Learning Curves
Author: Scottie Futch
Date: 2014-07-14 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Erotica; Virtual Reality
Description: What would you do if you were given the chance to do something extraordinary? What if a world existed where life was a game? You could gain levels, fight monsters, get into sexy situations, and become a truly powerful person. Would you take up the call to explore this brave new frontier, or give up on the adventure of a lifetime? Scott Hunter made his choice, and life is about to get sexy. Freelance Saga: Learning Curves is the first episode in a series about a man who enters into a real-life fantasy world designed like a game. While it seemed perfectly normal, if highly advanced, at first, he

Freelance Saga: Learning Curves

By Scottie Futch

Copyright 2014 Scottie Futch

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Chapter I: The Job

Insanity, this conversation could only be the product of insanity. Scott Hunter, former soldier and currently unemployed job-seeker, was certain that everything that the man had just said was a lie. The idea that such a thing could be true was ludicrous.

“So, you aren’t interested?” asked Michael Jameson, a supposed talent scout for what had to be the most dedicated game creation company in history. It was strange that he had never heard of Alterra International before. Even start-up game companies with technology like the man claimed would be big news.

“I’m interested, but what you’re saying sounds crazy. You do know that, right?”

Jameson smiled a toothy shark-like smile. “That’s to be expected. No one believes it when we first discuss the matter.”

“Of course they wouldn’t. You’re trying to convince me that your game company has made a deal with god-like alien intelligences, and that deal entails sending people from our world to be players in a reality they created based on our games and pop-culture.”

“Well, certainly when you say it like that it does sound insane.” Jameson laughed in a good-natured way.

Scott could not help but be confused by the situation. He had received a query letter to be a beta-tester for a new full-immersion role playing experience. He had assumed that had meant a new game, not an alien world that operated like one!

Still, even if the guy was off his nut, so to speak, he could not pass up the possibility that this was on the level. It was insane, but he wasn’t stupid. He firmly believed that the guy was just trying to hype him up for some new advancement in virtual reality software. “If I accept this gig, what do I have to do, and how much will I be paid?”

“Ah, all you have to do is interact in the other world for a minimum of forty-eight hours each week. As far as payment, you will be able to access the Alterra International auction database and will be able to sell items that you don’t need.”

“I wouldn’t receive any direct pay?” That could be a deal breaker for Scott. He needed a job, not a promise of potential pay if he found something cool to sell to other random players.

“No, but if it helps, we do provide a one-time sign-on bonus of four thousand dollars. This is to cover main expenses while you adjust to the environment. Also, the average player can earn roughly that much on a weekly basis just using the auction. We take a ten percent cut, so we like to make sure you make money so that we can make money.”

Scott stared at the man blankly. He honestly expected him to believe that he could make four grand a week just playing a game?

Jameson waved his disbelief away. “You’ll understand things better once you have visited the other world. Are you interested?”

“Sure, I’m interested. I’m not sure why you are so insistent that this game is a real world, but that’s fine. What I don’t understand is why you queried me for this job in the first place.”

“We queried you because of your background. You are someone who has extensive knowledge of role playing games. You served in the US military field artillery for four years, and spent one of those years deployed. You don’t have a criminal record, but you do need employment. You are also single with no children.”

Scott was uncertain about how to react to his admission. They hired him because of those reasons? This job sounded more like para-military security work selection than a game company sign-up. “Ok…”

Jameson smiled that toothy smile once more. “So, do you want the job?”

“I have to admit, you’ve got my interest peaked. When can I start?”

The agent pulled out a contract and they went over the finer points. The thing that really got to Scott was the non-intervention clause. Alterra International refused to provide any in-world help no matter how many times you died even if you were stuck in an endless death loop. Essentially, whatever happened to a signed player was their business.

Scott signed the contract and the hiring agent looked it over. When he was done, he nodded and said, “Alright, that’s all we needed. When is the most convenient date for you to do your test run?”

“Test run?”

“Yes, the quantum transfer protocol requires that you spend twenty-four hours in-world before you can return here. Once here you have to remain here twenty-four hours before you can go there.”

“Uh, right. I’m fine any time, but if you expect me to play a game for twenty-four hours straight I’m probably going to at least need to get lunch first.”

Jameson laughed at his pragmatism. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll set you up for test insertion tomorrow at…. ten in the morning, alright?”

“That’s fine. When do I get paid?”

The shark-like smile returned. “See the desk clerk on the way out. We make all of our transactions in cash due to legal reasons.”

Yeah, that did not sound shady at all. Scott chose not to say anything about it, though. He stood up and said goodbye to the obviously insane individual then left the office.

Jameson smiled once more then pressed the intercom button. “Ms. Havers, please see to the new applicant’s starting funds, then send in the next applicant.”

“Yes, sir.” The voice on the other end of the line was professional, yet excited. They were having a hard time acquiring qualified applicants.

The agent looked at the contract and smiled. “Finally. I was beginning to wonder if the people of this world were too complacent to want to live a life of adventure. Despite the nature of their fantasies and popular culture they don’t seem to want to take chances that often.”

A knock at his door heralded the arrival of another potential candidate. Jameson called out, “Come in, it’s open.”

Chapter 2: The Life Tutorial

The next morning came quickly for Scott. He could not believe it when he had been handed a thick stack of twenty dollar bills the previous day. The company might be staffed by whack-jobs but they definitely paid!

“Scott Hunter?” A young man in a lab coat approached him in the waiting area. Strangely, he looked like a younger version of Mr. Jameson.

“Yes.”

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Jameson Michaels.” The lab technician, as that is the only thing Scott could feel right calling him, raised his hand and pressed it forward.

Scott awkwardly shook hands with the man who greeted him then followed him to another room. The mystery of his appearance and suspiciously similar name were allowed to sit idle. It would be rude to ask personal questions anyway.

“This is the quantum translation chamber. You will only need to come here once. After your testing phase, you’ll be able to freely transition to the other world and back from anywhere in either world.”

“Right.” Scott decided that he would just go along with whatever they said. It seemed easier.

Michaels gestured for him to stand in the center of an intricate geometric design engraved into the floor. Scott took notice of the gemstones placed in key locations and could not help but smile at the extravagance. Obviously they were cut glass. Even a company this out of touch with reality would not cut and fit diamonds and rubies the size of his fist just to show off their new game system.

“The system is ready. There will be a slight electrical feeling and a sudden jolt when the transition takes place for the first time. When you arrive at your destination just follow the message prompts. This time you will automatically return to this location after twenty-four hours. We will provide an evaluation of your efforts at that time.”

“Sure thing, I’m ready whenever you are.” Scott smirked at the lab technician and then waited for the dog and pony show to end. This was interesting, and they’d paid him a lot. Still, how long could the farce go on?

“Right. Have fun. See you when you get back!”

Scott nodded then started to say something but the only sound that escaped his lips was a loud gasp of pain followed by a garbled scream. He felt like he was being electrocuted and torn apart at the same time. The world suddenly went dark. He floated in a sea of inconceivable blackness for a space of time that he could not fathom.

The world returned in a blur of sound, light, and pain. However, the sight that greeted his eyes was not the laboratory. “What the hell? Did those assholes dump me in the woods?”

He tried to stand up but found that his body was strangely heavy. His movements were sluggish, and his arms must have weighed over fifty pounds each. Despite the problems he did manage to get to his knees and then stood up slowly.

“What did those bastards do to me?”

Scott turned his head then floundered back a step, nearly falling down. Something had popped up out of nowhere. It looked like a floating message screen. Something you might see in a game.

He stared at the screen for a moment then looked to his left and back to his right. “Are you kidding me?”

Scott touched the screen to see what would happen and it disappeared. Another one popped up in its place, however. He read it then touched it again. It was a series of greeting information screens, the kind of information you might see when first entering a new game!

“They, they were kidding right? This is not a real place! It can’t be real!”

Now he looked around with greater interest. Where was the projector? There had to be a projector! After a brief but tiring search, Scott panted heavily. Wherever he was, he was exhausted. Why did his body feel so heavy?

