When the girl was level with the mouth of the alley, I used Stasis on her. Nothing happened, which meant that I didn’t have enough mana for employing this psi-power. Dammit! The player slackened her pace as she noticed me out of her peripheral vision. Dammit dammit!
I remembered about another skill of mine, Telekinesis. It required much less mana but it consumed this precious energy over time. I employed the psi-power to immobilize the girl before she could shoot me down. Since I should have little mana left, I had to act very fast before the rest of my mana drained and the girl could move again.
I dashed from the alley and ran up to the immobile player. The player had blood oozing from numerous bullet wounds all over her body. The player must have been barely alive.
Due to my Telekinesis holding her in place, the girl couldn’t either move or speak, but her eyes watched me angrily. I took hold of her left hand and pulled her armored glove off her hand to reveal the crystal embedded into the player’s flesh.
The girl was intently watching every move I made. “What the heck are you doing, moron?” She might be thinking.
I grasped the girl’s crystal with my right hand while holding her arm with my left. I expected to meet resistance and prepared to exert all my strength to extract the microchip. Contrary to my expectations, the crystal slid out of the girl’s flesh effortlessly.
Then two things transpired simultaneously. First, I felt the Telekinesis wore off as my mana drained completely. Second, since the psi-power no longer fixed the girl, she suddenly went limp and crumpled to the ground. The player was dead. The next moment I realized why that had happened.
Bullets zipped past my head. Then I heard the sounds of fire and saw two players running down the street. Had to be them who had been chasing the girl. One of the slugs slammed into my left shoulder, spinning me around and hurtling me to the ground.
Grinding my teeth in pain and anger, I leaped to my feet and wasted no time getting back into the alley. Fortunately, the players were more interested in checking the girl’s loot than in chasing me down. As I ran down the alley, I lifted my left hand and tried to insert the crystal into the recess where my own microchip had once been. It snapped into place with a soft click as if my character was made up of plastic.
Without preamble, the HUD appeared before my eyes. I checked it. As I had expected my mana was almost inexistent. My health bar had been reduced to less than twenty percent. I continued to follow side streets and alleys, putting so much distance between myself and the two players as possible in case they decided to chase me. My stamina was gradually draining.
Eventually, I came to a stop. Nobody was after me. I found myself on a side street. Off to my right was a dumpster. I checked it to find some dirty clothes. After getting dressed, I lifted my left hand and looked at the crystal.
> Hunger: 65/100
> Cold: 35/100
The player’s HP got restored over time. However, the player’s HP stopped regenerating itself if his or her Hunger attribute got raised past fifty. Which was why my HP no longer restored itself. But I was more interested in Cold than Hunger at the moment. When it reached zero I would die. The clothes I had just found did almost nothing to warm me.
Then I consulted the map. I had a house or shelter almost in every location in the game. Since there were plenty of buildings in the Dead City, I hadn’t had to build a house in this location. Instead, I had fortified one garage by installing armored windows and doors. I marked the garage on the map and continued on.
I kept a low profile. When gunfire erupted near me, I activated Acceleration and took off. Or hid myself somewhere. I avoided other players as well as mobs. Without armor and weapons, I couldn’t protect myself. On my way through the city, I checked all dumpsters and trash cans. I chanced on stimulators every now and then and instantly used them to recover my Health Points.
Eventually, I made it to my garage. Once inside, I closed the door behind me and walked over to one of the chests lining one wall. I opened the nearest chest and took some resources and pieces of cooked meat from it. Then I built a fire and sat by it, eating the food and waiting for my character to warm up.
Then I checked the other chests, found some armor and weapon, and got dressed in the uncommon––“green”––level 90 armor and armed myself with an uncommon level 95 pistol.
A message popped up in the log.
> Attention! The night will fall in 60 minutes!
I remembered that I had a superior armor outfit and weapon at my place in the neighbor location. If I hurried, I would get there before the night fell. I jumped in the car that sat in the middle of the garage and pulled into the street. Once outside, I floored it, heading for the highway leading toward the way out of the Dead City.
Sometimes other players tried to take me on, but I didn’t fight them. This car wasn’t too tough and neither did it have a good weapon. It was just a means of transportation. I had a spare car almost in every place of mine in case I didn’t have access to my main vehicle for some reason.
Finally, I got to the neighbor location. It was a desert. I steered the car across the hard-packed earth, kicking up dust around the tires. I reached the house and pulled in the garage. I stepped from the car, walked to a row of chests, and opened one. Inside lay rare––“blue”––level 95 leather outfit. I changed into it and picked up a rare level 96 revolver. Then I took a few stimulators and vigors from another chest.
A message emerged in the log.
> Attention! The night had just fallen!
I got prepared for the assault of night monsters. I was a bit concerned about the immediate night. Sure, my character level was 97, which meant that I had made it through plenty of night assaults and had long since taught myself to successfully hold out against the night monsters. Yet something was different now. If mobs managed to slay me, I wouldn’t revive in the nearest resurrection Pod. Instead, I would die. Once and for all.
