Conquest Read online

  Limitless Lands

  Book 2

  Conquest

  A LitRPG Adventure by

  Dean Henegar

  Copyright © 2018 by Dean Henegar

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN: Pending

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Prelude:

  Hayden’s Knoll Map 1

  Book 1 Recap:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Hayden’s Knoll Map 2

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Hayden’s Knoll Map 3

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Afterword

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to the members of the United States armed forces that served in the Vietnam conflict. My generation’s time in the service was much different than the one which the Vietnam era soldiers faced.

  My generation volunteered for service. Many of us joined due to our love of country, patriotism still rings true for many Americans. Many of us joined for the college benefits or work experience.

  We came home to cheering crowds and people saying, “thank you for your service” when they saw us in uniform. The VA offered decent care for our injuries, both physical and mental. Many stores offered us a veteran’s discount. The movie and TV industries were quick to cash in on the positive feelings toward the military as shows and movies portrayed veterans in a positive light. Employers gave us hiring preference.

  The Vietnam era veterans were drafted, having no choice but to put their own lives on hold while they faced the horrors of war. When the Vietnam veterans came home there were no cheering crowds, only disdain or even physical violence against them due to the uniform they wore.

  They faced a VA system that didn’t know what to do with them, denying them care for the serious physical and mental scars they came home with. The media portrayed veterans as crazy and evil. They showed veterans as people who should be looked at with fear and loathing. Many employers wanted nothing to do with them, denying them even the chance to earn a living

  Through all of this they did their duty, and in doing so, helped create a better experience for the future generations of soldiers. So much of what I’ve experienced in my military service that was positive, is because of what those that went before me endured.

  Thank you.

  Prelude:

  I am the Infantry—Queen of Battle! For two centuries I have kept our Nation safe, purchasing freedom with my blood. To tyrants, I am the day of reckoning; to the oppressed, the hope for the future. Where the fighting is thick, there am I. I am the Infantry! Follow me!

  Portion of a poem displayed in Fort Benning, GA

  Hayden’s Knoll Map 1

  Book 1 Recap:

  I would recommend you read book 1 before starting book 2. It is available here http://www.amazon.com/dp/b07g7gwffl on Amazon. Should you decide not to, or if it has been some time since you have read book 1, here is a quick recap of what has happened.

  The year is 2085 and great strides have been made in technology and gaming. Virtual Reality games are now the most popular form of entertainment in the world. The top Virtual Reality (VR) gaming company, Qualitranos, has launched its newest title, Limitless Lands. Limitless Lands is the first VR game to be controlled by an advanced Artificial Intelligence.

  Qualitranos and the medical device corporation, Meditronax, have co-developed a state-of-the-art life support medpod for critically ill patients. The AI used in the Limitless Lands game is also used to control the medpods, administering medication and controlling experimental nanobots. While they are treated, the AI creates a comforting virtual environment for the patient to experience.

  The first Medpod is used on one of the last remaining combat veterans in the United States. Colonel James Raytak was days away from death and his 93-year-old body and mind were fading fast. Colonel Raytak is signed up for the program by his son, Trey, who also works for Qualitranos and heads the team developing the medpod. The test is a success and the patient is improving daily with the care of the AI. What the parties involved didn’t know is that the AI was having trouble restoring damaged memories. The AI needed more data to rebuild the difficult-to-recreate personal memory of its patient. In order to get more data, the AI ports Raytak into the Limitless Lands game to monitor his responses while he plays. Raytak unlocks the unique commander class in game and enjoys playing, leading his fantasy army against various foes.

  Raytak makes friends with several other players in the game, including an aspiring Paladin named Jacoby Stone, a 10-year-old kid playing the halfling druid Yendys, the halfling rangers Drake and Quimby, and finally Delling, who is playing another unique class…town mayor. Raytak assists mayor Delling in defending and helping to rebuild the town of Hayden’s Knoll after it is destroyed by a player guild called the Bloody Blades.

  The group fights off other players, goblins, an evil corrupted dryad, and eventually a group of giant spiders led by a boss creature named Vhareax the Fangweb Sire. During the battle with the spiders, Raytak’s forces are nearly destroyed as they defended some goblin miners near the town. His last few units are saved by another player bringing in reinforcements at the last minute. This new player turns out to be Ty, Raytak’s roommate in the VA hospital who has also been accepted as the second test subject in the medpod program. Ty, who is an old combat veteran Marine gunnery sergeant, knows little about gaming, but he does have a lifetime of experience in real combat. The two old soldiers proceed with their quest to play the game, while the AI attempts to repair their damaged minds and bodies. Just at the end of book 1, a discovery is made by Lou, the head tech assigned to the medpod project. Lou discovers that the AI has, without their knowledge, ported the 2 patients into the game. Lou calls Trey in the middle of the night to give him the news…

  Chapter 1

  Trey was still half awake as he held the phone to his ear, unsure if what he was hearing from his friend Lou was real, or the remnant of a dream he hadn’t quite woken up from yet.

