Rohan's Calling Online Read online

  Rohan’s Calling Online: a LitRPG series

  By

  A. J. Chaudhury

  (Note that this book was previously published as the “Permadeath Online” series. The first two parts had been published as separate books. “Rohan’s Calling Online” contains all the parts of the story, including Part Three)

  Copyright © 2018 Akhoy Jyoti Chaudhury

  All rights reserved

  SPECIAL THANKS

  To “Executive Producer”: Annie Wang;

  To Neil, Amanda and James for help with the editing;

  To the awesome folks over at Royalroadl who provided me feedback on the early drafts. While I couldn’t include all the suggestions in the final draft, the constructive criticism that I received nevertheless helped me a lot.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to real people or events is entirely coincidental.

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  Part One

  Chapter 1

  I yawned and looked out of the taxi window. Most of the shops sprinting by had closed or were closing.

  The feeling of returning home at the end of the work day was the best feeling ever. Once home, I would have dinner and then jump to bed. My only companions in the house (which was just a small rented apartment) were my books. I had a slight ache in my head. It was tough work to be a waiter. You needed to run around so much, attending to orders and what not. I wondered loftily if I would ever be able to quit my job and do something else. But there was nothing else on the planet that I wanted to do… except read fantasy novels.

  The taxi slowed down before a turn in the road. I saw a beggar dressed in rags, sitting below a neon-lit billboard that was advertising the capsule for Prithvi Online, a revolutionary new VMMORPG that was being hailed as humanity’s greatest invention. I grimaced and looked away. I had quit gaming altogether ten years ago at the start of my career as a waiter.

  My passion for gaming had killed my brother.

  I put on my mind brakes, before I could think more about it. Thinking about my brother always made me feel like someone was pressing the point of a knife into my heart. If not for my obsession with gaming, my brother would probably be alive today.

  “You coming tomorrow, Rohan?” asked Dev, who was sitting beside me. He was another waiter in the hotel I worked in. He was obese and I sometimes wondered how he managed to run about in the hotel. Thankfully, I had managed to keep myself in shape even at thirty-six.

  “Have to,” I said gloomily, “No other option.”

  “Don’t you ever want to leave this blasted job and do something better in life?” Dev said, scratching his chin. “We do the same things day in and day out. We are like NPCs in a game world.”

  “Right,” I said, stressing my memory to recall what “NPC” stood for. “But what can you do, eh?”

  “You know, all I have ever wanted to do is play my favourite games,” Dev said, “I wish I could earn money as a gamer.”

  “But you already play quite a lot, don’t you?” I asked.

  Dev looked at me, a sad smile on his lips.

  “I quit gaming.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  Dev sighed.

  “My wife told me it was either me or gaming. I almost chose the games. But I promised her that I would never return to them.”

  “I see,” I said.

  But Dev kept looking at me. There was something hidden in his eyes. Like he wanted to tell me something, but was not sure if he should.

  “Yeah?” I said.

  Dev suddenly fished into his pocket and drew out a card.

  “This was what really ended my life as a gamer.”

  I peered hard at the card. My eyes had been losing it since the past two years.

  Play Prithvi Online for free.

  Visit the following address:

  K. G Gaming Facility,

  Sagarbat, Opposite Veeru Electricals

  “I thought the Prithvi Online capsule is super expensive,” I said.

  “Well, that’s what I thought too and that’s what it is. But the other day this guy with a shaved head and big sunglasses came to me and asked my name and gave me this card. I reckon he must have got to know about me after I won an important quest in Life Online a few days back. He also told me that if for some reason I couldn’t accept the offer then I can give the card to someone else who is a good player.”

  “So you asked your wife if you can play Prithvi Online, and she didn’t allow and forced you to quit gaming altogether. Is that right?”

  Dev nodded.

  “Prithvi online is too real she said. You know there is this capsule in which you can sleep and then when you enter the game everything is as real as the real world. It’s the first game of its kind. I wish I could only play it. Such a great opportunity came to me and now… ah, well. I just wanted to ask if you’d be interested.”

  Dev raised a tentative eyebrow, a small sparkle of hope in his eyes.

  “I am not playing,” I said right away.

  A disappointed look came over Dev’s chubby face. Then he suddenly grinned.

  “Oh, wait! I didn’t tell you the more exciting thing. You not only play the game for free, but the man also told me that they would give me money every week to keep playing. It’s almost like a salary!”

  “A salary for playing?” I asked. Now that was something. Perhaps I looked a bit weak at the moment in my resolution of never playing a game again. Dev was quick to put the card in my breast pocket and grinned, displaying his wide-spaced teeth.

  “I am not asking you to play. Just asking you to consider.”

  I should have thrown the card out of the window right then. But I didn’t, not even when my brother’s face came to my mind. I could almost hear his voice. The very last words he had spoken to me. “I wish I can play like you, Rohan.”

