Continue Online (Part 3, Realities) (13 page)

I started to type in Dusk but something made me input another name first. Upon filling in the blank with 'Sniffles the Second', my little buddy Dusk hissed and spat at me. It wasn't a ball of fire but seemed to be green glop that sizzled and burned. The letters fell right out of my naming box.

"Brother Hermes!" Emerald turned to chide me. I saw my contribution points go down by four. "Please avoid any attack boost commands within my room. Go to one of the combat zones if you wish to practice."

"Sorry. I must have upset him," I said.

Dusk huffed in my direction. I wondered how he survived outside without air yet seemed perfectly willing to breathe in here. More programming magic I was sure.

Finally, I input 'Dusk' into the naming interface. That made him happy. My other task of finding him pastries seemed unlikely on a
[Mechanoid]
ship. None of the objects in Emerald's room looked like pastries.

"Neat." I did have a few new icons talking about commands. They all implied a bonus to their action if the chosen partner, Dusk, performed within the duration supplied. Maybe pressing the attack one would result in a giant ball of acid the next time he attacked.

Part of me was stunned at having real buttons to focus on. Continue Online involved more personal movement. Action by concentration and physical motions. Advance felt button happy.

"Do you seek any further knowledge from this unit, Brother?" Emerald said. I wondered once again about the dual green coloring then shook it off. Maybe they had a mirror somewhere so I could see how the
[Core]
changed me.

"I'm good, I think. Where is this combat zone?"

"On floor one of our ship. Are you planning to learn combat patterns to help contribute?" The
[Mechanoid]
looked at me with an unwavering expression.

"It never hurts to learn self-defense," I answered, my shoulders bunched up in an awkward shrug. Dealing with people in real life over repairing an ARC device felt much easier than explaining the need to get into fights.

"This is true. Space is unpredictable at times. All of our people should be prepared," Emerald said. The older
[Mechanoid]
looked pleased that I would be willing to fight if need be. I hadn't really thought about Advance Online being like Continue in terms of playstyle freeform. It made sense that some people chose to do nothing but craft things here in space.

How neat would it be to work on making a giant spaceship? Part of me could imagine the joy people felt when doing boats in a bottle, or putting cars together by hand. There was something satisfying about completing a task without outside assistance.

"Thank you, Emerald. Is it alright if I come back with other questions?" I asked.

"That would be welcome, Brother Hermes." Emerald glanced at me and for a moment, he seemed like an old man blinking slowly. The hunch might be age catching up with his programming. "Please continue finding your own path toward great contribution."

I nodded and waved goodbye.

Dusk hissed once at some creature inside a cage. The thing he had cornered was slightly larger and was intent upon chittering while frothing. Finally, my little friend turned and sped through the doorway after me.

Another marker sat on my interface pointing toward the ship's lower level. My player map and gravity didn't match up right, so I ended up climbing two flights using a ladder. Maybe this vehicle wasn't big enough to warrant an elevator. Somewhere around floor three, the ladder up shifted completely.

I was in the process of lowering myself when gravity ceased to matter. My legs were floating. Dusk squawked with alarm. His little shoulders rippled in a habitual motion from his wing bearing days.

"Is this the middle of the ship?" I asked. Dusk didn't answer me since he focused on scrambling to find purchase. Finally, he ended up with his tail wrapped around something and glared around.

Floating around in zero-g while not being lost in space felt exciting. A good ten minutes passed while bouncing between walls and testing out where the pulls in various directions stopped.

I had no idea why gravity suspended in the ship's middle. Especially since I thought the ladders had been going up. Maybe the vehicle used some centrifugal force along with the right metals to replicate gravity. Maybe my
[Mechanoid]
boots were super heavy.

After ten minutes and confused stares by the many
[Mechanoid]
s going about their day, I pushed back to the ladder and started climbing down. Or up, well toward floor one.

The combat floor seemed to be run by Iron. He was busy watching another player perform. I knew it was a player from the symbol above his head. Having an interface to show those things felt far too convenient.

I grabbed a corner to watch. The player seemed to be fighting hand to hand combat with another person. Not a
[Mechanoid]
exactly, it resembled more of a short squat orangutan. Iron nodded in my direction which might indicate approval or awareness of my presence.

Studying the player was helpful, though. It gave me an idea of how to move and what to do. I had spent a lot of time watching Shazam in Continue Online to learn how she performed.

Destroyed monsters fell onto the ground then melted into the floor. More would spawn which made the other player shake and focus on. He went through three waves with ever increasing numbers before failing and starting over. I couldn't stand waiting anymore.

"Iron, is it alright if I use the one over there?"

"Unit Hermes. Please ensure safety's enabled until I say otherwise." Iron actually had eyelids. The man was a full head taller than I which felt confusing.

Mostly because he had eyelids. Were those an upgrade that I needed to spend contribution on? The idea of buying cosmetic improvements with virtual karma points made me smile. Maybe for one thousand contributions I could get fingernails.

"Alright. Thank you." I moved to the other side of the room.

Unlike my prior experience with a combat trainer, this area seemed to be clearly divided into two sections. There were squares in the middle and two giant rings on either side. At the edge of each ring was a podium that jutted up to four feet high.

