Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series

by Michael Atamanov

  I had to admit, I did not know that. But I did consider it the right time to hand my companion her bag of crystals:

  “I’ve got fifty thousand here, a reward from the leadership of the Third Strike Fleet for our bravery on the Meleyephatian planetoid. Well, it’s also a payoff for silence about what happened there. If you want, send it to Leng Thumor-Anhu La-Fin as compensation for the lost node. But I’d say you should buy yourself a space suit and decent gun.”

  Minn-O didn’t think for long and declared she would choose the latter option, buying a good armored suit and weaponry so she could be to the level of my team.

  “Great!” I said, approving of the Princess’s choice. “There’s a trading terminal nearby. I’ll show you how to use it.”

  But Minn-O stopped me, saying that wasn’t all the news. As it turned out, she had carried out my mission and more or less figured out the algorithm for changing faction. The Princess was even prepared to serve as a test subject to enter the Human-3 Faction and my home world.

  “I am your wayedda and must go with you everywhere, not only in the game! Grandpa told me the technology for transferring bodies between worlds hasn’t yet been fully tested and might be dangerous. The first tester was supposed to be Tyulenev, but the process was stopped because you demanded him back. But I’m prepared to risk it, because I cannot imagine going back to my faction now!”

  It was interesting and promising news, but I asked Minn-O not to rush changing faction. First, it wouldn’t hurt to consult with wiser members of the great spacefaring races and check the algorithm to avoid risking Minn-O’s life. What was more, I needed to get the transfer agreed on with my faction’s leadership. And I also needed a guarantee she would be treated humanely, because the last thing I wanted was for the Princess to basically be made a hostage and instrument of pressure on her grandpa.

  “So don’t rush it, Minn-O. And don’t be afraid of your grandpa. As soon as you get the chance, tell him what I said. Coruler Thumor-Anhu La-Fin has clearly forgotten that the situation has changed fundamentally and you are now my wayedda. From now on, only I can decide how to treat you, certainly not him. And insulting my wife means insulting me. Any attack on you is an attack on me, too. And so if even a hair falls off your head, your faction won’t get by with just one destroyed node! Make sure to tell your grandfather that I’m the only reason he’s still alive, because Kung Waid Shishish was extremely mad and was seriously considering execution in the real world, either of you or the leader of your faction. It took me a lot of effort to talk the great war leader down to a softer punishment and never let Thumor-Anhu La-Fin forget that!”

  Psionic skill increased to level fifty-seven!

  Mysticism skill increased to level seven!

  Authority increased to 39!

  Yes, I had seriously exaggerated my part in the conversation with the Kung, because I figured the Princess would never be able to check if I was lying, and I thought she would like this story better than reality. But Minn-O squirmed out of my embrace and walked a few steps away. Did she sense the falseness? Or had my last words hurt her in some way? As it turned out, it was the exact opposite. Much to my surprise, the Princess bowed to me at the waist and said with unconcealed triumph:

  “I have been waiting to hear such a thing since my first memory! I have been hoping all that time I would find a hero capable of challenging the great and terrible Coruler of humanity Thumor-Anhu La-Fin! All these years, I imagined myself locked up in a tower, a Princess guarded by a ghastly monster and I was waiting for my knight in shining armor. And now he has come! My husband, if only you knew how much joy you’ve just brought me! Why for you I’d...”

  Authority increased to 40!

  I don’t know what else Minn-O was going to tell me, because my kitten entered the game, so she got embarrassed and fell silent. Tini then, after seeing me, shouted out with unhidden joy:

  “Master Gnat, I pulled it off!!! The great Priestess Amiru U-Mayaoo spoke with me and agreed to buy her tail for one million crypto! She ordered the trophy brought as quickly as possible to any Miyelonian station to a representative of the First Pride or the station owner. Also, the great Amiru blessed me and ordered me to accompany you everywhere! And she asked me to say that she found only partial data about the Relict classes in the Star City archives, but it seems the Listener is just an intermediate stage in class evolution, after which comes either Thinker, Devourer, or Administrator. And those are their three highest classes, which were generally reserved for Relict rulers.”

