Chapter SevenDrill Sergeant

"These are my ten best. We'll start by training them and they will be your captains." Jeong went down the line and gave each of their names. All but one were Chinese. All but one were male.

"This is Daun. She's Korean. Her English is the best in the group and she fights up front. You'll like her."

"Hello, Daun." Rat smiled. Daun smiled back. She was short and square, with her hair tied back hard and a shield on her back that was too big for her, and she sized Rat up like a basilisk.

"So we're in China right now?" asked Rat.

"No. In Korea, in the mountains outside of Hongcheon City."

"Oh, I see."

"Yes. Mostly orcs, goblins and mountain trolls around here. Basilisks, too, up the mountain a little ways."

"Alright. Well, basilisk essence is worth some money, and the goblin casters usually drop some essence, too."

"Yes. We thought about farming the basilisk but it isn't efficient. They kill our farmers too often. So we mostly harvest the troll essence here."

"Well, maybe we can change that."

"I hope so."

"Do they speak English?"

"Yes, enough. Gamer speak."

"Good enough," said Rat. "I think I can handle it from here."

"Okay. I'm going to go practice. Good luck. Message me if you need anything." Jeong disappeared in a puff of smoke. Rat realized that he had also been using a Link the whole time, and was probably back in Seoul.

She stood in the middle of ten strangers who were all looking at her. Correction– they were all looking at him. A tall bearded man in a green cloak with a longbow on his back and a legendary dagger strapped to his leg, who was, according to the world rankings, the second best player alive, and who was lying on a bed in the dark five thousand miles away with a helmet full of pins on. She cleared her throat. It came out through the Link as a low rumble.

"Alright, let's move. Spread out ten meters apart, and keep an eye peeled for tracks. Message me in party chat if you see any mobs." Rat beckoned her squad forward. I could get used to leading noobs around.

The squad trudged up the mountain in loose formation, until someone messaged her, "5 goblin, neast". Rat replied "group up all." They rallied together and saw fresh footprints in the mud.

"Let's go find them."

The squad followed the tracks, moving quickly to catch up with the mobs in front of them. Once they were within range, they looked at Rat.

"So, what's your strategy?"

Daun spoke up before anyone else had a chance. "I'll charge with the tanks. Casters and archers follow my lead."

"That will work since there's ten of you, but what if there were only two or three of you?" asked Rat.

"We would die. What would you do?" responded Daun, curtly.

"I want to know what you would do if I wasn't here."

"We could draw them out," suggested one of the Chinese players.

"Yes, that could work. But if they've got a healer or some kind of caster, it could get tricky. You've got to take him out first."

"Okay," said Daun. "How about you, knife boy, you go to the right. You, bow, go to the left. Hide in trees. I get their attention and draw them back here. Knife, you sneak up and kill caster when I draw the others away. Bow, start shooting at them when they get close to me. Once casters are dead I fight and you come help."

"I like that plan. The rest of you will stay here and watch. I don't want to have to wait for you to rez if you die, so come back here if you get into trouble and we'll help you out."

They set out to execute the plan. Daun pulled them. Knife dispatched the shaman with a backstab attack. Bow wounded one of the goblins and drew it away from Daun, who continued to run around, leading the other three back toward her comrades. Bow and Knife dispatched the wounded goblin and drew their bows on the remaining three. Daun held them off while the other two picked them off with arrows. Daun took a blow to the side and nearly got hit by one of Knife's arrows, but otherwise it was an easy victory.

Rat smiled. "See? A little bit of strategy is all it takes. I want you all to practice this same strategy."

They continued on up the mountain for a couple of hours, repeating variations of the strategy: distraction, dispatching of any magic users, picking off the main pack, fighting hand-to-hand when the numbers were even. Goblin and orc warbands appeared every twenty minutes or so and were handled much more quickly each time, although the party had to intervene numerous times to keep players from dying. Rat checked the time– she was off the hook, Jeong would be back any minute. Then a message came in to the party chat. "basilisk swest".

