by Dawn Chapman
“Well, not exactly, but he’s going to be the one who will push you more, who will make sure you’re going to be the best you can be. When we’re in the yard tomorrow, don’t mess about if he pits you against someone a few levels higher than you.”
A few levels higher. He was having a laugh. Even at the base rank, level ten, twenty, any one of the foot soldiers in here would slaughter me.
I was the one to spit out my drink this time. “I’m already out of my depth.”
“Rytin, you really need to see his stats. Let us know how far up shit creek we really are with him hanging around,” Reece said.
Rytin looked at me and smirked. “Sure, we can all see them. That way we know what we’re dealing with, right? Has to be something good about the kid. He did slay an M-Wolf with his bare hands. I think that got him a good bonus drop.” He winked. “Right, Kyle?”
“Coins. Hopefully, they’ll buy me something good. And a loot bag. Not sure what was in it and didn’t think in the field was the right place to open it.”
“Coins are always good. And a loot bag? Don’t think I’ve seen one of those since my own starter days. Nice.”
Chapter Five
After we finished up and were once again back in their safe room, I plonked down on the couch with the others crowding around me.
“Open the bag now,” Nehi demanded, yet her face grinned at me.
“Loot never gets old, does it?” I said.
I literally just thought of it, and there I could see it as it came forward, the little box that I’d swiped from the M-Wolf. I tapped on it, and it opened.
“You can tell us what it is. We can’t steal it—we weren’t part of your crew.”
I looked to Nehi. “What?”
“Yeah, joys of being in teams. Another can steal from you.” She grinned, and I could just see her through the words blurring my vision.
“Okay.” I laughed and looked deeper.
“Damn, dude, where did you come from?” Derk asked. “There’s no way you’re a newbie with that level of carry already.”
“He is. You can see he is. He might be shielding something from us, but he’s basic as fuck,” Rytin said.
Nehi sighed. “I thought he was gonna be something special then, like a level twenty or something. Just on a secret mission, ya know?”
I saw the disappointment in her face and really wanted to do something about that. She was cute. “Sorry, I really am what I say I am.”
“The loot?”
I flicked the box some more, and out came the spoils in full glory. I read it out for them.
REWARD
1 X SILVER COIN
1 BAG, CONTENTS NOT KNOWN. OPEN AT YOUR OWN PERIL.
I touched the bag, and it appeared in front of me.
Rytin whistled. “Nice indeed.”
I looked at him, hoping it would be okay to open. “Go for it,” Nehi said.
So I did. Pulling the neck of the bag apart, I peered inside and saw a shiny ring, I pulled it out.
RING OF FORTUNE.
STORAGE - WITH THIS RING YOU CAN STORE OBJECTS AWAY FOR FUTURE USE. YOU MAY IMBUE THIS WITH GEMS TO STACK BONUSES ON THIS TO STORE LARGE ITEMS.
FULL CLOTHING SET.
ENOUGH TO WARM YOUR ASS AND PROTECT THAT FLESH OF YOURS. YOU’RE LUCKY THIS HAS A RATING THAT ISN’T AFFECTED. YOU CAN WEAR IT AT ANY LEVEL.
Then I saw the weapon and hovered over it to see its stats.
TITAN’S LIGHTNING SWORD.
SOULBOUND - ANY RANK. SCALES WITH OWNER.
QUALITY = GOOD = IN NEED OF SOME REPAIR. SKILLED BLACKSMITH NEEDED.
WEIGHT = 2.2LBS
SLOT = ANY HAND
GEM SLOTS = 2 = EMPTY
PX 4 LASER PISTOL = SNIPER RANK 3
WEIGHT = 1.1LBS
SLOT = ANY HAND
ENERGY PACK = LIGHT = GOOD FOR A FEW HOURS IF YOU’RE LUCKY
Reece whistled. “That was some nice catch for you.”
