Class-A Threat (Disgardium Book #1) LitRPG Series Read online

  Class-A Threat

  a novel

  by Dan Sugralinov

  Disgardium

  Book#1

  Magic Dome Books

  Disgardium

  Book #1: Class-A Threat

  Copyright © Dan Sugralinov 2019

  Cover Art © Vladimir Manyukhin 2019

  English translation copyright © Andrew Schmitt 2019

  Published by Magic Dome Books, 2019

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN: 978-80-7619-024-5

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the shop and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is entirely a work of fiction.

  Any correlation with real people or events is coincidental.

  Our future. Noncitizens and individuals of low social standing can only find work in one place – the virtual world of Disgardium. That could mean mining ore and it could just as well mean cleaning pigsties or washing dishes in a tavern. But that’s about as glamorous as it gets.

  Alex, a fifteen-year-old schoolboy, dreams of one day working as a space guide. All he can think about is the stars, but life gets in the way. Much to his dismay, his only path to achieving that goal now is through the game.

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  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One. Sandbox

  Chapter Two. A Year and a Half Later

  Chapter Three. Bad News

  Chapter Four. Back into the Game

  Chapter Five. Officially Displeased

  Chapter Six. A Curse and a Blessing

  Chapter Seven. When You're not Prepared

  Chapter Eight. Skeletons and Zombies

  Chapter Nine. Cursed Lich

  Chapter Ten. You Scratch my Back and I Scratch Yours

  Chapter Eleven. Cali Bottom

  Interlude One. Clayton

  Chapter Twelve. Threats and Rewards

  Chapter Thirteen. The Bubbling Flagon

  Chapter Fourteen. Non-War Craft

  Chapter Fifteen. The Road to Gloomwood

  Chapter Sixteen. Curse of the Undead

  Chapter Seventeen. Crusher

  Chapter Eighteen. Emissary’s License

  Chapter Nineteen. Gankers and Dementors

  Chapter Twenty. Friendly Strangers

  Chapter Twenty-One. Tits and Dragons

  Interlude Two. Patrick

  Chapter Twenty-Two. Immaculate Impulses

  Chapter Twenty-Three. City Jail

  Chapter Twenty-Four. Stopped in the Act

  Chapter Twenty-Five. Eve's Birthday

  Chapter Twenty-Six. New Figure

  Chapter Twenty-Seven. Friendly Advice

  Chapter Twenty-Eight. Valor and the Feeble Mind

  Chapter Twenty-Nine. True Test of Character

  Chapter Thirty. Paying it Forward

  Chapter Thirty-One. Conflict of Interest

  Chapter Thirty-Two. Might Makes Right

  Chapter Thirty-Three. Evil from the Depths

  Chapter Thirty-Four. Out of the Fire!

  Chapter Thirty-Five. All Hail the Heroes

  Chapter Thirty-Six. Class-A Threat Potential

  About the Author

  Chapter One. Sandbox

  FOR MY BIRTHDAY, my parents got me an Infinitum 8. Not a very expensive model of immersion pod, but one of the best in its class. It was the present I wanted most for my fourteenth birthday because that is the age you can finally start playing the coolest and most popular game on the planet – Disgardium.

  As soon as the birthday party was over and the guests had left, dad smiled:

  "Can't wait to test it out?"

  I nodded. How could I!? An immersion pod is not some steam-powered VR-helmet with sensor gloves!

  "Go on then, Alex," mom said and laughed, embracing dad.

  "Don't go in too long your first time!" he shouted after me. "Alex?"

  "Yes, dad!" I answered, almost running to my room where the new pod awaited me. Just think, it was already installed, calibrated and ready to use! I hurriedly got undressed and went inside. It was vertical, but could change orientation to better reflect the virtual world. Gravity is a heartless little bitch and it’s difficult to convince someone that they’re standing when their real body is horizontal.

  I grabbed the metal handles and waited. A few seconds passed, but nothing happened. Was this thing defective? I was about to run down and call the manufacturer when a stern voice rang out in the pod:

  "Alex, your heartbeat is too rapid for your first immersion experience! Access denied."

  "Oh come on!" I shouted.

  "Apologies for the inconvenience, but characters can only be generated in baseline physical state..." the voice muttered, probably quoting the user's manual. Then it followed up with some helpful advice: "Alex, please do your best to calm down and try again. Thank you."

