I lifted my left hand once again and looked at the crystal. First of all, I decided to examine the Inventory menu. I went over the list of the items I had on me but didn’t found anything similar to the ‘Fabric outfit’ set. Where the heck was it? Had I just been hit by a game glitch? The game definitely had to be unstable and have numbers of various bugs and glitches, what with it being not a fully-fledged game but a very early version of the game. So if it was actually the bag preventing me from using my just created outfit, then I was done for. I couldn’t exit the game or couldn’t move on account of this glitch. What options did I have left? Just to sit here, in this garage, in this location solely available for me at the moment and wait for the developers to eventually fix the bug?
To distract my attention from my bleak reflections I looked at the list of my items, which was still showed in my HUD. I made to switch to the Main Menu but then noticed the Ingredients tab. Just to be on the safe side in case the recently created outfit was in there, I unfolded the tab. To my sincere amazement, it actually turned out to be the case.
> Fiber: 90 slivers
> Metal: 10 pieces
> The parts of the heavy machine gun
> The ‘Fabric outfit’ set
So the outfit was in the Ingredients menu. But how had it ended up there? I guessed it might have been just another glitch. Maybe it would be fixed later on when the developers released the next patch.
I looked at the line I was interested in and aside from the item’s statistics already known to me, saw two curious lines.
> (Use the item: Yes/No)
> (Drop the item: Yes/No)
From what I could gather, the outfit would be put on me if I pressed the ‘Use the item’ button. So it would spare me the trouble of donning the outfit by myself. That way, I could get dressed with plenty of time to spare as well. Interesting. I committed it to memory.
The quest didn’t require me to change into the outfit, so I dropped it. Neatly folded outfit materialized right out of the air in front of me and fell with a soft plop onto the floor. I bended over, reached for the outfit, picked it up, and riffled through it. There were a shirt with short sleeves, a pair of pants, and a pair of shoes. Well, okay.
I walked over to the Resurrection Pod and gave it a thoughtful look. What did I need to do to load the outfit into the pod? No tip appeared. Yet as it turned out I didn’t need any. It took me only a couple of moments to figure it out.
I swung the door of the pod open, laid the folded outfit on the pod’s floor, and tapped the button on the screen of the pod’s control panel hung from its wall. After that the Resurrection Pod started vibrating and humming. Bluish light shone from the inside of it. Then all suddenly went still and silent. The ‘Fabric outfit’ set disappeared and a message popped up on the screen, saying, “The item has been successfully loaded into the pod!”
Another one appeared in my HUD.
> The ‘Foresight’ quest accomplished! You have received the award: +30 exp!
Then I got another quest.
> You have just received a new quest!
> Name: “Getting the last preparation and hitting the road”
> Goal: Create the ‘Simple machine gun’ and mount it on the buggy.
> Reward: +20 exp.
Also, I was notified to have leveled up to 2. So I had gotten five points to assign them into whatever skills I wanted to upgrade or unlock. Two of the points I spent to upgrade the Surge spell and two other points I spent to upgrade the Shield. Now I had these two spells upgraded to the maximum third level. I could now hurl as many as five foes simultaneously at a distance of three meters with dark energy and could create the pretty large, five meters around, power dome that lasted for thirty seconds and was able to withstand as much as three hundred points of damage.
So I had only one remaining point to allocate. The second level of the skill tree was unlocked now. After contemplating for a short while, I decided to unlock the skill just above the Surge.
> Name of the psi-power: ‘Blow’
> Description: Dark energy coagulates on a given area. All the things, foes, and players on this area are being lifted off the ground a few meters into the air. Dark energy holds them in the air for a few seconds and then smacks them hard against the ground.
> The skill state: 1/3;
> The stats of the Blow psi-power (1 level):
> The circumference of the area where dark energy coagulates at is: 3 meters;
> The height at which foes and players are being lifted is: 1 meter:
> The duration of them being hovered above the ground is: 10 seconds;
> The strength of the blow against the ground: weak;
> Mana consumption: 50 points.
This done, I set off on the quest for the buggy. There were many vehicles in the garage, yet most of them were totally ruined. One of them didn’t have wheels, another missed the engine, the third one had its bodywork peppered with numerous holes due to rust having eaten away at the metal. Some vehicles were so totaled they no longer looked like vehicles but rather like piles of crumpled metal.
Finally, I found what I’d been after. The buggy, a small two-seater designed for use on gravel or off-paved surfaces, sat at the far end of the room before a big closed double door. No wonder I hadn’t been able to spot it at once, since several other vehicles behind it blocked my view of the buggy. I walked over to it and examined the car. It had four wheels and its engine placed at the rear of the car. The buggy was definitely functional, driveable. Other than that, the buggy wasn’t much different from most of the other heaps in the garage.