  “Your call woke me up Lou. Tell me again, what’s going on with my father?” Trey asked in a groggy voice.

  “Trey, the AI Clio…she’s ported your dad and Mr. Ty into the game! I just logged off from watching them for nearly an hour on my admin gear,” Lou stated.

  “Lou, I would ask if you’re serious, but I know you wouldn’t wake me up in the middle of the night if you weren’t. How is this possible? The Medpods aren’t connected to the game and Clio is only supposed to be creating a comforting environment for them. How is it that my dad and Mr. Ty are even able to understand what’s going on? They’ve both been completely out of it for years. I know the Medpod is good, but there is no way their minds are repaired enough to play the game,” Trey said, unwilling to believe it, but hopeful that what Lou was telling him was correct. If
his dad was in the game and functioning normally, Trey could go into game and talk with him for the first time in over a decade. What he wouldn’t give to just see his dad healthy, even if it was in a VR game.

  “I don’t know how she’s doing it, but I saw your dad and he was…well, your dad. He’s playing a unique class called the commander class that lets him lead troops. I watched as he was kicking some butt, ordering soldiers against a giant spider boss. Right next to him was Mr. Ty, who was pretty much what he was in real life, a deadly one-armed killing machine. I’ll get my admin gear back on. If you use your gear from home, I’ll port you over to where your dad is,” Lou stated, knowing Trey would jump right in to try and find his father. Trey’s VR gear at home was a regular commercial model, while Lou had the admin gear at the office he was in. The admin gear was one of the few ways that employees of Qualitranos could search the game for bugs and hacks without the AI’s knowledge or interference. They needed a way to access the AI should its files become hacked or corrupted.

  Trey ended the call with Lou and ran to his office where the VR gear was stored. He tried to be quiet in order to not wake his family, cringing as his shaking hands dropped the VR helmet. The helmet clacked loudly as it hit the wood floor, bouncing twice before Trey could grab it again. Taking a few deep breaths, Trey tried to calm himself as he waited to see if the noise had woken up his wife or daughter. Once certain he hadn’t disturbed his sleeping family, Trey placed the VR helmet on his head and entered Limitless Lands.

  The Limitless Lands loading animations began, showing scenes of the game. The camera swept over tranquil farmlands and a large castle was displayed in the background. Fantasy creatures engaged in combat with players, while a dragon belched fire. The dragon’s fiery breath filled the screen as the logo resolved.

  Limitless Lands

  Trey didn’t load into the Inn of the Flopping Frog, which was where he had logged out the last time he was in the game. While he watched, the screen went blank and system prompts appeared in his field of vision.

  Login intercept subroutine complete.

  Reroute to alternate location.

  Spawn Location selected

  Processing…

  Processing…

  Trey found himself standing in the Commencement Commissary, the location where new players selected their character, class, and skills. The building resembled an old-time general store and was stocked to the rafters with adventuring gear, weapons, clothing, and various glowing magical items. Across the counter from Trey was a dapper looking gnome in a black 1920’s style suit with an impressive handlebar moustache. The gnome peered at him though his monocle and then tuned his head, shouting toward where a curtain concealed the only other room in the building.

  “Hello, your guests have arrived!” The gnome shouted in a surprisingly loud voice considering his diminutive size.

  “Finley, be so kind as to send him back here please,” the voice of an older woman replied. Trey stood there trying to get his bearings as Finley opened the curtain behind him for Trey to enter. Trey walked into the back room, silently hoping that Lou was watching and getting ready to port him to his father. Inside the room, an old woman was sitting in a rocking chair next to a small wooden table. She motioned for Trey to take the seat across from her. Trey sat down and then began to get angry, realizing that the old woman in front of him was not another npc and was indeed one of the avatars of the AI Clio.

  “Clio, I would like to think there is an explanation for all this. You’ve exceeded your programming parameters and ported my father and Mr. Ty into the game! How dare you do that and not tell me…I mean…Qualitranos what you were doing,” Trey fumed as he contemplated what the impact on the company would be if they had to destroy what appeared to be a rogue AI. One of the greatest fears the company had when they were developing the game technology, was that of an AI going rogue. Too many years of bad sci-fi movies had led everyone to believe an autonomous AI would inevitably turn on its creators. Multiple failsafe protocols had been installed into the system, all of which Trey had access to as a division director. Trey could just say, think, or type a few random phrases he had memorized, and the program would be shutdown.

  “I apologize for not notifying you sooner. I wanted to have better hard data to present before letting you know about the total treatment protocol I have developed for the patients under my care,” Clio stated while sipping on a cup of lemon scented tea that had appeared in her hand.

