The Heroic Villain

Written by: Charles Dean

Edited by: Joshua Swayne and Richard Haygood

Copyright © 2016-2019 by Charles Dean

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.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

About the Author

Other Books by Charles Dean

Chapter 1

“And in today’s news, despite founding CEO Lucas’s abrupt retirement following the death of his wife and company co-founder, Yu Hua, Lu-Yu Enterprises is on track to grow for its third consecutive quarter,” the news anchor on the television announced.

Why do you do this to yourself? When has watching the news ever done anything more than leave you upset? Lucas grimaced and shook his head, deciding that it was best to listen to the voice of reason in the back of his mind. He pushed himself up from the chair he was seated in, turned off the television, and shuffled over to the dive capsule in the next room. The machine only took up about the same amount of floor space as a large loveseat, but it was by far the most dominant feature in the apartment, looming over him at seven feet tall. The capsule was reclined back at a 45-degree angle, and the door unsealed itself with a small hiss when he pressed a button on the front of the pod.

Out of habit, Lucas looked around at the mass of Internet, fluid, and diagnostic cables that sprouted from the back of the machine and crept across the floor before disappearing into the wall. The company had tested running the machine wirelessly and had even allowed users to provide their own Internet connections during the device’s beta eight years ago, but the mental trauma caused by rubber banding at even the slightest bit of lag in a virtual world was so severe that professional therapists had been hired to consult with the testers. Although virtual reality had become commonplace in everyday life, those few early adopters had been traumatized so greatly that they still refused to even come close to the machine.

Lucas crawled into the pod, turned it on, and was immediately greeted by several messages that were simultaneously displayed as text and read out loud.

A melodious female voice that made even the drabbest and dullest of notifications sound pleasant chimed, “You have four missed calls from Liu. Would you like to return her call before beginning immersion?”

“No,” Lucas answered curtly. No matter how agreeable the British-sounding voice made it seem, talking to Liu was absolutely not something that he wanted to do.

“You have thirty-seven emails from nineteen different sources. Would you like to review them before beginning immersion?”

“No.”

“You have two text messages from your mother and one text message from Liu. Would you like to read them before beginning immersion?”

“Read me the two text messages from my mother. Delete the one from Liu.”

“Text message one: ‘Are you still moping in your apartment on that damn game? It’s been over seven months. You need to get outside and exercise. I don’t care what that propaganda nonsense says about the machine exercising your body better than you ever could yourself. You need real physical exercise! And make sure you’re eating real meals! Don’t just let that machine feed you! It’s just creepy when people use those in-game meal services instead of the real thing. It’s like they’re some kind of vegetable in a coma just waiting to die.’ End of message. Would you like to leave a reply?”

“Not yet. Read me the second message from her first.”

“Text message two: ‘Liu called to check in on us again today. She said you still aren’t returning her calls. You know that she was only doing what she thought was best. Why not cut her some slack and forgive her already?’ End of message. Would you like to leave a reply?”

“Hmm . . .” Lucas stared up at the text for a moment, lost in thought. She’s still checking in on them once a week? Whatever. It’s not my problem. “Yeah, let’s leave a reply.”

“Excellent, what would you like to say?”

“Tell her, ‘I’m still eating real meals, and I’m still taking walks every day. I’ll come back and visit on the holidays. Love you, Lucas.’”

“Well written. Your message has been delivered. Would you like to wait for a reply or begin immersion now?”

“Just begin the immersion process.”

“Please close your eyes and relax. Immersion process is starting.” The dive capsule began filling up with a slick gel, and the voice slowly became softer and softer with each passing word as Lucas’s naked body was taken over by the liquid and the machine. Seconds later, the machine began accessing his brain, and music from one of his favorite composers, Vivaldi, wafted into his ears.

“You may now open your eyes,” the system notified him.

Lucas did as he was prompted and discovered that the tech display that he had been looking at moments ago from the inside of the capsule was gone. Instead, it had been replaced by a multicolored sea of flowers which stretched up a long hill. The sweet, fragrant smell of so many different blossoms filled his nose as he took in a deep breath of the crisp, clean outdoor air, and he felt the warmth of the sun against his skin.

Perfect. Lucas smiled, savoring the world around him. He pulled the pack off his back and reached inside, retrieving a few of the things that he had prepared before logging out last time: a wheel of cheese, two bottles of wine, and a blanket.

