Prisoners of VR

As Rahu satiated himself, he observed monkeys passing overhead from time to time. They were agitated as people were intruding upon their territory. Even though they were only throwing stones and branches at the intruders, things were slowly starting to heat up.

This was already the third day in reality since the launch of Worldcraft. It equated to somewhere between twenty and thirty days in Worldcraft. Meaning, the majority of the people that had logged in on day one would have passed the first Beginner's Quest by now.

They might currently be working on a successive Beginner's Quest. Those talented might even have finished them altogether. As Rahu's Brainpower values were vastly greater than what was necessary to create a Grass Stick, he didn't receive a Beginner's Quest.

In the world of Worldcraft, he wasn't considered a beginner.

"What's happening now?" Rahu frowned as he noticed a group of monkeys rushing in a certain direction. He also heard sounds of conversation from the destination of their run.

Wondering what was up, he followed the monkeys, soon arriving at the foot of a steep hill. One side of the hill was a cliff, almost resembling a wall. Lodged in its centre, spanning five metres in breadth and ten metres in height was a portal.

Engraved on the cliff wall above the portal were the words, 'Grass-Faced Monkey Dungeon.'

"A Dungeon..." Rahu muttered as he observed droves of people entering it. Unlike in games where Dungeons were typically restrictive in the nature and number of people that were allowed entry, the Dungeons in Worldcraft were simply a pocket dimension.

Any number of people could enter it and face no restrictions. Currently, those that were able to use their Skill of Grass Stick at least once entered the Dungeon to obtain better resources.

Based on what Rahu learned from the Worldcraft website, as long as one continued to activate their Skill, expend their brainpower, log out and rest in reality, and recover their Brainpower before repeating the cycle, their stats would increase.

Users that had logged in on day one had already gained 5-10 stats in Brainpower through this fashion. Moreover, it was mentioned by a user that obtained a second Skill that training with a stronger Skill netted better results.

Skills were classified based on their Quality and Grade.

Under Quality were the parameters: Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, and Enlightened. It depicted one's proficiency in wielding the Skill. Training the Skill raised one's mastery over it. All Skills start at Basic Quality and grow when trained.

Under Grade were the parameters: Inferior, Moderate, Superior, and Legendary. It depicted the cost and function of the Skill. Simpler Skills with minimal effect on the surroundings were classified as Inferior Grades.

A Skill's Grade couldn't be changed irrespective of how much one trained with it. But one's stats growth rate increases when they trained with a Moderate Grade Skill as compared to an Inferior Grade Skill. It was as simple as that.

Therefore, instead of training with a Grass Stick, one would have better growth with a higher-Grade Skill. Skills came in the form of Invoker Crystals and the only place to farm them was a Dungeon.

As one's stat growth in Worldcraft developed their mind in reality, people's greed had been ignited. There was already a craze throughout the world about Worldcraft.

Countless complaints were lodged at the start when people failed to create a Grass Stick. But the complaints died down as people began to succeed and experienced the fruits of their labour. The results spoke for themselves.

Rahu entered the portal. Followed by momentary dizziness, he found himself in a vast forest surrounded by cliff walls.

The dungeon was a finite pocket dimension and its ends were depicted by steep, rocky walls that reached a height of at least a couple of kilometres. Climbing it without equipment was suicide, so even if Rahu intended to see how a pocket dimension had been established here, he couldn't do so.

'Will there be streams of data beyond that? I'm curious. But first,' He frowned, hearing shrieks from the monkeys that continued to intensify over time.

The monkeys were being hunted by the users. With their families endangered, the monkeys from the forest beyond continued to rush into the Dungeon. It resulted in a war.

"Got you!" An Elven youth that went by the name of Arnav climbed over a branch and had been waiting in patience while watching the battles. When one of the monkeys jumped in to save its brethren, he pounced upon it.

Arnav used his entire body weight to press upon the monkey. Adding that to his fall, the resultant momentum broke the monkey's bones, causing it to cry in pain. He was stunned by its cries, for they were realistic.

A rusty scent wafted into his nose as the monkey coughed out blood. Some of the blood fell on his hand, causing him to let go of his hold instinctively. "Blood? What the heck? This is too real."

The shivering of its body from pain, its laboured breaths, the slow seepage of its lifeforce, and its eyes filled with unwillingness; Arnav's senses were slammed with the cruelty of his actions, causing him to crawl backward in repulsion, "I...I didn't do that...I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"That wasn't me." He couldn't process the situation. Arnav had played a lot of games in Virtual Reality. There were even hunting simulator games where he had to hunt tigers.