His questioning thoughts were answered with the appearance of another screen. It explained that he had minimal attributes currently. “I see. I technically have the strength and agility of a small child at the moment. No wonder I feel heavy. The strength of a child and the weight of a grown man don’t work out that well.”

After he tapped the new window screen, a big white arrow appeared in the air then started to blink in and out of view. He had no real option but to head in the direction that it pointed.

“They really aren’t kidding? This world really is set up like a video game. Still, is it real or just some kind of sophisticated virtual reality system?”

Scott struggled to follow the arrow’s direction and eventually came to an open glade. At the center of the glade was a pedestal. When he approached the standing edifice a mirror image of his body appeared above it.

“Well, that’s not particularly flattering.” In truth, since he’d left the army he had let himself go quite a bit. All night gaming sessions and poor nutritional choices had that effect on people.

A screen popped up and informed him that this was the location where he would choose his race and general starting appearance. When prompted, the message screen revealed that there were dozens of races to choose from. His choice of race would decide where he started in the world.

He toyed with the race choices for a moment. “Seriously? I can even be classic monster races?”

Each race had their strengths and draw backs. Humans had no major strengths or weaknesses physically or magically, but they had a commerce and technology bonus. Dwarves and Minotaurs had a bonus for smithing. Elves had a magical bonus, heightened senses, and excelled at archery. However, they had lower strength and vitality than a human.

Monster races had a negative commerce and intimacy modifier with any race other than their own. They also required more experience to gain a level. Scott had to consider the choices carefully. The human option would be easiest but if he was going to live another life, even if a game, why not be something different?

“There’s even a choice for vampires, werewolves, and dragons. Weird.” What kind of game let you be a dragon? Seriously, wouldn’t that be extremely broken?

He thought about it for a moment then recalled that there actually were some games that allowed for it. One console game franchise made that the main deal of the player character, after all.

Scott checked the dragon information again and noticed that it provided good all-around stat bonuses but required four times as much experience. Further, it was both a class and a race. He would not be able to specialize.

The same issue was true for all of the monster races. He could be a very powerful monster, but outside of those specific skills and benefits he would have nothing else to show for it. It was tempting, but one of the more traditional races would have to be his choice.

He considered the remaining races then shook his head. For all their advantages they had powerful drawbacks. Dwarves were stocky and could only wear armor or use weapons designed specifically for them. The same was true for giants and half-giants. Elves might be a good choice but the lowered vitality would cause problems if he wanted to be anything but a mage or an archer.

Scott had to consider his options from the perspective of a game player. He really hated it, but the human race offered the best overall choice if he wanted to really experience and choose from a wide variety of this game’s options.

“I choose human.”

The image on the pedestal disappeared and then reappeared. It looked no different than before. He was prompted to make a few decisions regarding his appearance. Just for kicks he decided to have bright green eyes and shockingly blue hair. He increased his height slightly but he could not do much else for his features.

“Due to choosing your native race, you will be granted two additional starting skills. Is this alright?”

“Yes.” Why would he choose not to get free skills?

A new message window appeared informing him that he had learned two new skills. They were the skills of observation and identification.

A loud fanfare erupted from the air around him. Scott looked around in surprise but did not know where it came from. A new window popped up to reveal that he had gained a level. “I’m already level two?”

The old window screen disappeared and a new one arose. Scott read it over and nodded. He had received ten attribute points to distribute. However, he was required to expend them in strength and agility.

“Well, it is a tutorial after all.” Scott put half of the points into strength and the other half into agility. He immediately noticed a difference in his body. The burdensome weight lifted somewhat and he was able to move around with greater ease.

The image on the pedestal changed a little as well. It became slightly more muscular and toned. It was a barely noticeable change, but it was something.

More window screens popped up. He needed to practice his new skills until they reached a minimum of level ten. “That seems pretty arbitrary.”

Scott shrugged and picked up a rock then looked at it. The message screen instructed him to recite the name of the skill that he was using. “Identification.”

“Well, no kidding. It’s just a rock. Good to know that it has a durability rating, though. That probably means that this game has equipment that can be damaged.”

Scott checked his identification skill to see if he had gained any experience. “It increased by eighteen percent just from identifying a rock?”

He immediately set about identifying everything in sight. Different rocks, random leaves, and the occasional twig or branch were easy items to identify and his skill rose to beginner level ten rapidly. “Hmm, it’s at level ten but nothing special happened.”

The man shrugged then considered the observation skill. The only things in the area were grass and trees. So, he tried to observe a tree.

“The hell, this tree is smarter than me?” Scott snorted then checked his observation skill. It had increased by twelve percent. It was lower than the increase in identification skill. Still, he persevered and observed trees or the occasional insect until his skill reached level ten.

Once again, nothing special happened. Scott shrugged then went back to the pedestal.

A new message popped up. “Now that you have a basic idea of how to use your new skills it is time to move on.”

This was becoming quite interesting to Scott. He was not sure how much time had passed, but this game world was incredibly detailed. Was it really a virtual simulation, or did they find a way to add an augmented reality system to the real world in a remote location? That would have been interesting as well. The thought that this was a legitimate fantasy world based on role playing principles was still not something he was willing to accept.

Scott followed the arrows and learned many things. He gained three more levels and was required to add five points to each of his other main stats. This put everything at six, except for intelligence, which was at eight.

“I wonder how many levels there are in this game? I’ve been here for only a few hours and I’m already level five.”

He reached an outdoor training area with a punching bag, bales of hay with targets painted on them, and wooden dummies. The message that popped up informed him that he would be allowed to gain a single combat skill here.

Scott looked around but saw no weapons to choose. While he walked through the area he happened to punch the heavy bag on a whim.

“You have gained the unarmed combat skill!”

He snorted then could not help but laugh. “Well, that takes care of that, I guess.”

New messages began to pop up one after the other. He was instructed to reach level ten in unarmed combat by attacking the heavy bag ten thousand times. A counter appeared above the teaching instrument.

“Well, I admit the hand-holding in this game is certainly blatant.” Scott waited to see if anyone answered him, but no new messages appeared.

He turned to strike the bag. He casually smacked it with his fist, but the counter did not change. Curious, he struck again. There was still no change. Finally, he squared his shoulders and struck out with a serious intent. The counter decreased by one.

“I see, so that’s what you people want.” Scott proceeded to strike the target repeatedly. However, he had no real knowledge of proper punching techniques. While he had briefly studied a few different martial arts and had wrestled a little in high-school, it had been years since he had seriously punched anything. He hunted and fished, but that wasn’t even remotely the same thing.

Several minutes passed as he struck the bag. The counter decreased rapidly during that time. He began to sweat heavily, and his body began to ache. After a half hour he realized that he’d only reached thirty-percent of his goal. After the hour point he had reached his limit. He was not used to this level of dedicated activity. He was half way to his required goal but he was having trouble continuing.

A new screen popped up and he chose to read it aloud. “When you are tired you should rest. If you sit in a safe location your stamina, mana, and hit points will regenerate.”

“I have hit points? Well, yeah I did see them on my status menu I guess.”

He called up his status screen and noticed that his hit points had dropped by thirty. That was not a good sign. “I can lose hit points just punching a bag?”

Scott took a seat on a nearby bench and closed his eyes. After roughly one minute he felt a slight electric tingle skitter through his body. “What the hell?”

Suspicious, he checked his status again. He had regained a single hit point. “I see. Interesting.”

He waited a few minutes and discovered that every time the tingle occurred he regained one hit point. He decided that this meant that either he would always regain one hit point, or he regenerated one percent per minute. He would have to wait until he had more than one hundred hit points to find out.

Scott felt completely refreshed after the thirty minute mark. He went back to the bag and started again. He punched, kicked, and used his elbows just to test the current request. Whenever he struck with focused intent, the attack counted.

He grew tired again, with roughly twelve-hundred attacks remaining. He realized that using more than simple punches wore him out faster. This game was very realistic in that regard.