  Astrolinguistics skill increased to level eighty!

  So then, it turned out that unfamiliar glyph in the description meant “Devourer!” Most likely, depending on preferences and skill leveling, a Listener could choose the path of an intellectual, administrator or war leader. But how did I make my choice? What skills needed to be leveled and to what points? I wanted badly to get more detailed information on that account, but Tini couldn’t add anything. Most likely, even the wise Amiru U-Mayaoo didn’t know more.

  And then practically at once Vasha, Eduard Boyko and Imran appeared nearby. And just a second later Basha and Avan Toi also showed. Was it meeting time already? I looked at the countdown timer. Yes, right on the dot. The last seconds were just ticking by. Exactly as the timer rang, Uline Tar popped into the game. Almost everyone was here. We were now missing only the Medic.

  “He’s not coming,” the Supercargo told me, not hiding his bitterness. “I recently spoke with our former Captain Gerd Uraz Tukhsh and found out the medic returned to him, vaunted war hero and all that...”

  “All the worse for him,” I said with a calm and confident tone, trying not to show that one of my squadron deserting had hurt me. “Then the Medic’s share of the reward will be spent on repairs for our Tolili-Ukh X. I ask the rest to come one by one and collect their first salary from their new captain, Gerd Gnat!”

  Authority increased to 41!

  Psionic skill increased to level fifty-eight!

  “Did Kung Waid Shishish really let us keep the starship?” Supercargo Avan Toi shuddered, and the rest of the group also lit up.

  I answered that I had a personal talk with the fleet commander and had received assurances from him that our right to the ship would not be disputed, and the frigate would soon be brought to Un-Tesh. I also told them honestly that the ship was in a very bad state and would need lots of money for repair. But I already had a few ideas on that account and was hoping to quickly make the frigate good enough for interstellar flight.

  Chapter Sixteen. Free Captain

  “IS THAT THING really gonna fly?” I asked Zheltov with unhidden doubt. When the gates of the repair hangar slid aside, I saw a twisted and crumpled hunk of metal which was only vaguely reminiscent of a frigate.

  “Come on, Gnat! It’s already looking more or less okay. You should have seen what a state the frigate was in right after the explosion!” the pilot reassured me. Then patched up pointed with pride to some rectangular patches on the lower part of the body. “Ayukh and I already repaired the biggest holes down there. We got the seal back up in every residential sector, and they all hold air now. The Geckho military repairmen even gave us a jump drive during our flight on the mothership! It’s a bit crappy, to be honest, from some totaled shuttle and a bit weak for a frigate. A power unit and both kinds of thrusters wouldn’t hurt, though. Then we could theoretically fly.”

  “Theoretically?” I hooked into the pilot’s word, and Dmitry Zheltov gave a crooked smile:

  “What did you think, Gnat? This thing can fly in space, but where? We won’t be able to tell where we’re going or be able to control it... We don’t have decent locators, our forcefield barely turns on, the instrument panels are not adapted for human eyes, it has no landing supports or stabilizers, it doesn’t even have an artificial gravity generator...”

  I reassured the pilot that the Third Strike Fleet Commander had promised basic repair for our frigate, after which the starship could be brought to
a neighboring station. And I said I would demand that the repairmen carry out that promise. My friend was encouraged by these words, and he was back in high spirits after getting the sack of red crystals.

  Here I suddenly noticed a tear in the body of the ship. There was a gigantic flat millipede crawling out of it gracefully clacking its innumerable legs over the uneven surface! And apparently this overgrown insect was made entirely of metal! What the heck?! I just got a ship, and now it’s infested with parasites? I read the name of the creature:

  Kirsan. Autonomous Mechanoid repair bot.

  Uhh... Repair bot? So it’s helping us? Meanwhile, the metal millipede crawled to one of the dents in the hull and stopped right above it. Under its flat belly, a bright bluish flame appeared like an electric welder. I hurried to turn away as not to hurt my eyes. Dmitry followed my example.