As it turned out I shouldn’t have worried. I was a very experienced player by that point and sailed through all the ten waves. When I killed the last monster, a message appeared.
> Congratulations! You’ve survived!
The night was over. I picked up the loot, patched myself up, repaired the windows and doors the monster crashed through during the night, reloaded my weapons, and then I walked up to the nearest window to look out.
The sun was already up and high. I continued looking out the window. I was thinking.
So despite the Alien’s removing my biochip, I had managed to survive by stealing the crystal from another player. But what the heck was I supposed to do next? To continue to play the game? But what was the point? With my having found out that the game wasn’t actually a game, I had no interest in reaching the max level. Even if I reached level 100, nothing would change. I had hoped that when I finished the main missions, my so-called friends––I hadn’t known their names back then––would get me out of the game as they promised. But I knew the truth now. There was no way out of the game––at least not for me––because the game took place in the real world, on the Earth devastated by the war between humans and aliens. The players actually lived in the virtual reality, taking it for real life. But I had never been uploaded into the Virtual Reality Capsule so I couldn’t get in there. Not that there was a point in doing so. For the real world was here.
So what the heck was I supposed to do now? I had no idea. Still, I knew one thing for certain. The Alien was aware of me and wasn’t going to leave me alone. That was for sure. So if I stayed in the game, the Alien would find me sooner or later, what with its drones scouring the playable zone.
Then an idea occurred to me. What if I got out of the playable area? Probably if I got as far from the playable zone as possible, the Alien would never find me. But perhaps that was just wishful thinking.
Not sure what I should do, I just stood on at the window, looking out.
Then I got a private message from someone. �
�Hey Max. Are you there?”
Wondering who that was, I texted back, “Yeah.”
“Are you okay? I was worried about you.”
“I’m fine,” I replied. “Who is it? I don’t see your nickname for some reason.”
“It’s me, Jessica.”
I suddenly felt a wave of relief wash over me. “I thought the Alien got you.”
“THEY did. I managed to get away from THEM but my friends didn’t.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I paused for a moment and then continued. “Guess as long as there’s still the Resistance, nothing’s over.”
“There is no the Resistance anymore,” Jessica texted me.
“What do you mean?” I asked as my heart sank within me.
“The Alien–– The Alien killed them–– killed them all. THEY spared me because I was the leader of the Resistance and THEY wanted to kill me slowly but I managed to get away.”
Although I didn’t see her face nor did I hear her voice, I could still tell that she was devastated by the loss of her friends. I felt rage rose inside me. Sure, I had never gotten to know Jessica’s friends, but they had been human creatures and now they were dead at the hands of that alien bloodthirsty creature. I hated it. I hated it very much and was eager to take revenge against it.
“I’m truly sorry about the loss of your friends,” I texted, paused, and then continued. “What about the device you told me about? Can we still turn the Alien into a Raid Boss so I can deal with it?”
“Yes. I managed to get away with the device but––”
“But?”
“I took some damage that’ll cause some problems. It’s out of control now. I can still turn the Alien into a Raid Boss but I can’t teleport him now wherever I want. Instead, when I use the device, the Alien will appear as a Raid Boss at some random place somewhere outside the playable area. ”
“Is that a problem? I have a few very fast vehicles. I can get anywhere pretty quickly.”
“Yes, you can. Unfortunately, other players can’t leave the playable zone. If they try, they’ll be getting damage until they die or get back.”
I finally realized what bothered Jessica. “So I’ll have to deal with the Alien on my own. I can’t bring my friends along. It sucks. Can’t you fix the device?”
“Unfortunately, it beyond repair. But if you still have the glitchy pistol I gave you––”
“I don’t have it anymore,” I intercepted her. “The Alien took away and destroyed all my stuff.”
I then told her about everything that had happened to me after the Alien caught me.
“It figures,” Jessica replied. “When the Alien took your biochip away, I lost any contact with you. But when you acquired another one, you popped up on my radar and I was able to communicate with you again.”
“Why didn’t you talk directly to me before we met?” I wanted to know. “Why would you have to communicate with me via the main mission descriptions?”
“Because it was a safe bet,” Jessica explained. “This way, the Alien couldn’t know about you and find you. But now that THEY already learned about you, there’s no point in encrypting our messages.”
“Do you mean that the Alien could get aware of my location when we talk?”
“Yes. So be careful.”
I looked out the window again and surveyed the immediate terrain. There was no sign of white spherical robots controlled by the Alien. THEY hadn’t found me yet.
“So what do we do now?” I asked Jessica.
“Let me think about it for a minute.”
I stared out the window. Nothing was out of ordinary. The wind was blowing, swirling the dust and rustling the leaves of scrawny bushes.
