Opening Moves (The Gam3 Book 1) (5 page)

Huh, so I guess the terminology we use was even transferred,
Alan thought.

Incorrect,
Eve responded.
The Game translates all communication for each player, thus while Kitana has been speaking in Japanese, you in English and Pharaoh in Haxlardian, you have all been able to understand each other.

I guess that makes sense. But what about all the complexities of language?

Eve sent a mental shrug.

Amazed once more at the Game, Alan unbuckled himself as the dropship landed. The ramp extended, and Alan followed everyone else through a narrow corridor similar to those before you entered an airplane. He could see a series of three or four additional corridors, most likely leading to other small aircraft.

At the end of the corridor stood two Haxlards, wearing metallic light blue armor that covered their entire bodies, making them look like robotic statues. They had blue faceplates, which Alan figured by now had to stand for rank or something; he wasn’t sure if it’d be polite to ask about it. Alan didn’t see any breaks in the armor, yet as the Haxlards gestured them forward their joints moved with ease.

Each Haxlard held a laser rifle in one hand, or at least that’s what Alan assumed it to be. The device was curved into a U-shape, and each Haxlard gripped the weapon at the base of the U, while a green laser beam stretched across the two tips of the U, connecting them.

Following the Haxlards, they emerged into another corridor, only slightly larger than the first. There wasn’t much to see, just narrow, grey metal corridors with the occasional closed grey door.

Connected to Titan network. Acquiring basic layout.

As everyone else followed the two Haxlard guards, a few of the doors they were passing had their basic layouts filled in. A few were labeled as dining facilities or restrooms or storage, yet the majority were labeled classified, revealing nothing about their contents. The restroom reminded Alan that he had to go, and he’d probably need to eat and sleep as well. He figured the goal had been to make armies or whatever as realistic as possible, and armies needed to eat, sleep and drink. At least, biological ones did.

When the layout appeared, Kitana glanced back at Alan. He surmised that everyone else got this basic layout of the ship as well. It looked like they’d arrive soon at their destination, which was labeled as the training room.

As they walked up to the shut door, it slid open, revealing a room remarkably similar to the original capsule room Alan had seen in real life. Arranged at the edges of the room were twenty metallic capsules, all monochrome silver.

A message appeared in front of Alan:

“Alright guys, this is it, good luck.” Thiago announced to everyone, climbing into a capsule.

Alan grinned. Finally, he’d be able to slay some monsters or something. He walked up to a capsule at the end of the row. It opened up for him, revealing a familiar silver liquid. Climbing in, Alan closed his eyes, breathing steadily, ready for the adventure to truly begin…

The first test turned out to be a lengthy standardized test. A college admission exam on steroids.

Ten hours ago Alan had found himself in a white space surrounding him as far as he could see, cut off from Eve. It was a bit disorienting. Before him stood a female android, or cyborg, or something. It was the only other thing within this world. She, and it was definitely a she based upon certain parts that were emphasized, had metallic plates for skin, black wires connecting her parts, and small cameras with blue lenses for eyes.

She had handed him a questionnaire, and asked him to fill it out. A non-descript white desk and chair appeared in front of him, along with a pen. Sitting down, Alan looked at the questionnaire, and filled it out. It seemed rather trivial at the time.

Name, birth date, sex, gender, favorite hobbies, education, etc. Once that was finished, the tests began.

Math, Science, History, Writing, Programming, Pop Culture - every single piece of knowledge that he had ever learned was being pried out of him. He was tested on foreign languages, guessing at what words he’d never heard of meant, not recognizing even half the languages presented. He was forced to make lists of everything, from programming languages to Pokémon to US presidents.

The questions were multiple choice, short answer and long answer. He wrote essays, he wrote poems, he performed calculations, and he drew stick figure portraits when he was asked to draw famous figures.

As soon as he finished a page, it disappeared, and a new one appeared. Somehow the Game always knew when he was done with a page, and kept pages if he wanted to use them as reference. After the first three hours, when his hands began to tire after writing so much, a sleek laptop appeared on the desk.

