Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1) Read online

  “Correct. Well, mostly. There are instances where the Apocosmos and the Cosmos overlap, but let’s not get into that just yet. For now, it’s enough to know that this world neighbors thousands of others that all have a different set of rules. Rules that, at least for you and me, manifest as numbers.”

  “Okay. Then since we’re seeing numbers, does it mean that this Dark Energy is manipulated artificially? And if so, who controls it?”

  “Wow, man. Dark Energy theoretics is way above my head. To be honest, I only know the basics. It’s not like the information is channeled to you in numbers and English. It’s more like the information interacts with you and you decrypt it in the form you find easiest to understand. I know of civilizations who only see pictures, since that’s their only way of communicating. As for who controls it or how Dark Energy was created, again, there are many theories. Some believe in an Overseer god. Others say it’s an ancient pact between the highest of gods. Nobody knows for sure.”

  “You keep saying things like that. The highest of gods? Gods?”

  “Brother, there are so many things you need to learn. But first, let’s get you home. I’ll let my family know you’ve crossed over so that the police will stay out of it.”

  He took his phone out and started typing something. I had so many questions but tried to contain myself and ask only the ones with immediate relevance to my situation.

  “Okay, are the police on this too? And I don’t think the doctors will just let me go even if I can walk out.”

  “The police don’t know anything, but they know enough to leave a poor assaulted man in peace when my family tells them to,” he said as he typed the last of his message and stood up. “And you don’t need to ask the doctor’s permission to leave if you feel fine.”

  He moved one step back and stretched his hands upward, a brief yellow light escaping his core, moving up to the ceiling, and onto me. As soon as the light touched me, I felt a warmth spread over my body.

  “There, you feel better now?” he asked.

  I brought my hands to my face and realized all my wounds had closed, my face was no longer swollen, and my eyesight had returned to its full capacity in both eyes. What’s more, the stitches on the side of my head were gone and a renewed energy flowed through me. There was no pain anymore.

  “I’m sorry I can’t do anything about the mess in your hair,” Leo added.

  “It’s fine,” I said, more questions immediately popping into my head. “Are you a healer? Your class says ‘Mystic’. And what’s up with your level? Why can’t I see it?”

  “Relax. Take Louie and let’s talk on our way out.”

  I did as he suggested, putting Louie on his leash and picking up his pillow. My clothes were dirty, bloody, and torn in places, but they would serve me until I reached my apartment.

  “I’m not a healer exactly,” Leo explained as we walked toward the staircase that led to the ground floor of the hospital. “Mystic is one of several starting classes for spellcasters. We get a wide array of spells until we have our class change. After that, we get more focused on our repertoire.”

  “Kinda like college?”

  “Yes, kind of. Everyone can take on personal quests to upgrade their class when they’re level 20, level 40, and somewhere in the high seventies. And the reason you can’t see my level is because I’m more than ten levels above you and I’m hiding it.”

  “I see. That’s why I could see my aggressor’s level was 11, but I can’t see yours. What is your level then?”

  “Wow. That’s a very personal question, man…” he said as he opened the hospital’s main door for me to exit. “Just kidding. I’m level 19.”

  “That sounds high. Is it high?”

  “It should be much higher,” he said and turned his eyes to the floor. “But, you know, I don’t really feel like XPing much lately. Wanna walk home? I’m sure you have more questions.”

  I nodded and moved over to a tree on the side of the street so that Louie could do his thing. There were so many questions I wanted to ask, and I tried to put the chaos in my head in order.

  “You mentioned texting your family,” I said. “Are they all part of this world too?”

  “Oh, sure! Sure, sure, sure. For generations. We’re one of the biggest guilds in New York.”

  “There are guilds too? I thought that was just how Italian families are.”

  “Well, yes. We are tight because we are Italian. But we’re also tight because of our guild benefits, regular XP, and raiding parties.”

  Not wanting to show how awestruck I was, I held back my fascination with raiding and experience-gathering parties.

  Why am I so excited about this? I shouldn’t be happy about it.

  “So, what’s your next question?” Leo asked expectedly as we started walking the streets of Brooklyn toward my apartment.

  “What would you have me learn first?”

  “Now we’re talking! Pass Louie to me and focus on the things you can see in your periphery.”

  I did as he told me and started to see the health and mana bars again. A second later, more little text tabs floated into my view. There was everything you would expect to see in an MMORPG: Equipment, Inventory, Stats, Logs, and Quests.

  “When I came into the hospital room earlier, I saw you moving your hands around. I used to do that too when I was a kid but you can just move them around with your thoughts, enabling them or disabling them according to what you want to see.”

  I started trying to move them around just by thinking, but was soon interrupted by Leo.

  “Hey, hey! You’ll have time to practice and set up your view later. For now, open your character stats and get ready for a massive info dump.”

