organs whenever you aim.]

"Hmm…" Isaac didn't think this trait was particularly good for outlaws. It seemed good for hunting, however. He continued thinking about it before arriving at a conclusion.

'This perk's main usage for me would to be able to see people who are lower level than me. But I'll need to be aiming to do this.'

Finally, he looked at his stats.

[Reputation: -23, Negative Neutral (Slightly red grey)]

[Level: 4] [+14 Skill Points Available!]

[Money: $203.82 ($0)]

[Health: 98/100] [Fatigue: 32/100]

"Only fourteen skill points? I thought I got five at every level…" He muttered to himself. He started at level zero so that meant four levels and twenty points. Unless the first level gave five points and then there were less points from that point on.

"Agh! That doesn't make sense!" He grabbed his and slowly did the math.

Level one was equal to five, level two was four, level three was three, and four was two. Five, four, three, two equaled fourteen.

"Wait, so it does add up!" He gripped his head in confusion. Math was not his forte…

'That must mean the next level will give me one point? How does it work after that? Does it only give out one point?' Isaac fell back onto the soft grass and groaned with a puzzled expression. He decided to throw the points into the back of his mind and just allocate them.

[Strength: 16] [+3]

[Endurance: 12] [+4]

[Agility: 9] [+5]

[Reflex: 17] [+2]

His final stats were:

[Strength: 19]

[Endurance: 16]

[Agility: 14]

[Reflex: 19]

Then he logged off while muttering curses.

When he robbed SurgeSystems, he really thought about talking with the designers and beating them up!