The air smelled sweet, he noted, before he sat down again. He had not paid too much attention to the sights and sounds of the world until now. There was a subtle fragrance in the air. He could hear a soft noise that sounded like quiet background music as well.

“This place, it’s nice.” Scott smiled then looked up at the sky. He had not had a workout like this in a while. At first he had seen this as just a sort of job, albeit a strange one. However, even if this was a virtual reality it felt very real.

It was no wonder that they insisted that this place was real. His body ached. His knuckles were red and raw. The sweat made him feel sticky. If the truth were told, he enjoyed it immensely.

Idly he decided to check his new unarmed combat stat. “Holy shit, it’s already at level eighty-eight!”

When he was well-rested once more he stood up and went back to the bag. He checked his hands and noticed that they were no longer red and sore. That was certainly interesting. It seemed that not long after reaching full hit points he was completely healed.

Scott started pounding on the bag again. The counter dropped rapidly, and it only took a few minutes to finish up. He started to grow tired after a few hundred punches, just like before, but since he only had twelve hundred punches left he stuck it out till the finish.

Three hours and a few minutes after he started, Scott landed his ten-thousandth attack. The counter shut down and a brief fanfare erupted. A message screen popped up that announced that he had reached novice level in unarmed combat. His unarmed combat skill level had reset to one, but he had gained an additional point in strength, agility, vitality, and durability. His attacks were ten percent more damaging as well. The best part was that he had gained another level!

“Sweet. I wonder how much I still suck?” Scott looked at his status and noted that the points had been applied to his stats. He had to admit that he did feel slightly stronger overall.

The message screen popped up requesting that he apply the new points he had acquired from leveling in a very specific manner. “So, I need to raise intelligence, charisma, and luck, to ten.”

He did as instructed. There was little choice since he was not able to add them anywhere else. Another arrow popped up. This time he was led to a charming little shack on the edge of a pond.

A new screen popped up. He chose to read it aloud since he was a little lonely. “You have spent several hours at hard labor, training. Please rest inside. If you take a nap you will be pleasantly surprised.”

Scott followed the advice of the message screen and entered the shack. The interior consisted of a table, a bed, and a small kitchen. He saw food on the table and immediately gravitated toward it. “Ah, this is for me then?”

There was a note left on the table. When he opened it up he was informed that the food was his to eat. “Strange, that they did not use a message screen.”

He washed his hands in the kitchen sink. The water turned on and off by itself. This little shack was quite modern if it had motion sensing technology for the sinks!

The food proved to be quite tasty. He had not realized just how hungry he was. Now that he was stuffed, he believed that the message screen had the right idea. He needed to rest a little.

He slipped into the bed, pulled the covers tight, and took a little nap. When he woke up a new screen appeared. He had gained three points in strength, agility, and vitality for his hard physical exertions! He would be able to increase his stats after hard training whenever he rested for the evening. Since he was in training mode currently, that process had been sped up. Usually, this sort of increase would require a full night’s rest.

“That is great to know. It seems like everything but faith and durability has reached ten points.”

Scott had a strong suspicion that this was the goal of the training exercise. He would probably reach the ten point mark in all stats, possibly even reach level ten.

A new message screen appeared. This one warned him that he would now have to fight a monster. If he chose not to fight monsters in the future due to taking up a non-combat profession, that would be his choice.

“So, it has come to this?” He followed the arrow and read the various messages that popped up. Monsters were elemental creatures that manifested in this world at various points known as spawning sites. Each monster species had its own territory and rarely left.

Monsters were essentially immortal, just like player characters. They lost a level when defeated but respawned in their territory. This meant that monsters near human habitats were often quite weak due to constant hunting, but monsters in distant locations would be numerous and much stronger.

He reached a location that reminded him of a back yard arena. It was a large circular area made of dirt and sand.

Scott walked into the arena and a column of light surrounded the area. He pressed his hand against that light and realized that it was a barrier. There was no way out.

The message screen that appeared told him that he would have to fight a weak monster here. When the monster was defeated he would be able to leave.

“What, I’m supposed to punch or kick it?” What kind of crap was that? Sure, he had unarmed combat skill, but that’s because he had not found a weapon when he first went to get the training this stupid tutorial offered!

Motes of light appeared suddenly in the far side of the arena. They drew together and formed into a radiant outline of a four-legged creature. When the light faded a small turtle-lizard thing had appeared.

It did not immediately attack, so Scott was uncertain what to do. It was not in his nature to just walk over and punch a random lizard. He wasn’t hungry so he didn’t see a reason to kill it, either.

The message screen suggested that he use his observation skill. He did so.

“This thing is a dragon? It’s so small!” The thing was the size of a chicken, a small chicken at that!

The dragon roared, but the sound came out more like a menacing gurgle. “Graaaoorrrgh!”

“Bring it, hand bag.”

The little dragon-thing ran toward him at breakneck speed … for it. It jumped toward Scott but the man easily turned to the side. The lizard was faster than any turtle had a right to be, but it was still not very fast.

It jumped toward Scott again, and he moved out of the way once more. This pattern repeated a few more times. The wanna-be dragon did not seem to have any more talents. Scott finally decided to try hitting it.

The next time it jumped at him, he turned away just like before. This time, however, he kicked at it while it passed. The hard-shelled monster flipped over from the attack and landed on its back.

It tried its best to right itself, but it wasn’t able to move properly. Scott felt bad for it for a moment. Then he remembered that it had been trying to kill him this whole time. His foot stomped down, hard.

He repeatedly stomped the squealing thing until it shrilled loudly one final time, then stopped moving. It quickly dissolved into the same motes of light from before then faded away. In its place were three coins and a piece of shell.

A brief fanfare erupted and a new message popped up. “Congratulations on defeating your first monster! You have earned three copper coins, and found a piece of loot. Use your identification skill to learn more.”

The light barrier disappeared. Scott left the arena then checked the piece of shell. He learned that it was a useful item for crafting purposes. It can be used to create armor or shields if he gathers enough pieces.

A new message appeared. Now that he had a piece of loot he could access his inventory menu. Scott immediately called out, “Inventory!”

A new screen popped up. The inventory window acted as a method of organizing his goods and items. Following the onscreen prompts he clicked on an empty slot. The inventory screen asked if he wanted to store the items in his hands. He said, “Yes.”

The shell and coins disappeared and a new icon appeared in the location he had chosen. “Well, obviously that is possible. Real world my butt.”

The coins had been registered as part of his wealth. After further review he noted that his inventory could house ten separate objects and twenty of each object. He learned that if he wanted more space he would need to purchase a bag or pack. “Seems legit.”

He shrugged then looked around for a new arrow. What he saw was another message screen. This one suggested that he might want to go back to the arena and use his identification skill.

Scott walked back into the sand pit and followed the advice of the screen. He didn’t see anything special. He tried a few more times, and nothing happened. It was not until he looked in the general area that the monster had been at when he beat it that he finally saw something. A treasure chest faded into view!

“Seriously?” He walked over and opened it up. Inside the chest he found a change of clothes, a set of boots, a backpack, a canteen, and oddly… there was also a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.

He changed his clothes when prompted, when he chose to wear the backpack a new screen appeared. “I see, so I can carry one hundred pounds of items without feeling the weight. That makes perfect sense.”

Scott attached the canteen to the side of the backpack with a D-ring attachment that the pack had. The treasure chest faded from view and an arrow popped up to lead him away once more.

He followed the arrow to various places and continued to learn about the world. Eventually, he returned to the cabin once more and was released from the tutorial after being instructed to go inside and receive one final present.

“It’s a book?” Scott lifted the book and read the title. It was a history and manual for various aspects of the world.

“So, after I read this I will be allowed to do any training that I want until my twenty-four hours is up.” He sat on the bed and leaned against the wall. The day had been very tiring. It was hard to believe that it was only four in the afternoon.

Scott opened the book and began to read. A bright light erupted from the text. The book dissolved into that light. The radiance flowed toward him in a stream and pierced his body. He could not move, only accept what was happening.

