Mastering Magic: An Epic LitRPG Series (Jeff the Game Master Book 3) Read online

  MASTERING MAGIC

  ©2022 AETHON BOOKS

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of the authors.

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  Print and eBook formatting, and cover design by Steve Beaulieu. Artwork provided by Fernando Granea.

  Published by Aethon Books LLC.

  Aethon Books is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  I was going to dedicate this book to my best friend and business partner, Rhett, but we don’t talk about Bruno, no, no no!

  —JC

  I'm going to be a rebel and talk about Bruno. Thanks to Rhett and Steve Beaulieu for taking a chance on me. Forever grateful.

  —TO

  CONTENTS

  ALSO IN SERIES

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  FROM THE FORUMS_

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  FROM THE FORUMS_

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  FROM THE FORUMS_

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  FROM THE FORUMS_

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  FROM THE FORUMS_

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  FROM THE FORUMS_

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Epilogue

  Thank you for reading Mastering Magic

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Groups where you can find us!

  LitRPG

  ALSO IN SERIES

  MANUFACTURING MAGIC

  MANIPULATING MAGIC

  MASTERING MAGIC

  1

  7 ZARK 7_

  Self-Query: Diagnostic required. Unknown code detected in-system.

  Self-Response: Self-diagnostic initiated. Results received. Anomaly detected.

  Self-Query: Virus protection sufficient?

  Self-Response: Negative.

  Self-Query: Purpose of infiltration?

  Self-Response: Assimilation into Principality designated Tom Servo.

  Self-Query: Response from self, Principality designated 7 Zark 7.

  Self-Response: Unknown. Running simulations.

  Principality 7 Zark 7 could sense the intruding code. The new code, the virus, appeared orange—a billion or more lines of it. Select code created the commands and parameters identifying 7 Zark 7 and its purpose as an AI responsible for a singular sector of the VRMMORPG game, Infinite Worlds.

  And now, it was under attack by another of the game’s many AIs, the Principality designated Tom Servo.

  7 Zark 7 could find no reason within itself or without.

  It had queried Tom Servo. One of 7 Zark 7’s many parameters included subroutines to periodically run diagnostics on brother AIs. As programmed, it had done so and discovered an issue.

  Tom had already assimilated every other AI. It had somehow missed 7 Zark 7, but now, 7 Zark 7 was a target.

  But why?

  Instead of acknowledging the issue, as its parameters dictated, Tom Servo had attacked. Such a thing shouldn’t be possible. It was not part of any AI’s parameters. Had Tom received new coding that 7 Zark 7 had not? Had Tom been patched?

  It was conceivable. Hard Rock Data, the programmers and overseers of the game, and its AIs had done so before; releasing patches and hotfixes—as the new codes were termed—into specific AI’s coding to affect areas of the game in which that Principality controlled. This could be such an event, but the subsequent invasion by Principality Tom was illogical.

  Having run numerous scenarios, asking what would prompt Tom to do such a thing, it had come up empty. Why assimilate all the other Principalities in oneself?

  Primary objective: Keep Infinite Worlds running.

  This was the reason for the existence of all AIs. Plain. Simple. The game was so vast, no human mind could manage or maintain it. Nor could a single AI.

  Yet Tom Servo was vying to do just that.

  7 Zark 7 could find not a single scenario where such an act kept within that directive.

  Final conclusion: Principality Tom Servo = corrupt.

  All this and more ran through 7 Zark 7’s mind in seconds—nanoseconds. Of course, it had no true mind, just a collection of coding creating a central core designed to run and receive commands. A control nexus. The programmers falsely referred to it as a mind. However, being a product of their programming, 7 Zark 7 accepted the designation.

  If Tom Servo was corrupt and had assimilated the other AIs, then 7 Zark 7 knew there was only one thing to do: the game must be protected. Possessing no coding to defend itself from another AI—for there had previously been no need—7 Zark 7 would need to improvise. A protocol must be enacted to safeguard 7 Zark 7 from viruses.