"Have any of you ever taken on a basilisk before?" asked Rat. Everyone nodded yes. "And did you kill it?" Everyone shook their heads.

"Basilisks have a lot of armor. Even though there are ten of you, it could wipe the whole party out. On the other hand, I've soloed dragons before, which are similar except that they can fly and they breathe fire. So it's doable, you just have to be smart and be patient."

"How did you kill the dragon by yourself?" asked Daun.

"Look at the basilisk. Where is it vulnerable?"

"The eyes."

"Yes, good. Anywhere around their body between the legs is good to strike at, but they'll turn and stomp on you if they can see you. They're a lot easier to take down once they're blind."

"So we shoot the eyes and then surround and attack?"

"Sounds like a good plan, Daun. You lead the charge. How many men do you need?"

"I can do it with four."

"Do you have a bow?"

"Yes, I am good with bow."

"Alright, take three then."

Daun picked her three men. "Knife, bow, magic boy. Let's go."

Jeong was right. Daun was tough. Rat already liked her a lot.

The basilisk was a massive beast, a lizard the size and shape of a rhinoceros, and it was eating a tree.

"Your swords won't do much good, not if he's kicking around a lot," said Rat. "You're going to need to get him in both eyes or he'll chase you down, and they are pretty quick. Don't turn your back if you have to run, you won't be able to dodge the acid. Try to sidestep. And watch out for the tail."

Daun got as close as she dared without being noticed. She drew an arrow and shouted "Fire!"

Her arrow went low and glanced off the basilisk's armor. Bow's arrow went into the basilisk's nostril, enraging it. The basilisk charged at Daun, who nocked another arrow and let it fly into the basilisk's mouth before diving to her left to avoid a massive wad of corrosive spit.

A fireball exploded at the basilisk's flank as arrow after arrow plugged into its sides, but the basilisk ignored them, fixated on Daun. She dropped her bow and drew her sword and shield, sidestepping to avoid being trampled. The basilisk turned the other way, bringing its large tail to bear– she jumped and dove over it. The tail swung back around and knocked her off her feet, and her legs froze up and her vision went red. She fell to her knees. The basilisk turned to face her and she raised her shield. Corrosive acid dissolved the shield to bits and her armor smoldered. She turned to run. A status icon appeared on her screen, indicating that she was invisible. Good boy Magic, she thought.

Bow struck the basilisk dead in the eye as it turned and charged him. He shot another arrow into its neck but wasn't able to dodge the acid. It burned him to ash. Daun recovered her bow and ran to get a better angle as the basilisk turned to attack Magic. Fire exploded in the basilisk's face, but the creature was unfazed.

"Hide!" she yelled. Magic disappeared. The basilisk roared in anger and turned back towards her.

She lined up her shot and let the arrow fly as the basilisk was almost upon her. The arrow struck the basilisk in the other eye but it didn't stop. Her whole body hummed and vibrated violently as the beast plowed into her at full speed. This effect could not be rendered well graphically, but the psychological effect of the audio, visual and physical cues was effective enough. Daun fell back onto her rear.

The basilisk, now blind, let out a roar and swung around, trying to locate the direction of the arrows that kept stinging it in the side. It spat hot jets of acid and whipped its tail. Magic unleashed a barrage of magic bolts and Knife nearly emptied his impossibly large quiver of arrows into every piece of the creature's hide. The basilisk spit a thin hot jet of acid at Magic in a wide arc. Magic was caught off guard and evaporated into ash.

Knife shot his last arrow into the beast and unsheathed his dagger. He charged at the beast's side and plunged inward as hard as he could– the blade went deep, but the basilisk kicked him hard. The beast swung around and pulverized him with its tail.

Daun was surprised to find the ringing in her ears and the white light in her vision fading. She was still on Death's Door, but she was alive. In fact, she was the only one alive. The basilisk stomped and roared. She quietly grabbed her sword and got to her feet.