I went to the unused side's podium then found easy options to set combat to whatever level desired. Based on a visual of the other person, they were operating at a super low setting and still failing. Those days felt familiar to me. Only a few months ago, depending on relative time perception, I had been that person.

"Alright, Dusk. Let's start with easy and work our way up."

The modified
[Messenger's Pet]
leapt on top of the pedestal and sniffed. His nose brushed the screen but didn't seem to register any of the controls. I tracked down my weapons and prepared the giant laser sword. Maintaining some familiarity in fight style would be the best place to start.

Dusk made a noise as the ground rolled together and formed the enemy. This thing was waist high with four arms. The system identified it as a
[Squatting Moleman]
. In theory, they were both weak and stupid. To me, that meant easy to predict movements.

First thing, testing weapons. Specifically lasers.

The
[Squatting Moleman]
stood there picking its nose. Or it tried to but four arms were terrible at the task. One would slap away another to take its place. I shook my head, readied one arm, and prepared to fire.

A small targeting reticle came into being showing me where the shot was projected to land. Being a robot was really neat if everything came with an assist. I would be willing to bet those pesky human players didn't get anything nearly this good.

The shot when wild. Dusk's tail flipped back and forth in agitation. The
[Squatting Moleman]
flicked a booger made of metal in my direction. It clinked onto my body leaving me both disgusted and five health lower.

I took a step closer, since clearly even with the target assistance my ability to aim sucked. The monster eyed me and then promptly slapped itself. This time, my laser hit and did maybe ten percent damage.

However, it moved in. I tried to
[Blink]
out of the way from old habits.
[Morrigu's Gift]
and
[Morrigu's Echo]
, my weapons from Continue Online didn't respond. My only good option was kicking at the small creature and lasering again.

It made sense that the other player was failing. Getting used to new skills from a low-level point of view was terrible. Still, I managed to escape two tiny fists going for my thigh. The small creature put out another double fister from the other side which rolled off some health.

I handled the hit alright. All that time cleaning up outside the ship had increased my ability to command this new body. Plus I had been pelted by small bits of dirt and dust which increased the
[Endurance]
trait.

A piddly laser blast wasn't the only weapon in my
[Combat Loadout]
. My giant beam sword, which really needed a neat name, activated with a quick jolt. Metal from my arm rippled to form the hilt. A button on the side activated a long blade made of energy. All of this happened while my legs automatically dodged back from the small offensive creature.

The smell of sizzling metal registered as I lopped off two extended arms then went for its head with a swing of the light weapon. Apparently laser beams did not come with air resistance. This was even lighter than
[Morrigu's Gift]
.

It fell apart and melted into the ground. A small series of boxes popped up with results.

I stared at the melting body and my pop-up boxes. There were a few things to take note of. First, I panicked, a lot, and almost died to one of the theoretically weakest creatures in the game. Second, Dusk seemed to be laughing at my fault. Third, this game looked to have the same skill set up that Continue Online did.

That was weird, but not totally unexpected since Advance Online had been developed by a branch of old Trillium employees. That or something larger might be happening. I could chalk the name of skills up to a coincidence for now.

Level two involved two
[Squatting Moleman]
. They slapped each other and pulled at cheeks. I could see their health going down while fighting.

Killing the two of them garnered another small reward and slight skill increase. It was minute, though. Fighting three also had a gain but was less than the first two. My returns on investment were diminishing.

I went back to the laser beam for a bit. Switching between the two did not come naturally.
[Morrigu's Gift]
and the speed in which it shifted shape felt far superior to this
[Combat Program]
system.

"Do you have experience from a prior life?" Iron had migrated over to my practice ring and launched his question between waves. He stood with both arms crossed and a blank look on his face. Only the eyes moved as he read through the numbers tied to my latest battle.

I nodded then shrugged. "A little."

"It shows, Unit Hermes." Iron nodded but didn't smile. He came off as an extremely serious person in both posture and word choice. "Have you tried the patterns?"

"Not yet. I'm working on getting used to this body first." In order to see how my old skills applied in a new setting. There had been an option for 'combat patterns' which might be something like dance. I planned on checking it out soon.

"My prior experience doesn't include any ranged skills. Do you have any suggestions?" Iron, Emerald, and Ruby, had been there when I first started. My guess was they knew what options were available for any player beginning on the Wayfarer.

"Invest in a better program once your contribution is high enough." Iron's dual harmonics came through as he spoke. A deep roll of thunder that merged badly with a scratchy tone.

"Any suggestions?" I asked.

"Bigger is better in my book," he answered. Iron briefly explained that simply having a wider area of damage made it harder for creatures to dodge.

I was willing to bet Iron packed away a program that shot giant balls of plasma around. There were a few in the catalog that looked comparable to cannonball launchers. With lasers. Everything the
[Mechanoid]
s did seemed to revolve around energy usage of some sort.

"Might be a good idea."

"Clear level twenty and I'll provide you a reward." Iron said.

"Thanks," I said while setting up a slightly new fight. This one included a monster who healed the other team plus one who threw out minor traps on the ground. Learning to deal with both would help me.