by Cosimo Yap
Silently, Alan pondered what to do next. He should try to prepare for the next round, which meant spending some of the 3000 credits he’d earned. If Alan recalled correctly though, the exchange rate between credits and dollars was something around $10 for every credit, which meant that he had literally made $30,000 from surviving one round in this Tutorial!
Alan could see why if this was an enhanced Tutorial, Thiago and the others had paid Pharaoh to participate in it. It did bring up the question though of why the ship’s AI had allowed him on, but he supposed that was probably an issue for another time.
Now that Alan was more awake he began feeling hungry. Alan walked back to his cot, opening up his bag and eating a grey block of food as he wandered around the edge of the bunker, examining the tables lined with items. The grey block tasted like mush, but was filling.
Alan noticed he could buy flavoring for 5 credits, but considering that was actually $50 and he was better off spending his credits on things that would improve his combat capability, it seemed a bit extravagant. Alan made sure to step lightly as the others were still asleep.
The cheapest sniper rifle was 2500 credits, which was more than Alan wanted to spend, especially since that didn’t even include ammo costs. Thiago had said the cheapest gun was 300 credits, which, now that Alan was thinking about it, was $3000. These items sold by the Administrators seemed rather overpriced. Alan recalled that there was some sort of trading hub downtown. That also aligned with the quest of investigating San Francisco rather nicely.
Alan grabbed his bag and proceeded to the exit of the bunker. At the foot of the stairs before the exit, he found Thiago, bleary eyed, leaning against a concrete wall. Thiago stood up straight, looking over at Alan. He grinned, clapping Alan on the shoulder.
“Hey, man, nice job with that flying beast, I heard from Kitana you helped her kill it.”
“Oh, um, thanks,” Alan said hesitatingly.
“Look, I know I may have been a bit harsh last time I spoke with you, but I thought you had gotten Kitana killed. I know that you’re unfamiliar with our group, but I was nominated the leader for the expedition, and to lead effectively. To make smart, informed decisions, I need to know what’s going on, and for people to follow directions, you get me?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Okay, so is there anything else you think I should know, like the possibly exploding shield generator? Anything your AI has told you?”
Alan recalled the… abnormalities Eve had detected.
“Actually, it’s probably nothing, but, well, Eve did say something about some of our group members having non-standard human behavior.”
Thiago froze for a second, then grinned weakly. “Non-standard human behavior, like, aliens? I’m pretty sure I’d have noticed something like that. I’ve known most of these guys for months.”
“Um, right,” Alan said.
“Anyway," Thiago continued, "As I'm the leader, that means it’s my job to delegate tasks. We’ve been having a rotating guard stand here, making sure nothing enters the base. Nothing has happened so far, but since you’re up, stand guard for the next few hours. I’ve barely gotten any sleep.
"Stand outside, get a better view of what’s going on out there. There have been flashes of light, intermittent fights throughout the city, and we’re not sure if that’s normal for the Game, or if something special is happening. Just for the next few hours.”
“Okay, but I want—”
“Oh, also, we’ll be deciding what we’re all doing later at 7:30. I'll assign tasks then. Do you have any preferences?”
“Um, as I was saying, I want to go downtown to see if I can purchase some things. There was a mention of a trading hub by someplace called the Metreon.”
“Hmm, alright. The first priority will probably be repairing the shield generator, though. Goodnight. Feel free to take the jacket by the exit.”
“Um goodnight.”
Alan stepped outside, grabbing the jacket. He’d never stood guard before. How hard could it be?
***
Over the next few hours the only enemy Alan had to fight off was boredom, and that was easily solved by having Eve go through her database and give him tips on how to be a proper sniper. To his surprise, a lot of the information came easily, even naturally. Probably because of the ability he'd purchased.
Around 8 a.m., when Alan began wondering if they were going to include him in their discussion, or if he was left outside purposefully, Aphrodite stepped out of the bunker, stopping right in front of Alan, a bit too close for his comfort. She smelled nice, with a faint scent of lilac. The Game didn’t require regular showers or hygiene maintenance, but Alan could see the appeal in a sense of cleanliness.
“You can go down now. I’ll take over from here.” Aphrodite smiled dazzlingly.
“Um, alright, thanks,” Alan replied, stepping down the stairs a bit awkwardly.
Thiago had Alan examine the shield generator first. Not wanting to anger the rest of the group, Alan did so. He noted that he had never elected Thiago leader, but kept silent.
