Exile Read online

  Visaria Online Exile

  Visaria Online, Volume 1

  Riley Morrison

  Published by Riley Morrison, 2018.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Visaria Online Exile

  MAP OF THE HUMAN LANDS

  CHAPTER 1 | INTO THE BREACH

  CHAPTER 2 | LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

  CHAPTER 3 | JUST NO

  CHAPTER 4 | DESTINATION YANTAR

  CHAPTER 5 | TO WAR!

  CHAPTER 6 | WHEN THINGS GO BOOM

  CHAPTER 7 | THE SPOILS OF WAR

  CHAPTER 8 | ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US

  CHAPTER 9 | ANSWERS THAT LEAD TO MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

  CHAPTER 10 | GRIM DEPARTURE

  CHAPTER 11 | GOBLINS!

  CHAPTER 12 | THE WET DREAM

  CHAPTER 13 | STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

  CHAPTER 14 | GRIM DAWN

  CHAPTER 15 | KNEEL OR DIE

  CHAPTER 16 | ITHILDA

  CHAPTER 17 | SCARS

  CHAPTER 18 | SPARKLE PONY

  CHAPTER 19 | GHOSTS AND GOBLINS

  CHAPTER 20 | THE TERROR OF THE SKIES

  CHAPTER 21 | EAST

  CHAPTER 22 | THE TERROR OF THE SKIES REDUX

  CHAPTER 23 | CRASH LANDING

  CHAPTER 24 | GAME OVER

  EPILOGUE | THE END OF ALL THINGS

  SPECIAL OFFER

  AUTHOR NOTES

  About the Author

  Dedicated to all my favorite games and developers over the years. You've given me countless hours of entertainment and RSI pain!

  Visit my website at rileymorrisonauthor.com

  My Face Book Page: @rileymorrisonauthor

  Where I will talk about book progress updates, more behind the scenes information and general discussion of things I like or talking to my fans!

  Check out my YouTube channel where I do a podcast on the newbie author business and talk about my book and projects.

  © 2017 Riley Morrison All Rights Reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Edited By: Allison E Wright at wrightediting.com

  I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read my book. Please consider leaving a review or telling your friends about it, to help me spread the word. Thank you for supporting my work.

  MAP OF THE HUMAN LANDS

  CHAPTER 1

  INTO THE BREACH

  “Get over there,” Ajax raged at the cowering Elemental Mage beside him. Both men had their backs against the side of an abandoned hovel, the sun in their eyes. “We won’t get paid until that rogue Steampunk is dead.”

  The mage shook his head vigorously. “But listen to him. He means business.”

  The Steampunk’s violent threats and nasty insults drifted over to them. “And then I’m gonna rip out ya guts and wear them as a necklace.”

  “You see! No way am I going out there.” The mage crossed his arms.

  Ajax rolled his eyes. “Fine, then I’ll go and reap all the rewards when we hand in the quest.” He quickly brought to mind his character panel, which showed a 3D model of his character and his stats.

  Ajax Stoneheart

  Race: Human

  Class: Spiritual Warrior

  Skill Focus: Warrior Paladin

  Level: 2

  Player Kills: 0

  Might: 4 (1 Might increases AP by 5)

  Dexterity: 1

  Intellect: 2

  Spirit: 3 (1 Spirit increases healing by 10% and improves mana regeneration by 2%)

  Luck: 1

  HP: 184 (BASE: 175 + 9 from BLS)

  MP: 130 (BASE: 120 + 10 from equipment)

  AP: 110 (BASE: 105 + 5 from weapon)

  DEF: 50 (BASE: 20 + 30 from equipment)

  XP: 600/1000

  Active abilities

  Blessing of the Lost Sun (BLS): Increases party health by 5%

  Aura of Sunlight (AOS): Regen health by 5hp every minute (on top of auto regen)

  Available Abilities

  Base weapon attack +5 damage

  Level 1 Lesser Heal (heals 5-15hp, cost 10mp)

  Touch of Light (heal full HP instantly once per day, cost 50mp)

  Awaken (a one-use-per-lifetime resurrection of another character, NPC or player, cost 0mp)

  Next, he glanced over his equipment panel, even though he knew full well how pitiful it was and that it would be woefully inadequate if he faced the Steampunk alone. But I’m a glutton for punishment. I’ll look at my stuff and weep.