Words, images, intimate knowledge of the world and its nature filled his senses. When this bizarre memory upload ended, he knew the names of popular towns and professions. He possessed an education similar to an average citizen. He even knew about the strengths and weaknesses of common monsters and weapons in the region he would travel to on his next visit to this world.

“That was intense!” Scott looked around, wild-eyed. He began to recognize certain things by name that he had misunderstood before. The motion sensitive sinks, for instance. They were powered by crystallized elemental energy. It regulated its energies for human usage. All powered systems in this world were like that!

A new message screen popped up. He checked it out and nodded. There were optional objectives that he could undertake if he wished.

“Dungeon exploration training sounds useful.” Scott clicked on that option and a new arrow appeared in the air. He followed the arrow and moved on to his next training location. Life in this strange land would require that he know many things that he had not had knowledge of before.

The dungeon was not that far from the cabin, less than a mile. He stared at the structure before him then shook his head. “Seriously? They call this a dungeon? It looks like a dilapidated shopping mall.”

The message screen popped up again and he could not help but laugh when his suspicion was confirmed. “Forgotten mall, huh?”

Scott followed the prompts that the screen sent out. First, he checked the immediate surroundings from the outside. This shopping mall had few exterior windows, so stealth surveillance was not an issue. When he did come to a window he was cautioned to move carefully.

He peeked through the window briefly, saw nothing, and then crawled past it to avoid being seen if he had missed anything. There was little of interest outside of the mall at first, but he did find one thing that unsettled him. It was a corpse!

“What the hell?” Scott inspected the dead body and saw multiple claw and bite marks. It was like a thousand tiny animals had worked it over. It was badly decayed. He could not tell if it was a woman or a man. He could not even tell if it had been human!

He nearly left the corpse where it was, but he remembered something from before. “Identify.”

The corpse became illuminated in red light for a moment. Several smaller points of light appeared in different locations on the body. Scott held his nose closed and leaned down to check them out. He found eighteen copper coins, a small dagger, a pistol, and a piece of paper.

He held the pistol up and stared at it. Since the memory upload he had known that this world had guns. However, he also knew that they were rarely used by anyone outside of city patrols and professional militias. They were considered weapons with little use outside of hunting weak monsters or fighting low-level bandits.

“Eight shots left, a thirty-eight caliber pistol. Hmm, only an attack power of one hundred forty? Even a rock was attack power one.” The idea that a thirty-eight caliber pistols only produced a little over one hundred forty times the power of a simple rock was not an easy one to accept.

He considered the weapon for a moment then placed it into his inventory. It could break with a few more uses and he had little ammunition. It would need to be used sparingly for emergencies. The knowledge that he had acquired told him that a weapon with an attack rating of 140 would be suitable for use till around level forty or so. Properly equipped weapons usually needed to be in a range of 3-4 attack points per level to remain useful.

The sheet of paper turned out to be the words for a basic torchlight spell. Scott followed the instructions and held up his hand, palm up. “Gather here, spirits of the sun. Dance above my hand. Bring light to the darkness.”

Nothing happened, not that he had expected that it would. It would be too simple to be able to cast a spell solely because he knew the words.

The message screen had other ideas, however. He read the information that it provided then he smirked. “Now that’s convenient.”

Since he had chosen to take the dungeon exploration option he would be granted this spell for free. Normally, he would need a real spell-book, actual training, or something similar to use a spell. He gained the torchlight creation spell immediately afterward.

“Oh, so that’s what I did wrong.” Now that he knew the spell, he knew how it operated. It could not be used in broad daylight. He would have to use it in a darker area. It was still too easy, but it was a game world so who was he to judge?

Scott walked away from the disgusting corpse then remembered to check his knew knife. The blade proved to have an attack power of twenty-seven, and a durability of eighteen. He kept it out despite having no dedicated knowledge of using a knife. It was still stronger than his natural unarmed combat skill. That skill relied on raw strength as the base, so even with his ten percent bonus he only had an attack power of eleven.

He quickly slid into the dungeon entrance and looked around. There were no immediate threats, but it was darker inside. He tried his light spell again. This time, the spell activated and took twenty points of his mana with it. He had no other use for it right now, but the sheer amount of mana that it took was a cause for concern. The spell lasted only ten minutes per use, after all. Even if he rested, that would give him one hour of exploration time at most.

The sphere of light that he created drifted upward and hovered several feet above his head. The shadows fled wherever the man walked. The ancient shopping mall was not a particularly large structure. He found no monsters, and it seemed like there was nothing left to scavenge.

After a half hour of wandering, a new message screen popped up. It congratulated him on successfully navigating the entire dungeon. He gained twenty EXP, and an additional point of faith. Why he gained faith from wandering in a shopping mall was anyone’s guess. Still, it was not bad. He’d gained two new weapons, a little money, and light spell from the corpse outside. The inside was empty, but the trip was not a total bust. The weapons were only a rusty knife and a battered baseball bat. Neither seemed to be worth much, but they were loot.

He left the Forgotten Mall and went back to the cabin. He ate dinner and rested for a few minutes to completely recharge his mana. Normally that would take much longer, but the nature of the cabin and the tutorial sped the process up greatly.

“Lessee, I could go learn about survival skills. There is also the magic tutorial, the pet tutorial, mapping skills, and capturing monsters.”

Scott considered the choices then chose to learn survival skills first. If he was going to be living in this game world soon, he would need to be able to survive.

The arrow led to a small clearing. Message screens began to pop up. They instructed him on the basics of starting a fire, first aid for minor injuries, foraging for edible plants and insects, and simple weapons or armor maintenance. He also learned how to fish, set traps for small game, and cook. There were many minor things that were also mentioned such as purifying water, and blazing a trail. When he was done he was granted the skills: survival lore, first aid, cooking, fishing, trapping, and camping.

“Man that was a lot of stuff to learn.” Now that he had the skills, though, he remembered everything that he had been taught. That was weird but useful.

The mapping tutorial was fairly straight-forward. He acquired a mapping skill that automatically generated a map for him to call up. Whenever he entered a new area, the map would automatically fill-in as he wandered around.

The magic tutorial was interesting, but very short. He followed the arrow to the proper location and read a book on magic. Rather, he started to read the book and it dissolved into a stream of light that pierced his body then automatically uploaded the necessary basic skills. He now had a mana manipulation skill to work with, and understood the basics of magical energy usage.

Roughly two hours had passed and he had nearly finished the available tutorials. The only ones left were pets and monster capturing. He chose the pet tutorial.

The pet tutorial arrow led him to yet another clearing. However, in this one there sat three pedestals. Each pedestal had a book sitting upon it. He read each book when instructed, and learned how to tame, train, and increase the level of pets.

A new message popped up asking if he would like to summon a pet from the monster world. Scott shrugged. The information seemed a little odd to him regarding pets, especially the part about intimacy levels. Still, he could use a little furry mascot. “Yes.”

The arrow popped up and led him to a small altar nearby. “I have to place an item on the altar that is of the family of monster that I wish to summon?”

He did not really have anything from a monster except for that piece of dragon-turtle shell. Uncertain if it would work, Scott placed the shell onto the altar. A new message popped up. He read it aloud. “This item will require four levels of experience to be expended in order to summon a pet.”

“What? Are you serious? These things are only supposed to require a small amount of experience!” The information he had learned, claimed that the power level of a summoned pet would be based on the amount of experience required. Most required one hundred experience points or less, but four levels worth of experience, was many times that amount for him at present. Four levels… what kind of monster would this thing summon?

“Yes, go ahead.” They were only levels after all. He could gain them back. He might not have a chance to get a strong pet again for a while.

He could feel the strength rapidly drain from his body. His attributes dropped by four points each. He felt weaker, less substantial. It would have been hard for him to describe it beyond that. At least he was still at a low-level. The cost was not that high.

When the experience drain stopped, the scale began to glow. Soft, whimsical music began to play in the background. It shifted then transformed into a small spherical crystal with a strange runic design floating in the center.