“I see you’re getting started early today,” a sharp female voice said from behind him.

“It takes a great deal of effort to lie around and do nothing all day,” Lucas replied without looking up from the work that he was doing, laying out a blanket. “You have to put in a lot of preparation to do it right.”

The woman who had spoken to him walked up and plopped down on one side of the blanket, not leaving much room for Lucas to lie down. “After almost two years of steady practice, I assume you are the expert on the matter.”

“Are you inviting yourself again today?” Lucas asked.

“Of course. I have to study hard if I want to make it into the upper echelons of apathy and join your ranks, master.”

“Whatever.” Lucas simply shrugged indifferently and lay down next to her on the little bit of blanket she had left for him.

“You’re just letting me use your blanket because you’re too lazy to shoo me off, aren’t you?” she asked, scooting closer to him.

“Your words, not mine.” Lucas reclined back and stared up at the sky. He slowly closed his eyes and then enjoyed the feeling of warm sunlight across his face. He remained that way for a long time, simply enjoying himself until he got hungry, and only then did he take a bite from the wheel of cheese.

“Mine!” the woman declared. She snatched the cheese from his hand, took a bite from it, and then tossed it back to him.

“You should really learn to bring your own if you wa— ” Lucas’s words stopped cold when the sun’s warmth and its light were suddenly cut off from his face. There was no chance it was a passing cloud: the weather in Hesse was perfect. The only thing that could make shade was a person standing over him, yet no other NPCs ever passed by this place. That meant that the individual blocking his light had to be a player, and players always spelled out discomfort. They always either wanted something from him, or they wanted to do something to him.

“Hey, brother,” a gruff voice grunted down from above him. “We’re short one member for the opener quest.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“Come on! You’re the only person here who hasn’t done the class assignment quest. Just help us out so we can get the full-player-party buff that comes from not using NPCs.”

“Why are you even bothering with him? I told you to just grab an NPC,” a second voice whined. Lucas mentally added a “plus one” to the tally of people annoying him and blocking his sunlight. “Negative hasn’t killed a thing since he started playing, and he’s been playing way longer than us.”

“Negative.” It was his nickname and claim to fame in the game. The moniker wasn’t exactly creative, but it did hit the nail on the head. Rather than being related to his instant-rejection personality, however, it was given to him because of the fact that he was negative Level 71, which was an incredible feat that made him a unique entity in the game.

One of the game’s various penalties was that it actually allowed a player to regress in levels if he died too many times. The cost of dying grew progressively larger at the higher levels, meaning that a player could take a fairly substantial hit to his experience if he died, but in the early stages of the game, someone had to die between three to five times before the system would punish him.

The class promotion quest was one of the first that a player could pick up, and it was also one of the easiest. Most people would finish it within the first hour of playtime and reach level 5, so no one had ever actually gone into the negative levels aside from him. His achievement had earned him a great deal of ridicule from other players, but he didn’t care. The only things that concerned him were lying out in the sun, enjoying the fragrant aroma of flowers, and partaking of his wine. He had become such a permanent fixture on the hill that he had to occasionally deal with some jerk who wanted to kill him just to see if he would drop any money or if he was some secret event—along with some who wanted to kill him just for the fun of it—but that was the extent of his interaction with the rest of the world.

“Well, there is a first time for everything. Come on, Negative, the system told us you’re the only other player right now that hasn’t done the quest yet, so it’d really help us out,” the gruff guy pleaded again.

“Yeah, come on, nya! Pleeeeassseeee!” a sweet-voiced woman begged.

So many voices, so many annoyances. Having a conversation with so many people just felt problematic and cumbersome to him. Lucas squeezed his eyes tighter and turned over onto his side, leaving his back for the others to deal with. He knew the rude gesture was likely to tempt their anger, but it was almost certain to get his point across. Now, they’d either politely leave or just kill him, but the effect would be the same: he’d be free from their pestering.

“If you don’t go with them, then I won’t be here to bother you tomorrow or the day after,” the woman lying next to him on the blanket said, causing Lucas’s eyes to finally shoot open.

“What?” Lucas rolled over and turned to look at her. Resembling a famous Chinese actress with long legs, a petite figure, and long, sleek, black hair, she was the most stunning and beautiful NPC on the entire island—at least as far as Lucas was concerned, anyway. She had encouraged him to do stuff like this before on more than one occasion in the past, but that was simply relegated to something simple like picking up a crafting profession. This type of request accompanied by a threat was completely out of the ordinary for her.