  And weep he did...

  Equipment

  Standard Sword

  Standard Shield

  Standard Chainmail

  Standard Leather Boots

  Standard Iron Helmet

  Army-Issued Trinket +10mp (worn around neck)

  Backpack

  2x bread

  1x bean curd (tofu)

  2x vegetarian sausages (Why you no eat meat?)

  water

  6 x copper ingot

  5 x iron ingot

  iron pickaxe

  whetstone

  broken pineapple

  Coin Purse

  18 silver coins

  Standard this and standard that, and a broken pineapple too! The Steampunk fired another volley of shots toward them from his blunderbuss. If I go out there alone, I’ll face standard death, and I’m on my second out of three lives! Two more deaths and Ajax would be stuck in the limbo of his own brain. No vast world to explore, no human contact, just an eternity of blackness as he waited out the centuries for the Advanced Hyper Neural Net Array (the computer arrays controlling this digital world) to awaken him from his frozen exile deep under the devastated surface of the earth.

  He could think of no worse a fate. The world of Visaria is life. And life is Visaria. Or something like that.

  Ajax elbowed the mage beside him. “I have a plan.”

  “I’m all ears.” The mage gnawed on his fingernails, wincing at every shot that flew over their heads.

  “Alright, now listen. I want you—”

  “Not me.” The mage was already shaking his head.

  Gritting his teeth, Ajax fought the desire to pick the other man up and throw him out in the open. Why group with me and take this quest if you’re going to be such a coward? He took a deep breath to calm himself. “Listen. I’ll go out and race around the corner and try to reach the side of the next building. When I get there, you summon your flame elemental and have it create a distraction while you run over to me. If you take damage, I’ll heal you.”

  The mage could only summon the short-lived elemental once per hour, and though it would be better to save it for a more decisive moment, Ajax knew the mage wouldn’t come out of hiding unless he knew the odds were in his favor. “Alright.” The mage licked his lips. “I can do that.”

  “Good. Now after three, I’m going to run for it.”

  “Good luck.”

  Ajax grimaced. He only had 1 point in Luck. On his one and only level-up, he had spent the stat point on increasing his Might. His plan was to focus on the Paladin talent tree of his Spiritual Warrior class, a tree focused more on healing than damage, but still capable in a fight. His end goal, like most young Sinjharians, was to join the Imperial Army. Most joined as Martial Warriors, a class focused on damage and tanking, but the army was always short of healers, and so he had rolled a healer for his second life. The Imperium’s enemy, the Republic of Dern, had access to Spirit Mages, the best healers in all Visaria. Ajax liked the idea of doing his part for his people by playing support and healing the Mar
tial Warriors fighting on the front line.

  And yet, here I am having to charge the enemy in a highly defensible position with only the support of a twig of a mage!

  Saying a quick prayer to the One God for protection, he counted down to three, then raced from cover, shield up, waiting for the inevitable pain. He was halfway toward the ruined building when musket balls and crossbow bolts started flying past him. The fluro-green-haired Steampunk stood just inside a doorway, screaming gibberish threats as he unleashed his blunderbuss at Ajax. Just in front of the Steampunk stood his waist-high summoned crossbow turret that fired bolt after bolt.

  Ajax grimaced as the missiles struck his shield. Some glanced off, and others probably became embedded in the metal. The noise was deafening. He was almost to cover when several rounds struck him in the leg, and one in the side. He screamed in agony, staggering on, watching the life bar in the side of his field of view rapidly shrink.

  Critical hit -35hp (Sniper Shot)

  -15hp

  -24hp

  -18hp

  But then he was behind cover, and the worst of it was over.

