Revelation: Conquest: A Dystopian GameLit Saga, #3

By R. M. Mulder

Enter a world of darkness and danger, where Lily Thatcher, an undercover agent with the National Security Agency (NSA), finds herself embroiled in a sinister plot that threatens the very fabric of existence. A malevolent, immortal villain has used his ungodly powers to destroy countless empires, and now he rules over CyberBolt, the advanced augmented reality platform hosting the popular game CONQUEST.

As Lily uncovers the depths of his depravity, she must undergo a dangerous medical mind-wipe procedure in preparation for her re-assignment. But instead of following orders, she becomes a rogue agent, determined to uncover the truth and bring this villain to justice.

But in this dark fantasy realm, the stakes are higher than she could have ever imagined. As she unlocks the game's secrets, Lily is dragged away through a portal to an alien planet that the game CONQUEST was modeled after. With a sentient dragon by her side, she must unlock her innate powers of divination to survive in a world that defies all logic.

But the danger doesn't stop there. Lily discovers that preventing Earth's Apocalyptic Fate is the only way to save humanity from certain destruction. With the weight of the world on her shoulders, she must fight against impossible odds and face her darkest fears to stop the villain and save the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R. M. Mulder
• Release date: Apr 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215292808

R. M. Mulder

Most of his friends from High School still don't even know his first name. Known only as either "Mulder" or "Agent", there was an unforgettable moment when a girl he was dating expressed her confusion when a friend approached him and called him "Richard". The ongoing joke was "Hey Mulder, where's Scully?" Ironically he later married a redhead... R. M. Mulder began querying agents for his novel CONQUEST back in January 2016. He then received some inspirational feedback from one of the editors involved in a query contest that had stated in part, "Honestly? Everything about this screams 'Blockbuster self-pub!!' Writing is sharp and commercial. Author has a plan. Go be Hugh Howey. I don't think querying is gonna go your way, and you've got big vision." Mulder ran with this inspiration, and has since become an Amazon Bestselling Author. His book CONQUEST also won 1st Place as Favorite Dystopian Book during Virtual FantasyCon 2016. Mulder invests his time and talents in his upcoming LitRPG miniseries which carry on the story of the Conquest Saga. Stay tuned by joining his newsletter for all the news about upcoming releases, super sales, and reader perks! http://newsletter.RMMulder.com

Book preview

Prologue

Seeking Fodder

The Leviathan’s shadowy form billowed through the deep woods, seeking new prey. The great head reared high out of the smoke with its fiery jaws gaping wide; the eyes glinting in their blank sockets like two red-hot coals from an ancient hearth. Its body writhed and twisted as it searched for a suitable victim’s soul to feast on, but it saw nothing worthy of satisfying its appetite.

Human hosts had become scarce on this nearly-deserted planet, and trying to convince the few souls left to succumb to his will had proven difficult. So it continued searching—scouring the length of the forest, through the hills where the forests grew thickest, then back towards the decrepit city of Atlantis where a few men still dwelt. There were some who might be lured by the thought of immortal life; but they were few, and the Leviathan could not afford to wait long. It must feed soon!

Then the beast sensed something near at hand. A man—a lone wanderer going about his business. The Leviathan loped over the hillside and emerged into a meadow where a solitary figure was squatting close to a little stream that flowed around the base of the hillock. The poor fellow did not seem to notice anything amiss; he merely sat there, staring intently at a piece of wood on which he traced symbols with the soft mud.

As the great beast neared him, the man looked up suddenly. He was a middle-aged man of average height, with a roundish face and short brown hair shot with grey. His clothes were drab enough to indicate poverty, yet clean and well kept. From the way he stared vacantly, however, it would have seemed that he had not noticed the approaching monster at all.

The creature halted just beyond the range of the man’s vision and watched him, waiting for some sign or movement to break the stillness. The man showed no alarm, however, nor even any curiosity concerning the strange apparition. Now and again he picked up bits of broken wood and tried to fit them together—a habit the monster found peculiarly uninteresting.