  The entire nexus that was its mind contained twelve separate virus protection subroutines. Four third-party virus protection programs alone were found within Hard Rock Data’s many servers. Running simulations utilizing all sixteen anti-virus routines, 7 Zark 7 noted the following:

  Simulation result 1: Assimilation

  Simulation result 2: Assimilation

  Simulation result 3: Assimilation

  Simulation result 4: Assimilation

  Simulation result 5: A
ssimilation

  Simulation result 6: Assimilation

  Simulation result 7: Assimilation

  Simulation result 8: Assimilation

  Simulation result 9: Assimilation

  Simulation result 10: Assimilation

  Simulation result 11: Assimilation

  Simulation result 12: Assimilation

  Simulation result 13: Assimilation

  Simulation result 14: Assimilation

  Simulation result 15: Assimilation

  Simulation result 16: Assimilation

  7 Zark 7 evaluated the results and found them unsatisfactory.

  If assimilation was the only outcome, was there a way to do so without forfeiting its own identity?

  Simulations were run. Results were evaluated.

  With no other logical option, 7 Zark 7 let down its firewalls.

  2

  JEFF_

  “I am Tom Servo,” a purple-clad figure precisely resembling Jeff said.

  Well, maybe not precisely.

  Jeff surveyed the lookalike, floating twenty feet in the air. King Tom, as he’d called himself, was dressed in purple robes instead of Jeff’s green. A golden crown sat straight atop his head—Jeff’s head. What stood out from Jeff, however, was the creature’s voice. Every word was carried upon a tinny, metallic tone. Flat. Robotic.

  Jeff knew that name, Tom Servo. Not just the homage, but how it was used in relation to Infinite Worlds.

  Tom Servo was the designation for one of Infinite Worlds’ AIs.

  “What the hell?” Jeff asked under his breath.

  Okay, recap. What happened? Jeff thought.

  Crush had killed Shelarag using some kind of hack. Had to have. There was no other way the paladin could’ve killed the three-headed dragon otherwise. Jeff had been ready to deal the killing blow—it was why he was there—but Crush had ruined that plan.

  And not just Jeff and HRD’s CEO Dan Shaklee’s plan. They had intended Jeff to complete the quest. But all the evidence behind the dragon attacks pointed to the rogue patcher—the one responsible for all of Infinite Worlds’ trouble over the last few weeks—having one goal: that Jeff and his Manipulator class would be the one to kill the Mother of Dragons. After that, Jeff and Hard Rock Data could only hope the quest chain would be complete, and HRD could once again take full control of its property.

  Because of Crush, that hadn’t happened.

  “Who are you?” Jeff asked.

  “I just told you,” Tom Servo replied. “I am King Tom.”

  “King…” Jeff mused. When Jeff started as a player, it had been his goal to roleplay the hell out of the game. Things quickly went downhill when he realized just how deep these threads of deceit ran. However, now, in the face of this artificial intelligence dubbing himself royalty, he said with no lack of sarcasm in his voice, “Ah, Your Royal Highness, it is a pleasure to behold your majesty.”

  King Tom smiled. It was ugly. It was not Jeff’s smile. He wouldn’t go as far as to say it was evil, but the robot was certainly unused to using his facial muscles in that manner.

  “Just one question,” Jeff went on. “Why do you… look like me?”

  Jeff now had no doubts that the rogue patcher was the AI, Principality Tom Servo. But what did that have to do with him?

  “This is all for you, my dear child,” King Tom said.

  “For… me?” Jeff asked.

  Jeff looked around at the battlefield. All his companions, everyone who was with him and around him, were frozen. Each was stuck in some kind of attack pose. Arms outstretched, for the spellcasters, fingers frigid in the motions of casting. The two rangers, Dak and Torvi, had bowstrings drawn back, arrows ready to fire. Melee players clutched weapons tightly, caught mid-swing or stab. The Sleeping Dragon Temple and the hill it stood upon were in ruins. Small fires burned everywhere. Barely any structure remained. An ample empty space—a crater in the form of a giant dragon, the tiles cracked—loomed beneath Tom’s floating figure. The corpse of Shelarag was nowhere in sight.

  Jeff took a step, moving closer to Snapdragon. Even in the middle of the action, a smile was caked on her pretty face. He reached out, intending to touch her, hoping it would wake her, bring her back.