“Don’t be dense,” she scolded, reaching up to tap her head with an index finger. “I spoke clearly. If you don’t go help out these valiant, young heroes, then I won’t be here tomorrow. It’s in your best interest. You’re going to have to do it eventually.”

The whiny-voiced male groaned, prompting Lucas to twist his head around and stare at him. The lanky fellow with spiked hair looked down at Lucas and continued. “Wait, isn’t she—”

“Yeah, I’m confused,” the girl from the group interjected, prompting Lucas to turn his attention to her. She was a willowy, frail-figured Alfar with slightly-pointed ears, and she puffed her cheeks out and stood with her hands on her hips, staring down at them on the blanket.

“Yeah, she’s . . . Dawn is right,” gruff-voice agreed. The large, barrel-chested man that looked like a fat, six-and-a-half-foot-tall Dwarf thumped his chest with his fist for emphasis. “You gotta do this sooner or later, so just man up and get it done. We’ll go finish the quest, and you’ll be back to see the sun in less than an hour.”

Lucas looked over at the woman beside him. “Dawn, are you sure you want me to do this?”

“Of course. I know all about their quest.” Dawn smiled, and her features lit up. As far as Lucas was concerned, she was even more radiant than the still-blocked sun. “It’s important. If you don’t rescue the sages from Xun Guan’s vile dungeon, then . . . I dread to think of what will happen. Without them, the heroes of the next generation will never be trained in the arts and skills needed to overcome the evil forces seeking to dominate our world.”

Lucas’s earlier frown returned as he closed his eyes and tried to process what was going on. He pressed a hand against his forehead and rubbed his eyes as he weighed his desire to remain exactly where he was against his distaste for doing what was being asked of him.

It took him a minute to process what was happening, chiefly because she was the main reason that he had never taken the quest and advanced in the game. Yet, here she was, the driving force pressuring him into doing it. Her face was both a lure and a curse in its own way: he hated how she looked nearly identical to Yu Hua and loved the familiar presence that she brought with such a similar attitude and appearance.

No, even if she’s not the one asking, I need to do this for myself. I really do need to move on, at least a little, and here is as good a place to start as any, he thought, relenting at last. “If you guys need a fourth for the class selection quest, I’ll do it. Just share the info.”

“What? Really?” The short girl’s eyes widened in surprise. “This worked? Are we going to be the first people to group with Negative?”

“Thank you so much!” The gruff man extended a hand to pull Lucas up from the ground. “I’m Malik, this is Nick, and this is Valerie, and we’ll make sure this quest goes smoothly for you.”

As Lucas stood up, Nick also extended his hand. “Yeah, thanks a lot for joining us. I’ll share the quest info right away. Do you need the equipment set to do it?”

Nick was referring to the basic starting items, the wand, sword, shield, bow, scepter, daggers, and staff that were required to finish the class-selection quest. Every person was given the items as soon as they started the game, but since Lucas had been playing for seven months in real life, or over twenty-one months in game time, it was natural to assume that he might have pawned them and bought something else with the money—or merely forgotten where he stashed them.

“I have the gear,” Lucas answered. He dusted himself off as he got to his feet and looked at the quest that had just been shared with him. “I can pick them up in town if you don’t mind our swinging through.”

Quest: The Teachers of Old.

The Chieftain of the Were-Rat Tribe, Kulako, believes you have the potential to overthrow the Imperium’s tyrannical grip on Hesse. He has sensed great potential in you but worries that you will never be strong enough to break the shackles that have enslaved and tormented the non-Human residents of Hesse without the proper training.

The only trainers worthy of such astounding potential have all been locked away by the Imperium, and their skills as educators are no longer available to the younger generations as they have been left to rot within the dungeon of the oppressive Lady Xun Guan. You must rescue them, earn their trust, and convince them to teach you. Without their knowledge, the power to save the people of Hesse will forever elude you.

“Town’s too far. We brought gear,” Malik said, tossing a bundle of equipment at Lucas.

“Thanks,” Lucas answered, somewhat warily. He wasn’t used to people being this friendly. Until recently, it had been fairly common for people to add “Nancy” to his nickname just before they attacked him, so he was naturally cautious and somewhat put off by the gesture. “‘Preciate it, man.”

