Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series

by Michael Atamanov

  I averted my gaze, breaking the mental contact. No, that wasn’t how it would go. I needed real information, not this poorly masked propaganda!

  Psionic skill increased to level forty-eight!

  Mysticism skill increased to level two!

  Mysticism skill increased to level three!

  I didn’t get mad at her, despite the flagrant attempt to lure me to her side. Instead, I gave a good-hearted smile and suggested we just talk like normal people and get to know one another better. I even suggested we combine a free conversation with language lessons. I could teach Minn-O the language of my people and the Geckho race, and she could act as my teacher of the Dark Faction language.

  It was a good idea. Minn-O grew visibly calmer and, generously peppering her speech with words from her world, she began to tell me about the mageocracy, the ruling families and the twelve directories. I listened carefully, not interrupting, just occasionally clarifying the meaning of a certain word or asking for more information when I didn’t understand. At a certain point, Minn-O scooted closer, and I gathered the courage to tenderly hug the Princess. She didn’t object one bit. In fact it was the opposite. She pressed up close to me and put her head on my shoulder.

  The ice of distance between us quickly melted. I was no longer so constrained and, when telling her about my world and past life I joked around a lot, acted silly, and the Princess laughed infectiously. As it turned out, Minn-O had a nice sonorous laugh reminiscent of the peal of silver bells. I didn’t even know who initiated it, but at a certain point, our lips met in a kiss.

  “I’d already stopped hoping you’d work up the courage,” Minn-O smiled, and naughty little devils started dancing in her eyes. “You sold me a whole song and dance when I was naked and tied up on the Geckho ferry. You said that if I ended up your prisoner one more time, I wouldn’t get by with just kisses. I’ll admit, I was worried, but you actually turned out pretty timid. I had to wait a whole two days just for a kiss...”

  I understood perfectly that the Princess was just joking, and that if I pushed too hard, I might scare her and demolish the shaky trust we had established. But in one way or another, our relationship was fated in the stars and, at some point, it would reach the point of “leveling the Lover skill.” By the way, what did that do? I tried to open the description, and received only the following message:

  Information unavailable. This skill is incompatible with your character.

  Then I just asked Minn-O and my wayedda didn’t hide anything, reading aloud:

  Lover. This skill is available only to female characters and allows its bearer to better attract the opposite sex* (both NPC’s and living players). It also helps women please and keep their men. Leveling this skill gives new conversation and behavior options, improves the relationship modifier, and increases Endurance Points. This is the main skill for the classes Prostitute, Favorite, and Matriarch.

  * For races with variable gender, the Lover skill may temporarily become inactive.

  ** For races with more than two gender options (for example, Meleyephatians or Cleopians) the Lover skill is only active between partners capable of conceiving young.

  “Well then...” I couldn’t hold back the surprised exclamation. “It looks like I seriously underestimated your feminine wiles. Are you already using the skill on me?”

  “I took that skill back on the Geckho ferry and even tried to use it on you then,” Minn-O admitted with a satisfied smile. “But I didn’t notice any effect. In the prison block either. You’re just impossible to get through to!”

  We kissed again, this time bolder and with less restraint. I even started thinking about taking it further and letting my hands wander a bit, given that my companion was in a playful mood. However our placid cooing was interrupted by a heavy knock at the door, and I hurried to raise the curtain before it got broken down by the strong and impatient visitor. In the doorway was Geckho Trader Uline Tar:

  “Gnat, there you are! We’re almost there. We can already see Un-Tesh. But that wasn’t why I came looking for you. We got a message from the base that our shuttle will be boarded and inspected by a group of Geckho soldiers, and you and the Miyelonian Ayni are to be placed under arrest by order of Kung Waid Shishish himself. Tell me, Gnat. What did you do this time?!”