Scott reached out and took the little marble. “What’s this?”

He used his identification skill and discovered that it was a monster capture sphere that was designed specifically for dragon type monsters. “Wait, it’s empty? I just used up four levels for an empty ball!”

He was all set to start a tirade about the idiocy of such a system but a new message screen popped up. After reading through it he understood what had happened.

Scott raised the sphere then nodded. “I guess I know what my beginning class will be, then.”

The spheres could only be activated by monster trainers. They were people who specialized in capturing and training pet class monsters. He would have preferred a more direct combat oriented class, but it was not like this one would prevent him from developing those skills. If anything, bonding with monsters would increase his stats.

“You know, it’s kind of weird, though. It was like this tutorial was set up to herd me toward this class. Ah well, I’m getting paid to be here and it’s fun anyway.”

Scott went back to the cabin and chose to take the monster capturing course. After following the arrow to an open field outside the forested area he was greeted to the site of a large number of dragon-turtles. A new message screen popped up. “I see. If I defeat enough monsters of a similar race a boss monster might appear. It might not always happen in the actual world, but here it will work without fail.”

He stopped talking to himself for a moment then felt mildly embarrassed. Speaking his thoughts aloud was a nervous habit. Scott had spent a lot of his time alone in one way or another. During his tenure in the army he was stuck on staff duty frequently. He’d often be the only one awake since the lieutenant and the other soldier on duty would often find a way to take a nap. Honestly, even when other people were around he had felt alone most of his life.

Talking to himself was a way to vent his frustrations and work out ideas. Some people had thought he was not quite right in the head, but he liked to hear his thoughts spoken aloud.

The world was too real, though. He did not mind hunting or fishing for food, but killing random wild animals for fun and profit disturbed him. Scott knew on an intellectual level that he would have to get over that sentiment. This was only a game right?

Dragon-turtles were slow monsters. They did not seem very aggressive either. This was good for Scott since he was unarmed and wore no armor. He did not want to risk damaging the few weapons that he had acquired since they were all fairly close to breaking.

He heard a hiss to his left. Scott turned quickly and saw a dragon-turtle that had somehow snuck up on him. He needed to pay attention.

The turtle monster lunged at him, but it was even slower than the one he had fought before. He missed his first opportunity to flip it onto its back, but the next time it attacked he succeeded in knocking it down. These turtles were not very strong opponents at this point.

Scott picked up the handful of coins that it dropped and stuck them into his inventory. There was no piece of shell to retrieve this time.

Slowly, he moved beyond his indecisive and passive nature and began to lure turtles toward him one or two at a time. His timing was not perfect. Sometimes a lunging monster would manage to tag him on the shoulder, or they would only jump a short distance and lash out with their tails. Scott learned to move out of the way during short jumping attack sequences. The tails hurt quite a bit despite their small size. It was like being whipped with a leather belt.

Several hours passed and he gained two levels in the process. After a rest period he went back to work. He lost track of the number of dragon-turtles he had defeated, but it didn’t matter. He would only be able to force a boss monster to spawn if he killed enough of them.

He still did not know how that worked. Where did they spawn from? Were they created from thin air? He knew they respawned after being defeated, but the mechanics of it escaped him.

Scott defeated one more turtle then started to collect his loot. A bright light suddenly erupted a few feet from his location then coalesced into a surprisingly human form.

He stared openly at the new arrival. She was stunning! She had glossy red hair, bright green eyes, and a body that could not have been the product of nature. Scott could not believe what he saw. No woman could look that perfectly fit and yet have curves like that!

She looked at him then smirked. “Seriously? You’re the idiot who’s got these little guys in a snit?”

“They’re in a snit?”

“Well, yeah. You keep killing them and forcing them to respawn! How would you like it if they went to a human area and killed your people willy-nilly?”

Scott felt sick to his stomach. He knew it was a game, but this was ridiculous. How could he allow himself to act like that!

She stretched then twisted her head back and forth. “So, the way I see it… either you’re just an asshole, or you had a reason to do this.”

He didn’t trust his voice so he just took out the sphere he had earned earlier and showed it to her. Her eyes widened and her demeanor changed instantly.

“Oh! Why didn’t you say so! You wanted to fight me, huh?”

He shuddered at how casually she said that. Why would he want to fight with a girl, any girl?

She laughed then ran her hands seductively down the length of her body. “It’s understandable. I’m a good catch, don’t you think?”

Scott blushed then nodded slowly. What was he supposed to say right now! Why had he become a complete idiot in front of this random beautiful girl?

The girl tapped her chin lightly then grinned. “You know, you’re the first human who didn’t just rush toward me like a perverted idiot. It’s almost too bad that I have to brutally murder you now.”

He immediately tried to find a better way to deal with this situation! He did not want to fight her if he did not have to, especially since he had a strong feeling that she would beat his ass.

After a brief few seconds of performing mental gymnastics the only thing that came to mind was the food he had stuck in his inventory on one of his trips back to the cabin. “Wouldn’t you rather have a nice picnic?”

“Picnic…?” She looked at him in confusion.

Scott pulled out a basket of fruit, some bread, and a large chunk of ham. “Sure.”

The girl shook her head then her cheeks tinged pink. “Don’t try to fool me into that. It’s a sweet gesture, but I refuse to take food from a human I don’t know.”

Scott tore off a piece of ham and started to chew on it. “But… it’s so good.”

“It is?” A hint of drool began to escape her lips. Was she hungry for real, or did she just like to eat? He did not know, but this was a good sign.

Dragon-turtles began to make whining noises. She looked down at them then sighed. “You’re right. He did pick on you. Even if he’s being nice to me, he was an asshole to the rest of you.”

“Do they want something to eat? I have apples and bananas?”

She asked the turtles and they began to drool too. He had never seen a turtle actually drool before. Was that even possible? This was beyond bizarre.

Scott began taking out all the food he had packed. The cabin always restocked with food whenever he went outside and returned so he had stocked plenty of it in his inventory.

By the time he was done, there were at least twenty turtles and one absurdly attractive girl sitting in a semi-circle around Scott. “I’m sorry that I was being such an ass to you and your friends.”

The girl swallowed a large piece of ham then smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Fighting is something monsters do all the time. They were just mad that they couldn’t beat you.”

“I’m glad that they aren’t mad. It feels weird for me to just attack random creatures, especially cool looking ones.”

She grinned at him. The turtles looked at him and flashed toothy smiles. Apparently they understood human speech just fine. Food and flattery had won them over quite easily. Scott looked at the jagged, carnivorous, smiles of the turtles then grinned back.

The girl spoke up. “My name is Scarlet. I’m the queen of these whiny turtles. Did you really want to capture me?”

“I’m not sure how to explain my purpose. I’m foreign to these lands and was just following instructions that I was given.”

“Instructions given by whom?”

Scott called up a menu screen and showed it to her. She blinked. “Oh, you’re an outlander!”

“Outlander?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, people who come from another world. They are picked to come here for various reasons.”

“People here know about this?”

“Of course. Most people just think of your kind as foreigners wandering the land.”

“What do you think?”

Scarlet smiled. “I don’t know, yet. I’ve only met a few foreigners and they were all perverted assholes that wanted to have sex with me. As if! That’s reserved only for someone who I can trust.”

“Yeah, I hear you. You’re incredibly pretty, but come on guys. Have some tact.”

Her cheeks tinged pink again. “You think I’m pretty?”

“Incredibly pretty, yes.”

She looked down at the ground then sighed. “You’re so nice. You’ve fed us, and apologized even though you didn’t have to.”

“You seem like a nice bunch. I didn’t actually want to hurt anyone; it’s just that I keep getting told that I need to do things. For instance, I was supposed to fight and defeat the turtles here until a boss monster appeared.”

“Yeah, that’s how it works. Prove your strength against her people and the queen will appear so that she can kick your ass.”

“Well, you certainly look like you can kick some ass.”