“The sword will be very nice if we can get it repaired.” Nehi looked at Rytin. “Do you think we can schedule a trip back to the city?”
“Maybe. We’ll need a week with the kid, maybe longer, but if he practices with it, gets used to it. Helps us out. Then I can put in a request for him to join us formally. I don’t think they’ll deny it, but better to be safe, right? Have him work for us that way it’s a loyal prove.”
I just nodded. Rytin seemed to like me. I mean, at least he wasn’t chasing me out the door, but it was pretty clear that even though I had saved his life, the others were nervous.
I flicked my inventory away. Least the basic sword and gun could go.
But the dagger I’d keep.
“Can you open up the rest of your character stats so we can see everything?” Reece asked.
I frowned. “I’m not sure how?”
“Move through your settings to skills and just switch Shade Brain from active to not.”
It was easier than I thought.
SHADE BRAIN - OFF - 1 MINUTE MAX - WILL TURN BACK ON - NO TURNING IT BACK OFF WITHIN AN HOUR
I waited that one minute while they all sat quietly. No one said a word. It was bad, right?
I sucked, and my heart sank.
“He really wasn’t joking about being a zero,” Reece said. “How the hell is he here?”
Rytin shook his head. “No clue, but I sure as hell wanna find out.”
“He could be nothing but trouble,” Nehi added.
“We deal in nothing but trouble, I like trouble.” Rytin grinned.
They had seen all my stats. Now I just wanted to know where we went from here, how I could level quick, so when someone did get past the Shade, I’d be safe.
I sat back now, finally taking in some well-earned breaths and changed the subject. “What do you do around here for quests, missions?”
Reece was the one who smiled at me this time. “We get a pretty easy shift. Midnight to 6 a.m. We patrol the outer left quadrant. Here.” With the flick of his hand, he tapped on a panel to his right, and a 3D hologram popped out. “This is our area.”
“It’s just patrol? Nothing else, no kills?”
“Oh, we get plenty of kills in. There’s just nothing that big to bother us out there anymore.”
It might not bother them, no, but it would me, if I were alone. I liked the sound of regular missions. Something nice and steady to get me into this world, for me to understand everything that was going on around me. I could just tag along, gain experience by being around them? At least I hoped that would be how it worked.
I also wanted to get more acquainted with the levels. “So how do you level up? What’s the standard kind of fare here? How long does it take?”
Rytin shrugged. “Depends on the jobs you take. If you had spawned normally, maybe five years to get here. But, it looks like if you’d stayed with the original crew here and managed to keep your ID to yourself, it could have taken maybe a year to get upwards of level ten, maybe even towards fifteen. When you reach fifteen, they usually move you on to a harder spot.”
“What? Why so long?”
“There’s usually no complications with adjusting to the rules here,” Nehi said. “They’re all programmed already by the time they get here. You obviously have some memories from our world, even if your Shade Brain’s hiding all your details from us. When there’s nothing there but an empty shell, they have to train it from scratch. It’s the best way for them to get the grunts they want. Those who will do just everything they ask without questioning them. You wouldn’t have lasted there at all; they’d have seen that you were already going to question them, and they would have sent you back to the labs. I don’t think you would have liked that.”
“What about you and your levels? Can I see some of yours?”
She grinned, and it was the kind of smile that let me see her pride in who she was. Nehi looked to her brother. “I’ll let him see mine for comparison, then you show him yours.”
She called up her interference screen
and hit share.
