Ivory Online - The Dragon Knight: A LitRPG saga Read online

  While he had a ‘Ryan Gosling’ look to his character, decked out in pure gold heavy armor with rivets and ornate designs that would make any girl moister than an oyster, I opted for the traditional path as a mage, giving my character a 100% Gandalf the White design.

  “To answer you all, I’m not the main man, Alan. I’m the Master Hand. I’m fine, Kathy, how are you?” I replied idly, turning my character to my face party. “And Keith, I wish you hadn’t been born.”

  Alan coughed uncomfortably while Kathy gasped in a way that tells me a haranguing would be following up soon. Same old agenda.

  Keith himself just snickered making his character flip me off in the game. If it wasn’t painfully obvious, we were a group of online friends who hanged out and worked together whenever we could take time out of our lives to come online. Alan and Kathy were good friends but Keith well, we already knew. Though for some reason Kathy often misinterpreted our friendly discourse as disdain. She was high bourgeoisie, so she had a relatively sheltered upbringing. She wasn’t really ‘it’ in social circles and interactions. Alan was her cousin and in the very same boat.

  “You don’t mean that, Jax! How can you say that to Keith? Apologize right now!” She screeched, making me flinch. Kathy had a soft spot for Keith. Well, experts may call it an infatuation, but I’m not expert.

  “No.”

  A moment of silence as we all calmly waited for the second wave of the explosion. We’ve been through this particular rodeo over and over to the point where we’ve become desensitized.

  “Did you just say… no?” She asked with disbelief.

  “Yep.”

  Another moment of silence as she digested the sheer apathy of my replies to her obviously ‘logical’ solutions to a problem I created. I could hear her mind whirring from here, processing all forms of rational actions to follow up my obstinate behavior.

  Then the gears stopped and she reverted into primal mode.

  “No? NO?!? Did you just say no!?! Listen here, Jax, I will not be talked down to like a common…” She squawked endlessly.

  I calmly took her barrage until she was spent and panting. Everyone remained quiet for a few seconds more as they waited on my inevitable reply. Keith plopped his character down on the ground using the meditate action, knowing round 2 was coming and Alan just shook his head using the game’s emote system.

  “Is that all?” I asked.

  Round 2 began instantly.

  ◆◆◆

  “Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Arena!!” bellowed the pre-recorded voice of the announcer.

  Loud cheers from the assembled crowd made me flinch instinctively. No matter how many times I heard it – after all, it was the same sound effect being replayed – it still got to me. Especially with a noise cancellation headset on.

  Despite the intensity of the applaud, I felt bubble of excitement well in me. Anyone who had clashed in a competitive scene would understand. Here, there was a chance to fight fairly and utilize skills that had been acquired through hard work for one true goal: recognition.

  Sure, there were rewards like gold and high-quality gear, but players at my level of competition did not care about that. We had already hit the top in that regard. We came here solely to show off and claim the top spot as head honcho, as the Alpha, as the guy/girl with the biggest britches.

  “As you all know, today is a special day…. Today is the day of the finals!!!!” the announcer roared to the crowd, with sheer trumpeting coming as a response from them… me included. I couldn’t help it.

  “Please, relax while we array the fighters for you. We will have those from tier 1 to tier 10 duke it out in a non-fatal combat from bottom tier with the main event being the finalists from the highest level… tier 10!!”

  More noise accompanied his follow-up and I grinned in excitement. I mean, it should be obvious that as the global number 1, I’d be one of the finalists in the Arena. Specifically tier 10. My whole body itched to get into the action, but I settled for watching the lower rank finalists duke it out till it was my turn.

  Luckily, I had great company.

  “Let’s switch to VR mode, guys. It’ll definitely look better that way,” Alan suggested, our position in the stands near the top. Some may consider it a VIP spot, but it’s what you get when you roll with the big boys.

  “Eh, I’m not a fan of VR. I’m more of a traditionalist,” I replied.