She giggled at him then shook her head rapidly. The pink tinge on her cheeks turned bright red. “Yeah, I’m strong. I’m a dragon after all.”

“Yeah, that’s what I find odd about this. Growing up I always had a fascination for dragons. They were mostly mythological back home, but they were cool.”

“Really? You like dragons? Most humans hate us!” She leaned forward and looked at him excitedly.

“Why would they hate you?”

She sighed. “Humans hate monsters in general, but dragons are very strong. We’re highly intelligent and only get stronger in time. A lot of the older dragon monsters will take up residence somewhere and demand tribute from humans and other monsters alike.”

“Do they protect the area from outside aggression?”

“Usually, yes.”

Scott smiled. “Well, depending on what the dragon demands, wouldn’t that be a good arrangement?”

“You think so?” She looked at him curiously.

He nodded. “If the dragon isn’t being too demanding, they are essentially just offering their services to everyone living in the region. Sure, they might demand to be seen as the lord of the area or something, but if they provide stability and a place for all people to grow and become stronger then why hate them?”

The dragon-turtles looked at him strangely. Their eyes began to shimmer and then to Scott’s astonishment they began to cry. “What…?”

Scarlet stared at him open mouthed for a moment then took a deep breath. “Wow, you really think so?”

“Sure. Essentially it’s no different than someone taking charge and defending a territory. It keeps out foreign invaders and allows people to build a better life. It might piss people off at first, but if the one ruling the area is a good ruler and largely leaves people alone it does more good than harm.”

The dragon-girl looked away. She began to chew on her lower lip a little and gripped a hunk of her hair. While she did this, the turtles gathered round their queen and simply looked at her.

Finally, she looked at Scott again and said. “Why did you want to capture me?”

“Like I said, I was instructed to capture a boss monster. Ultimately, I suppose this means that I am meant to become a monster trainer. I’m still learning about this world.”

Scarlet sighed then sucked in her lower lip again. The turtles nodded at her then she looked back to Scott. “What would you do if you did capture me?”

“I’m not sure. Fight, train, and get stronger. Maybe conquer the world. I really don’t know.”

“You… want to capture me so you can conquer the world?” She girl began to breathe heavily, her chest heaving up and down.

“Sure, why not? At the least, maybe someday I’ll start my own fortress city or something. I really don’t know what this world has to offer.” It was all just a game, so why not, right?

She grinned at him then blushed even more deeply. “That’s an interesting proposition. If you did take over the world or start a fortress city, would you let dragons visit?”

“If they can behave in public, I would be fine with it. Anyone who isn’t being an asshole could visit, or even live there.”

Scarlet’s eyes widened. “You would build a city where monsters can live like humans?”

“Sure, if they can behave themselves. Of course, humans could live there too but they would have to behave as well.”

She whispered, “A city of our own?”

“You really mean it?”

“If it’s at all possible, but it would take a long time. Something like that would probably cost a lot of money, time, and effort. This is literally my first time visiting this world. Besides, I would want to travel for a long time and see a lot of the world before I settled into one spot.”

Her eyes began to water and her lip quivered. “Would… would you promise to let my turtles come live there?”

“They seem nice enough, and they’re your people. Obviously, they would be welcome.”

The turtles threw their heads back and growled loudly. Scarlet smiled brightly at him. “One last question.”

“OK.”

She leaned forward again, her face bright red and her lips parted. “I’m a monster and a queen of my people. I would need an heir someday.”

“You want to have my babies?” Scott was a little disturbed by how quickly this had escalated.

Scarlet giggled then nodded. “Yeah… we would need to mate frequently.”

“I’m not sure. I mean I have no problem with the whole mating part or anything, but… are you sure that you want to have my babies? You don’t even know me?” Scott took a slow drink of water.

“I know, but you’re the first human to come along that I really want to breed with.”

She had said that so casually that Scott nearly choked on his beverage. When he managed to stop coughing he looked up and said. “I can promise you that if we get along and honestly like each other, I will be happy to … mate with you. We just need to get to know each other before we start having children or anything.”

Scarlet smiled softly. “That’s fair. If that’s your answer then I will gladly give myself to you.”

Scott felt a soft, warm, sensation fill his body. A new message screen appeared. It told him that he had conquered Scarlet, the Dragon Queen. However, he could not accept her offer to become his property without seeing her secret.

“Uhm… this message screen says I have to see your secret before I can accept you.”

“My secret? Oh, yeah. I suppose that’s fair.”

Scarlet stood up then thrust her arms down and made fists. She screamed and an incredible magical force erupted from her body. It washed over the area and nearly knocked Scott over. A blindingly bright light radiated from the core of her body for a moment then she changed.

Scott watched as the gorgeous, and entirely human seeming, girl shifted. She grew slightly taller, wings sprouted from her back, and a long tail with a spear-like point sprouted from just above her ass. Her ears took on an elfin look, and her finger nails became claws.

Scarlet’s skin became iridescent as tiny, nearly imperceptible, scales covered her body. Honestly, it looked more like she had been coated in glitter. She took a deep breath then covered her breasts with one arm. “This is what I really look like.”

She was bigger, more powerful in appearance, but despite the wings and tail she did not seem much different than before. “This is my secret. I know that humans don’t like to mate with mon—“

Scott interjected, “Wow, you were pretty before, but now you’re just awesome.” He really appreciated the graphics engine of this game world! She looked incredibly hot!

“Wah…?” She looked at him, shock evident on her face.

“You, you really don’t mind how I look?”

He leaned back then stared at her incredulously. Had she never seen herself in a mirror? She was like an absurdly erotic fitness model with batwings! “Mind? What are you talking about? You’re freaking hot!”

Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes widened to ludicrous proportions. “No human has ever thought that I looked good in this form.”

“That can’t be true. You’re so pretty it almost hurts to look at you. Your skin is shining in the sun, your hair looks like you stepped out of a salon, and just thinking about the rest of you makes me need a cold shower.” His shyness had worn off, in case you did not notice.

The blush that she had sported earlier returned with a vengeance now. She seemed to be having trouble forming words. All she could do was gurgle.

Scott thought that he had overstepped by saying such things, but he quickly learned otherwise. The dragon-girl hurled herself forward faster than he could react. She wrapped her arms tightly around him and held him in a potentially bone-crushing embrace.

He mumbled something about needing air and her only response was, “Our babies will be so pretty!”

It was his turn to widen his eyes to ludicrous proportions. However, it was not due so much to the fact that he had heard her say such a thing, as the fact that she was crushing him like a soda can.

Slender but powerful arms slid back and away from the man. “There is only one thing left. You need to lay claim to your property.”

Scott was not certain what she meant but when the girl took two steps back then dropped to the ground he began to suspect it would be something perverted. She sat on her heels, leaned back and held her body up off the ground with one hand. The other hand slipped over to rest casually atop her slit.

“Please, complete the contract.”

He stared at the overtly sexual position that she was in for a moment then realized what he was supposed to do. The knowledge of what the situation required surfaced in his mind. He was still developing proper awareness of all the information he had obtained today. Now that this situation had arisen, he had begun to access the deeper knowledge. He followed the directions explicitly.

Scott pulled out the glowing sphere from his inventory and knelt down between her spread thighs. She looked up at him expectantly for a moment. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

She submissively spread her vagina open, giving him full access. Scott dutifully slipped the marble sized sphere into her shockingly pink opening then placed his hand firmly atop his new property. “Scarlet, you are mine.”

The dragon-girl blushed deeply but placed her hand atop his. “Yes, my body is yours for as long as you desire, master.”

Yes, the contract between monster and master required the human master to go balls deep and lay claim to the body and soul of their conquest. Though he had not defeated her in combat, he had won her nevertheless. She had willingly become his property, to use as he desired.

The sphere had to be inserted into the body of the monster. It was too large to swallow easily, and using the back entrance might be unpleasant. This method was the simplest of the three entry methods.

Heat began to radiate beneath his hand. A bright light flared outward around the edges of his palm. Scarlet gasped loudly then started to buck up and down. The light race along her body and she fell to the ground.

