“Now kind of roll your eyes up without moving your head. I know it sounds weird, but that’s the trigger they came up with.”
Justin stared at the banana, said the word ‘banana’ to himself, and tried to roll his eyes up.
“Still nothing.”
“Keep focusing on the banana. And the eye roll thing is real gentle—”
All of a sudden, a translucent panel appeared over the banana—kind of like a dialog bubble in a comic book. It read:
:::::. Banana (fruit). Edible .:::::
“I see it!”
“You do? Cool. Now blink to get rid of it.”
Justin blinked, and the overlay faded away.
“Now let’s try something a bit more fun,” Wyatt said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out something the size of a walnut. When he placed it on the counter, Justin saw that it was some sort of necklace, a piece of crystal with a hole bored into it. The crystal was strung on to a length of leather cord.
“What is it?”
“You tell me.”
Justin nodded. He stared at the crystal and told himself ‘crystal’ and then did the little eye roll thing. The overlay popped up:
:::::. Glowstone (magical item). Provides a glow of light in a 10’ radius. Usable .:::::
This was amazing!
“Glowstone!” Justin said.
“Your first magic item.”
“Can I keep it?”
“Unfortunately, no. Everything here is for demonstration purposes only. Except the banana. You can actually eat that.”
“What’s next?”
“Well, you were curious about me, right? Overlay me. I don’t mind.”
Justin focused on Wyatt and triggered the overlay. This was getting easier.
:::::. Wyatt. (NPC-Admin). Friendly .:::::
“I knew it! You are an NPC.”
“Busted.”
They both laughed.
“That’s freaking awesome.”
“Yeah, it is. Now if I was a player, you’d see some more info and if we were grouped, you could see even more. Health. Spell effects. Stuff like that.”
“Cool.”
“Okay, last one. This time do yourself.”
“How do I do that?”
“Same way. Just focus on yourself and trigger. You can say ‘me’ if you want. Easy.”
Justin thought about himself, rolled his eyes, and then found himself staring at a new overlay:
:::::. Justin Boone. (Undefined). Level: undefined. Profession: undefined. Health: undefined. Combat action: undefined. Combat opposition: undefined. Magic action: undefined. Magic opposition: undefined. Experience: undefined .:::::
“It all says ‘undefined’—”
“Yup. Working as intended. According to the game, you’re undefined. But we’ll take care of that in a bit.”
“I’m also not crazy about the UI. It’s just a big list.”
“Yeah, there are a lot of fields for player records. But you can filter the display once you get more up to speed on overlaying. For example, you could just filter for skills and then the overlay would just show your skills. If you had any, of course. That make sense?”
“I guess.”
“You’ll have plenty of time to practice. We’ve got one last test here and then we’ll go discover which profession you are. Cool?”
“Sure.”
Wyatt walked closer and looked Justin right in the eye. “This is actually my favorite test. Pain calibration.”
“Pain, what—?”
Before Justin could finish his thought, Wyatt’s fist smashed into his face. He felt his nose crunch and a sharp pain exploded between his eyes.
Then he blacked out.
When he woke up, he was sprawled on a cool stone floor in some sort of large chamber. He sat up and felt his face. Sucker-punched by that asshole Wyatt.
But his face wasn’t sore at all. He gingerly touched his nose. No pain. No broken bones. Okay. Not bad.
Justin stood up and looked around. This was some sort of ceremonial hall with statues and pillars and tapestries. It almost looked like a medieval cathedral in here.
“Behold the Hall of Choosing!” a deep voice called from behind him.
Justin whipped around to see an old man wearing robes, and a cloak, and a satin skullcap. The man had long white hair and a long white beard. It was all a bit much.
“Who are you supposed to be? Dumbledore? Gandalf? Obi-Wan?”
“Didn’t you just learn how to overlay?” the old man asked.
Justin stared at him. Old man. Eye roll. Boom.
:::::. Wyatt, Magister of the Choosing (NPC). Friendly .:::::
“Wyatt? That you?” Justin moved closer and examined the man’s face. It looked like Wyatt’s face, but about fifty years older.
“Freaky, huh? I get to play the Magister sometimes. Hey, sorry about the pain test. They make me do that. No hard feelings, huh?”
Justin felt his jaw tighten. Time for a little payback.
“Nope. None at all—”
Then Justin launched himself at Wyatt, slamming his fist into the old man’s furry face.
But it didn’t work.
Justin’s fist passed right through Wyatt’s face. It was like trying to punch a ghost.
Wyatt cackled, “Yeah, you can’t be doing that. No attacking of friendlies. The controller doesn’t allow it. We can spar if you want, but it has to be mutual.”
“Is that like dueling?”
“Yeah, but no dying and no real damage.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll initiate,” Wyatt said. “It’s a voice command. The trigger word is ‘spar’ and you just say the person’s name afterwards. Then you have to agree. Ready?”
Justin nodded.
Wyatt said, “Spar with Justin.”
Immediately an overlay popped up:
:::::. Wyatt has invited you to spar (first hit). Accept? .:::::
“It’s asking me if I want to accept,” Justin said. “How do I respond?”
“It’s all voice. Just say ‘yes.’ Unless you’ve chickened out.”
“What does ‘first hit’ mean?”
“It means the first one to land a hit wins.”
“Okay,” Justin said. Then a bit louder he said, “I accept the challenge.”
A glowing circle of light appeared on the ground. It was fifteen or twenty feet in diameter. Then Justin heard a disembodied voice count down “5…4…3…2…1… Begin!”
Wyatt stepped into the circle, his hands raised like a boxer. He was grinning like an old madman.
Justin couldn’t help smiling himself. This was super fun. He darted in and swung at Wyatt’s jaw.
In a blur of speed, Wyatt pivoted, evading Justin’s punch. He then spun and slammed his elbow into Justin’s temple. There was a blinding flash of pain and everything went black.
Some time later, Justin woke up. He was sprawled on the stone floor, in the same large chamber. Old man Wyatt was standing above him, reaching out to help