Name - Nehi Lox
Species - Human/Denti
Year of death - 2623
Class – Fighter
Age = 28 +6
Level = 12 Basic
Respawns = 14
Memories = 76% Sold x 2%
Health = 80%
Mana = 3
Nanites x 49,317
Body Type = Model 1071C
Structural Integrity = Iron
Internal AI Chip = X Class
Skin Strength = 10
Blood Capacity = 6
Healing Speed = 12
Strength = 14
Dexterity = 12
Constitution = 10
Intelligence = 6
Wisdom = 8
Charisma = 5
Luck = 5
Skills =
Foot Soldier = 11
Battle Mage = 5
Merc = 7
Name - Reece Lox
Species - Human/Denti
Year of death - 2623
Class - Fighter
Age = 29 + 6
Level = 12
Basic Respawns = 16
Memories = 64% Sold x 4%
Health = 90%
Mana = 7
Nanites x 89,837
Body Type = Model 1071C
Structural Integrity = Iron/Copper Mix Internal
AI Chip = X Class
Skin Strength = 14
Blood Capacity = 6
Healing Speed = 10
Strength = 18
Dexterity = 14
Constitution = 10
Intelligence = 6
Wisdom = 4
Charisma = 4
Luck = 4
Skills =
Foot Soldier = 15
Battle Mage = 6
Merc = 7
“What’s the plus next to your age?” I asked.
Reece answered. “Simple, how many of our years we’ve been incarcerated.”
I didn’t like the sound of that, incarcerated sounded just like prison. This shouldn’t have been like prison. I sighed. The differences between them were subtle for sure, but I could see where and why she was happier than her brother. “You died more often and built up your constitution and strength while she grew smarter. Making her choices count and picking the battles, right?”
“Correct.” Nehi’s beam was infectious, clearly, I’d made her very happy with what I said. I smiled back at her, and damned if I couldn’t help but scan her figure under her clothes.
“Good to see where I can go, but you’ve been here a year?”
“At Delta 81, yes.”
“But you’ve died over ten times.” I—I didn’t want to die, period. “What are Quick Points?” That was also something new.
“They’re a system bonus for something you’ve done that’s super important to it, or to others. You can only use them at certain levels, fifteen, thirty and sixty, and it will double one stat. That’s it.”
To double a stat! That was huge. Now I could imagine the possibilities. I needed Quick Points…but how to get them?
Derk coughed and I saw Rytin reach for his weapon. What? He pointed it at me.
Rytin’s face was cold. Eyes not flinching. “Kyle, sorry. I gotta do this.”
He pulled the trigger.
The bullet connected with my head in a split second. Pain exploded just like I was sure my brains had, all over his wall. Then there was nothing.
Vast nothing.
CRITICAL HIT = YOU HAVE DIED - MEMORY ERASED 1%
PENALTY FOR DEATH WHILE NOT ON DUTY = ALL COINS REMOVED.
ALL UNBOUND ITEMS REMOVED.
WAIT TIME TO RESPAWN IS ONE HOUR.
USE THIS TO REFLECT ON WHAT LED TO YOUR DEATH!
Memory loss? What the fuck did it take from me?
I tried to think, see, anything. I didn’t have a clue. I wanted to cry.
Memories, they were all that made us human, right? If I could have kicked the cat I would have. Frustrated wasn’t the word.
Oh, brilliant. The first time I ever had money on me right out the gate, and Rytin did the one thing that got it taken away. Why did he have to kill me? He could have just explained what would happen, but I guess experiencing it would make it sink in all the better.
I had nothing but time to kill, so I spent it looking over and studying the map of the world and assigned my first five stat points. Calling up my sheet it seemed that some things were already assigned, I guessed randomly? But I felt different already. Stronger. Even in the ether or wherever I was as I was respawning. My nanites had also grown in numbers, which to me just meant self-replicating. That was good.
Helpful. I thought back to the others’ character sheets. Trained warriors for sure. But it wasn’t an easy decision. I wasn’t going to grow anywhere near as fast as I needed. In the end, I put the points into Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and really agonised over the last point. The one difference was we could affect our luck. Seems I really needed some. Instead of putting the point into wisdom, I chose Luck.