  With a sigh, I climbed out of the pod and walked out onto the little balcony off my room. There were all kinds of silvery delivery drones flitting about on the backdrop of the starry sky, landing and taking off from the windows of our huge residential complex.

  Higher up, a procession of public flying cars darkened the sky. As of today, I was legally allowed to pilot them without computer control. I couldn’t wait to try it out. Of course, I would have to pass the license test first, but I had no doubts about that.

  A cloud of condensation burst out of my mouth. The cold damp wind made me shiver even though, earlier today, it was pretty clearly turning to spring.

  A few minutes later, I was calm and back in the pod. This time I saw no warnings, and the immersion process was able to initiate.

  Intragel flooded the pod, going over my head, but it was perfectly alright to breathe. Finally, I closed my eyes.

  And when I opened them again, I was in outer space. The sensation of weightlessness took my breath away, and I could barely resist waving my arms and legs. Not that there was much reason to: the pod assumed control over my muscles, keeping them static while the intrag
el kept my body suspended and out of harm’s way. That way, if something went wrong and it lost control of my body, the gel would protect me from injury.

  Good evening, Alex!

  Please select your preferred immersion environment.

  The text was immediately read out by a breathy female voice. In terms of environments, there wasn’t much choice. I had the moon-sized test world Infinitum, made to demonstrate the pod's capabilities, or the huge Disgardium, which came factory-preinstalled on all pods.

  And that was what I chose. Some system logs ran before my eyes:

  Biological age confirmed.

  Access to Disgardium permitted.

  Notifying Department of Education... Complete... Status confirmed.

  Initiating first immersion experience!

  Scanning body... Complete... Character appearance generated.

  Approved world type: Sandbox.

  Recommended location: Tristad.

  Unfortunately, I would be relegated to a sandbox until I reached sixteen. They were private locations where only underage players were allowed. Adults from the full version were not permitted, and all content was strictly age-appropriate...

  All around me, I saw a flurry of majestic cities and abandoned villages; epic battles and ghastly monsters; the six not yet entirely explored continents; heavenly gardens and fiery wastelands; a billion active players and just as many non-player characters, which was to say nothing of noncitizen workers; seaside resorts and city blocks, teeming with forbidden pleasures...

  Welcome to Disgardium, Alex!

  Welcome to a world where dozens of nonhuman races live in harmony. A world where sword and magic reign! A world where anyone could one day become a king or hero! A world where you’ll want to live! A world where fate...

  I didn’t even think of interrupting the intro, savoring the massive scale and brilliant colors of this world that was so recently off limits. I had been dreaming of this moment for far too long.

  The primer on Disgardium came to an end. I was immersed in darkness for an instant and suddenly found myself in a room full of people.

  It was a few boys and girls. We were all wearing identical canvas garb and looking around in surprise. I was just overcome and couldn't hide my glee. It was all so real! The wooden floor creaked underfoot, rafters peeked out from behind the high ceiling, and light from the windows jumped along the walls, playing off our shadows. I could smell a sappy tree, dust whirled in the rays of the sun. The canvas shirt fit loosely over my body and when I touched it I could feel my ribs through the fabric. Unbelievable!

  "Woah!" shrieked a girl with long black hair. "Who pinched me?"

  Everyone laughed. The girl sneezed, and that caused a new burst of laughter.

  "Happy birthday, all!" I shouted.

  "Happy birthday!" rang out discordantly through the laughter.

  All of us had just reached our fourteenth year, that was obvious. Who in their right mind would put off their first taste of Disgardium?

  "Hey, wait a minute! Shouldn't we be seeing our names?"

  "We haven't even generated characters yet, dummy!"

  In our feverish anticipation, we didn't notice at first but the door had opened.

  "Welcome, new visitors of Tristad!" came a sonorous male voice.

  We turned. In the doorway, hiding a smile in his whiskers, there stood a respectable man with graying locks. Over him hovered the words:

  Peter Whiteacre, level 30

  Chief Councilman of the city of Tristad.

  "It is my pleasure to welcome you to the free city of Tristad, where everyone has a place be they hero or warrior, bard or wise man, hunter or mage, druid or common quarry worker..." the councilman listed a few more series of classes and professions. Then he ran down the list of races inhabiting the Commonwealth: "And we are equally glad to see people, elves, and gnomes..."