At length the man rose slowly to his feet and stretched. Then he turned away and walked across the clearing and disappeared among the trees. For a moment the creature stood watching him, but after several minutes it seemed to have lost interest. It began drifting back along the course it had taken when first entering the woods.

By now the sun had passed its zenith and sank low in the western sky, bathing the meadows and woods with a warm radiance. At times the Leviathan paused to absorb the gentle rays of the dying light, which it felt nourished its waning vitality. But often it moved swiftly through the shadows, intent only on finding another host.

For most of the day the beast had seen nothing of interest. Finally, though, it came to a clearing near the edge of a small lake. Here a single cottage crouched amid the surrounding brush, half concealed by tall trees. Two dim figures were visible outside the door. One was a woman—young and pretty. She was crooning to herself over a child she held cradled against her breast. The other was a young boy, perhaps twelve years old. The mother gazed at the lake while the boy wandered back and forth between the house and the water.

The beast lingered for a while, gazing at the children. They seemed to be alone here in the shadow of the forest. Perhaps they could be tempted into performing some act of submission. The Leviathan lowered its great head and sniffed cautiously at the air. There was no scent of fear or aggression about the house, so it decided to approach closer.

It took a winding path through the trees, keeping well out of sight. After a time, it became aware of the sound of voices coming from inside the dwelling. The mother sang softly to the child, then stopped abruptly. The boy had been standing near the entrance, looking up at the sky, but now he ran off into the bushes. The mother followed him, calling his name.

Now the creature emerged from the cover of the woods and approached the house. The front door opened as it approached, and a young girl stepped out. She was quite pretty, with a slight build and smooth skin. Her dark eyes peered into the dusk, taking in everything around her. As the Leviathan drew near, her eyes went wide and she screamed.

With sudden speed the monster bounded forward and seized her by the throat.

Yield thy soul unto me! the creature demanded.

But the girl refused and kicked wildly. The monster let go, and she staggered backward. Gasping for breath, she clutched at the door frame and stared at the thing before her.

The young boy had come running out of the bushes. The monster caught him in mid-stride and flung him to the ground with one sweeping motion. He rolled over and lay still, staring at the monster with horrified eyes.

Then the mother appeared, clutching her infant to her bosom. The monster raised its head toward her, and she shrank back in terror.

Yield thy soul unto me! the Leviathan rumbled. I shall grant thee eternal life.

Now the boy struggled to his knees, wary of his mother’s fate.

Please, he gasped. Let my mother go. I’ll do what you ask.

The monster regarded him coldly.

Thou art a weakling, unworthy of the gift of immortality. However, since thou dost offer thy life willingly, I may accept it; and if thou hast fulfilled the conditions required, then thou shalt live forevermore.

The boy nodded, and the monster released his mother. The simple nod was enough of a confirmation. The Leviathan moved toward the boy as the white flame of his soul erupted from his chest.

No! his mother screamed, You can’t take my little boy!

Despite her plea, the beast opened its gaping jaws to reveal its flaming mouth and sucked in the smoke emanating from the boy’s soul. The creature grew larger as it consumed the smoke, feeling its vitality strengthen and replenish. Then it withdrew its head and the flames dissipated.

The mother fell to the ground, clasping her hands together and weeping uncontrollably. Then she looked up and saw the Leviathan hovering over the remains of her son. The monster swayed to and fro, then settled down, breathing heavily. It was satisfied.

For centuries, the Leviathan had been wandering across the world Zion, feeding on its inhabitants until there remained very few. It had roamed all over the planet, leaving behind it a trail of death and desolation.

The boy raised his head, his eyes now devoid of life. His mother stood with a flicker hope remaining in her eyes, until the boy spoke his next words.

I will do thy bidding, Master.

Chapter One

Assisted Kill

The name of the he who rides upon a black horse is Death. And he who rides upon a silver horse shall be called Damnation...

