Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series

by Michael Atamanov

  “So, Gnat’s Geckho friends came to get him, and your husband has taken you with him into space!”

  “Yes! Grandpa, you told me a number of times that Gnat is exceptional, and the Geckho bring only him into the cosmos. But that is only partially true. The Geckho do adore Gnat, and practically wait on him hand and foot. If only you knew how happy the crew was to see him! The Geckho bared their teeth and rumbled so loud that, if I hadn’t studied their body language, I’d have thought they were going to devour my husband! But Gerd Gnat is not the only one! There’s a whole band of enemies there. I counted at least four! Gnat himself, then a Pilot, a Space Commando, and a Gladiator you said was Gnat’s friend. And that is if I don’t count the two little Miyelonians Gnat keeps around for some reason. With them, it’s a whole squadron! In fact, I found it strange he didn’t bring his lover.”

  “Well, Anna the Medic would never have gone...” the old mage suddenly stumbled midsentence, having reconsidered explaining some finer points and sharply changed topic. No, that was beyond the mind of a mere mortal. “And actually, that leaves Anna in an interesting position. For the first time, we found a person the wary Gnat let get close. We’ll see what comes of that. You shouldn’t be counting the Miyelonians out either. Do you know what that modest looking Translator did yesterday?”

  Minn-O shook her head. She had spent the last two days in a prison cell and had no way of knowing what happened on the outside.

  “That bushy-tailed stinker led a combat training session for the First and Second Legions! I don’t know how she did it, but my informants all say she significantly improved the elite troops. Even their highest-level player Gerd Tarasov leveled up twice! It’s simply unbelievable! And here I am crawling out of my skin trying to train an army before the battle and at least somewhat narrow the level and skill gap. Now that little Translator has brought it all to naught!”

  The old man could barely contain his burbling emotions. The top of his magical staff even started to glow with seething energy. Just in case, the Princess took a step back. That way, if some death spell spilled out, at least it wouldn’t hit her. Her loving grandpa would never hurt her on purpose, but the dread old man was known to accidentally burn holes in walls or splash random servants and robots with his rage.

  In order to distract her grandfather from the burdensome thoughts, Minn-O started to tell him about her space voyage so far. She was not staying in the same bunk as Gnat as she assumed, but in a bunk with some Geckho merchant whose thick black fur was mottled with unnatural white spots. After the prison cell, Minn-O’s only clothing had been a track suit and pair of slippers.

  “Gnat noticed that and brought me a ladies’ spacesuit before takeoff. But when he held it up to me, he shook his head, called me a giraffe and said that he would give the spacesuit to the ship Mechanic to have it brought out. And Gnat gave me weapons, one of our common laser pistols, maybe even my old one and some antiquated hunting rifle. And believe it or not, it still shoots bullets not lasers! But it does have an ornately carved stock, a bunch of modifications, and its own name: Krechet! Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Gnat changed class from Prospector to Listener!”

  The great mage, previously listening with measured interest to his granddaughter’s chirping, sharply straightened up and raised his eyes:

  “You’re such a blockhead! You should have started with that, not the slippers and other crap! Tell me right away, what is this class? What bonuses does it give? And why did he change? Also, find out where the ship is going, why and what you should be doing. Definitely try and sniff out some info on the Miyelonians, too. Why are they with Gnat, are their services for hire and how much might that cost?”

  Minn-O put on an unhappy grimace and, lifting the hem of the uncomfortable skirt, took a seat on the edge of the high table and crossed her long legs.

  “And why should I do that? I’m Gnat’s wayedda now, so he’s no longer my enemy... And that’s at the very least! I’m legally married now, and I’ll probably make friends with the Geckho and Gnat’s pals soon enough. It was you that pushed me into his arms, so don’t be surprised if my attitude toward this whole war starts to change! I will not be your spy!”

  This came as an unpleasant surprise for the old mage. However, the Coruler Thumor-Anhu La-Fin knew the Princess very well, so he quickly found the right words:

  “In that world, you are a sponger, dependent on a poor student. And he will treat you with apprehension his whole life. You will never truly belong there, and no one will ever trust you. Here, you are a proud Princess, a member of a ruling house and respected by all! If you play your cards right, you can climb the ranks higher and become much more important in our society. You may even be Coruler of humanity one day! Can you see the difference in your position between here and there? And you’d be making the same choice for your future children. They can either be Crown Princes and Princesses, the future rulers of mankind, or spend their lives as outcasts and pariahs, strange freaks on the margin of society!”

  He probably could have stopped there. The experienced Psionic Thumor-Anhu could sense that he’d already hit his mark. But this issue was too serious to just let go, so he figured he needed to use a bit of mind control. The Princess wrinkled her nose, jumped off the table and, just like in early childhood, fell into the arms of her powerful grandpa, begging for consolation.