  “Aww, the princess is terrified to immerse himself. Would you like to me hold you tight, Sweetie?” Keith snickered cruelly.

  I ground my teeth in anger. Any guy with dignity and two functioning balls knew words like that could goad a man into doing anything the speaker wanted him to, regardless of how he felt. It wasn’t helped by the fact that Alan was chuckling and Kathy was giggling under her breath.

  “Fine then! VR it is!”

  “God, you’re so easy,” Keith laughed.

  “Shut up!”

  It took me scant few seconds to equip the full range sensory haptic suit which recorded all your movements and relayed all touch based information directly to your body – instead of your mind. The devs felt that there was a danger in limiting all functions to the VR headset’s interplay with your brain. Too many ways to cause harm to some one’s mind, damaging them permanently.

  Connecting myself to the movement rig – so I don’t end up running into my wall – I lifted up the headset itself and attached the necessary plugs to the rig. Then, I placed it over my head and switched it on.

  Since I was already logged on through my PC and I had naturally linked my VR to my PC beforehand, it instantly displayed the arena in a powerful first person view. I might prefer the traditional method, but goddamn, VR was a whole different ball game.

  It was like I’d actually left the planet Earth, entering the world of Ivory Online in the truest sense. I looked down to my hands and moved them easily, as if nothing had changed from my transition from my world to this. Frankly, it stole my breath away.

  “I can never get over how real this feels,” Alan remarked with a touch of awe in his voice.

  “Yeah, it’s a bit surreal to be honest,” I agreed.

  “I’m gonna try getting laid with this thing sometime. I hear it feels like the real deal,” Keith added with a grin, which blossomed on each of our faces except one.

  “Hmph, that’s all you men ever think about,” came Kathy’s slightly disgusted and disapproving voice coupled with a meaningful glare specifically directed at Keith.

  As we always did when she switched from friend mode to condescending mode, we ignored her wholeheartedly and focused on the matches being played out. Fights in the lower tiers weren’t exactly beautiful. While these were the best fighters in their respective fields, they were still noobs to me and my clique.

  So our commentary was limited to Alan watching quietly, Kathy observing dispassionately, Keith and I snickering when a particularly mean blow was landed.

  When it finally reached the seventh tier, we edged forward in our seats slightly, as things started to heat up. We were finally seeing elite classes being displayed, like Arcane Mages and Knights. The fights were noticeably longer too, as both sides had stores of HP, MP and SP to burn. Still, an outcome was an eventuality that none could escape, and it was proven in the next two tiers as winners were hailed from each duel; albeit clearly battered from having to employ every bit of skill and wit they had acquired from hours of gaming and progression to win against an evenly matched opponent. In no time whatsoever, it was the moment we’d all been waiting for.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the 9th tier final battle, with Big_Black_C*ck123 taking the win! Let me hear a round of applause for the valiant combatant!”

  Queue cheering SFX #15.

  “Now, Ladies and gentlemen… it’s time. For the one true event. The reason everyone assembled here today is about to begin. My people, let me hear some noise for the contestants of the 10th tier… the final tier!!”

  Queue
cheering SFX #15 but louder this time.

  “Come forth contestants, so that I may name you and get this match underway.”

  Automatically, my character sat up and started walking towards the entrance, angling left to the fighter’s area. I passed through a rank full of warriors, mages and specialists who eyed me darkly. Naturally, I had to step on a few toes to reach my rank. Some were player characters and some were NPC, but I didn’t really care. A whole group of them could not scratch me in the least.

  And PVP – Player versus player – was banned in the fighter’s area. I stretched a little and let some of the mounting tension in me bleed as I hyped myself up for the match of a lifetime. While this would not be the first time I competed in the 10th tier – which was why I was number 1 – my opponent was formidable in more ways than one.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, coming in from the left entrance, the one and only Champion of the Arena, the two time winner of the 10th tier championship and a formidable fighter. I give you Jax, the Legendary Sage!”