  For my part, I was quite engaged. Studying information online was one thing, but finally becoming part of all this was another. The councilman then gave us a brief overview of the state of the world: all races of the Commonwealth were at war with hordes of orcs and barbaric nonhuman tribes. They also repelled raids from the Nether and the senseless attacks of the Reavers, and resisted the dark brotherhoods, the Sleeping Gods, the Goblin League...

  Lots of things happened in this world, and it was possible that some of us would remain in the Commonwealth after transitioning to the adult world. Others would certainly take the chance and change their character to a different faction, though.

  "I can see that you're all tired from the long journey," Whiteacre said finally. "Now please complete your registration with Carlson the scribe, then I'll answer any questions you may have. If you have no questions, go out and see the city, meet its inhabitants and bring it good fortune..."

  We started heading toward the registration desk. There was a plump rosy-cheeked scribe sitting there. I took up the back of the line.

  "Complete these arrival forms," said Carlson, handing them out.

  That paper, once in hand, unfolded into a character registration form.

  In a sandbox, you could only play a person, so it wasn't clear why Whiteacre had listed all the races of the Commonwealth. And we could only choose a class at level ten, so now we could only fill in our name and allocate attribute points.

  There was a name I was planning to use for a long time, ever since my dad read me tales from ancient history as bedtime stories.

  Name: Scyth.

  Confirmed.

  I might have said it had no meaning, but that wasn’t true. I hope I can live up to the name.

  Scyth! You have 15 main attribute points.

  In many ways, your attributes will determine your entire life in Disgardium from your combat strategy to the way others perceive you!

  Take your time and think carefully! Your attributes cannot be reset!

  In school I heard that, no matter what class you choose, you need a ten at least in every attribute. Strength so I could carry lots of weight. Agility and perception so I wouldn’t miss my targets and land critical hits. Intelligence defined mana regeneration, and mana was used to make special attacks, even for warriors. And with low charisma, I could forget about good quests and discounts from vendors. Luck, meanwhile, had a small impact on just about everything.

  So then, after some brief thought, I put two into each one. I added the extra point to endurance without really thinking, just because it was there.

  Scyth, level-1 human

  Real name: Alex Sheppard.

  Real age: 14.

  Class: not selected.

  Main attributes:

  Strength: 2.

  Perception: 2.

  Endurance: 3.

  Charisma: 2.

  Intelligence: 2.

  Agility: 2.

  Luck: 2.

  All finished, I handed my arrival form to the scribe. He scanned it, snorted, gave a strained smile and, with exaggerated enthusiasm, announced:

  "Welcome to Tristad, Scyth!"

  When I emerged I stopped on the stairs, looking down the central street dreamily and smiling.

  Disgardium, say hello your new hero!

  Chapter Two. A Year and a Half Later

  THERE WAS ONLY five minutes left in class, and the students were starting to get restless.

  "The bell hasn't rung yet," Greg Kovacs, our history teacher, noted sternly. "Take your seats! Edward! Sit down this instant!"

  Ed Rodriguez, leader of the Dementors clan, was scraping his desk along the floor. He quickly sat back down despite himself. Modern history was our last lesson for today, and he just couldn't wait to get back into Disgardium.

  "I’m not finished," Greg frowned. "Alright kids, class is extended by two minutes! You know who to thank."

  "But teacher!" Ed objected. "Mr. Kovacs..."

  "No 'buts,' Rodriguez!"

  Tissa, the blonde girl sitting behind Ed, hissed out something that sounded very much like "shit!" She was in Ed's clan
and, seemingly, they had a raid scheduled today.

  "Let’s make that three minutes, Melissa Schafer," the teacher corrected himself nonchalantly. He continued the lecture: "After the collapse of the world banking system..."

  Tissa rolled her eyes and gave a loud sigh, not unclenching her lips. Ed, turning around, blew her a kiss. Tissa shot him a middle finger back.

  "... the UN," Greg said, writing the name on the whiteboard and underlining it. "That led to the creation of the Worldwide Bank and the global monetary union. Who can tell me what their new unit of currency was called?"

  "The phoenix," the class answered in unison.