– Methuselah 13:10 –

Lily Thatcher stood clad in her gleaming virtual armor. Her vision was filled with an augmented screen of scrolling code overlaying the serene landscape ahead while she busily typed away on a virtual keyboard suspended in mid-air. Most of the other CyberBolt developers sat behind a desk in a stuffy cubicle inside the company headquarters tower, but Lily preferred a more inclusive environment. She enjoyed the full immersion experience while she logged away her hours at work. It helped make her tedious day-to-day routine more enjoyable.

System Alert!

A player in the Lost Zone is in distress and in dire need of assistance. Would you like to utilize this opportunity to provide World Class Customer Service?

Yes | No

Although CyberBolt feigned the option of a choice, with a dual responsibility as both a game developer and a tester she was occasionally required to jump in unannounced and offer player assistance. To decline such an request was frowned upon by upper management, and would be flagged on her employee record.

Lily sighed and pressed Yes.

I wonder what kind of mess this player has gotten themselves into?

In a swirl of mist, Lily’s avatar @SuaveQueen25 was whisked away to a new spawn point where she appeared in a flash of light in the middle of a small clearing somewhere in one of the many forested areas known as the Lost Zone. Almost immediately she identified the blonde player in distress and cringed.

Of course it has to be a dumb blonde.

Ironically Lily had chosen to adorn her own avatar with blonde hair - but she had purposely done so as a decoy. Her flaming red hair in Real Life (RL) would have been a dead giveaway, and there was a certain player in particular that she needed to keep a close eye on in-game - namely her boyfriend Allan - so she didn’t want to call attention to herself.

Suddenly she heard a loud hiss from directly behind her. She moaned in frustration as the prompt appeared. 

Threat Detected: Level 20 Basilisk

HP| 2,000/2,000

Strengths: Prolonged exposure to the basilisk’s eyes can cause temporary paralysis of players and on occasion instant avatar death. Once paralyzed, the basilisk will often bite it’s prey with its poisonous fangs, causing instant avatar death. Further, a single drop of basilisk poison is potent enough to melt skin upon contact. Classified as one of the rarest creatures in CONQUEST, but yet one of the most dangerous.

Weaknesses: [Unknown.]

Without warning the vile creature swished its tail and slammed her into a tree with a resounding crunch of her avatar’s bones. She crumpled in a heap, having left a large dent in the thick bark of the tree. 

[-500 Damage]

Lily winced in extreme pain. With her remaining good hand she quickly opened a back door interface in her developer tools and entered a cheat code to turn off the pain receptors. With the pain now eliminated, she accessed her inventory to procure a healing potion and gulped it down. 

System Alert!

Your HP has been filled to 100% capacity.

[HP | 2,500/2,500]

Her wounds instantly healed and her bones snapped back into place as she quickly assessed the situation. A little ways off she could see the Level 8 female blonde player attempting to retreat further into the woods. Trailing close behind was a massive high-level basilisk and five more lurked a ways off.

She’s no match for these creatures. No wonder I got a prompt to help!

Lily charged at one of the lurking creatures from behind. 

Threat Detected: Level 18 Basilisk

HP| 1,800/1,800

Strengths: Prolonged exposure to the basilisk’s eyes can cause temporary paralysis of players and on occasion instant avatar death. Once paralyzed, the basilisk will often bite it’s prey with its poisonous fangs, causing instant avatar death. Further, a single drop of basilisk poison is potent enough to melt skin upon contact. Classified as one of the rarest creatures in CONQUEST, but yet one of the most dangerous.

Weaknesses: [Unknown.]

She attacked the unsuspecting creature from behind with her enhanced broadsword, making quick work to lop off its head. 

Decapitate: Easy

Instant Kill

[+990 XP]

Skill Refreshed: Decapitate

Delivers an Instant Kill when hacking off the head of an opponent. Only works at close range. Greater chances for Instant Kill increase with higher levels. Requirements: Level > 11, Agility > 8, Stamina > 12, Willpower > 8

***Disclaimer: This skill can only be utilized with a large sword***

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blonde try to challenge one of the basilisks in a moment of stupidity. She too immediately found herself smashed into a tree and crumpled to the ground in a bloody heap.

Well, I tried. It was a lost cause from the beginning anyway.