  “There were plenty of those things on the Geckho mothership. They’re some kind of automatic repair bot.” Ayukh confirmed that they were kind of like living creatures despite their appearance. They were apparently quite intelligent even. But in my opinion, they were just robots. The remnants of Mechanoid technology, having outlived their masters. The Geckho didn’t pay them any mind. They crawled all around and helped out, fixing everything they could find. There were three of them on our frigate already and Ayukh said not to have them leave. And there, as a matter of fact, was our Navigator now. He could tell us!

  Ayukh walked up to us rumbling happily and not hiding his joy. Greeting me warmly, he extended some kind of electronic tablet in a rubber coated case:

  “Gerd Gnat, here is the documentation! The commander finally transferred the title! I wrote you in as captain so you can decide what to do with the remaining vacancies.”

  I opened the case and, beyond a tablet computer, discovered a flat dark-blue crystal in a special recess, inside of which I could see some complex electronic chips, and little colored bulbs blinking intermittently and faintly.

  Identification card. Gerd Gnat. Free Captain.

  “This is the captain’s key,” the Navigator explained to me enthusiastically. “For now, it doesn’t have a particular purpose, just show it in spaceports when you go through checks. But later, after we change out the electronics on the Tolili-Ukh X frigate, we’ll need to use it to link the ship to you and set access level to various sectors for the crew. The second small key I kept for myself as the most senior officer, and a second copy goes to the main pilot. That way, only three crew members can turn on the ship’s engines and give the command to take off.”

  Fame increased to 59.

  Electronics skill increased to level forty-nine!

  Machine Control skill increased to level forty-three!

  You have reached level sixty-eight!

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

  This was it! I was officially recognized as a Free Captain with my own ship, I’d even received documentation! I set the crystal key into my inventory and picked up the tablet. Its screen immediately lit up.

  Tolili-Ukh X Frigate. Standard Meleyephatian Module Frigate. Configuration: (undetermined).

  Status: critically damaged, needs repair.

  Energy shield: 100% (2,300,000 of 2,300,000 units).

  Hull strength: 2.2% (176,450 of 8,000,000 units).

  Maximum speed: undetermined, no main thruster.

  Maneuverability: undetermined, no maneuver thrusters.

  Maximum hyperjump distance: 0.831.

  Attention! You are the first owner of this frigate and may give it a name.

  The last line intrigued me. Given there was a purpose to giving my firearm a name, what would it do for a starship? I asked the Navigator.

  “A small bonus to maneuverability and speed,” the all-knowing Ayukh immediately replied. “But not all captains do so, because there are also plenty of downsides. The most obvious is that a named ship is easier to track because any automated scanning system will see it not as some abstract Tolili-Ukh-class frigate, but under a specific name. For traders or smugglers, not wanting to advertise their comings and goings, that is a clear minus. Pirates, fighters and headhunters also don’t always want the enemy to see exactly what ship killed them. That keeps them from figuring out who was captain and harboring a vendetta. But others use it to raise their Fame. Overall, naming a starship isn’t always good.”

  I started to see that there was no reason to rush this very serious question, and to start I needed to figure out how to use my ship. No, I was not planning to become a pirate, headhunter or smuggler. I was more interested in searching for valuable minerals and anomalies approximately like I did for Uraz Tukhsh, but now as my own boss.

  “Gerd Gnat, turn to the next page. It’s much more informative,” the Navigator advised me, and I did.

  A colored diagram of the Tolili-Ukh X Frigate appeared, showing the present state of the ship’s equipment. I looked at the guide, which said what each color signified. Gray meant “not installed,” red was “critically damaged, inactive,” orange was “working, but with issues,” yellow meant “needs attention, minor issues,” and green just stood for “everything’s fine.” Most of the frigate’s systems were colored gray for inactive some in red, and just the forcefield and hyperspace thruster were colored orange. It was about what I had guessed based on the appearance of the badly damaged starship, this was just a formal confirmation.