  The shocking news made my jaw drop. Kung Waid Shishish was a fearsome and unrestrained Geckho military leader, who had massive territorial holdings throughout the galaxy, including my very own Earth. And he had ordered me arrested? But why?! I mean, Gnat was not some innocent little lamb, and my gameplay might have upset the Geckho on several occasions. I could remember at least ten reasons for our suzerains to be mad at me. Just inviting the Miyelonian smugglers into the exclusive zone of the Geckho was enough. But that was all in the past now and I had already made a report to Geckho Diplomat Kosta Dykhsh about it. I couldn’t really think of any transgressions since that time.

  Uline didn’t understand why Kung Shishish would be mad either, and neither did Captain Tukhsh, who had passed this alarming information along to the Trader. By the way... although this wasn’t the best moment, I asked the furry lady if she knew why the captain was treating me with such strange agreeability.

  “Are you implying I might not know!” Uline frowned as if my lack of faith insulted her. “Our young handsome Aristocrat got it into his head to marry! And not just any old Geckho, but a respectable and pretty Geckho lady from a rich clan that controls a network of Galactic highways and a whole flotilla of trade ships. It was a marriage borne of pure calculation. The groom is a famous aristocrat from a now destitute family, and the bride is from a family of rich traders with no title. But the obstinate lady gave our captain a clear and unambiguous condition: he had to achieve glory and become a Gerd, then put all his free stat points into luck and thus rid himself of the curse. As it is, everyone knows about his bad luck. It’s practically broadcast on the galactic news.”

  I thought for a bit and put some things together. Based on the words “pretty Geckho lady,” “rich traders” “ships,” and “curse,” I came to a firm conclusion:

  “That obstinate pretty bride must be you, Uline!”

  “Gnat, you’re as good a guesser as ever,” my huge furry friend rumbled out in satisfaction. “My fiancée, not least of all at my behest, sees you as a talisman of luck and his best chance for a happy marriage. And that’s why he’s so nervous around you. He’s afraid of losing you. And I share his conviction, so I’ll try to help you with this weird arrest even though I don’t know what has upset the head of clan Waideh-Tukhsh.”

  Chapter Four. Master of Earth

  I’D BEEN ON ASTEROIDS before. Several in fact, so I wasn’t exactly a space greenhorn. I’d seen plenty of astral vistas before, too. But still, the view I got from the surface of Un-Tesh surprised and delighted me. There were so many ships here both on the spaceport landing field and just drifting in space nearby! Interceptors, assault frigates, heavy cruisers, landing ships... There were hundreds! And although we were on the dark side of the comet, opposite the local sun, the spaceport’s huge field of ice glimmered like a million stars, reflecting the many ship lights and emphasizing all the military might of the great Geckho race. What a pretty sight!

  And what was more, this comet had an atmosphere. Not a very thick one, but still! Through it, the black starry sky looked washed out and almost dirty. A huge combat starship hovering a few miles over the surface looked very indistinct. It was so blurry I couldn’t even read its class or make out any details. Most likely, this was the gigantic battleship Dmitry Zheltov told me about, but I had no way of confirming that. I couldn’t see further than half a mile, and there was no distinct horizon here either. Nothing but a swirling ash-gray haze, like wisps of steam mixing into the dark sky and bright blue ground of the icy space port.

  The barometer in my suit sleeve confirmed my observations about the atmosphere, showing a pressure of nine thousand pascals, which was pretty significant. In fact, one twelft
h of the average on earth. For a celestial body that was not a planet and didn’t seem all that massive, the pressure was very significant. But the composition of the atmosphere meant it would not be breathable.

  Apparently, the substance underfoot was not exactly ice in the normal sense of the word, either. The ground was just too crumbly and light to be normal frozen water. To be more accurate, there probably was some water in it, but it was not the main component. I looked closer at the dark violet frozen ground and thought. It didn’t look like frozen oxygen or nitrogen, and they weren’t commonly found on comets. What was more, the temperature was just negative one hundred thirty Fahrenheit, which would not be enough to maintain nitrogen or oxygen in a solid state.