Name - Kyle Ranz
Species - Human/Denti
Year of death- 2629
Class = Fighter
Age 18
Level = 1
Basic Respawns = 1
Memories = 97%
Health = 77%
Mana = 1
Nanites x 120
Body Type = Model 7812 A Class
Structural Integrity = Camite Silver
Internal AI Chip = X Class
Skin Strength = 1
Blood Capacity = 1
Healing Speed = 2
Strength = 1
Dexterity = 1
Constitution = 1
Intelligence = 1
Wisdom = 0
Charisma = 0
Luck = 1
Quick Points = 0
Skills =
Foot Soldier - Rank 3
Sniper - Rank 4
Gun Smith - Rank 1
Special Traits Awarded x 3 – Any extras here do not show on your Stat Sheet Totals.
Healer = Internal AI Chip X Class – Crystalline and Silver metal chip with integrated healer nanites led by Xe Aria.
Intelligence = Internal prototype AI Chip, inserted on 17th birthday……..with ….blanked out….
Shade Brain – One in a million, you managed to not only keep your memories, but you can also hide them. Your character sheet is elusive to even the strongest of will. Be aware, this will be your downfall in high company (expert and above).
Spell - Passive - Minor Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 2 and x 1 Mana per second.
Spell - Passive - Medium Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 7 and x 10 Mana per second.
Spell - Passive - Intensive Healing = Requires BATTLE MAGE RANK of 14 and x 100 Mana per second.
The time I had spent here and I’d already started to level. It wasn’t fast enough. I had to do more. I had to do a lot more. There was no way I wanted to be grinding for the length of time they had; I was not in the right starter zone. To Rytin’s crew that said trouble. To me it was a challenge, level quick or get caught.
I pondered while I waited to respawn. I wanted to see Rytin’s sheet and Derk’s, since they were the oldest in the group. But they hadn’t offered, and I wondered why. Were they hiding things from the others? It was obvious that Rytin had things to hide, but Derk? Not so sure.
I felt something. Like a prick to the back of my neck. Even though I didn’t open my eyes right away, I knew that I was back in a swirling pod of fluid. This time when I woke up, I stood upright straight away and waited for the nausea and other effects to wear off.
It didn’t take long.
When I finally opened my eyes, I stared straight into the eyes of Nehi. As naked as I was, this time I didn’t cover myself or flinch.
I just winked. “That was hardly fair don’t you think?”
“Gave you time to think, assign your stat points though, right?” She thre
w me a towel, though the liquid had run off my skin before I even hopped out.
“Don’t sweat it. Him shooting you like that cost him as much gold as it did you silver. But it was better to see you respawn here than somewhere else. At least he knows you won’t just vanish on us when we start to train you in the way we work. Nothing worse than training up a noob only to have them disappear forever.”
I stopped before her, running the towel quickly over my body. She watched, intent on every move. “I guess someone’s vanished on you before?”
“Yes, the first one. Way before Malik. Rytin never checked. They were with us on some great runs, and then they got wiped when a mission failed. Never came back. Hardest thing he had to deal with.”
“You’ve been with Rytin a while then?”
“From joining Delta 81, yes.”
“Are you glad?” I asked her.
“I like him. He’s been a rock for me and Reece, so yeah.”
“Then that’s all that matters. I won’t hold it against him that he put a bullet in me.”
She laughed, and her joy made everything okay. “Don’t. We’re heading out in a few hours. You should have enough time to get some sleep if you want it.”
“Not really. That was a deep enough sleep for me for a while. I feel pretty hyped up already. Now I just need to get out there and do something, start to make a difference in who I am, what I can do here.”
“What do you usually fight as?”
“Tried a lot of things over the years. I like to tank, but I have no clue. My stats changed with my respawn.”
“What? That’s impossible. I mean, well I never heard of it. You look the same.”
I walked to a mirror. Yes, I did. Dark oddly chopped hair, set jaw, scar on my left cheek.
Well, that said a whole lot about me but my denti’s statistics no. I mean, what did I want to do forever? I didn’t want to think of being here that long. I couldn’t comprehend it. “I don’t know. I don’t know all the skill trees, the potential—”