It turned out that, according to Eve at least, the shield generator had a malfunctioning part. It was determined that Alan would head off downtown with Daisy and Ace to try to find a replacement part and buy whatever else seemed useful.
Daisy was coming along because it was her shield generator, and she needed to buy the part to fix it according to the Administrator, while Ace apparently had connections with the US military, who were supposedly in control of the city. He would also act as their bodyguard. Everyone else would be sent out in rotating pairs, scouting out nearby landmarks, gathering information and guarding the base. Aphrodite with Thiago, DaLong with Kitana and MadMerlin with KingArthur.
***
An hour later, after a brisk walk from the base, Alan found himself approaching downtown San Francisco. They hadn’t encountered any enemies on the way there, though traffic seemed to pick up as they reached downtown. A few cars raced by on the roads every so often, and there were other people walking about, mostly in military fatigues. Eve pointed out a few possible sniper nests in the skyscrapers and office buildings. Eve confirmed some of them contained actual snipers. How she could tell, Alan had no idea.
To get downtown there was a security checkpoint, but it didn’t seem very restrictive. Once Ace let the guards know they were undergoing the Tutorial they were waved past without anyone even checking their weapons. As they neared the downtown mall and the crowds began to swell to the hundreds, Alan started to worry that it might end up looking like a normal mall. He needn’t have worried, however. The transformation was glorious.
Gone were the clothing shops, filled with designer jeans or cute dresses. In their place stood armor of all shapes and sizes, sleek laser weapons and giant metal swords. There were stores that sold implants that promised to turn you into a mighty warrior or master spy, robotics stores with bots that could aid you in battle or repair your gear, and information brokers with info about the hottest war zones or best quests. There was even a small space ship dealership, though the cheapest ship was hundreds of thousands of credits.
Most of the shoppers were military. According to Ace, San Francisco was a major supply port and send off point for the US military in the Game, like it had been in World War II. That explained all the soldiers in uniform walking about, but didn’t explain all the civilians.
Ace shrugged. “They’re probably here to try to join the military or catch a ride off planet. Anyways—” He stopped mid sentence with his mouth open.
“Actually, I’ll catch up with you guys after you find the part, I remembered something I need to do. You should be safe as long as you remain in the market area.”
Ace vanished into the crowd.
“Huh, that was odd,” Alan commented. It was also the longest sentence Ace had said since they'd begun travelling together.
“Yeah, that was the first time I’ve seen his expression change, and I’ve watched him fight a giant f
lying cat,” Daisy said, grinning.
Alan continued exploring the trading hub with Daisy, who was surprisingly down-to-earth considering she was the daughter of a major public figure. She even seemed interested in the random, nerdy things Alan knew about, asking about the differences between the Game and other RPGs he’d played.
The mall still retained its food court, which had all the normal, unhealthy fast food. The prices were outrageous - it cost an average of 5 credits for a meal, but then again Alan didn’t know if you could get a burger with fries off planet. Still, even with all the different shops, almost half the storefronts were empty, which he supposed was to be expected. Each time they passed by an information broker Eve suggested buying information as the information about the Game he'd been able to download online was severely limited, and after the fifth time she suggested it Alan finally acquiesced.
After questioning a few security guards, actual military soldiers rather than mall cops, Alan determined the Thought Emporium was the best general information brokers. They were supposedly connected to an alien guild of information brokers located throughout the Game, with their main headquarters on Khersath. They were more expensive than the other shops Alan saw, but also had much more information.
For 500 credits, they sold a general Game information package, which was good for a year. It seemed like way too much money for information, but according to everyone he spoke to, it was essential for any serious gamer that planned on leaving Earth. Apparently the information was even provided to everyone in the US military as a sort of nation deal the US had with the guild and had saved thousands of lives.
Alan walked into the Thought Emporium store expecting some sort of dark ambiance and tacky hooded figure. Instead, the store had a professional metallic silver decor with stacks of computer servers and a male cyborg with a cybernetic eye and titanium right arm behind the counter. Smooth jazz played in the background.
Connected to Thought Emporium network, Eve told him.
“Um, hi, could I purchase a general Game information package?” Alan asked.
“Certainly. I assume that the AI that connected to the store’s server is yours, and the data should be transferred to it?”
“Um yeah.”
“Alright, that will be 500 credits. Wait, are you undergoing the tutorial?”