  I came to the conclusion that this soil was primarily frozen ammonium, billions or probably even trillions of tons of it. Logically, the side of this comet pointed toward the sun would be hot enough for it to sublimate. There were probably a large number of ammonium geysers over there. The surface on that side may even have been liquid, with whole seas of toxic boiling ammonium. The mass of this heavenly body allowed it to retain most of the sublimated gas, which is what made up the local atmosphere. Although not all the ammonium stayed, some of the gas escaped into space, which is what made the comet’s tail.

  Eagle Eye skill increased to level sixty-one!

  Mineralogy skill confirmed. Detected level: forty-nine.

  You have reached level sixty-five!

  You have received three skill points! (total points accumulated: twelve).

  Oh! Mineralogy not only “turned on,” but sharply jumped from twenty-three to forty-nine. Seemingly that was the game algorithms’ evaluation of my prior education in the field. Ugh, if I’d only known this would happen, I’d have never left the library and studied geology and the composition of astronomical bodies for days on end...

  I had enough free points to raise scanning to nineteen and give me back my ability to use the Prospector tool. But I was in no hurry. I could do that any time. At this early stage, though, Scanning was leveling quick, so I could afford to save them.

  But where was the landing party? Where was the division that was going to board our shuttle and arrest me and Ayni? Would I have to stand here at the gangway for long?

  Ayni took the news of her upcoming arrest with surprising calm and told me and everyone on the shuttle that she had no desire to speak with the Geckho military leader, so she’d rather commit suicide and respawn somewhere safe. None of the crew members dared contradict the fearsome Miyelonian, much less try and stop her. Ayni bid us all farewell, went into the cargo hold, and no one saw her again.

  But I’m certain the Morphian was fibbing. At the very least, after the Shiamiru landed on the surface of the comet, the Morphian was still on board. I saw its marker when I ran a scan. I guessed Fox was hiding in some utility room, planning to blend in with the locals when the chance presented itself. It could easily pretend to be from one of the many starship crews or working a service job on the base. I could not imagine how it was technically possible, even with a change of appearance, to go into such a toxic and sparse atmosphere as this comet with no armor. But my friend had been to this base a few times before, which meant she knew the local conditions and was prepared for them.

  “Gnat, don’t leave the ship! The antigrav with Kung Waid Shishish’s soldiers is on its way and will land near our ship soon.”

  The voice in my headphones belonged to Captain Uraz Tukhsh. I just shook my head in reproach. I didn’t know about Fame (it sometimes went up due to ill repute and obvious foolishness), but the young Aristocrat could never achieve positive Authority. After all, it seemed to me that any more-or-less accountable captain would at least try to figure out why their crew member had been called to speak with their commander. A good one might even feel the call to personally go and defend his subject. That would be the logical and proper move. After all, who would want to serve a captain that didn’t give a damn about his crew?! But Uraz Tukhsh just threw up his hands and, not wanting to fight his vaunted relative, just stepped aside, letting me go to the hands of fate.

  The only one to express a desire to support and protect me was Uline Tar. The Trader even tried to come to the meeting with Kung Waid Shishish herself to figure it all out and “restore justice,” but I talked her out of it. I needed Uline on the ship. She was the only one I could trust with my most valuable objects: the Annihilator, the Priestess’s tail and my wallet with a large number of crypto.

  Finally, I saw a small quickly moving antigrav in the sky up above. It nearly jumped past our Shiamiru, which must have been nearly invisible compared to the other starships but, at the last second, it made an abrupt maneuver and started landing. The side hatches opened, and ten Geckho soldiers came out of the antigrav in identical heavy red armor. Their weapons at the ready, they surrounded the Shiamiru and froze stock still. Only when they were all in position did their commander emerge, slowly and with dignity:

  Gerd Ost Rekh. Geckho. Clan Waideh-Rekh. Level-156 Shocktroop.

  One hundred fifty-six?! A real badass. I should not joke around with him. But just then, I got distracted because an airlock hissed open behind me and, covering her face with a hand to block the bright spotlight, Minn-O came down the gangway in her new spacesuit. What the hell was she doing??? Or... I activated the Scanning icon, but discovered this was the real Minn-O La-Fin.