  Name: Alexander MacFie

  Race: Human

  Class: Fighter

  Level: 1

  HP : 126/126

  MP: 38/38

  XP : 63.32%

  STR: 40

  DEX: 30

  CON: 43

  INT: 21

  WIS: 11

  MEN: 25

  “I guess the name at least is self-explanatory. You might get titles in the future that you can attach to your name, giving you bonuses, but that’s a different thing. Your class, however, is something that you can choose, in as much it is chosen by you. I guess you’re not a spellcaster?”

  “No. It says I’m a fighter,” I replied. “Is that good?”

  “It doesn’t have anything to do with good or bad,” he said with a smile. “Your class is a representation of how you live your life. Since you go to the gym six days a week, it’s only natural you’re a fighter. But fighter is one of the starting classes. Like I said, once you train and gain levels, you’ll become more specialized at certain weapons and fighting styles.”

  “So I’ll be able to switch to a different class?”

  “Something like that. When the time comes to perform your class-change quest, your class will be upgraded… Again, according to how you live your life and how you fight.”

  “So everything revolves around fighting?” I asked, as he nodded at me to stop at a hot dog stand.

  “Ragazzo, it’s a very cruel world,” he replied casually as he showed two fingers to the guy running the stand, though I saw his face darken. “It really is dog eat dog.” With this last sentence, he took a bite of the first hot dog he was handed and smiled at his perfectly timed pun.

  Under normal circumstances, I would have sent some sarcasm his way, but I had to admit that this whole thing had thrown me off balance.

  “As for the rest of the stats, I’m going to assume we’re seeing the same things since our understanding of game mechanics is similar. HP stands for Hit Points or Heart Points, which translates to your general health, so you need to keep your eye on it.”

  “What happens if it drops to zero?” I asked, already fearing his response.

  “You fall unconscious. And if you’re not healed… well… you die, man.”
r />   “No respawning? That’s brutal.”

  “That, my man, is life. No second chances. Unless of course you get resurrected within a certain period of time. Then you do get a second chance. But classes that can revive are a bit rare.”

  “What’s the time window for resurrection spells?” I asked, holding my breath.

  “A few hours,” he said, to my disappointment. “I’ve read about days, but I’m not sure. In any case, it’s best to make sure you never need to be.”

  “Of course. It still sounds crazy that it’s even possible.”

  “Well, it’s not without cost. At least at higher levels.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If you haven’t yet upgraded to level 20, the Dark Energy won’t let you lose XP if you’re resurrected,” he explained. “But once someone upgrades their class, they’re subject to an XP penalty. They lose a little bit of themselves in the form of XP.”

  He paused to give me a chance to take it in before continuing.

  “In any case, MP is your Magic Points or Mana Points, whatever you want to call them. This is what you use for spells and battle skills, which you probably haven’t received yet. Then you’ve got your experience points as a percentage of how close you are to reaching the next level. And then the hardcore stuff starts. Let’s turn here—it’s quieter.”

  He pointed to a one-way street with old three-story buildings, that was noticeably less busy than the avenue we been walking along so far. Even so late at night, Brooklyn was loud, so the quieter street was welcome.

  “So we got six base stats,” he continued. “STR for Strength—”

  “What do the numbers mean?” I interrupted. “I’ve got 40 in Strength.”

  “They reflect different facets of humankind and your life so far,” he replied. “Mine are slightly different because I’m only half-human and a spellcaster.”

  “They’re set forever?”

  “No, but they’re not easy to raise,” he said and sighed. “Look, man. First, let’s learn how to stand and then you can try running.”

  “Okay,” I replied, realizing I was derailing the conversation.

  “Right. So DEX stands for Dexterity, CON for Constitution, INT for Intelligence, WIS for Wisdom, and MEN for Mentality. Each of the base stats affects multiple things. You don’t need to remember all of them, since you can recall them at any time in the status screen, but it would be good to have an idea of what each of them represents.”

  “Sure, yes,” I said, almost impatient for the lengthy tutorial to get moving. “Strength is my physical strength, right?”

  “Indeed. STR directly affects your Physical Attack which should appear further down in your Battle Stats text box. Actually, let’s sit here so you can call that up as well.”

  We took a seat on a wooden bench on the sidewalk overlooking a small park, our backs against the black iron fence of a building. Louie didn’t appreciate the extra stop before reaching home but was soon distracted by a small portion of french fries that had been discarded directly beneath the bench.

  Not wasting any more time, I mentally focused on what looked like a tab of text in my peripheral vision.

  Battle Stats

  Max HP: 126

  Max MP: 38

  Physical Attack: 4

  Physical Defense: 72

  Accuracy: 33

  Critical: 44

  Attack Speed: 330

  Magic Attack: 3

  Magic Defense: 47

  Evasion: 33

  Speed: 126

  Casting Speed: 213

  HP Regen. : 3.8/minute

  MP Regen. : 1.1/minute

  “Got it,” I said. “Hey, why is my Physical Attack so low? It’s only one point higher than my Magic Attack. And my Attack Speed is by far the largest number.”

  “Your muscles are great for the Cosmos, but without a weapon you won’t do much damage in the Apocosmos. As for the numbers, they don’t make a lot of sense now because you don’t have anyone to compare them to. Rest assured that whatever is presented to you is the Dark Energy’s way of ranking you among all living things.”