  I turned to the third and last page and discovered a crew list which was practically unfilled. For now, there was just the green captain field with my name Gerd Gnat, and some text below saying that my skills could give a few positive bonuses, but they were inactive.

  I first of all checked what would happen if I set Dmitry Zheltov in the main pilot slot. He was a Starship Pilot by class, so this was the position he should have had. The slot lit up green, showing that this player was totally compatible with the assignment. Below that, I saw the words:

  Player ability bonus: Maximum speed +7%, Maneuverability +14%.

  Great! Awesome as a matter of fact! And most likely these bonuses would grow more with time as the pilot leveled his skills. Now the next thing I needed to do was move the old Ayukh into the empty Navigator field and voila!

  Player ability bonus: Hyperspace jump time reduced by 25%.

  All hyperspace jumps would be a quarter faster! Say what you will but that was a significant bonus! I already knew I got very lucky with the experienced Navigator, but only now could I appreciate just how fortunate I was. And that reduced time would be especially obvious during long trips. For example, when we went out to get my Small Relict Guard Drone, which had to happen sooner or later.

  Everything was also clear with Supercargo Avan Toi, and the bonus that showed up after that was great: loading and unloading time was reduced by a third. The two twin brothers Vasha and Basha fit perfectly in the loader slots, too. However, like in my case, their bonuses were still inactive.

  I didn’t find an appropriate player for the role of Senior Mechanic. But it was surprisingly easy to drag one of the automatic repair bots into the slot, then set the other two as his assistants. The bonuses from this trio went to structural integrity and repair speed! When I, not hiding my surprise, told Ayukh about it, the experienced Navigator wasn’t the least bit surprised:

  “That’s exactly how it should be, Gnat. Actually, repair bots are little different from players. They can even respawn after death. And the fact that they’re not talkative, always keep busy and don’t need to be paid is pretty nice. It’s good they agreed to join the crew. Now they’ll never leave us. And maybe you as a captain could control them or prioritize their tasks? Because that there is cosmetic,” Ayukh said, pointing at the metallic millipede smoothing out dents in the starship’s hull. “It can wait. Now above all we need to restore the climate unit in order to start recycling air and not have to lug around tanks full of oxygen.”

  Yes, the idea to send the repair bots to higher-priority missions was correct. But how coul
d I do that? Although... I supposed they were mechanical, so I had the chance to take them under my control and use my Machine Control skill. I activated the Scanning icon and, among the many possible options nearby, I discovered three identical repair bots:

  Kirsan-class repair bot (your subordinate). Interface chance: 100%. Total control chance: 100%.

  I tried to mentally command to all three of them to leave their present tasks and repair the climate unit. The millipede stopped working on the outside of the chassis and slipped back through the crack into the frigate, so apparently the command was accepted.

  Scanning skill increased to level twenty-seven!

  Psionic skill increased to level fifty-nine!

  Machine Control skill increased to level forty-four!

  Alright then, such a complicated order and it worked! I was very proud of myself. Up until that very moment, I had yet to think over the issue. Just how did other captains control their repair bots? After all, they didn’t have this modified Scanning skill! I opened the drone and machine control page I had saved earlier and... facepalmed! There they were, all three repair bots! And they were marked as awaiting orders. There was no need to go through all that rigamarole!

  Hrm... If a person had inflamed tonsils, you could probably find a way to get them out without going through the mouth… Seemingly that was about what I had just been doing instead of using the function the game provided. Although every cloud had a silver lining. I had both finished my mission and leveled my skills. By the way, if these Mechanoid repair bots were so smart, could they fully replace a ship mechanic?

  I chose the Senior Mechanic of the three identical bots, ordered the millipede to come meet me, then went up a ladder (there was not yet a gangway) and came aboard my starship. I immediately noticed that the ship looked much better inside than out. Yes, the floor had bundles of power cables stretched along it and the elevator to the upper deck wasn’t working but if I didn’t know how warped the ship was, I wouldn’t have been able to tell from the corridor and nearby area.