  “I’m sorry, Thumor-Anhu, I was wrong! Of course, I will always remain loyal to house La-Fin and will do everything I can to bring victory to our faction and world! But Gnat is no longer a stranger to me. I think about him all the time and cannot do anything about that!!! Don’t make me spy on him! You are a powerful and wise mage, so think up some way of getting Gnat over to our world. That’s the best way to solve all this!”

  The old man embraced his beloved granddaughter and reassured her, but his mind was on something else. Princess Minn-O was growing distant from him. A larger and larger part of her heart was occupied by this other man. Sure, today he could use mind control on her, but that would only get harder and harder. One day, Minn-O would break with him once and for all. The little pink bundle of joy bound with flowery ribbons he had taken from the arms of his mortally wounded daughter Onessa-Rati, the little girl he’d raised since birth, who he’d always thought of as small and unintelligent, had suddenly become adult...

  At the same time, the experienced psionic only needed a small spurt of trust and openness to read all the information he needed from the Princess’s mind. Minn-O really did not know where the ship was heading and did not understand one iota of the Geckho-language conversations. The only curious information was a conversation she had overheard when four people from the H3 Faction had been quarreling in the next room over.

  As it turned out, Gnat and his companions were not exactly burning with desire to fly off into space, and instead wanted to fight in the next day’s big battle with the Dark Faction, which they now considered inevitable. His faction was respected by the enemies and even somewhat feared, but they were prepared to fight to the last drop of blood, then respawn and go back into battle. Anything but retreat. Hrm... Victory would not come easily...

  On the one hand, what did the Mage Diviner say earlier...? The chance of success was just eighteen percent, and winning would mean just a temporary change of borders, not a serious shift in the war with the H3 Faction? This was proving a hard nut to crack. What was more, the enemy was expecting an attack, had even made allies and was more prepared for battle than ever. It was not the best time to go on the offensive, to put it lightly.

  On the other hand, not attacking would mean showing a lack of confidence and that might work against the defeatist propaganda he’d been trying so hard to instill. What to do? They needed time to train their troops. And Thumor-Anhu needed long consultations with General Ui-Taka, the most experienced and fortunate strategist of the magical world. Hopefully, the two of them could find the key to the enemy’s defenses. But how to achieve that without damaging his own authority?
>
  The great mage gave his dear granddaughter another warm embrace and, smiling, looked the Princess right in her teary eyes:

  “Minn-O, go back into the game and tell Gerd Gnat that I give your union my blessing! If your husband were here in our world, I would bequeath him the ancient palace of House La-Fin and two hundred servants at his beck and call. But Gnat is only in the game for now so, in honor of my daughter’s wedding, I grant his pitiful faction an additional five days of cease-fire!”

  Chapter One. Technical Difficulties

  FOR THE LAST FEW HOURS, I had been seeing messages on the inside of my helmet in the ancient Relict language. I couldn’t read it, but it was all written in an alarming shade of red. Some of the symbols blinked, while some were particularly bright and others a bit dim. And now, another block of text had just shown up. The mysterious syntactic brambles weren’t so much blocking my view as they were annoying me with the mere fact of their presence. And that was breaking my concentration. Earlier I had somehow managed to dismiss them, but every time was a big headache. I hadn’t yet noticed any logic or pattern to how I made them go away, either. Maybe it was nothing I was doing, and the messages were just expiring. Or maybe, which would be much worse, the system was just automatically making important decisions for me because I had reached the time limit.

  I tried to give all kinds of commands in every language I knew although, to be honest, I was trying to be quiet so my Miyelonian bunk mates wouldn’t wake up. Well, actually just Ayni because Tini was now in the real world. I also tried using mental commands and even moving my pupils to dismiss the bothersome red symbols. For a minute nothing happened, then I saw something I could read:

  The Break-in skill has been marked for deletion. Confirm? (Yes/No)

  Just what I needed! I hurriedly removed the helmet of my Listener suit and just held it in my hands. I noticed before that the words would turn off if I wasn’t wearing the helmet, just dissolving in the matte-black glass. And this time as well, without power from the nuclear battery in my backpack, the screen on the face shield started flickering and quickly went dim. With a sigh, I set the helmet aside.

  Ugh, what a day I was having. Everything was topsy-turvy... First, I fought with Anya. Then I set off on a voyage with a Geckho crew to a war that had nothing to do with humanity. And I had no choice in the matter. It was “an offer you can’t refuse,” just like The Godfather. Even my closest and most loyal friends were not too delighted to be heading into space, as it meant we were deserting our friends right before a massively important battle. Just imagine what the rest of the faction would think... I suspected that was what caused the stinging three-point drop in my Authority.

  Even our new leader Ivan Lozovsky couldn’t hold back some unflattering comments, despite the fact he had promised me complete freedom. That said, I suspected the newly-minted Gerd was not so much upset I would miss the battle with the Dark Faction as he was that I had taken the high-level Morphian with me. Lozovsky was counting on it to kill enemy leaders. Yes, things had turned out poorly... Everyone was mad at me.