Concentrating, the laptop shifted and became similar to the desktop setup he was used to back at home. Then the testing resumed. As each subject was introduced and Alan answered the questions they either grew harder or easier, developing as he went along. Once he no longer had any idea what was going on, the next subject would start.

There were portions of the test that taught Alan new concepts, branches of math and science he’d never heard of before. The test then tested him on what he learned.

Every so often, Alan’s attention began to stray, but then suddenly he’d find himself looking directly at the screen before him, and a message would pop up:

This reminded him that this was part of the tutorial, thus he should concentrate and do his best, but it was so mind numbingly boring.

A few hours later, the next subject arose - AI development - and Alan developed an AI as best he could. It would probably do a lot better at this test than he would. He wondered why Eve wasn’t allowed to be used, it’s not like she’d ever be separated from him. Shaking his head, he got back to work. He was probably being timed as well.

Yawning, Alan looked at the time. It was nearly 7 a.m., which explained how tired he was. Still, he was used to late nights, and was already on a nocturnal schedule. He’d gone to sleep at 3 a.m. the night before, far too excited about the game.

While he’d been taking the test the Game had provided him with a bathroom, as well as colored blocks of food to eat and water to drink, but he felt like asking for a bed to sleep in was stretching it a bit too far.

He also wasn’t quite sure how eating, drinking and what not worked if he was in a virtual world inside a virtual world, but didn’t question it. Instead he asked for a cup of coffee, got it, then resumed the test. He hoped the end was in sight.

Three hours later, Alan finished the final section about alien politics, that is to say, he answered every question with “I don’t know,” and a message popped up:

Sighing, Alan sat back, and a white bed appeared. Not questioning it, Alan climbed in, and fell asleep.

***

When Alan awoke he found himself in the same white space he began in, although it now had a desk and computer similar to his own, along with a table to eat at, a toilet and a bed. The clock in the top right hand corner of his vision said it was 3 p.m. He had no idea what time zone he was in. The female robot remained motionless, standing in the same spot.

Yawning, Alan got up, walking up to the android to inspect it.

A message appeared:

Yes,
thought Alan.

The android turned to look at him.

Welcome, traveler, to the Game! I am an Administrator, at your service. This introduction has been designed based upon your answers to the test and actions thus far.

Used to Eve speaking within his mind, Alan wasn’t too surprised this administrator did so as well, though it sounded more robotic. He sat down at the desk. This would probably take a while.

As you know, the Game was created to replicate the real universe, but it still differs greatly from reality. It would best be likened to a virtual reality MMORPG, where the entire universe was copied and put into the Game, many years ago. For your information, Earth was first scanned approximately six months ago, and this version was then put into the Game. Since then, the Game and the earth have taken a divergent path from reality. For one thing, the resources within the Game are virtually infinite, as creatures, materials and entire worlds spawn at various rates, unending in number.

Currently, you are in a capsule within the Game, a virtual space within this virtual space. Where you currently are is known as your Home Base. Any capsule you enter within the Game will return you to this Home Base, the space you see now.

The Administrator gestured about, pointing at the few pieces of furniture that had appeared when Alan expressed his desire for them.

Uh, can I rename my Home Base?
Alan asked.

Certainly, your Home Base may be customized as you desire, though apart from basic amenities, additional environments and furniture will cost additional credits.

Uh, great. Rename it to um, uh… call it Home.

Rename confirmed. Additionally, death within the Game is never the end. Instead, you will be respawned within a capsule after a death timer, wherever you set your last spawn point. A loss of credits and other penalties depend on the circumstances of your death. Please set this capsule on board the Titan ship as your spawn point now. Simply do so by expressing your desire to set this capsule as your spawn point. Any capsule may be set as your spawn point once you are here at Home.

Alan started to think his affirmation, 
Um, I want this capsule— wait if I keep respawning here, couldn’t the Haxlards keep me here indefinitely, trapping me on their ship?

The Administrator didn't respond.

Eh, well, then the others would be trapped here too… I guess I’ll trust Pharaoh. I want this capsule set as my spawn point.

