Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1) by Dimitrios Gkirgkiris (phonics readers .txt) 📕

to stream on my PC, so instead I opened up the stream while he played and weirdly gathered a bigger crowd with these old classics than the more recent titles I’d been playing.

Once he was done with older generation JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, and the early Final Fantasy, Tales, and Dragon Quest games, we had to figure out a way for him to play with more complicated controllers. Not having opposable thumbs proved to be a considerable hindrance since after a certain point, controller design centered around multiple simultaneous finger inputs. Video game companies had been targeting humans not dogs after all. Louie’s limb coordination was good enough for him to be able to handle pressing buttons on the simpler consoles, but I had to switch him to a touch surface once he started emulating PlayStation 1 games.

He was having the time of his life and, to be honest, I was a bit jealous of him. He would play his video games and watch his shows until late in the night, and when we’d go to the office, he would sleep through my whole work-day, only to do play and watch again once we returned home. That is, unless it was the weekend, in which case he wouldn’t let me rest unless we stopped by Leonardo’s place for some training.

Leo had what could be best described as an Apocosmos training gym. One of his double-doored closets, in Narnia fashion, led to an open summer field where we could train to our hearts’ content. There were no weights or dumbbells but instead moving targets, obstacles, and a vast open space we could use to fight against each other. Sometimes we would also fight against monsters which were bred there by Leo’s family for the purpose of training and material farming.

Speaking of his family, I could only guess how strong they were by the types of monsters I occasionally saw roaming on the horizon. Just the fact that they had created a small realm of their own was testament to how powerful the DiFiore family was, and it was very kind of Leonardo to share this place with us.

Louie reached level 5, while I was there merely as his bodyguard in case something went wrong. No matter how uninterested I was in leveling up, Louie would keep sending me party invitations so we could level up together, especially since he’d unlocked the first healing spell that could target others on level 5.

Name : Heal

Level : 1

Type : Active

HP Consumed : 0

MP Consumed : 13

Power : 50

Range : 50 feet

Precondition : The caster needs to be able to voice the incantation.

Description : A basic form of healing. The warm light that manifests from the caster’s mana travels to the target and restores skin tissue, muscles, and even bones.

I, however, had still not changed my mind about what I’d said. I wasn’t going to stay in the Apocosmos any longer than I had to. The money was great. Killing and risking being killed, not so much.

I woke up late one Sunday, not having to go to the gym or train with Leo, only to find Louie whimpering above the laptop.

“What’s up buddy?” I asked worriedly, when I realized that I recognized the violin playing from the laptop speakers.

The price of freedom.

I had seen him start playing Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and could now understand why he was crying. He was at that part of the game.

“Why?” he asked pleadingly. “Games are games. Games are supposed to be fun. Why would a game make me sad?”

“I cried too,” I said as I wrapped my arms around him and placed my head on his back. “It may not feel like it right now, but when you look back on playing this game, it will be a very fond memory.”

“Well, now I know,” he said and stood up on all fours, making me stir as well. “Games can also make you sad, so now I’ll be expecting it and won’t be sad again.”

Just wait till you reach the end of Final Fantasy XV, I thought, but decided to keep the spoilers to myself.

“Are you done with setting up your orders?” Louie asked, changing his demeanor as if nothing had happened. “Are we rich yet?”

“Not yet,” I replied and scratched him behind his ears as I stood up. “We’re getting there though. Last night I put on a large buying order for arrow materials at a very low price. Let me check real quick.”

I picked up the DEM tablet from the kitchen counter and scrolled to the purchases tab.

You have purchased Wooden Stem (Birch) x 200 for a total of $2,000.00

You have purchased Bone Grain x 200 for a total of $6,000.00

A grand total of $8,000.00 has been removed from your account.

Your new account balance is : $19,350.00

The next step of the Dark Energy Marketplace free crafting program will create: Bone Arrows (20pcs) x 200

Would you like to commence? Yes No

“The order was fulfilled,” I said as I tapped yes. “The arrows will be crafted and become available soon. If we’re lucky, by the time we go to work tomorrow, these will all be sold and we should have thirty thousand more into our account.”

“Great,” Louie said, not really excited about the number, since he didn’t have a good grasp on money yet.

“We’re doing really well, buddy,” I added, trying to pique his interest.

“Well, if it’s so easy, everyone must be doing it,” he said nonchalantly, “so it’s no big deal, right?”

“Some people do, but not too many. Each state has its own market for these low-level products and the amounts we’re earning are nothing in the grand scale of the Apocosmos market.”

“But it’s good by the Cosmos standards?”

“Buddy, thirty thousand dollars is roughly six thousand pounds of bacon,” I said and he immediately pricked up his ears.

“Bacon?” he asked, suddenly revitalized. “How much is a pound?”

“Around twenty—” was all I managed to say.

“Holy macaroni, Alex!” he said and was now jumping around