  Or so he thought. He was down to 92hp, and one of the rounds had caused extensive bleeding (and excruciating pain!).

  -2hp

  -1hp

  If he waited any longer, his life force would deplete to 0 and his second life would be over. His memories erased, his experience—his very existence—gone forever. He would only retain the base knowledge of the digital world and its factions, along with his memories of his life before the apocalyptic war that had driven humanity under the earth and into the online world of Visaria.

  Ajax started casting his healing spell, and while it was on its one-second cooldown between casts, he listened for any sound of the Steampunk charging forward to finish him off. The musket balls ricocheted off the side of the building, crossbow bolts thunked against it and vile curses continued to spew out of the player Steampunk’s foul mouth. “I’m gonna bite off your nose and rip out your lungs with a claw hammer. Then I’m gonna eat them!”

  But the enemy seemed content in holding his position within the building he had fortified. Damn Steampunks, Ajax snarled to himself as the healing energy filled him. They always seem to go mad.

  When he had recovered his hit points, the bleeding had slowed to a point where he would lose the occasional point to blood loss, but it would not be life threatening, as his health regeneration (2% per minute) almost nullified the effects. He would bandage himself later and go to the hospital to permanently repair the bullet and bolt wounds. And deal with the damage to my equipment! He was a novice in the profession of blacksmithing after all.

  HP: 184/184

  MP: 30/130

  “Bloody hell,” was all he could say to that.

  Now that Ajax had (mostly) recovered, and his mana had slowly begun to regenerate, he leaned to the side so he could see if the mage had summoned his elemental yet. He blinked. The mage wasn’t there. “What the? You fu—”

  Suddenly, the wall he had hunkered down beside collapsed into rubble, some hitting him on his helmet. He covered his head to protect it from the worst of the carnage.

  -16hp

  When it was over, he opened one eye and found nothing to hide behind but one last remaining chunk of wall. Catching a glimpse of the gleeful Steampunk training his weapon on him, Ajax gulped and ducked back down.

  This wasn’t going to be pretty.

  CHAPTER 2

  LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

  Musket balls tore into the wall, sending chips of stone flying into the air. The Steampunk’s turret must have despawned because the crossbow bolts no longer flew Ajax’s way.

  “Come out, come out, little mouse, and let me blow ya ugly head off!” the Steampunk taunted, firing another volley of shots.

  Ajax swore under his breath. There seemed to be no way out of this one. If I ever see that mage again, I swear...

  Taking a deep breath, gritting his teeth against the pain of his wounds and the endless torrent of gunfire, he thought through his options. He could stay where he was and wait for the Steampunk to get bored and come over and put him out of his misery. Or he could get up and make a run for it, get shot a few times and get back behind one of the other buildings and try to flee.

  Or I get up and charge right at the stupid Steampunk and face him head on. That class wasn’t strong in melee, their preferred method of fighting being at range. If Ajax could get in close to him, he should be able to take him down. After all, he still had his full heal...

  Touch of Light

  Instantly restores full hit points of the Spiritual Warrior or a companion.

  Cost: 50mp

  Cooldown: 24hrs

  Ajax almost had the mana for it, which meant he could heal himself on the fly. Any damage to his body the shots caused would later need to be fixed at a hospital—but he was already in need of a hospital anyway, for the wounds he’d sustained wouldn’t fully heal without proper medical treatment.

  As much as Ajax hated the idea of charging the Steampunk head on, he knew he had little choice. He was in desperate need of coin as he had started this life with nothing but the clothes on his back and a broken pineapple to his name. Perhaps I should have taken that window-cleaning quest instead of this. He grimaced. But that stupid mage convinced me to come out here. “Think of the XP,” the mage had said. “With two of us, it will be easy peasy.”

  Easy, my hairy backside!

  It took another minute for his mana points to recharge above fifty. Now he was ready to go out there.

  Biting his lip, he counted to three, but when he got to zero he still hadn’t moved. Come on, let’s do this, he raged at himself.