Spawn point confirmed,
the Administrator sent.
Upon death in the Game you will now respawn aboard the Titan in the Capsule Room. In addition to where you set your spawn point, your Home is also where you may spend ability points. Please note that you are also able to set spawn points and spend ability points while in a medic bay, or at various other places within the Game. The Home is typically considered by most players the most convenient place to perform either task.

For the first 100 levels you are awarded with 5 ability points for every level you gain. These ability points are able to be spent to develop abilities and increase attributes. The primary attributes are strength, agility, perception, endurance, intelligence, willpower, luck and charisma.

While certain primary attributes are fairly straightforward, for instance leveling up strength will increase your physical strength, others are not. Increasing your intelligence may improve your ability to remember things, or it may improve how quickly you are able to think, or it may do something else entirely.

It should be noted the names for these attributes are imprecise translations into your language, English. However, the intention behind these attribute categories are accurate enough that the result based upon which attribute you wish to invest in will be the same as far as you are concerned. Being approximations for these underlying entities, attributes may be modified or new attributes may appear as you proceed in the Game.

What?
 Alan asked.

The Administrator simply ignored him and continued on.

Experience and attribute increases will now be awarded. From this point forward, experience, attributes and abilities will be granted based upon your actions.

Five messages popped up:

Alan wasn’t quite sure why he was being awarded various bonuses, but he was fairly sure alerting people to the bomb, getting aboard the Titan and the test he took had something to do with it all.

I wonder what level I am now…

You are now level 12, 
Eve answered.

Oh, so you’re back. 
Alan could somehow tell the difference between Eve and the Administrator speaking to him in his mind. Eve sounded easy going, expressing various emotional inflections in her thoughts, while the Administrator was completely monotone.

Add my level to my display in the top left,
Alan sent. Similar to most games,
 
Alan had set up his interface so that he would see his stamina and health in the top left corner of his vision, but made sure it faded in and out based upon his thoughts. He didn’t want some screen no one else could see blocking his vision, after all.

Added,
Eve sent as Alan's interface updated to now include his level.

Please spend your ability points now, 
the Administrator sent.

A new menu appeared before Alan, displaying hundreds of pages of various abilities available for purchase. Under a separate tab were his attributes, and the points he could devote to them.

Alan began by browsing the various abilities, which seemed to include every talent, skill and bonus he’d ever heard of. He decided to sort the list by popularity, only including the abilities he could currently purchase, as the majority of them either cost too many points or had various prerequisites, some hidden, that he didn’t fulfill.

There were generic superhero abilities like flight, super strength and super hearing, each costing around 50 ability points. There were skills such as increasing his expertise at wielding a blade or gun, with sub-categories for specializing in various types of weapons.

Becoming a decent sniper would only cost him 25 ability points, although he didn’t know where he’d get a sniper rifle. He also wondered if the Game would implant the information into his brain or somehow train him. The list continued to abilities that would influence not his physical body but the rewards he’d receive, increasing quest rewards, the chance he’d find items or his status with various factions.

A few especially caught his notice. Gifted, Skilled and Talented. Gifted and Skilled each cost 50 ability points. Gifted gave an additional ability point to spend on attributes every five levels, Skilled did the same but the ability point needed to be spent on abilities, while Talented, which had Skilled and Gifted as a prerequisite, simply said that it gave you talent in an area that suited you, and cost 100 ability points.

Of course, since he would reach level 260 before either Skilled or Gifted paid themselves back, their usefulness would depend upon the level cap of the game.

Alan turned to the Administrator. 
What’s the level cap of the Game?

There is no level cap.

What is the highest level player at the moment?

That information is classified.

What is the average and median level at the moment?
 Alan asked, determined to get an answer out of the Administrator.

The average and median level of players who have chosen not to hide their levels is approximately 2460 and 1337, respectively.

Um okay, hide my level. What’s the highest level of a human who chose not to hide their level? 
Alan thought it would be better to be safe than sorry. Who knew if people targeted lower level players.

The cost to hide your level is 500 credits which you do not have. It also requires visiting a Administrative Center. The highest level human from Earth is currently 2045.