Atlas Rising a LitRPG gaming adventure by Blake Severson (good books to read for 12 year olds .TXT) 📕

A buzzing noise sounded, and he looked around the room. Nothing in the area looked out of place and he focused inward. A small red icon lit up on the edge of his view and he selected it.

You only have 5 minutes of game time left before you must log out.

Damn respawn timer! Guess I have to start over again next time I log in. Atlas walked to the door and checked to make sure it was locked before falling back on the bed. He closed his eyes and the message he expected popped up.

Do you wish to log off? Yes/No.

Selecting Yes, he felt a pull on his mind before he woke to whirring noises and flashing lights. Tubes slipped back into the top of the capsule behind his head. The helmet gently retracted, and the capsule popped open. Jean stared at him with a big smile plastered on her face.

“Good to see you again. How’ve you been the last couple days?” Atlas asked.

“Not too bad. Been busy keeping up with all the gamers here, but luckily you all have spread out pretty reasonably with your logouts. There are a few times it gets hectic when multiple want to jump out all at once, but we manage. Have a good time in the game?”

“Was having a great time until a couple losers killed me. Oh well, that’s a downfall of a game like this. Always people who are assholes no matter what world you’re in. You going to be here in two days? I’ll be back on Thursday morning to go back in. My last shift ends Wednesday night.”

“Yep! I probably won’t be here when you log off, though. I have Saturday off. What do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I’m a nurse at a medical clinic. Not the most glamorous job, but someone has to do it,” he told her with a smile.

“That’s so sweet. As much as I’d like to stay and chat, I have another person waking up in less than an hour and I think you better head down to check out before you have to make a mad dash again like last time,” she told him with a chuckle.

His face flushed red knowing she’d seen that embarrassing race to the bathroom, and he agreed. A quick wave and a goodbye and he was off down the stairs. The attendant near the hallway waved him through when he confirmed he knew the way, and Atlas headed straight to the bathroom.

Finally relieved and ready to go, he hopped in the elevator and ascended back to the main floor. The entire trip to the parking garage, he formulated plans to get back on his feet when he logged in. Luckily for him, he had two professions to lean on. He just needed to get a few things so he could get started.

Firing up his car, he stopped and got a burger on the way home. The couch beckoned to him when he entered his apartment, but he caught a whiff of his funk and redirected his path to the shower. The warm water felt heavenly as he scrubbed off God only knew what chemicals were on his skin. His sweat seemed to have a wicked odor from the machine regulating his body in the pod. He tossed on a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt. Making sure he set his alarm for work in the morning, he sat on the couch and turned on a rerun of one of his favorite shows.

***

Incessant beeping noise filled his mind and jolted him awake. Atlas looked around in confusion while his eyes tried to focus. The colorful screen of the TV was the first sight that registered to him. The gang had just unmasked their latest villain, and he was blaming the meddling kids for foiling his plan.

Patting his hand around him, he finally located the source of his noise as he gripped his phone and brought it to his face. It was 6:00 in the morning and his alarm wanted to make sure he made it to work on time.

“Must’ve fallen asleep watching TV,” he grumbled as he ran a hand over his face. A flick of his finger silenced the alarm, and he got up and dressed in his scrubs.

The refrigerator looked like a barren desert when he opened it. It was usually too much hassle to stock food. With only him there, he never needed to cook. There was a soda in the door that he grabbed. Coffee wasn’t his thing, so his caffeine fix usually came from the sugary drinks.

He grabbed his keys and headed out the door, deciding he’d grab some fast food for breakfast on the way to work. The line was fast, and he zoomed through the drive through before pulling up at work. His morning was slow and their patient load was small.

During his lunch break, he tried to call Keenan but got his voicemail. Must still be in the game. We are almost on exactly opposite schedules. Atlas left him a message to call when he got out and told him he wasn’t logging back in until Thursday morning.

Flipping through his phone screen, he searched for Divine Genesis. Countless articles popped up. Most of them talked about how fast the game was growing and how the marketplace was already ripe for investment. Atlas altered his search and added forum to the end. The first result was a site called Divine Genesis Fanatics.

He clicked on it and it brought him to a standard forum site filled with categories. Many of them were common, such as general discussion and recommendations for similar games. The one that intrigued Atlas the most was the Tutorials section. Tapping on it, he found a plethora of articles, all with different guides. There was a standard guide for each class. A few of them talked about the Addition system.

He tapped on one called Mastering Additions and saw a post from a person named Ladygamer1224.