  After sometime the taxi dropped Dev near his home.

  “Bye,” he told me, “think about it.”

  Only now did I retrieve the card from my pocket.

  I stared at the words written on the card for a few moments.

  “Um, can you give it to me, if you don’t want it?” the taxi driver said in a polite voice.

  I did not reply. I didn’t know what to say and it was weird. The rest of the way to my house an awkward silence prevailed inside the taxi. I paid the driver and went out as fast as I could.

  An hour later, I sat down on my bed, after a warm bath and dinner. There was a fantasy book in my hands. It was the seventh book in a series that revolved around a young boy who discovers that he is a wizard and then goes to a magic school and has many adventures. The series was the best that I had read in years, and I couldn’t believe that the series had been released many decades ago. Only the gods knew how I had totally missed it! There had even been a successful movie franchise based on the book series. I was in the last few chapters and now I promptly curled up and began reading where I had left off yesterday night.

  Fifty pages left to the end. Thirty pages. Twenty. Ten. Shit, the last one. I don’t want the book to end. Please!

  And then it ended.

  I kept the book aside and stared at the ceiling for a while, the events from the book fresh in my mind’s eye. I had that fuzzy feeling like I had accomplished something great. At the same time I was sad that I would never be able to read the book again without knowing what was coming next.

  I looked at the book cover, which had the pictures of the three main characters of the
story. The book was thick and it felt good in my hands. I smiled.

  I looked at my bare bed. I wished I had a wife sometimes, but… I didn’t know if I could afford to have a wife. I had enough money for myself, and the job as a waiter was more or less a reliable job. The boss liked me because I was a punctual man, but still I didn’t have enough money to marry or raise a family.

  My parents had died many years ago, and I had lived with my brother. Then my younger brother had died too ten years back and now I lived alone. I looked at the photo of my brother on the wall. I would look at it and imagine him sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning. It was strange.

  I wished he was alive. I put the book on the table, thanking it for the good reading experience it provided. I made a mental note to write a glowing review on the book’s sales page tomorrow.

  Just then my eyes fell on my shirt that I had left hanging, and recalled the card.

  I took out the card from the pocket and stared at it. Then I stared at the photo of my brother.

  “Should I?” I asked the photo.

  I imagined my brother giving a neutral expression, though his voice said “I wish I could play like you,” inside my head. I was not sure what to do. If what Dev had said was true, this card could save my life from becoming that of an NPC.

  Would anything happen if I paid a visit to the address in the card? I could always tell boss that I had been sick or make up some other excuse. It was rare for me not to go to work, simply because I got bored alone at home. I loved reading, but got eyestrain when I read too much on the e-reader instead of a print book. Even longer durations in a print book made my eyes hurt.

  Then and there I made the decision. Looking at my reflection on the glass covering my brother’s photo, I decided that tomorrow I’d go to the address in the card.

  The next morning, I woke up later than my usual time and panicked that I would be late for work. But then I remembered the decision I had taken last night, and was able to relax. I ate breakfast, then watched TV and chatted with some old friends from school online. I figured that the “gaming facility” would probably not be open so early in the morning. I also dropped a message to Dev, telling him to inform the boss that I wouldn’t be able to go to the hotel today. He replied “Rohan, I am sad that you are ill,” followed by a winking emoji.

  At around ten a. m I took a taxi to the address in the card.

  The address turned out to be a blacksmith’s shop in a slum-like area just outside the city. I paid the driver and the taxi went. For a while I just stared at the surroundings of the shop. Had I made a mistake? There were stray dogs running about chasing stray cats, and quite a few pigeons perched on the roof of the blacksmith’s shop.

  It was hot, the sun beating down hard. In an hour or two it would be even hotter. I wiped a bead of sweat on my forehead, and entered the blacksmith’s shop. If I had come so far, I would rather ask around a bit and see if I really had any chance to play the greatest game in the world for free. Perhaps, I had just come to the wrong address?

  “Um, do you know where this is?” I asked the blacksmith. He was hitting a piece of red hot iron with a hammer. He stopped and looked towards me, frowning with displeasure.

  "Yes?” he said, displaying teeth with red edges that told that he was a passionate chewer of betel leaves.

  I handed him the card, not quite sure if he could read.

  The blacksmith looked at the card and then at me intently, as if examining me. I stared back at him with a blank expression. He then nodded and beckoned me to follow.

  He led me towards the back of the shop. There was a mat on the floor. He removed it, revealing a trap door. I frowned at this. He opened the trapdoor and I could see steps leading down.

  “Go on,” the blacksmith said.

  I stood for a while, paralysed, not knowing what to do. The only times I had walked down a trapdoor was in MMORPGs and that too years back. I looked at the man.

  “Really?” I managed to say.

  The man shrugged.

  “If you don’t want to go, that’s fine,” the man said. “But you really can play the game for free down there, even make money out of it.”