  I walked out to the stage receiving bursts of cheering and applause, a mix of cheering SFX #15 and voices of players with headsets. Some were praising my skills, some challenged me to a one on one fight and some made some colorful suggestions as to how they would treat my dear mother after this. Typical gamers.

  I looked to the crowd and saw the re-assuring faces of Kathy and Alan nodding in a supportive manner before the announcer called in my opponent. I snapped my head downwards and clenched my jaws, anxiety worming its way through me as I awaited the announcer’s call.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, coming in from the right corner, we have our beloved 10th tier finalist and number one contender for the title of Champion in the Arena, The Mighty Lightbringer Paladin, Keith!”

  The cheer was noticeably louder this time I noticed sourly, which was a direct result of the player’s viewing the contest. Of course, while I was respected for being world number 1, people eventually get tired of seeing the same face at the top spot and hope to see someone knew every now and then.

  Keith was a massive fan favorite. Not just because of his good looks – avatar portraits in Ivory Online were styled after players in order to prevent deception and catfishing – but his charisma and mostly, his class. I was a Legendary Sage, a powerful mage class with unrivaled magic abilities, but everyone knew that. Magic classes, while respected, were easily accessible, even though to reach my level you had to slave your ass off.

  If you weren’t willing to pay your way through of course.

  But the Paladin class was locked off. Only select few who could discover and complete a secret quest string could gain access to the Paladin class kit. Even when some dumbass leaked the quest details on a public forum, 90% of players could not even finish the first part of the quest, due to it’s difficulty.

  That brought the general respect for those who managed to achieve it higher by the player base. Then as with any RPG with a class based system, there were specializations unique to each class with the most powerful and most demanding being the Lightbringer of the Paladin class.

  And Keith was just that. Being my best friend since we were kids – we live next door to each other actually – he was number one rival in almost everything. School, work, technology, games. Keith made sure I always had competition at every step of my life, forcing me to get better.

  And here he was, smirking as he strode into the arena and basked in the fanfare. Showoff. He raised his relic tier sword to the sky, eliciting another round of cheers.

  He was enjoying this, wasn’t he? Keeping me waiting, trapped in anxiety over the outcome. I was supremely confident in my ability to succeed if my opponent were anyone else but the guy I grew up with, played my first game with and knew how I thought like the back of his hand. Our powerful classes were evenly matched, but that did not matter. It was the fact that he knew down to the barebones how I played, even though I also knew same for him. It was that factor that made me nervous. I had no trump card or trick I could employ that he couldn’t predict. This was going to come to a battle of pure skill and fortitude.

  What ground my gears was that Keith knew how important recognition was for me. Staying in my top spot gave me an inexplicable comfort that I lusted for all year round. He wasn’t in this for the spoils or the recognition though, no. He just relished the feeling of putting me on my toes by challenging me.

  Like I said, sometimes best friend, sometimes hated rival. He was firmly being the latter at the moment.

  “We have both contestants on the stage. The battle will now commence, but first I must ask, are both sides ready? This is your last chance to swap equipment and deploy any extra non-combat buffs you want.”

  __________________

  Alert!

  Are you ready to begin the 10th tier battle in the arena? Y/N

  1:30 to automatic decline

  __________________

  A pop up appeared in my vision repeating his question about my readiness. I thought about it and realized that I was as ready as I’d ever be. I selected yes almost immediately.

  “Both contestants have given the needed approval! Now… Let the battle BEGIN!!!”

  I wasted no time in casting my instant spells: Armor of the Ancients, Potent Magic, Quickfire Casting and Levitation. With those out of the way, I took to the sky, preparing to cast my early stage offensive spells with relatively low cast times. While I was doing this, Keith also cast his class based buffs: Light’s Blessing, Demonbane shield, Warrior of the Light and God’s Foot.