  And what was more, my traveling mistress Minn-O was acting haughty and weird, not only avoiding conversations with Geckho and Humans but even shying away from me. Everything in her appearance betrayed that she felt alien and uncomfortable on this ship. Also, the light spacesuit I had asked Uraz Tukhsh to lend Minn-O La-Fin was too small. I had to spend all my remaining crystals and even go slightly into debt, asking my friend Uline for spare change so I could pay the ship Mechanic to have it refit for her lanky frame.

  Captain Uraz Tukhsh was acting strange, too. Either he was embarrassed or admired me, but he never once came to talk to me in the many hours the Shiamiru spent on Earth, preferring to communicate through Uline. And on the starship, when I walked up to him to ask about the spacesuit, the captain clearly felt out of his comfort zone and agreed to everything quickly just to get me out of his cabin. It was unusual behavior for the haughty Aristocrat, to put it lightly. And I couldn’t find an explanation.

  And now my space suit was acting up... What a disaster... How could I play or do anything useful with all this ancient claptrap blocking my view? And I never knew when more might come! As if the class change was worth all this! With a certain trepidation, I glanced down at my troublesome helmet. I wondered if I had stopped it from deleting Break-in. Unfortunately, my game information was no help. It was strange too. Some of my skills were missing, as were Hitpoints and Magic Points. And it showed my game class as “changing:”

  Gerd Gnat. Human. H3 Faction.

  Level-61 ??? class changing ???

  Statistics:

  Strength

  13

  Agility

  17

  Intelligence

  23 + 3

  Perception

  26

  Constitution

  15

  Luck modifier

  +3

  Parameters:

  Hitpoints

  1704 of ???

  Endurance points

  861 of 958

  Magic points

  237 of ???

  Carrying capacity

  58 lbs.

  Fame

  49

  Skills:

  Electronics

  41

  &6%%##@@!

  49

  Cartography

  52

  Astrolinguistics

  67

  Break-in [inactive]

  0 of 23

  Rifles

  45

  Mineralogy

  [confirmation pending]

  ???

  Medium Armor

  44

  Eagle Eye

  59

  Sharpshooter

  28

  Targeting

  18

  Danger Sense

  28

  Psionic

  [inactive, critically low value not compatible with class]

  36

  Mental Fortitude

  [inactive, critically low value not compatible with class]

  27

  Machine Control

  [inactive, critically low value not compatible with class]

  12

  Attention!!! You have nine unused skill points

  Ugh, my character was chopped to bits... The first thing that caught my eye was that the Scanning skill had been replaced with a collection of symbols. And the scanning symbol I had been using since my very first moments in the game was just gone, which made me queasy. Who had I become? Or who was I supposed to become? What were the features of my new class?

  The once unavailable information on the Listener class could now be read, but only as columns of incomprehensible symbols, as if tech support (if such a thing even existed) had neglected to have it translated since the times of the Relicts. I had no one to complain to, so apparently I would have to figure it all out by trial and error. And that included class abilities, how to use my suit, reactivate missing skills, and read the Relict language. But I had to start from the beginning and fix whatever I could.

  “Critically low value not compatible with game class.” Maybe I could figure out what value would not be “critically low.” And that was exactly what I decided to do, adding points one by one to the inactive Psionic skill. One, two, three... I had already started to worry that it was all for naught, and I wouldn’t have enough points, but when the skill reached forty, the line changed from grayed-out back to normal:

  Psionic

  40

  That’s better, one problem down. Now it would be nice to pull Mental Fortitude and Machine Control out of inactivity as well. I looked at my five remaining points with sorrow. If I assumed that forty was what the other skills also needed, I wouldn’t have enough. And that proved to be the case. I placed all five remaining points into Mental Fortitude, raising it to thirty-two, but nothing changed.

  Alright, I was out of points so I’d need to work on another problem. For example, what did “Break-in [inactiv
e]” mean? Probably it was because the skill was in the process of deletion. But how could I delete a skill? I basically thought that was theoretically impossible, and every skill a player took was forever. I knew for sure the game menu had no option for wiping a skill. I had combed through all the settings very carefully and never seen anything like that.

  By the way, what was the difference between Break-in and Medium Armor? Why was the game system fine with the latter, but found fault with the former? Maybe a Listener was not supposed to break into things, because that went against their purpose. I already knew some professions couldn’t use certain skills. The Prospector, for example was not allowed to do any piloting, and a Space Commando couldn’t use any guns except Heavy Weapons. So, following that line of thought, if I approached the issue from a purely technical standpoint, was the game trying to delete a now incompatible skill from my repertoire? But there was no option in the settings for that...

  I looked glumly at my black helmet. I only saw the system messages when I had on the full Listener suit. Clearly, the Relicts had a way to duplicate the game menu on helmet screens. Perhaps, when their ancient race still existed, there was no other way to access the game menu. Seemingly, like it or not, I’d have to put the helmet back on and navigate the confusing array of incomprehensible symbols and look for a way to delete the now inactive skill.