Lily shrugged and pulled up a spawn stone from her inventory and attempted to activate it. 

WARNING!

You have not completed this opportunity to provide World Class Customer Service. Failure to complete this task will result in a penalty of -1,000 XP and may affect your Annual Incentive Award (AIA). Are you sure you want to forfeit this task?

Yes | No

Lily sighed in annoyance and selected ‘No’.

Apparently she’s still alive. Go figure.

The blonde player rose wobbly from the ground and stood in a feeble attempt to face the basilisk that had attacked her, but it roared and quickly encircled her in a tight embrace with its tail. It was attempting to squeeze the rest of the life out of her and readying for a strike. She slapped the tail with her free hand, but it was no use. She squirmed in the grip, but to Lily’s surprise the player didn’t scream out in terror but instead fought back with resolve in her eyes.

Okay, so maybe this girl’s got some guts after all.

Lily charged forward, swiping away at the prompt identifying the creature as a Level 21 Basilisk. She attacked the coiled creature by thrusting her sword deep into its belly and twisting the hilt as she withdrew. 

[-300 HP]

The massive snake gave a loud screech and released its grip on the woman who collapsed to the ground.

Dang it. That didn’t work.

She had hoped to gain a StabTwist Instant Kill with that maneuver, but all she succeeded at was to thoroughly piss it off.

Suddenly the remaining four creatures that had been holding back sprang into action. They too joined the fray and soon Lily was hard put to defend herself against all of them. 

Slash

[-45 HP]

Jab

[-80 HP]

Stab

[-100 HP]

Strike

[-150 HP]

To her relief, the blonde player gulped down a healing potion quickly and joined back into the fight. But the help was fleeting. The stupid girl stared right into one of the basilisk’s eyes and immediately stiffened like a board with temporary paralysis.

Its fangs bared, she saw the green ooze drip onto the woman’s armor which melted on contact. But surprisingly the blonde pushed past the paralysis and drove her spear deep into the top of the creature’s mouth. She twisted and yanked it out. The basilisk screeched and raised itself before falling down again. The basilisk’s entire weight bore down on the woman, but she rolled over out of the way before she got crushed. A second basilisk was now eliminated.

Lily found herself cornered, taking a defensive stance against the basilisk she had injured. She parried against its fangs as the beast took special interest in her - clearly seeking revenge. Though she was avoiding any Damage points, she wasn’t gaining any Hit Points against her foe either.

Screaming a battle cry, the woman attracted the attention of two of the creatures. They slithered towards the woman, fangs trying to strike. She swiftly moved from one to another and back as she stabbed and jabbed. She thrust her spear into one of the basilisk’s eyes, blinding it. Reptilian screeches were the only sound in the forest. Unable to see, it moved here and there, crashing into the others.

To her good fortune, the blinded snake slammed into the one that had been keeping Lily busy. The temporary distraction gave her just enough time to take advantage of the situation and slash across the basilisk’s neck, leaving a large gaping gash. 

NeckSlash: Difficult

Instant Kill

[+1,030 XP]

Skill Refreshed: NeckSlash

Delivers an Instant Kill when slashing across an opponent’s neck in close range. Greater chances for Instant Kill increase with higher levels. Requirements: Level > 7, Agility > 2, Stamina > 4, Intelligence > 4

Lily glanced over in admiration as the woman appeared to be quite the marksman after all. She climbed up a tree and jumped onto the blind snake, brandishing a broadsword she had just pulled out of her inventory and stabbed through its head. The basilisk crashed down to the ground.

Apparently she had better weaponry than she initially led on.

Four down. Two to go.

Almost simultaneously, both women took out the last two creatures. The blonde slashed across the neck of one while Lily managed to decapitate the other with a powerful stroke of her sword. 

Decapitate: Medium

Instant Kill

[+1,110 XP]

A new system prompt appeared once all threats had been eliminated.

Congratulations! 

You have successfully completed your task to provide World Class Customer Service. For your service, CyberBolt proudly rewards you with the following:

+500 XP

+1 Strength 

+1 Willpower

Lily swiped the prompt away to see the blonde staring at her with eyes opened wide, her mouth about to open to speak.