But that felt like a game. Even when he killed a tiger, there was no sensation of his sword stabbing through flesh. It only felt like he had plunged it into a bag of sand. As the sensation didn't feel realistic, he wasn't repulsed by it.

Moreover, it was sand that spilled out, not blood. The case was similar with the scent and sound released by the tiger at its death. To avoid keeping anything gore, even the most brutal of games available to the people were heavily censored.

Arnav assumed the case to be the same with Worldcraft too, as it had been advertised to be for everyone with an uVR Earth, regardless of their age. Even kids could play it.

That was why he behaved like a hunter and went in for the kill. But this, it was too real. No, it was a mirror of reality. Blood, gore, and death weren't something a normal person could handle, let alone from so close-up.

"This is bullshit!" Arnav screamed and logged out of Worldcraft. If he ever were to log in, he would appear at Larkrood Village. He could avoid responsibility for his actions. And as long as he doesn't get near this Dungeon, he wouldn't be reminded of his actions.

People like Arnav were common as the fervour within the Dungeon died a little. But, this was only the case with those sympathetic to life.

Closet psychopaths roamed society in large numbers. Now, they gained a mode to express and embark on a blood-filled path of murder.

"That dumbass forgot to take the Invoker Crystal with him." An Elven man in his late twenties grinned as he arrived at a halt before the whimpering monkey.

The monkey reached a height of a metre when it stood tall. But as monkeys had crouched forms, they appeared smaller than their heights dictated. Attached between its midrib and forearm was a thin leaf resembling a wing.

It was what the monkeys used to glide through the air and drop rocks on the intruders. But of course, as it was a Skill, Willpower was consumed to maintain it, especially during flight.

As the monkey was severely injured, it couldn't focus anymore. And hence, its pair of leaf wings collapsed into a clutter of smaller leaves. Embedded in its forehead was the Invoker Crystal behind this Skill.

Not all animals in a Dungeon possessed an Invoker Crystal, but those with one had them embedded in their foreheads.

The Elven Man placed his foot on the monkey's chest and applied pressure, preventing it from breaking free. Its cries only served to deepen the grin on his face as he pinched the Invoker Crystal on its forehead and yanked it out, "It's no different to plucking out grass."

The monkey's cries worsened as blood leaked out of its forehead. It seemed to have aged a couple of years with the extraction of the Invoker Crystal.

The Elven man rubbed the Invoker Crystal on the monkey's belly, using its fur to rub off the blood and flesh bits attached to the crystal. Once it was cleaned, he placed it in one of his Leaf Guard's sockets, grinning upon successfully equipping a second Skill.

He then stared at the monkey and observed the terror in its eyes, "What are you looking at, huh?"

The Elven man lifted had been pressing its chest with his left leg. With a snort, he lifted his right leg and shifted the entirety of his body weight onto his left. The monkey's ribs cracked under the pressure.

Followed by a horrid cry, the monkey breathed its last. The Elven man stared at its death throes and laughed, "Man, this is exhilarating. All those laws in reality made it stifling. I couldn't even kill a crow or dog without having to face numerous charges. But here, it's different!"

"You're trash." Rahu bashed a Grass Stick on his head, shattering it. He condensed another Grass Stick and slammed it on the back of the Elven man's head, trembling in anger as the latter vanished. He was logged out after getting killed.

"I'm sorry," Rahu crouched before the monkey and lifted its corpse. He was distracted by the surrounding noise when he entered the Dungeon. By the time he managed to focus on this monkey and rushed over, it was too late.

Its body was crushed. A nauseating stench wafted out of its corpse, suffocating Rahu. He was painfully aware that this wasn't reality. It was just composed of data taken to a realistic level. But, did that make it okay to brutally kill an animal?

For someone capable of Induced Reality and to a certain extent, even Synchronised Reality, the line between virtual and reality had blurred out. The corpse before him wasn't merely a figment of data. Prior to death, it suffered pain, no different from a real monkey.

It expressed a willingness to live, to survive, just like the real one. It wanted to save its brethren by its own volition and not some command prompt, just like the original. Its death was mourned by the nearby monkeys, just as what would happen in a society of monkeys.

As he held its corpse, Rahu heard the lives of many monkeys being snuffed out by the Elven intruders. Could this be considered murder, especially since it wasn't a hunt prompted by a need for food?

What was real? What was virtual? The lines had already blurred too much. Does he arrest the people here on account of murder? Or will he treat it as a mere game? He wasn't sure anymore.