  Thankfully, his class based spells were not an instant cast, so I had a few seconds to cast my first wave of Offensive spells at him. I started with the max upgraded version of the staple spell, Fireball, queuing Ice Javelin, Thunderbolt and Toxic Sludge. Keith just sneered viciously as the spells harmlessly dissipated over his aura shield. Taking his sweet time, he began climbing towards me using his God’s Foot ability, one that granted him the power to walk on the air as if it were as solid as the earth below him.

  Naturally, it consumed a bucketload of stamina, but warrior classes were tailored towards having high amounts of it, much less the primo warrior class. It was probably barely denting his reserves.

  I continued to cast my weak tier spells in chain, calmly watching them flow over his barrier doing no damage whatsoever – or so everyone may think. I knew from the beginning that this battle was going to be one of attrition. Essentially, who could wear the other’s primary battle reserve down? My combat relied on my MP and his relied on his SP. It was essentially a battle to see who could drain the other’s power while maintaining enough of his own to finish the duel.

  His Light’s Blessing definitely made him impenetrable and its long duration was why he could arrogantly take his time like a predator teasing its prey. But like any ability, it had a catch; a downside. It had a limited threshold of damage it could absorb before dissipating since it didn’t continually pull from his MP.

  So the effect of my weak spells was to slowly whittle down on that durability while using as little MP as possible. Actually, I was using virtually none as my mana regeneration per second was higher than the cost of these spells in tandem. So I lost absolutely nothing by casting them over and over while he slowly – but surely – lost durability on his barrier. At that point, I’d show him what a real sage could do.

  “I know your tricks, Jax. I just want you to know that even of you remove my Light’s Blessing, I still have at least four other aura buffs that can also do the trick,” Keith stated smugly.

  What I wouldn’t do to wipe that smile off his face… I thought grimly.

  Nevertheless, I continued my barrage without responding to him. He just shrugged and continued talking while climbing leisurely. “You may think you have time, but you don’t. Over there” – he points over his shoulder – “is the timer for the match. Either one of us dies before then, gives up or manages to retain even one HP above the other.”

  “I mean, I’m no rocket scien
tist, but it seems like your strategy hinges on time, which you don’t have much of. In fact, I’d say you have about two minutes and thirty seconds left to claim the win,” He added with a feral smile. “Now, now, just forfeit since you’re clearly boring everyone with this dull struggle. Put up a proper fight! Or are you too scared?”

  I resisted his jabs as I tried to focus on my plan. I could obviously tell he was trying to goad me into rash action. Though, even with that knowledge, it was hard not to rise to his challenge. I liked to plan and think things through on a general basis, but some part of me – the ‘manly’ part – wanted to throw it all away and duke it out like a maverick. Continually resisting that part became harder the more he talked.

  “Listen Jax, I understand. Not many of you know this, but we’re besties IRL. Jax feels he’s a planner and a tactician, but I say deep down, he’s just a little pussyboy and the world’s biggest soyboy!” He bellowed to the crowd with the response coming as ‘ooooohh!!’ or laughter and jeering. My eyes ranged to the ecstatic audience, taking in their mirth at my embarrassment. I looked at Kathy and Alan, feeling my jaw go slack as they laughed uproariously at Keith’s jab. Even Kathy was laughing. Even Kathy.

  This cannot be forgiven. There were times where some insults could be ignored, but there were times in a man’s life where he must rise to the challenge by throwing logic away in favor of a good brawl. This was one of those times.

  “Keeeiithhhh!!!” I roared as I launched towards him, casting balls of super-sized flame. No more holding back. I was going to give him the best I had and God help him because my best was the game’s pinnacle.

  “Finally, A real fight!!” He thundered as he sped up his ascent into a full sprint, whipping out his sword and shield at the same time.

  My conjured blasts connect with his aura and deal significant damage to its durability, but also came at a significant cost to my MP. I knew I’d recover the wasted MP in mere seconds with my regen rate, so I bowled ahead and cast higher level spells with abandon.

  “Dominic en Fursa!”