  Ajax counted down again, and this time he got to his feet. Shield up, weapon in hand, he ran screaming around the broken wall and charged the Steampunk. The man yelled something at him, and then opened up with a round of blunderbuss fire.

  A hard blow took Ajax in the shield, twisting him around and exposing his side to the enemy. Shot after shot tore into his armor—which seemed about as effective as paper.

  -15hp

  -19hp

  Oh, god, please let it end!

  -20hp

  -13hp

  Somehow Ajax got the shield in front of him, but the Steampunk only aimed low and shot Ajax in the foot.

  -17hp

  Ajax collapsed, hitting the ground and losing his grip on his weapon.

  -5hp

  Then a round took him in the shoulder, and Ajax’s vision swam.

  Critical hit -33hp (Sniper Shot)

  Closing a fist, Ajax released his magic. The effects of Touch of Light were instant, and his hit points were fully restored. The pain was still there, and blood still oozed (or in one case, gushed) from his wounds. Eventually, he would bleed out and die without further aid, but right now he would live a little longer.

  HP: 184/184

  MP: 5/130

  Getting to his knees and hiding behind his shield, he tried to stand and charge forward again. But the Steampunk had respawned his crossbow turret and both of them were now beginning to pummel his shield with missiles. The damned Steampunk must have put his talent points in the Contraptionist skill tree, as the turret was on a short cooldown timer.

  Each hit staggered Ajax slightly. This isn’t fair! How am I meant to push forward against this?

  Then he thought of dying again, and of being reborn on his last life. The oblivion of being trapped within the confines of his own mind was one step closer to becoming reality. Maybe I should have become a scribe or servant or something, and not bothered with leveling up. Boring as hell, but at least there is little chance of dying!

  “Do you want me to come over and put you down like a rabid dog?” The Steampunk laughed. “I use the hollowed-out skull of the last player who came out here as a bedpan.”

  The Steampunk was so close. No more than twenty feet away from Ajax—but that distance seemed like a continent away.

/>   Ajax’s shield took a big hit, and it nearly tore through the metal. I’m doomed. I’m doomed. Oh god, I’m fu—

  Suddenly, the Steampunk screamed and the withering fire on Ajax’s shield stopped. He cautiously glanced around the edge and caught his breath. The Steampunk was on fire!

  A bolt of purply-black energy slammed into the man, adding to the flames. He staggered back further into the house, and the flames died away.

  It took long seconds for Ajax to realize what was happening. Someone else was attacking the Steampunk and they were going to steal his kill! With the turret busy scanning for the new threat, Ajax got to his feet and charged right at the doorway. The turret spun to face him, and got off one bolt (that missed) before Ajax took it down with a blow from his sword.

  Instakill.

  The Steampunk laughed like a maniac as he trained his weapon on Ajax. “Groovy.” He took something from his pocket, then hurled it into the air.

  Stupidly, Ajax watched the item. It hit the roof and then exploded into blinding white light. Crying out, Ajax fell back, grasping at his eyes. He couldn’t see. All he could see was white. I’m blind.

  “Ha, ha,” the Steampunk said. “Always works! Now, I better finish you quick so I can kill that other jacked-in mofo.”

  Ajax heard the click of a musket and feet approaching him. He swiped at the sound with his sword, but hit nothing. A shot tore into his sword arm and he let go of the weapon with a cry.

  -16hp

  -6hp

  His hit points were quickly trickling down due to increasing blood loss.

  -3hp

  -2hp

  -3hp

  Grasping around for the sword, Ajax swore as a foot stamped down hard on his hand.

  “You no longer need that, bro. Not where you’re going.” The Steampunk’s laughter cut off suddenly.

  A new voice, a feminine one, spoke from the doorway. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything, boys.”

  “Da hell, woman?” the Steampunk raged.

  The foot lifted from Ajax’s hand as heat washed over him. The Steampunk screamed, as if in great agony. Musket fire tore through the room, one hitting Ajax in the helmet and another tearing into his damaged armor.