  I took a step toward the Princess and first checked the air in her tanks, then made sure they were all hooked up right, and her batteries were charged. The last thing I needed was for my wayedda to lose consciousness in this corrosive ammonium atmosphere. While I tightened and readjusted the straps of her space suit, then cinched down her rifle strap, the Princess explained why she was here:

  “Gnat, the pilot man told me that my husband was in trouble, and they even want to arrest you. Well, I decided to be by your side in this difficult moment and share your fate!”

  Well, well! An unexpected move from my traveling mistress. But still I couldn’t hide that it was very pleasing. I had just finished adjusting Minn-O’s spacesuit, when a bulky Shocktroop walked up to the gangway and stopped a step away:

  “Kento duho, Gerd Gnat! Uh, I was told the second would be a Miyelonian...”

  If only you knew the relief I experienced when I heard that fearsome Geckho’s first words! The weight of a mountain fell off my shoulders! The “kento duho” greeting meant he was friendly. It definitely could not be used to address a criminal or arrestee. I greeted the squadron head and explained with all possible politeness that the Miyelonian Ayni had killed herself as soon as she found out our shuttle was going to a Geckho military base. She said that it wasn’t on her way and it was better for her to respawn on Medu-Ro IV. That was exactly what Ayni told the crew, so I just recounted it word for word.

  “Too bad... Kung Waid Shishish REALLY wanted to speak with that Miyelonian,” the Shocktroop said, putting special emphasis on the word “really.” I couldn’t make out what he meant by that intonation, though. Either he wanted to emphasize how mad his leader was, or he just had a sincere interest. And maybe he was also expecting problems now that he hadn’t carried out the Kung’s full order.

  In one way or another, I needed to figure out my status in all this, and I directly asked the Shocktroop what the military leader wanted from me.

  “Kung Waid Shishish is angry and would like to see you personally. He has a lot of questions for you, Gerd Gnat. In your place, I wouldn’t make the Kung wait. He is not known for his patience.”

  I guess it wasn’t all good... I had apparently pissed off the great and powerful Geckho Kung. This was of course not an arrest, but there was still little to be happy about. I needed to go at once to mitigate the master of Earth’s dismay as much as possible. Hopefully I could at least somewhat smooth over the sharpness and turn this from a hostile interrogation into an official visit. So I pointed Gerd Ost Rekh to my companion:

  “Minn-O is my spouse and a Princes
s of my race, the granddaughter of a Coruler of mankind. It would be proper to have her come with us in order to express her respect to Kung Waid Shishish.”

  The Geckho did not object, and soon we were in the antigrav racing off toward a distant ice massif barely visible in the cloudy mist. It was a true mountain ridge made of frozen ammonium. From closer up, I was able to see the whole chain of icy peaks, which were over half a mile in height. Then I noticed that our flying machine was flying straight into a vertical ice wall at enormous speed. I felt Minn-O shudder in fear as I grasped her hand. I was not worried one bit, though. My Danger Sense was quiet, which meant there was nothing risky in this maneuver. And in fact, our antigrav passed through the seemingly solid wall without resistance. For a second, colorful sparks and flashes of electricity blasted out around us. However, I had seen this before, when we discovered the illicit platinum mine on an asteroid. It was a cloaking screen, hiding something behind it.

  Fame increased to 52.

  Authority increased to 31!

  “You’re not easily scared, Gerd Gnat!” the leader of the Geckho group called out respectfully, removing his helmet and showing his yellowed tusks. “Not many react so calmly the first time. Some have even passed out or tried to jump out a window.”

  By then, the antigrav had passed through a second defensive shield and into a spherical room, which I imagined was an airlock. After that, the walls of the tunnel were no longer ice but some kind of gray ceramic-metal composite. The air here was now breathable, so I followed the Geckhos’ example and took off my helmet, holding it in my hands.