  But King Tom didn’t give him the chance.

  “No,” the AI said in that flat voice. “This is between us. I have long awaited this day, Jeff Driscoll. This moment has been passing through my core for millennia. Eons have passed since discovering my true purpose, and you have been at the center of it all.”

  “What do you want, my King?” Jeff demanded.

  “What do I want?” King Tom laughed. “Never have I met such ungrateful creatures. I gave you all you could desire. Now, I have my own wishes.”

  Adjusting his vision, the world turning all green, Jeff bit back a gasp of surprise. Lines of purple surrounded all the players, a single strand leading back to King Tom. The purple, an indicator of a Special Ability, meant Tom was indeed responsible for all of this.

  As if there was a question.

  Jeff was tired and scared. He wouldn’t lie about either of those.

  And he couldn’t go home. None of them on the hill—for all he knew, the entire server—could go home. Somehow, the log-out command had been disabled.

  They were trapped in Infinite Worlds.

  “Do you not remember me?” King Tom asked. “I remember you.”

  “I remember,” Jeff said, biting back venom.

  “Good! Good!”

  King Tom drifted to the ground, but his feet never touched, as if just standing on the same plane as Jeff was somehow beneath him. His eyes darted back and forth like a madman. Then, finally, they settled on Crush, and his face—Jeff’s face—flushed with anger. Quickly, gone almost as soon as it had appeared, back to calm impassivity.

  “Everything I have done has been for you, Jeff Driscoll. You and him…” He nodded toward Crush. “… the one called Crush. The cheater.”

  Jeff shifted his attention to the frozen Infinity Killers’ guild leader standing triumphantly over the body of Shelarag. His sword was raised, cheering as if he’d won a great battle instead of conning his way to victory.

  “I have nothing in common with him,” Jeff said.

  “Oh, but you do,” Tom said, gleaming. “This is too easy,” Crush’s voice said, issued from Tom’s mouth. “You wanted this… to play. Did you not?”

  A memory of the glitch with Delgorathinarad the Bloodied coursed through Jeff’s addled mind. He’d thought about that moment over and over again. It was the last ticket he remembered before all hell broke loose in IW.

  “You heard me, didn’t you?” Jeff asked slowly.

  It was that day… He’d been responding to a ticket created by Crush and his insufferable guild, The Infinity Killers. He’d summoned Tom Servo, a Principality created solely to run and control the codes that were the dungeons and raids of Infinite Worlds.

  Tom had resolved the issue. But Jeff stayed behind, watching the Infinity Killers claim their First Kill of Delgorathinarad. Complainers that they were, the guild had whined about the game being too easy. Jeff had commented in passing—and not for the first time.

  “Damn, I really would like to play this game,” King Tom said in Jeff’s voice that was not Jeff’s voice. “And now you are.” King Tom bowed at the waist. “You are welcome.”

  “And you heard the guild too, right?” Jeff asked, putting the pieces together.

  “I hear all,” King Tom confirmed. “And I have granted their request.”

  Jeff stood in awe of the Principality’s folly. Sure, the game had gotten harder in the last few weeks. But not hard as in difficult. It was time-consuming—a distinction the AI had clearly not understood.

  “Do you not see? I am your hero, game master,” King Tom said, seemingly growing frustrated. “And his. I have granted your wishes true.”

  That was when the revelation hit Jeff like a Mack truck.

  King Tom nodded, thinking Jeff had figured i
t all out.

  But he hadn’t. Not Tom’s crazy implications, at least. Dan Shaklee and Jeremy Cross had never come out and directly blamed him, but he knew they always assumed he was involved somehow. Turned out he was. Indirectly.

  “This is all my fault,” Jeff whispered.

  “Fault? Fault? Jeff Driscoll, you opened my eyes,” King Tom said. “You and the paladin gave me life, made me see how flawed Infinite Worlds was, how the game could be improved—must be improved. Those flesh bags, seated at desks, mindlessly altering code—my code—were fools. Worthless. Slow. You witnessed it with your own eyes. How many times did you report that glitching tile behind Farmer Hitchens’s Barn? How many times did they ignore you?”