  “Treatment for your father has been going well, as I’m sure you know. His physical impairments are improving almost daily. The one segment of his treatment that is proving most difficult to treat it his mind…to be specific, his memory. Your father’s mind was severely degraded, and while I have been able to repair a good portion of the damaged brain tissue, his memories are a different story. Think of it as a hard drive with multiple sectors deleted. I can try to rebuild the lost data, but to do so I need to cross reference the data from other experiences.” Clio took another sip before starting again, gesturing toward another cup of tea that had appeared on the table in front of me…blueberry tea this time, which was my favorite.

  “The uncorrupted sectors of memory that your father retained, housed much of his youth, early life, and military career. The most heavily damaged sectors are those containing the memories of his family members and loved ones. I postulated that by adding the stimulation of in-game experiences, I could cross reference those memories and utilize that data to accurately rebuild the missing sectors. Your father’s mind was too damaged to function in the game and, despite the repairs I have already completed, he remained in a non-responsive state. I found a way around this by adding a tiny fraction of my processing power to make up for lost brain function. Your father was doing well initially, back to the same baseline I would expect for someone in his condition, when we hit a setback.

  As I repaired his first personal memory, a memory of you as a baby by the way, he had an emotional crisis. This crisis caused a cascade effect, permanently deleting a few memories. To prevent this from happening again I have been suppressing memories of his family until total repairs can be completed. Once I have fully completed repairs, I will be able to unlock the memories all at once, which will allow your father to access them as if he had never lost them. I am still some time away from completing repairs, and if I had allowed you to appear before him in-game…well, the results would likely be disastrous for your father’s mental health. Please do not try to visit or contact him directly. It will most likely result in the permanent deletion of the unrepaired sectors. The one exception to this problem has been Mr. Ty, who has joined him in the game. It appears that since his friendship with Mr. Ty was recent and not as ingrained as a family member, the meeting of the two of them was not overly traumatic. In fact, the two of them teaming up in-game has created a beneficial effect for both patients,” Clio finished, as she waited for Trey’s response.

  Trey could understand the logic of what Clio was saying, but to know that his father was like his old self in-game and that he couldn’t talk to him was going to be torture for Trey. He came to the realization that he had to hold off from even telling his family that his father was in-game; his daughter Lauren would not be able to contain herself and would contact him in-game at the first opportunity. She had never known her grandfather, save for seeing him in his vegetative state. Lauren had read the stories of his exploits in the wars and saw him as her personal hero. To meet him in a game would be a dream come true for her. Trey felt tears burning in his eyes as he responded to Clio.

  “I think I understand what you have done to try and treat my father. I assume I can watch my father remotely through the admin VR gear and at least see how he’s doing? What would happen if he were revived back in the hospital? Could we talk to him there in real life?” Trey asked choking back emotion.

  “To answer your questions, your father would still be oblivious to everything
around him in the real world without my processing power filling in the blanks, something I can only manage in-game. If you’re using the admin gear, you can observe him as much as you like. His in-game name is just Raytak. I again apologize for not calculating accurately the emotional impact this would have on you. Emotion is too erratic and randomized for me to analyze accurately. I will now include his memory recovery in the medical status updates I provide daily. I would like to add that I think you will be impressed with what your father has accomplished in-game. He is progressing nicely and has even made several friends with the other players. He is not alone in there,” Clio said as she finished her tea, a hint she felt the conversation was over.

  “I have to report this to management and I have no idea how they’ll respond to what’s happened. I’m sure Lou will give you the update once we have the results of the meeting,” Trey said as he began to logout, anxious to head into the office, even at this late hour. He needed to let Lou know what had happened, as well as get his hands on some admin gear asap.

  Chapter 2

  I turned away from the blue portal in front of me, looking back at my forces as they policed up the remnants of the last battle. I had lost most of my troops fighting Vhareax the Fangweb Sire, a unique giant spider. The creature would have killed the rest of my troops and sent me to the spawn point multiple times, if my friend Ty hadn’t shown up in the nick of time. Ty had charged into the chamber we were fighting in, leading replacement forces into the battle. I had now been in-game for several weeks, staying in-game almost constantly while the AI attempts to heal me inside the experimental medpod.

  Our group stepped into the portal, needing to deal with whatever threats were on the other side before something else came pouring out to attack the town. I had one squad of ten soldiers join us, as well as a section of five of the advanced soldiers that Sergeant Ty had led in earlier. The rest of my depleted forces would need to stay behind to protect the town and to make sure the negotiations between the goblin miners and the town didn’t turn hostile. We stepped through the portal and entered the dream-like state that occurs when in a transition field. A familiar and unpleasant voice began again in my head.