Free Resurgence: The Rise of Resurgence Book 1 by Joshua W. Nelson

now, how do I make sure that we are all hitting the same thing? How do we make sure we are just fighting whatever Wayne is fighting?”
    “It’s pretty ingenious bro. And once we get more skills, this thing is really going to take off. The AI in this game has to be totally sick, and the sensors around our noggin are doing way more than we realize. But whatever. In order to do that we need to do some vocalization. It says it here in the manual. But other places where we have found ways to use our eyes, it doesn’t say that. So I am looking out specifically for those things where we do so we don’t waste our time blinking all day.” My head hurt just trying to process everything Dan just said.
    “Great. So what do we do?”
    “Open the attack icon on your screen. Then say ‘insert command.’ Once you do that a little window will pop open. For pick up groups you can just say ‘Follow attack of slot 1,’ which is the first dude in your group. It doesn’t matter when people join the group, you can move their slots around in your personal interface. Pretty ingenious. But in our case, you can actually say ‘Follow attack of Naugha’ and never have to worry about that.”
    I had to agree, that actually was pretty bad ass. And we were ready now to see how this all worked out. First stop was the quest giver in the square. I figured the bunnies out front could be the first step to the quest, and I didn’t want to waste time killing when we could be questing. This had been months in the making, but we were finally going to start our first adventure!

CHAPTER 9
    “Jesus Christ man! Run for the guards! Run, run run!” Dan yelled.
    What we were running from was possibly the least successful first pull in the history of gaming. Without CC and heals, we were planning on just beating whatever mobs we came across until Jason and Dan got spells. But in order to establish our hierarchy, we sent Dan out for the pull. And he did pull. Only I think it was all of them.
    “Hide your children! The nightmare bunny express is coming to town! INCOMING!” Dan was yelling at the top of his lungs as he sprinted toward the gate.
    We all made it safe and sound, and the area outside the gate would be cleared of bunnies for a bit after the guards slaughtered what looked like dozens of them. Dan was panting on the ground, out of breath. I saw this as a learning point if nothing else.
    “Dan, what is your vitality at?” I asked.
    “It’s good man, I’ve got lots of Agility, so I didn’t eat up too much. I could have run for a bit longer.”
    “Good to know!” I responded.
    * * *
    What should have been a simple beginning to what was a simple quest obviously hadn’t started that way. Before going out to see Dan’s rendition of the Bunny Train That Could, we had stopped by the quest giver at the center of town. His title said Sir Northampton Kenyon.
    “Good day to you Sir Kenyon,” Jason began.
    “Ah, good High-Elf, how are you on this fine day? Have you and your band of adventurers come to answer the call?” The Knight asked.
    “Yes, Sir Kenyon we wish to answer the call,” Jason responded.
    “While I am certain you speak for yourself good Elf, I am afraid you cannot speak for the rest of your friends as you are not the leader of this merry band. Perhaps your leader could request the same.” Simple point to note, but an important one. For a group quest the group leader needed to trigger the acceptance of the quest. I stepped forward and went through the same motions as Jason.
    “I admire your bravado, but his Highness does not have a need for more mouths to feed that cannot produce results. There will be a challenge of sorts that you each must pass in order to continue toward raising the fame of your name throughout the lands of Tholtos. The first step is an easy one. Beyond these walls you will find a clearing where the fleetest of creatures scamper to and fro. Do not be fooled. These are vile beasts with a venom that could