She began to pant loudly, lewdly, and moaned lasciviously. Her eyes glazed over with overt lust and she looked to him to finish the task at hand.

Monsters had incredible physical prowess, enough to kill a human by accident. Now that she belonged to him, Scott had the responsibility to build intimacy with her. Having claimed her, Scarlet’s body demanded that she give herself to her new owner in an act of total submission.

She wantonly spread her thighs further then began to whimper at him. Her other hand reached down. She used both of her hands to tug at his. “Please, master.”

Scott had serious misgivings. For one thing, there were a few dozen turtles watching him. Their lewd grins were disturbing to say the least.

He looked down at the girl, her chest heaved and her body glistened in the light. Her face flush with desire and the gleam in her eyes, she was not faking her desire. She looked as though she would die if she did not have sex immediately. The worst part was the fact that Scott could not be sure if she wouldn’t! This world had become far more insane than he had thought it would be.

“If I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it right.” He moved his hand from her radiantly glowing pussy and slid them up to grasp her luscious breasts. She cried out excitedly then began to pant once again.

“You’ve never been with anyone before?”

She could barely speak at this point, but she managed to shake her head and say, “No, no one.”

Scott leaned down and kissed her aching love mound tenderly. His tongue deftly party her slit then slid slowly forward. Her sudden outcry was deafening. The simplest touch had driven her to scream out. He did not know if she had enjoyed it or if he was killing her, with such a reaction.

Gently, he found the place he desired and he began to suck on her nub. His tongue undulated inside of her while he deftly administered to her aching pussy. He continued to massage her breasts, as well, and the combined attention was nearly too much for the girl.

She began to cry, and he nearly stopped because of it. “N-no, keep going please master.”

Realizing that her pleasure threshold was set ridiculously low, Scott decided that he should be gentle with her. She might not survive rough treatment at this point. He had never known anyone who became this aroused by simple oral intercourse, but he had to admit that it made him feel good about himself.

He continued to pleasure her vagina for a few minutes then pulled back. She immediately looked up at him and unleashed a devastating pout. Scott smiled at her then reached down to lightly stroke her slit with his thumb.

Slowly her panting subsided and she looked at him tenderly. He smiled back at her sweetly then said, “Do you want this?”

She nodded quickly, but he shook his head. “Tell me.”

Scarlet pursed her lips briefly then said, “Yes.”

“What do you want?”

She didn’t seem to understand how to answer so he reached forward and took her hand. He gently pulled it to his crotch. “Tell me what you want.”

Scarlet stared at his crotch like it had suddenly caught on fire. “I- I want it.”

“What’s it?”

She swallowed hard then whispered, “Your… your...”

“Say what you want from your master.”

Her face turned bright red but she managed to say, “I want master to claim me.”

“I’ve already claimed you, Scarlet. What do you want your master to do to you? You know the words to say.”

She gasped a little then whimpered, but finally she said, “Scarlet wants her master to fuck her.”

Scott was mildly disturbed that she had spoken in the third person, but it was kind of cute. “Fuck her where?”

She put her hand on top of her sopping wet mound, but her master shook his head. “Say it.”

“My… pussy.” She bit her lower lip then looked up at him.

Scott clasped her hand, took it back to his crotch and directed her to take down his pants. She readily did as asked, and took down his underwear to boot. What they saw next was a source of astonishment for both of them.

“Master, it’s huge!”

Scott stared at his unholy penis and could not fathom what he saw. That was not his dick! He was a fairly average guy in that regard, decent but nothing to write home about. This, this thing, it looked like someone had installed horse parts. Alright, that was an exaggeration, but it was still much bigger than it had any right to be.

“Do you mind that?” He asked her carefully. He wouldn’t be upset with her if she suddenly called it all off due to absolute penis terror. He certainly would not want that great evil thing shoving in and out of him if he were a girl.

She rapidly shook her head then gripped it gently. “I did not know it would be so big.”

Scott leaned forward and draped his absurdly large dick atop her pussy and let her take a good look. Her eyes widened and she looked concerned.

“In... me... that is going to be inside me?”

“Put it in.”

“Me…? Ok.” She slid her hand along his meaty shaft a few times to find the best grip then hesitantly slid the tip between her pussy lips.

She cried out in shock when he slid forward and went balls deep into her glorious mound. They were both surprised that it actually went most of the way in. Scott at least, had assumed that he’d have a lot of extra length left over, but she had taken most of it like a champ.

He began to pump in and out experimentally. Apparently, she had no hymen to tear but since she was not human he did not assume she had lied about being a virgin. Besides that, she seemed like an active girl and that sort of thing could tear a hymen anyway.

She began to cry a little and he assumed he was hurting her. Scarlet shook her head quickly then smiled at him. “No, it’s not that. I’m just happy.”

Scott blushed at the girl then started to swivel his hips in a rhythmic manner. He had learned many simple techniques that would make an average dicked guy stand out in the bedroom. While he had not had as many chances to actively practice those techniques as he would like, he certainly gave it his all whenever the opportunity arose.

She moaned and began to pant again. The sensations flowing through her were pure sexual electricity. Sextricity? Who knew what she would think to call it later. Right now, it felt like her body was on fire and she was about to explode.

Scott slid his hands up to massage her tits again, and continued to rock his hips in a smooth circle while pumping gently into her aching pussy. His balls occasionally teased her asshole as he managed to shove deeper into her queenly vagina at varying intervals.

It was not long before she erupted in a geyser of orgasmic bliss. Her love fluids gushed out, flooding her master’s pelvic region even as her body arched upward. She screamed long and hard at the top of her lungs.

Scott thought for sure that her turtle minions would take offense to the things he was doing to their queen, since they had all gathered round and come closer. He saw, however, that they were all grinning like perverts. “You like what you see?”

The turtles nodded happily and he grinned at them. The perverted little assholes had loved seeing their queen get pounded. Briefly, he wondered if dragon-turtles masturbated or had wet dreams. His questioning thought was answered when he noticed a few of them rubbing against the ground.

That was not exactly a turn-on but, whatever. He had a duty to fulfill.

He looked down at the panting queen and saw that she was looking away with a far-off gaze evident in her expression. After a full minute she slowly turned her head to look up at him. “More.”

Scott laughed softly then squeezed her tits. Scarlet was a pretty cool chick.

Chapter 3: Winning

The hustle and bustle of daily life in a city was disturbing for Scott. He had grown up in a rural area and loved the quiet and the freedom to pee outside anywhere he liked. Now, however, his quiet little country trailer was like a silent tomb.

Scott sighed loudly then looked at the clock on the wall. He had been back in this world for nineteen hours now. He had tried to sleep a short while ago, but he could not. The reality of his situation was too much to ignore.

As was his custom, Scott began to talk to himself. “It was all real. Either I am in a coma right now, or it was all real.”

He ran his hand down his chest then gripped the waist-band of his stretch pants. A quick peek at the goods stashed behind the thin fabric was all the proof that he needed.

When Scott had returned to this world he quickly discovered that his body stayed the same basic shape that it had been after the tutorial. No amount of virtual reality would allow him to lose thirty pounds or gain several inches of dick.

Of course, that led to a lot of awkward questions after his return. People he had seen briefly in recent days had noticed when he returned home. More than one no doubt believed that he’d had some sort of fat reduction surgery.

“I can’t summon monsters or use learned powers here, but I can still access my message screens and the auction.” He was not certain about the monsters and powers, but the people at Alterra had told him that he was not strong enough to do so. None of the testers had managed it yet, either.

He called up the auction screen and decided to look through it. He had no money to buy and no items worth selling. Still, it made sense that things for sale on the site were so expensive. This was no game. It was a truly living world. How such a thing was possible, he could not say. The fact still remained that everything he experienced had been real.

Scott had a little over three thousand dollars remaining. He’d paid off his bills for the month and sent money to his mother to help her out a little. She struggled a bit since his father had died.

“Maybe, I could buy something? I should save this money, but if there is anything available that can help me out, it might be worth it.”