Alan debated lying to the store owner, but considering he was an information broker, that probably wasn’t a good idea.
“Yes,” Alan said.
“I only ask because there’s actually a trade hub-wide discount of 80% for all humans undergoing the tutorial. In an effort to promote humanity all traders you find here should give you the discount. Any that aren’t are ripping you off.”
“Oh, thanks a lot!”
Alan mentally agreed to the purchase for 100 credits, and Eve was soon downloading the data. It looked like it could take a little while.
“Also, are you by any chance willing to sell any information about the tutorial so far?" the information broker asked. "Trust me when I say I could make it worth your while.”
Alan entertained the idea, but then decided he should probably ask Thiago, and let him know about the cheaper equipment.
Unfortunately, the others had already spent their credits on the rip-off shop the Administrators had set up. Thiago also asked him to not sell any information. Since he didn’t completely trust this information broker anyways, Alan politely declined the offer, waiting for Eve to finish downloading the data.
Once the download finished, Alan pressed okay on the message that popped up, and his entire world changed. Suddenly, usernames and multicolored health bars popped up all around him. Some players also had levels, titles and class descriptions floating above their heads. Alan's HP bar that had only read 100% changed to 350, his stamina changing to 248.
Tooltips began appearing when Alan thought about a particular item in his inventory. The vials of blood in his backpack were now labeled as vials of DNA. The gun had a description with the model type and serial number, along with a damage range of 12-20 and durability of 37/60. The combat knife had a damage range of 5-6 in comparison, along with a durability of 107/120. All the items also had an estimated value, and apparently the vials of blood were worth about 100 credits each, while the boss’s DNA was worth 5000 credits. 50,000 dollars!
Things were finally beginning to look like a game rather than real life. Opening up his character window, Alan found another surprise. Gone was the relatively simple list of abilities and stats, replaced with a much more comprehensive list of stats, with a separate tab for abilities. Though there was a lot of interesting information, Alan merely skimmed it; it seemed like if he skipped over the tables he wouldn't miss anything important. He also had to play with his visual settings to read the tables clearly, switching to a horizontal, single column view.
Status Window
Name:
Adampwnage
Alignment:
Neutral
Level:
27
Class:
Undetermined
Species:
Human (Earth)
Gender:
Male
Titles
None
Renown:
N/A
Notoriety:
0
-
Health:
350 / 350
Health Regen:
0.05 / Sec
Psionic Energy:
10/ 10
Psi Regen:
0.01 / Sec
Shield Energy:
N/A
Shield Regen:
N/A
Stamina:
248 / 250
Stamina Regen:
1.0 / Sec
-
Strength:
29 + 20
Agility:
36 + 20
Intelligence:
47 + 20
Willpower:
22 + 20
Charisma:
13 + 20
Perception:
38 + 20
Endurance:
24 + 20
Luck:
55 + 20
Resistances
Physical:
??
Mental:
??
Psionic:
??
Faction Standings
United World Government:
Neutral
Predecessors:
Unfriendly
Legion of Man:
Neutral*
Lords of Life:
Neutral
Haxlards:
Neutral
Administrators:
Friendly
Debt:
1M Credits
Current Quest:
Tutorial
Ability Window
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
Sneak (Basic)
G
???
G
A basic stealth ability.
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
Skilled
N/A
N/A
F
Grants an additional ability point every five levels to spend on abilities.
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
Gifted
N/A
N/A
F
Grants an additional ability point every five levels to spend on attributes.
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
A.I. Interaction
D
???
C
The ability to better allow oneself to interact with an A.I. and be interacted with in turn.
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
<
br /> Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
Machine Communication
F*
???
F
The ability to communicate with synthetic beings.
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
Enhanced Reactions
D*
???
C
Allows the user to enter a state of being in which reactions speeds are greatly augmented.
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
Sniping (Basic)
G
???
F
The ability to shoot accurately at great ranges.
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
Knife Fighting (Basic)
G*
???
G+
The ability to fight with a short blade.
Eve, what just happened? Alan asked.
I received a great deal of data and adjusted your interface accordingly, Eve sent.
Great, could you explain a few things?
Certainly. There is a great deal of information you should know.
Okay, first off, what is psionic energy?
The ability to manipulate physics at will, similar to mana commonly used by mages in games. Unlike mana, psionic energy has been proven to exist and is the energy used by psychics.
Um, right, so this is basically magic, but in the Game?
Affirmative.