  The man waited for a moment and, seeing that I was reluctant to go in, was about to close the trap door when I held out my hand.

  “Wait, I- I’ll go,” I said.

  The man smiled.

  “There are many people down there, don’t worry. It’s legitimate, if that’s what you are worried about.”

  He gestured towards the trap door. I inhaled deeply and went down the steps. After a handful of claustrophobic moments, I emerged in an underground hall.

  There were literally hundreds of capsules in lines there. Most of them were flashing a green colour and I realised that there were people inside the capsules who were already in the game. It took me a moment to take in the hall and not think I was imagining it, even as I wondered for what reason the facility was underground and could only be accessed through a trap door in a blacksmith’s shop that was in a slum-like area outside the main city. But soon I found myself throwing aside the fears as I began moving among the capsules. The hall was very clean. There were marble tiles on the floor and the walls were painted white and gave off a nice shine.

  Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around.

  It was a woman of my own age, perhaps a year or two younger. She had jet black hair and sharp features. Her eyes were light brown and she had a shapely figure and was dressed in a white lab coat. I had totally missed her when I had entered the hall first.

  My breath seemed to get stuck in my throat as I struggled to speak. But thankfully the women smiled in a way that was strangely reminiscent of the smile of air hostesses.

  “So you have come here to play the game, sir?” she asked in a voice that was smooth and sharp at the same time. I nodded awkwardly.

  “Yes.”

  “I am glad you have come, sir. My name is Serena by the way. I am here to assist all gamers.”

  Serena extended a hand and I shook it.

  “I am Rohan,” I said. “Um, would I be paid a salary for playing?” I ventured to ask.

  Serena’s smile seemed to grow only wider.

  “Of course, sir,” she said. “Ten thousand Gibs a month would work for you?” she said

  Ten thousand Gibs? Had I heard that right? My salary as a waiter was a mere six hundred Gibs. I decided that I would never return to the blasted hotel.

  I was eternally thankful to Dev for giving me the card.

  “Y-yes,” I stammered, still fighting to believe my luck.

  “Great,” Serena said, “now let’s get over a few formalities. Please come with me.” Serena led me through the lines of capsules to a desk. There were a few forms on the desk and she handed me one of those. The form just required my name, address, identification numbers etc. I quickly filled up the form and handed it to Serena.

  She scanned thorough it quickly.

  “When can I start playing?” I asked Serena curiously.

  “Depends on you. You can start playing in less than an hour. But I understand that you have friends and family that you might like to inform beforehand that you’d be gone for six days, which is the duration of a single gaming session. You see our capsules don’t allow logging out before a gaming session is completed.”

  Trapped in a game for six days?

  It was at first a creepy thought, but then I realised that the game world would be more or less the same as the real world. It would not be like I would be stuck in one place and not be able to move at all. Well, my body would be stuck. But my mind would be in control of a new virtual body, and the game world was sure to have limitless possibilities.

  I decided to give Dev a call, excusing myself from Serena for a moment.

  I waited for some seconds, listening to Dev’s caller tune, which was irritating at best since it was sung by someone mimicking a baby’s voice. Dev would be Dev, I thought. But soon he picked up. He seemed to be
panting on the other end of the phone.

  “Hey Dev,” I said. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, yes,” Dev said, “It’s just boss making me run around. But never mind—” he dropped his voice into a whisper “—Are you there?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Guess what? They are saying they’ll give me ten thousand Gibs a month just to play the game!”

  I turned to look briefly at Serena. She seemed trying her best to give me privacy and was not looking towards me. Dev suddenly went quiet on the other end.

  “Hey, are you there?” I inquired. “Dev? Hello?”

  “Yes, I am here,” Dev said. “I can’t believe I gave that card to you.”

  I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh because of Dev’s tone.

  “Look, I’ll pay all the restaurant fees from now on whenever we eat together.”

  “Oh, god,” Dev said. He seemed less to be talking to me and more to himself. “I wished I had married a different woman.”

  “Look, she just loves you, that’s all,” I told Dev. “I have no wife and no family. So I have come here.”

  “When will you tell boss you are never going to work in the hotel again?”

  “Um, in a week?” I said. I would be out for a week if I entered the capsule. But if for any reason I didn’t want to play the game I can always go back to my old job. “If he asks you about me just tell him my distant relative died or something. Just make something up, all right?”

  “All right. But god, I missed such a great chance!”

  “Happens,” I said. “Bye for now.”

  “Okay, bye.”

  I ended the call and turned towards Serena again.

  “I would like to start playing in an hour.”

  “Great!” Serena said with a bright smile. “I’ll get you the Player’s Potion.”

  “The Player’s Potion?” I inquired.

  “Well, it’s a potion that would basically freeze your body, so you don’t get any of those calls of nature.”

  “Ah, right,” I said. I reckoned only now that it would be impossible to play for a week without any such potion.