  I nodded, though I wasn’t sure I could be further away from actually understanding. A kind of energy that carries all knowledge and manifests parts of it to us was something I could hardly wrap my head around.

  “Okay, next up in your Character Stats is DEX,” Leo continued. “Dexterity affects quite a lot of things. As a fighter, you especially should pay attention to it. It's directly linked to your Attack Speed, meaning how fast you can attack physically, your Critical Rate, that’s your chance of landing a hit on a vulnerable spot, and your running speed. What’s more, your Accuracy when attacking and your Evasion skill at avoiding damage are also related to DEX. And so is your rate of blocking with your shield, if you choose to use one.”

  “Wait, you said shield?” I asked, puzzled. “You mean like a sword and shield? What about guns? A sword-bearer wouldn’t stand a chance against someone with a gun.”

  “Ah, but that’s another way in which the Apocosmos is different from this world. When magic is involved, other things have smaller effects. Firearms, for example, are not nearly as efficient as a good bow and arrow would be. They just can’t dish out enough damage. Don’t ask me to explain it to you, because I don’t understand the specifics either. It’s just one of these things affected by Dark Energy so that the balance and separation between the two worlds are kept intact.”

  “So the Apocosmos kind of resembles a fantasy…” I started and quickly changed my wording. “I mean, the most comparable equivalent video game setting to the Apocosmos would be a fantasy MMORPG?”

  “Pretty much,” Leo agreed. “There is technology but even the firearms equivalents revolve around magic and materials native to that world. But you don’t need to worry about that for the time being. What you need to worry about is CON, or Constitution, since it’s directly related to your Maximum HP and your HP Regeneration Rate. It’s also responsible for things like resistance to certain bodily conditions and how long you can hold your breath underwater.”

  “That’s my highest stat at the moment,” I said, already having my suspicions as to why that was.

  “Well, it’s no wonder with your daily cardio and weights at the gym,” he said, confirming what I’d thought.

  “INT, or Intelligence, is a stat mostly relevant to spellcasters and their Magic Attack, so you don’t really need to think much about it. Wisdom is also mostly for mystics and mages since it affects their Casting Speed and their chances of landing a critical hit with a magical attack. What might be of interest to you is the fact that Wisdom raises your resistance to mind-related conditions.”

  “Are mind attacks by other people something I have to look out for?” I asked, not looking forward to his answer.

  “Not just other people, but monsters as well,” he replied, adding a whole new level to my concerns. “Though I’d say you’re pretty safe in New York. Not many rogue elements around here anymore.”

  “You mean there are some monsters just roaming around out there? How is this still a secret?”

  “There are a few left here and there,” he replied casually, “but most of them were purged thousands of years ago. The most intelligent left for other realms. Any encounters with what’s left are now usually just dismissed as conspiracy theories.”

  “And what about fights like the one I was part of? How are attacks like that covered up?”

  “There are clean ways to convince people they didn’t see anything. You won’t become a meme, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “That’s not why I—” I protested, but was interrupted by a laughing Leo.

  “Kidding, man! Anyway, on to the last stat. Mentality is correlated to your ability to defend against magical attacks. It also raises your Max MP and your MP Regeneration Rate. It’s good for me as a mystic, since it helps me stay concentrated on the spell I’m casting without getting interrupted…
And I think that’s all for the base stats.”

  “That was a long tutorial, man,” I said honestly, as we stood up and resumed walking. “What about the formulas though?”

  “What do you mean by formulas?” he asked.

  “The mathematical formulas correlating, for example, my STR score to my Physical Attack value,” I replied. “Can I see them somewhere?”

  “Ah, if only it was so simple,” he said with a smile. “I’m glad you’re thinking forward, but unfortunately what you’re looking for doesn’t exist. Your Physical Attack will be determined by your equipment, the effects of any magic boons, and a dozen other things. The formulas you’re referring to aren’t available for any levels or races. Perhaps a handful of gods know them, but they’re certainly not sharing.”

  Gods and monsters. A leveling system and a world where power is the absolute currency. And all of this supported by the world’s life force, or whatever this Dark Energy was. I had a bad feeling about this. Not because it was dangerous or difficult to believe, but because I couldn’t hold back my excitement.

  Am I enjoying this? The possibility of adventure and having fun?

  No, I shouldn’t be having fun. It’s not right for me to have fun.

  If only I had contained my rage. If I had just kept my mouth shut, those guys would have walked on by and they never would have brought me into this mess. And yet, something about it was enjoyable in a way that made my stomach ache with guilt.

  “Oh, and one last thing,” Leo said as we were nearing the street my apartment was on. “If you ever have trouble understanding something that took place, you can always look at your logs. They hold all the information you’ll need.”

  I opened them up and, sure enough, with one glance I immediately absorbed a great deal of information about what had transpired since I was pulled into the Apocosmos, since that Gale Blast landed on me.

  You have suffered 63 HP damage.