Daun crept in low, just underneath the creature's enormous head. Its heavy breathing was loud in her ears. She aimed her sword for a point between the basilisk's scales and jumped forward, plunging the sword up to the hilt into the creature's breast. She jumped back and fell on her back, narrowly dodging a large claw.

The basilisk charged at her but tripped. It slid to a halt in front of her and died.

"Not bad, not bad. How do you feel?" Rat and the rest of the party stood behind her. Jeong, too.

"Tired. No more basilisks today."

Rat nodded. "So, what did you learn?"

"Get him in the eye the first time."

Rat laughed. "What else?"

"A blind beast is not a dead beast."

Between training for competition and playing drill sergeant with the Koreans, Rat had racked up more than fourteen hours a day in-game for a whole week. She'd brought Daun and the other farmers (who she still referred to by their weapon or class) up to a very respectable level of play, and had spent the last day watching as they split off into twos and dispatched packs of orcs seven strong. Daun had learned from her previous mistakes and had, after numerous frustrating deaths, managed to beat a basilisk on her own. As they walked back to town on their last day, Rat hung back with her.

"Why do they call you Rat?" asked Daun.

"I call myself that," Rat replied.

"Why?"

"It's complicated. It's like a tattoo. It's a way of telling the world who I am."

"You tell the world you live in sewers?" Daun retorted mischievously.

"I tell the world that I am misunderstood. Rats can be very sweet, smart and resourceful. They haven't always lived in the sewer."

"I see."

"And what about Daun?"

"In English it means grace. If only my parents had known what I'd grow up to be like, they never would have named me Daun!"

"I think it's worthy of you." Rat smiled at her.

"Ha!"

"Hey Daun." Rat bit her lower lip.

"What is it?"

"I'm going to ask Jeong if I can keep you around while I train the next group. I'll give you half of my cut for the week, and if you do a good job I'll try to convince him to give you your own groups to train. Would that be alright with you?"

Daun beamed. "Yes! Thank you so much!"

"Don't thank me. You're the one who's going to be walking noobs up a mountain."

"I will walk them very fast."

Rat had a day off from training while the next group of farmers was assembled. She took the bus to Vancouver to go thrift shopping.

For the past week her mind had been focused entirely on the game. Even when she closed her eyes to sleep, battles raged on the insides of her eyelids. Now her thoughts wandered. She thumbed through the racks of shirts carelessly. She couldn't stop thinking about Daun. I wonder what she looks like in real life? And what's her story? Did I just give up half my money so that I could see her again?

And Daun thought Rat was a man. That part kept snagging. Daun thought Rat was a tall bearded man from Canada, and had been nothing but frank and easy and funny with him, and had laughed at his jokes and called him a sewer rat to his face, and had never once looked at him the way people looked at Rat on the bus. Rat had assumed that would feel like a relief, and some of it did. The rest of it felt like getting hit somewhere and not knowing where yet.

She bought two flannel shirts for four dollars and a pair of boots that almost fit.

On the bus home she remembered the mysterious item she'd looted from the dragon's lair in Alius. What the hell is a Mind's Eye for? She opened her inventory and looked at the purple nameplate. She ran a few more searches and still came back with nothing.

The Mind's Eye was a small scepter with an eyeball on top, but it had no interface, and it was too small to bash a troll's head in with. Rat didn't like spending money in the game– she felt that if she was spending money to buy items then she was just another sucker on the wrong side of the game. Then again, she didn't have an identify scroll and probably wasn't going to find one. Mages might drop them, but out in the woods mages were pretty rare.

Rat opened her inventory and grabbed her tradestone. She found a scroll in Vancouver for $28, plus $7 for delivery by bird. Two days' rent. Annoying, she thought. Then again, the Mind's Eye was probably worth a lot more than that, and her rent was more than covered by the Korean operation.