While regarding this small awkward vehicle, I thought that whoever had made it had been trying to keep back as many various parts and details as possible. As a result of that, the vehicle looked pathetic. It missed doors as well as windows. The engine didn’t have any cover. It was on display for everyone to see. The roof was consisted of three bars that ran the length of the buggy and had its ends attached to the rusty, scratched hood. Fortunately the driver’s seat was okay. Yet the passenger’s-side seat was nowhere near okay. Its leather was ripped to sherds and had many irregular holes with clumps of stuffing and rusty springs jutted out of them.
Well, okay. So I needed to create a machine gun and somehow mount it on this heap. Well, let’s get cracking!
I looked at the crystal, switched to the Crafting menu, and punched the button to create the ‘Simple machine gun’. In a minute or so the process was finished. The just created item appeared in the Ingredients menu like the ‘Fabric outfit’ set had done earlier. It was unclear whether the developers had wanted newly created items to appear in the Ingredients menu or they had done it by mistake, which is common to all humans.
Still, I didn’t reflect on this matter for long. Instead I looked at the line I was interested in.
> ‘Simple machine gun’
Two commands appeared.
> (Use the item: Yes/No)
> (Drop the item: Yes/No)
The ‘Use the item’ line seemingly meant to get the gun into my hands, or in other words to arm myself with it, so I dropped the item. The machine gun appeared in front of me and plunked onto the floor narrowly missing my feet. So what’s next? How to mount that thing on the car?
I gave the matter some thought but couldn’t think of any way to mount it on the car other than doing it by hand. So I hunched over and got a firm grip on the machine gun to hoist it onto my shoulder. But to no effect. The machine gun turned out to be extremely heavy. All I’d managed to accomplish was tear the gun a few inches off the floor.
Cursing and panting, I handled the machine gun awkwardly for a few minutes. I couldn’t even bring it up to a waist level, much less mount it on the car. The Strength attribute I’d assigned only two points into was to blame. Seemed like I wouldn’t have been able even to lift the gun off the floor had I spent no points into this attribute.
Dropping the machine gun, I took half a step backward. There ha
d to be another way, simpler way, to mount it on the car. I stared musingly at the machine gun lying before me. The gun’s stats already known to me appeared in my HUD.
> Damage: 100
> Accuracy: 25
> Fire rate: 750
> Magazine size: 1000
And there was one more line below the gun’s stats.
> (Use the item: Yes/No)
The line drew my attention to itself. What did the ‘Use the item’ line mean? Earlier on, I had thought that the line meant providing myself with that gun. But in what manner was that going to happen? Would the machine gun leap into my arms or what? I hesitated for a couple of moments and then looked at the ‘Yes’ button. And nothing happened. Another glitch? I sweated under my breath.
But when I turned my gaze away, I saw something strange. Beside the machine gun appeared another one. Yet the second one was vague, translucent, and brightly-red. It reminded me of something vaguely familiar. When I turned my head, the red phony jumped to the spot I had looked at. Now I got it. The red silhouette jumped to whatever spot I directed my gaze. Yeah, everything fell into place now. The red silhouette showed a potential location of the machine gun and the red color meant the impossibility of deploying the machine gun on the spot the red silhouette was at.
I directed my gaze toward the rusty hood of the buggy. The red silhouette was instantly transferred there instantly and changed its color from red to green, which meant that I could place the machine gun there. Yet I wasn’t sure whether the machine gun would obscure the driver’s vision, what with being right in front of the driver. I then looked at the roof of the buggy and the silhouette moved there. The color remained green. So I could mount the machine gun on the roof as well. It seemed to be a good place for it.
However, after giving it a tad more thought, I decided to mount the gun on the hood regardless. But not in front of the driver but in the middle of the hood. This way, the driver would have his view of the rood unobscured. Later on, I could mount another gun on the roof as well.
A message appeared in my HUD.
> (Do you want to put the machine gun here: Yes/No)
I chose the ‘Yes’ button. The green silhouette vanished instantly being replaced by the actual machine gun, which had been lying on the floor a moment prior. A message popped up in my HUD.
> The ‘Getting the last preparation and hitting the road’ quest accomplished! You have received the award: +20 exp!
I just stood there for a few seconds more, gaping at the machine gun sitting in the middle of the hood and admiring my piece of work. Then I wondered what I needed to do next. Before I could ponder on it for any longer, a piece of info appeared in my HUD.
> Congratulations! Your training is finished! You have accomplished all the quests from the Training location, so now you can leave this place. To exit the garage climb in the buggy behind the wheel, buckle up, and turn over the engine.
> Pay attention! After you leave the garage, you will enter an enormous cruel post-apocalyptic world where you are going to encounter not only hostile NPCs but also other players. You will have to struggle hard for survival. Once you leave the garage you won’t be able to return here. So before leaving, make sure that you have collected everything useful!