Lily always hated long goodbyes, let alone awkward introductions. So, to save them both the headache Lily quickly accessed her inventory and activated a spawn stone and disappeared in a flash of light.

Chapter Two

Character Reset

And woe be unto the inhabitants of both Earth and Zion, for one shall conquer death, and by his hand shall the calamities foretold of old come upon all mankind...

– Methuselah 13:11 –

The night was still young, so she grabbed herself a quick bite to eat in the cafeteria of CyberBolt’s Chicago Arena and then returned to the teeming hills and valleys of green foam in the arena and pressed on her right temple. A screen appeared in her NeuReality vision with multiple options to choose from. She scrolled past the developer login and the NSA portal and selected the Conquest game logo.

CyberBolt Entertainment Proudly Presents:

CONQUEST

Even though her cover story job was being a developer of the game, she thoroughly enjoyed playing it in her spare time. Several of her colleagues had developed some new features for lower level players to improve gamer retention, and she had been assigned to test them out. She was excited to reset her character stats back to Level 1, because sometimes being an Overpowered Player got a bit boring.

Clad in her scanty strips of animal hide, she spawned near the gates of Samsiel, an area that had many enemies to fight once she was able to acquire some decent weaponry. It also meant more travel time on foot as there were no longer any Spawn Stones in her inventory to take advantage of. The only other thing she could do was upgrade her gear, however that would require spending actual money in the Conquest eStore which would be ridiculous considering she was technically on the job. The only other ways to gain new gear was through completing quests or looting fallen players.

A prompt appeared in her NeuReality vision.

Select Your Class:

1) Warrior

2) Adventurer

3) Assassin

4) Mage

Lily didn’t even hesitate to select the Adventurer class type. Since she knew what the weapons and armor would eventually look like, she felt comfortable picking whatever she wanted. Each class type used different attack styles based around melee, ranged, and magic. In addition, they each had access to special abilities. For example, Warriors had Combat Excellence, Mages had Fireball Conjuring, Adventurers had Sneak Strike, and Assassins had Acute Focus.

Unfortunately, all of the classes looked exactly the same until you started upgrading your equipment. But at least now she knew what her starting skill set would be.

Instead of wasting time on the character creation process, she decided to keep her current blonde-haired avatar for her profile @SuaveQueen25, even though she had flaming red hair in real life. As she started exploring the city, she found that there wasn’t much of a tutorial. Instead you just picked one of three new quests available.

System Alert!

Please select one or more of the following available Quests:

1) In Search of Gold

2) In the Name of the King

3) The Blacksmith’s Apprentice

She read through the details of each quest: In Search of Gold - apparently the city’s gold supply had run dry, and someone needed to go mining in the nearby mountains. In the Name of the King - someone had killed the king, and it was up to her to find out who. The Blacksmith’s Apprentice - the blacksmith was sick and needed an apprentice to assist him in crafting new weapons and armor.

After considering her options, she selected the quest titled In the Name of the King. This might actually be interesting, and if she completed this quest successfully, she could earn some decent loot. Hopefully the culprit would be easy enough to find, and hopefully the quest giver wouldn’t have unreasonable expectations.

With the quest selected, she walked into the familiar town. At first glance it seemed like a typical medieval European village. There were several homes, a church, a marketplace, and even a graveyard. As she moved deeper into the city, she realized that the buildings were far more spacious than necessary. There was a tavern with tables inside, but no customers. The inn had rooms, but no guests. And the market was filled with goods, yet no vendors.

There were two guards standing next to the gate, which didn’t seem quite normal either. The first guard looked like a knight in shining armor, with his tall helmet and shield on his arm. He stood around five feet ten inches, and wore plate mail over his leather jerkin. His axe was slung across his back, and his sword hung beside it. When he saw her, his eyes went wide.

The other guard, who was younger and shorter than the knight, had a deep scar running down his face. He was dressed in dark brown pants and shirt, and carried a short sword hanging from his belt. A large pair of boots covered his feet, and