The auction house was sparsely populated with items worth mentioning. There was a lot of junk, or rather what appeared to be junk. Alterra had only hired a few thousand beta-testers, and all of them were recently allowed into the game.

The most expensive item was a sword. “Iron blade of the Cat?” He looked at the statistical information provided and nodded. It added ten points to agility, did minor electrical damage, and granted far-sight, a skill that allowed the user to remotely view distant locations or people.

He stared at the sword’s image for a moment then his eyes widened in recognition. “It looks like a poor man’s Sword of Omens!”

Yes, it was not an exact replica of the famed sword from the Thundercats series, but it certainly could be seen as a reasonable knock-off production. He quickly searched through other expensive items and saw that many of them had visual aesthetics that were reminiscent of popular items from videogames and other entertainment.

“This is either bullshit or the coolest thing ever.”

It wasn’t until he reached the monster section of the auction that he shuddered openly. There were girls for sale! Scott immediately felt a knot rise up from his stomach to sit in the back of his throat. He thought that he might vomit, but the feeling slowly subsided.

“What the hell! You can’t just buy and sell people!”

He looked closely at the auction ads, fuming the whole time, but his anger began to fade. Most of the ads mentioned the need to find the girl a better situation due to incompatible natures.

“Incompatible natures?” He thought about that for a moment. Monsters needed intimacy with their masters to grow stronger. Fighting and gaining levels would help, but their true powers only emerged after developing a strong bond. If you are not compatible with your monster then it will be hard to be intimate with them. Though, Scott suspected that many of these girls were probably just captured to be sold and the intimacy issue was just an excuse.

His knowledge of pet and monster care told him that these girls would remain in stasis, trapped within the sphere of light that they are bound too during the contract. They could be trapped in there forever if they are not bonded to someone else.

He refreshed the site and noticed that several girls, and surprisingly a few monster guys, had been added to the list. However, many others had been removed, a sold tag placed over their information screen.

Scott struggled with his inner American. He did not like the idea of buying and selling people, but these monsters deserved to find good masters or to be set free. As much as the basic idea disturbed him, he had to admit that it was simpler to sell them off than it was to try and build a relationship with someone incompatible.

“I really need a strong team if I plan to hunt monsters. I can’t just have a picnic every time I meet a monster king or queen. They’ll annihilate me.”

Despite his misgivings he searched the monster auction section thoroughly. The prices were far too high, however. Even a level one mouse was over two thousand dollars. She was cute, but he could probably catch one himself if he just went into a cave or something.

“I’ve become a professional monster tamer and trainer. Yet, I barely know what I’m doing.” Scarlet was strong, but he knew that there would be a problem working with her for a while. She was actually too strong.

While it did not cost any mana to keep her manifested most of the time, the moment they entered into a combat situation he had to expend mana equal to her level just to keep her manifested. She was level twenty-two. At her level that meant twenty-two mana per second had to be spent. He could keep her manifested in battle for a grand total of four seconds. She was powerful, but it was useless at the moment. He needed to train his mana!

Scott thought about his monster for a moment then changed the auction site page to one that showcased skill books. Maybe there was a skill for sale that would allow him to train mana more effectively? The torchlight spell was good to train at night or in the dark, but it could not be rapidly used. He could call it and it lasted several minutes, then he could call it again. What he needed was a spell or skill that could be spammed.

As with most of the auction, the skills were primarily junk or things that he already could do. Magic based skills seemed to be in short supply. Either this meant that a lot of people were mages, or most were not. He could not be sure. Skill books might also be rare for certain types of skills.

“I’m a monster trainer. That means that even though it is important for me to become as strong as possible, my real skill lies in keeping my pets fully ready to fight.” Scott mused on this for a moment then delved into the spell book section.

“Junk, junk, junk. There are so many torchlight spells up here!” He did eventually discover a few spells that might be good to work with, but their price tag for buying without bidding was prohibitive. He did not want to bid at the moment. He absolutely needed to buy something. In the future, bidding would be better than outright purchasing most of the time, he was sure.

“Eighteen hundred dollars for a simple defensive aura spell? Two thousand for a first circle healing prayer spell?” He shuddered at the costs. He could buy only one, but he needed at least one of them.

He looked at the information screen carefully and made his choice. The defensive aura was like torchlight. It could be used once, and then lasted for a short time. You could not stack the spell and could only cast it again once it wore off. The healing spell only worked to heal an incredibly small amount of hit points, but working with it would raise intelligence, charisma, and faith over time.

“If it only heals a small amount, then I can probably train my unarmed combat skills till my knuckles are bloody and raw. Use the healing spell to heal, then train some more.” Scott told the empty air his plans then chose to purchase the spell.

Once he clicked the buy button, he entered his information, and the request for payment appeared. He was not certain how to pay for his item, since he had the money primarily in cash. Strangely, however, there was an option for cash purchase.

A message screen popped up, followed by a circular plate that floated in mid-air. “Please present the money.”

Scott looked at the message for a moment then retrieved his wallet. He placed the money onto the plate and the sale registered as complete. The plate, and his money, disappeared immediately. In its place a new plate appeared. Atop it sat a skill book entitled, “Divine guidance in trying times. Volume I”

He took the book and the plate disappeared. “So, this is a skill book?”

He opened the book and nearly dropped it in surprise. He had seen the effect of opening skill books before in the game, but he had not expected that the same thing would happen on Earth!

The light of knowledge streamed into him and after the mental dust cleared he was able to completely understand the basics of divine healing and restoration. He had gained the ability to lay hands on the injured and provide them solace through divine grace.

Of course, the power was restricted on Earth. He was not strong enough to use his abilities here and might never be.

Scott quickly checked his spell list and grinned. The information for healing prayer was listed. “I can heal three hit points per use at this level of skill. That’s absurdly low, but kind of perfect for training purposes.”

Each use would cost him ten mana, however. Over time it would become more powerful, but right now he could use it ten times or so without running out of mana.

The grin that crossed his face was both feral and delightful. He was excited and really could not help himself. He planned to stay in the other world for at least three days next time. There was no time limit. He would be able to stay there for as long as he wanted, but once there he had to remain for twenty-four hours, and the same was true for when he came back here.

He still had a life here, as limited as it was. He had family even if he did not have any real friends that he would miss enough to never return to the other world. Plus, he could only access the auction site here. That could prove useful in the future.

Scott looked at the auction site and then checked his clock once more. The waiting was terrible, but the time would come soon. He already knew that he had passed the tutorial with flying colors. Alterra was happy with his actions.

“So, a whole new world to explore, a world filled with monsters, danger, and hot girls that are into hardcore sex in public. Sounds like my kind of place.” Scott shut down the auction site, leaned back, and smiled. In a few hours he would be able to go on the adventure of a life-time. Sure, he was low-level, and might not be able to gain strength quickly due to the fact that he would no longer be in training mode. That did not matter.

He was a monster trainer, now. In one beautiful day he had gained a kickass new job and acquired a hot love slave. He needed to get a few more monsters on his team soon. That meant that he needed to acquire more absurdly hot girls to kick ass on his behalf. He didn’t even know how to express his perverted joy at such a turn of events.

It was then that a word burst forth from his lips. He raised his hands and shouted, “Winning!” before collapsing back onto the couch. He laughed loudly at his own silliness then looked at the clock. Only a few more hours, yes only a few more hours.

###

Thank you for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won’t you please take a moment to leave me a review at your favorite retailer?

I enjoy writing stories that merge modern pop-culture with erotica. I plan to turn this into an ongoing short story and novella series. If people like the concept well enough, there may even be a web-comic created eventually. If you like the story, tell your friends! It’s the best way to make things happen.

Thanks!

About the Author

Scottie Futch is a former soldier, and current part-time writer. He enjoys anime, manga, comics, video games, and erotic things in general. He can often be seen doing nothing, but he’s always thinking.

Table of Contents

- Chapter I: The Job
- Chapter 2: The Life Tutorial
- Chapter 3: Winning