It was funny warning because there wasn’t anything useful in the garage. I’d carried out a painstaking search of the garage for any items of service but found none, aside from the parts of the machine gun, ten pieces of metal, and ninety slivers of fiber which amounted to all the items necessary for creating the ‘Simple machine gun’ and the ‘Fabric outfit’ set to accomplish the quest. The developers hadn’t put there any spare items or ingredients. They had decided to equip the player only with a weak handgun, sheer clothes giving almost no warmth or protection, and few pieces of meat. So they had made their mind up that it would be a good idea to send the player to the harsh world, having given them as few items necessary for survival as possible.
I got inside the buggy into the driver’s clumsy, uncomfortable seat. I found it quite strange to sit behind the steering wheel with no past driving experience whatsoever but to feel all too confident. I looked at the dashboard and realized I knew how to drive the car, the way I had when I’d picked up the pistol a hour before. I confidently and deftly pulled the seat belt down and snapped it on. Then turned the key in the ignition to start up the vehicle.
The buggy roared to life. The bodywork vibrated hard. I dreaded the car breaking down and falling to pieces in a few moments. Yet it didn’t happened. After a couple of seconds the engine calmed a tad and the body cease shaking so hard.
A message appeared in my HUD.
> Come up with the nickname, which will be visible for other players whenever they look at you.
I absorbed myself in thinking. What to name myself? Mad Max maybe? Another message instantly popped up before my eyes.
> Unavailable nickname! The chosen nickname is already being used by another player.
Well, figures. The game was set in the bleak post-apocalyptic world around which players tooled in rusty, ramshackle vehicles, so it was no wonder someone had already picked the name Mad Max. What nickname to choose? Maybe try to pick Max Payne?
> Unavailable nickname! The chosen nickname is already being used by another player.
Well, who else was there named Max? Out of the blue, I remembered another colorful person riding in an awesome as well as deadly car, Max Damage.
> Unavailable nickname! The chosen nickname is already being used by another player.
Even such a less known character hadn’t been forgotten. So what do I name myself? After giving the matter a few moments of thinking more, I decided not to name myself after well-known characters or actual people but to think up my own nickname. Moreover, unlike Mad Max or Max Damage I wasn’t some villain or madman. On the contrary, I was quite calm and serene and had a peaceful disposition. After I mused on it a little longer, I decided to name myself Max Calm.
> This nickname is free to use!
> (Do you want to take this nickname for your character: Yes/No) (*)
> (*) Note: Your choice is final! A nickname stays with you for the whole walkthrough. After acquiring a nickname, you won’t be able to change it anytime soon!
I tapped the ‘Yes’ button. A line appeared.
> Your name is Max Calm now! This nickname will be visible for other players when watching you.
Some nasty sound suddenly ripped through the air as if a bolt had been tossed into a working blender. I even got frightened into thinking the engine broke down on me. But then I realized I was wrong. The sound was coming not from behind but from directly ahead of me. The double door was crawling open with an awful creak. A slit was widening as door slid aside. A narrow shaft of light sipped into the garage through the widening crack. Seemed like the night had already been over and the sun had risen. Only then did I notice a red button on the right half of the wheel. What was that? The horn, perhaps? Or nitro? Nah. Come to think of it, I somehow knew the buggy didn’t have a nitrous oxide engine. Besides, it was turned on differently anyway.
I hesitated for a moment and then gently pushed the button down. The heavy machine gun on the hood opened up with a ear-splitting rattle. Bullets bounced off the metal surface of the door, leaving small dents in it. I jerked my hand away from the button. The machine gun got silenced.
Eventually, the creak ceased and the door was wide open. Well, time to start off. Having taken a long breath, I put my hands on the steering wheel and slowly rolled out of the garage.
Chapter one
I was slowly driving in my buggy through the desolate streets, looking in all directions.
I had seen a few post-apocalyptic flicks, yet none of them had impressed me nearly as strongly as this game. The enormous deserted city made me feel uneasy and inspired despair. It was bleak and gray. Black voids of windows gaped at me from all directions. Huge creases ran across all buildings. The road was a wreck. It was full of large
potholes so I was forced to brake to crawl over the worst ones or dodge through it. Every so often I encountered ruined, rusty, long since abandoned vehicles. Some of them sat still on one of the shoulders of the road and the others were right in the middle of the road.
As I drove on, I looked around but failed to find any plants. There weren’t any trees, bushes, or even a wisp of grass. The weather was awful as well. Thunderclouds was vigorously boiling, blotted out the sunshine and progressively sinking the city into darkness. It seemed to be about to start raining. Piercingly cold gusts drove dirt blobs, shreds of paper, and other litter along sidewalks.
I still had no knowledge of what had happened to this world according to the plot of the game, World War III, some natural cataclysm, alien invasion, or something else altogether, but it was obvious that the city had sustained very little damage. I didn’t saw any skyscrapers yet though. They might have been damaged much more than all the other buildings, having been demolished down to the ground.
Glitch Book One (The Glitch Series) Page 5