“Don’t let him steal the credit, nya. It was my idea!” Valerie insisted.

“But my money!” the Dwarf snapped.

“Well . . .” Lucas took out two gold pieces and passed them to Malik. “Here. This should cover the expense.”

Malik looked at the money. Lucas knew that it was far more than the going rate for the gear, as each piece of gear would cost only a single silver coin, but he had handed over two gold ones instead, which equated to 20 silver or 200 copper.

“Didn’t realize lying around doing nothing paid so well,” Nick commented snidely.

“That’s because it doesn’t,” Dawn said patiently, adding a slight smile. “Lying around all day doing nothing is what you do when you have enough money to not worry about getting paid.”

“The woman makes a point,” Malik agreed. “We don’t have time to lie around and wait. Let’s go kill some racist Imperium scumbags!”

Lucas didn’t bother saying anything as he watched the chattering group start off toward Lady Xun Guan’s mansion, which was a short five-minute walk away.

The large mansion had a mortarless rock facade and looked like a small fortress situated on the crest of a forest-covered hill. The surrounding woods set it apart from the other nearby mansions and manors, which were encompassed by simple farmland. Those same Imperium farms, where non-Humans were forced to till and work the fields, were one of the hallmarks of the area. New players could pick up a variety of quests which involved freeing the serfs and allowing them to return to the forest or helping to restore the natural order of the land by killing the guards and overseers. It was the same save-the-world plot that every MMORPG force-fed its players at some point or another.

The most annoying aspect of the quest Lucas had accepted was that it prevented players from wandering around and exploring either the surrounding area or the mansion. It was naturally designed to streamline the experience and prevent newbies from getting lost, but that meant that players were basically “locked in” and couldn’t do anything else until it was completed.

Once the small group arrived at the mansion, they snuck around back and “discovered” a secret door that was hidden underneath a patch of removable grass. What to do was fairly common knowledge at this point, but even if it wasn’t the quest’s giant, yellow, glowing markers made it obvious. Thankfully, there really wasn’t much to do. Once they approached the hidden entrance, the second part of the tutorial quest kicked in, and a status message appeared.

Welcome to the class selection quest. In order to familiarize yourself with the game, you will play each class for a portion of the dungeon. Don’t worry which class you are given or in which order: An event will occur at the end that will allow you to select the class you are most comfortable with.

Please select your first trial class by equipping your weapon set.

Note: Only one person may select each of the four base classes, Fighter, Rogue, Healer, and Mage, at any given time. If two players are holding a weapon set for the same class, the door to the dungeon will not open, and the quest will not progress to the next step.

Warning: Stat points will not be reset at the end of the quest. As such, we recommend players abstain from distributing points until they are certain which class they are going to pick. The difficulty of this dungeon should not require any prior farming or leveling to complete.

“Dibs on going Mage first!” Nick shouted.

“UGH!” Valerie grumbled. “You can’t! I really wanted it!”

Malik looked over at Valerie. “She gets the first crack at it. We already talked about it.”

“Fine,” Nick harrumphed. “I’ll take the Fighter then—unless you want to stop me from picking that class too?”

Malik glared at Nick for a second but then relented. “No, it’s all yours. I’ve wanted to take a crack at the Rogue anyway.”

“Don’t pick daggers. Pick the bow. You look so cool with a bow,” Valerie said, hovering around Malik as he pulled out the weapon.

Lucas blanched at the excessive PDA, which made him feel slightly nauseous.

While Nick was equipping his two swords, Lucas took off his pack and readied the Healer’s equipment, a magical scepter and shield. It was the only class that none of them had selected yet, so he didn’t have much of a choice.

The Healer’s scepter, much like the Mage’s staff, was not designed for physical damage. The inside had been hollowed out and loaded with what a computer geek from the early part of the century might recognize as something similar to a motherboard but with magical circuitry that allowed its wielder to cast spells. All a player had to do was select which spell he wanted to cast on the handle and then channel Holy Energy into the weapon to cast the spell.

The Story Continues on BooksBarbecue!

Enjoyed this preview? ❤️ Do not stop here!

Read the complete book free online → 🔗

Continue reading now on BooksBarbecue and discover every page!

Love reading? Bookmark BooksBarbecue.com for more amazing books!

Happy Reading!