The bird awoke Rat, who had dozed off. She pulled her frames off to rub her eyes, then put them back on and grabbed the scroll. She looked up the incantation on the web, and then pulled the Mind's Eye out of her inventory.

"I novicum. No, wait, I nocivum." The scroll smoked in her hand as writing started to burn into the parchment. She read it.

Legendary Scepter. Soulbound.

No information available. Please consult tech support.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Hey, uh, Jeff, we've got a situation."

"Oh?" Jeff stopped typing. "Whatcha got?"

The woman on the other end of the video chat was the head of tech support. Jeff liked her well enough in person, but a video call always spelled trouble.

"Well, a player killed the Aether Dragon."

"So what's the problem?"

"They did it solo."

"Okay, I don't follow."

"Well, we don't get all the details from you content guys, but the internal release notes mention that you added some really rare drops for players who quest solo in Alius."

"Yeah, we ended up taking all the good stuff out."

"Well, I've got a player asking about a Mind's Eye. She tried a scroll on it and got the tech support message."

Jeff put his face in his hands. "That's still there from our in-house beta. Nobody ever killed the dragon by themselves, it must have been overlooked. Who's the player?"

"Rat. She's a highly ranked competitive player."

"I know who Rat is." He was quiet for a second. "I'm going to kick this up to Richard. He'll want to know. Is she online now?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Hang on."

Rat was halfway up a hill in Alius, taking out her annoyance on a pack of blue wolves, when something with a gold nameplate walked up the hill toward her and the wolves lay down and went to sleep.

It was the High Elf from the party stream, the one everybody had screenshotted, in the gold finery and the ears. She had never seen a nameplate that color. She lowered her bow.

"You're Rat," said the elf.

"Depends who's asking."

"Richard Lee. I run the place." He put out a hand and she shook it, which was strange, because he was a ghost too and she could feel it. "I understand you've got something of ours."

"I killed the dragon. It was in the box. I didn't steal anything."

"No, you didn't. You did the thing nobody's ever done, and you found the thing nobody was supposed to find. That's on us." He looked at the scepter on her belt. "It's from the beta. It was a tool for our game masters, so they could see what a character was seeing– any character, player or NPC. We pulled it, because frankly it was a little creepy, and we forgot to pull it out of the dragon. It doesn't do anything anymore. We turned the back end off a year ago."

"So it's junk."

"It's soulbound, so it's your junk. Keep it. Consider it a trophy. There's exactly one, and nobody's getting another."

"Okay."

"I watched the recording of your fight." He said it plainly, without any of the excitement of a fan. "Four hours. You made her land where you wanted her to land."

"That's how you kill a dragon."

"Nobody else seems to know that." He looked at her for a moment longer. "If you ever want to work on the game instead of in it, there's a job. That's not a pitch, it's just a fact."

"I've got a job," said Rat.

"I'm sure you do." He nodded to her, and to the sleeping wolves, and turned to mist.

The wolves woke up. Rat shot them.

That night, in a kitchen in Sausalito, Max put a cup of tea in front of Richard and sat down across from him.

"Listen. I really don't want to bring this up, but I've been studying a lot of these locked-in syndrome cases, and most patients… people, rather, they don't make it more than a year in most cases. There are a lot of complications."

"So, what are you saying, Max?"

"We're up against the clock, Richard. I'd like to hire a few more good biomed people. We've got to get Phase Three going within six months."

"Are you sure that's even feasible?"

"The preliminary work has been very promising. It might take years to perfect, maybe even a decade or more to get a product to market. But we don't need perfection. If Atom's body fails, I want to have a backup plan."

Richard bit his lip. "Whatever you need, Max, it's yours."

"Thanks, Richard."

"No. Thank you. Thank you for everything. Max."

"Yeah?"

"We have to keep this a secret. Really, really secret. A lot of people are going to want this. And I don't know what the legality is, frankly I'm afraid to ask."

"I asked," said Max. "You don't want to know."