“Okay, I came up with an idea of sorts,” she texted a few moments later. “I can tweak the game code a bit so that Raid Bosses got a tad weaker. I’ll also ratchet up your chances of getting legendary items from Raid Bosses. However, be aware that the Alien will most likely than not send its robots to take care of you when you fight a raid boss.”
“Okay.”
“So take a couple of days to reach the max level and find the best equipment and weapon possible. Once you’re ready, get in touch with me. Then I’ll turn the Alien into a Raid Boss.”
“Got it.”
“But please, don’t take too long. We don’t have much time. The Alien’s looking for you and me. It’s better for both of us if you get ready as soon as you can manage.”
I didn’t ask Jessica any more questions. I jumped into action right away.
Chapter five
It was two days since I had the last conversation with Jessica. I had finally gotten everything I needed. I had been fighting Raid Bosses for nearly forty-eight hours, getting ready for the fight with the Alien. I had gotten a few extremely good items. I had also reached the level 100. The Alien’s robots had appeared when I had been fighting raid bosses, but I had managed to deal with them without much trouble.
I was now in one of my houses, checking my equipment to make sure that everything was ready. I was dressed in a legendary level 100 leather outfit that had dropped from one of the Raid Bosses I had killed the other day.
I was armed with a pistol of the epic rarity.
> Name: Violator
> Weapon type: Pistol
> Rarity: Epic (cyan)
> Level requirement: 100
> Damage: 5675
> Accuracy: 100
> Fire rate: 1750
> Magazine size: 50
> Special quality 1: Increases the critical damage by 75 percent.
> Special quality 2: Increases the fire rate by 25 percent.
> Special quality 3: When you hold the pistol in both hands, the pistol’s accuracy gets boosted by 100 percent.
> Special quality 4: This pistol can deal three types of elemental damage, namely Fire, Cold, and Electricity. To switch between them, use the selector on the right side of the pistol.
> Elemental damage: Electricity
> The stats of the Electricity elemental damage:
> Description: This gun can place a debuff on a foe that sends electric power surging through his or her body. While the debuff is active, the foe is getting hurt by electric damage.
> The chance of placing the debuff on a foe is 55 percent
> The duration of the debuff is 30 seconds
> The damage that is dealt to a foe is 175 points per second
> Elemental damage: Fire
> The stats of the Fire elemental damage:
> Description: This gun can place a debuff on a foe that set him or her on fire. While the debuff is active, the foe is getting hurt by fire damage.
> The chance of placing the debuff on a foe is 55 percent
> The duration of the debuff is 30 seconds
> The damage that is dealt to a foe is 175 points per second
> Elemental damage: Cold
> The stats of the Cold elemental damage:
> Description: This gun can place a debuff on a foe that decreases his or her movement speed over some time. While the debuff is active, the foe is getting hurt by cold damage.
> The chance of placing the debuff on a foe is 55 percent
> The duration of the debuff is 30 seconds
> The damage that is dealt to a foe is 275 points per second
The weapons of epic––cyan-colored––rarity were even more powerful than legendary ones were. Yet they weren’t available for other players yet. As Jessica had told me the other day, the developers were going to add the epic items to the game with the next update. However, she tweaked the game code a little so that I could lay my hands on the epic items.
I also had a melee weapon, which had dropped from another raid boss I had killed the other day.
> Name: Punisher
> Weapon type: Melee weapon
> Rarity: Epic (cyan)
> Level requirement: 100
> Chop damage: 7585-7790
> Slash damage: 9685-10235
> Thrust damage: 7885-9515
> Special quality 1: Increases the chop damage by 25 percent.
> Special quality 2: Increases the slash damage by 55 percent.
> Special quality 3: Increases the thrust damage by 35 percent.
> Special quality 4: Increases your movement speed by 25 percent when you use this sword.
> Elemental damage: Fire
> The stats of the Fire elemental damage:
> Description: This gun can place a debuff on a foe that set him or her on fire. While the debuff is active, the foe is getting hurt by fire damage.
> The chance of placing the debuff on a foe is 55 percent
> The duration of the debuff is 30 seconds
> The damage that is dealt to a foe is 175 points per second
Sure enough, I also had plenty of stimulators and vigors to restore my Health and Mana respectively.
Finally, I texted Jessica.
A few moments later, she texted back, “Done. Check your map to learn the Alien’s location. As expected, THEY teleported beyond the playable area. So you better hurry. And remember, you’re humanity’s only hope for a victory. If you die or fail to take the Alien down in time, then–– Well, then we’ll never be able to bring THEM down.”
“I don’t need that pressure.”
I jumped in my car and took off. I raced through the desert, consulting the map every now and then. I had to drive through a few locations before I finally was beyond the playable area. No players and no mobs were here. I continued on without encountering any obstacles now. Eventually, I got to the place. It was an entrance to a cave. I got out of the car, entered the cave, and walked down a long slope until I found myself in a huge chamber.
Glitch Book Six Page 4
