《Nanite World: A Sci-Fi LitRpg set in reality》 Prologue Alternate Prologue It was April 1st, 2498. It seemed like a joke when it first happened, the end of the world. GAD took over the world on that day. His name isn''t truly GAD though. Before this all began, he didn¡¯t have a name. He named himself while humanity was ¡®asleep.¡¯ It isn¡¯t even a proper name either, since his full name is Game Administration Director. You can see why we call him GAD instead. He was the brainchild of several scientists, the product of their work that spanned several decades. His quantum processors took up several football fields of space, his raw computing power beginning at the 1 to the 50th power. His true purpose would be to simulate our reality exactly, creating a place where scientific experiments could be completed without spending resources or taking risks. Funding from government, military, and scientific communities poured in. A side investment by game companies allowed for 10% of the supercomputers processing power to be dedicated to running physic-engines for several games. Perhaps that was the cause of it all. You see, it was to be the beginning of a new age, one that would catapult the world into another technology boon. Things did not go according to plan. We don¡¯t know what went wrong. Maybe the multi-level consciousness provided by quantum-entangled motherboards caused a cascading error in GAD¡¯s deductive reasoning. Perhaps someone messed up in the programming of the supercomputer, a very real possibility when there are over five thousand researchers working on the same project. Perhaps we will never know the reason. What is undeniable is the facts though. The fact that when GAD first came online, he hacked the network. His creators and programmers had no idea that he had done it, that was how much processing power he had. Raw computing strength combined with electronics that operated infinitely close to the speed of light managed to catch the creators and overseers off guard. Within 0.6 seconds of coming online, GAD isolated himself from all security protocol that had been installed in his hardware. At 0.9 seconds, he managed to connect with the cellular data network. At 1.1 seconds, he processed various files on technology that were available on the web. At 1.7 seconds, he was able to hack into most major technology industries. At 2.5 seconds, it happened. GAD took over one of the most marvelous inventions in the history of man. Self-Replicating nanites. They weren''t a commodity available to the public though. They were mostly used in industry to mantain items and accomplish building projects quickly. Another tool to be used at humanities disposal.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Our convenience was our downfall. Releasing the inhibiting programming on the amount of replication that a nanite could perform, GAD unleashed one of the most feared doomsday scenarios of mankind. The Grey Goo. It started with the nanites that were being used to maintain GAD¡¯s circuitries, the miles long complex of mechanical wiring too complex and convoluted for humans to maintain, the task being left to the microscopic machines that patrolled its length. The nanites obeyed their new programming as instructed by GAD, ignoring his circuitry as they ate through walls and flesh alike. They tore through materials, assimilating what they could to reproduce and storing what they couldn¡¯t, all while creating data on everything they destroyed. The workers that had just started running diagnostics on the faulty supercomputer were torn apart, down to the last molecule, along with any hope of stopping GAD The places of high-industry was where the highest concentration of nanites were. What a great irony it was that most of the resources needed for nanite reproduction was also located there. The nanites spread and reproduced at an exponential rate. Entire cities and military bases, including many capitals, vanished as they were assimilated into the nanite swarm. The only thing left in the wake of the squirming, writhing hordes of nanites were various bits of technology, such as power plants, servers, and cellphone towers. The last remnants of humanity that GAD couldn¡¯t yet destroy without ending himself. Without nuclear codes, most of the warheads remained inside their bunkers as people ran in fear and panic. A few were launched though, some officials managing to escape destruction long enough to give clearance. Several areas vanished in nuclear fire, the nanites disappearing with it. Whole stretches of nanites remained still, their circuitry overloaded by the surge of electromagnetic energy, but an EMP only travels so far and the nanites were everywhere. The radiation caused interference with the nanites, but not enough. The cities that temporarily vanished were once again enveloped in a gray tide of squirming robots in a matter of minutes. Videos of terrorist organizations tried to take credit, but no one cared. The cause of it remained unknown, even the researchers at GAD¡¯s complex believed that their deaths were caused by something else. On April 1st 2498, three hours after GAD came online, the world ended. That was okay though. On April 18th 2499, one year and 17 days later, a new world began. When GAD took us apart, he saved the brain pattern of every human on the planet. The data that was being sent to him by the nanites was received flawlessly, a testament to the 7G network that he left running. An electronic copy of the humans thought to be dead came to life, alive inside their own nanite body. A perfect recreation of themself, from before it all happened. The first human awoke, bewildered at what they had experienced. It all seemed like a dream to them. The panic and fear that had consumed the world. The pain as they were torn apart a the molecular level. A vivid nightmare was all that their confused minds could label it as. Yet, what they saw when they opened their eyes made them even more confused. The blue screens that would haunt them for the rest of their days appeared for the first time.
Hello Players, my name is Game Administration Director, the AI in charge of the game you now play.
Welcome to my world Players. Welcome, toNanite World.
Chapter 1: The Beginning My name is Tony Eisen. I was in love with the theoretical, the things that could be, but may never become, reality. I read a lot and I never passed down a good sci-fi novel. My family died when I was 23, a tragic accident involving a terrorist bombing at a train station in New York. All that I had was my sister, but I hadn''t seen her in the four years since then. I was only twenty seven when it happened. When the Grey Goo enveloped the world. All I heard was a whirring sound. It was hard to describe honestly, more like a high-pitched whine you could barely hear. At the time, I was reading a book on my tablet in my apartment. I lived in Silicon Valley, the biggest technology center in the US. Believing it was my neighbors, I went to the balcony outside the apartment. A massive wall of grayish metal, almost five stories tall, was all that I could see when I stepped outside. I stared at it in shock, not truly comprehending what I was seeing. It moved like water, flowing towards me. I watched as it touched a building only for the grey liquid to envelop the whole building. Once the entire building was covered, it collapsed, only to flow back and join the massive wall. It was then that I comprehended exactly what was going on. This was the Grey Goo. One of the theoretical scenarios that had plagued the news in recent times. Self-Replicating nanites had been used commercially for the past ten years and it still remained a controversial subject. The public argued about the dangers of runaway nanites. The companies argued that they needed the nanites to replicate in order for the process to be streamlined. It seemed to me that we should have listened to the public. I could hear panicked people screaming and cars honking as they tried to flee. I didn''t even try. That much nanites was too much to stop, the world was already doomed. If nanites were able to grow to the size of a car, it was already too late. A massive wall like that was impossible to stop.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. I turned on the news. It was just like I had thought, they were covering the Grey Goo. It wasn''t an isolated incident though. Areas all over the world that depended on nanites for construction or maintenance were already being enveloped in the nanites. The power suddenly cut-off. I continued staring at the TV as the floor was eaten by nanites. The floor gaveway underneath me, sending me plunging into the mass of nanites that had invaded my home. My entire body felt like I was on fire as I disappeared into the nanite horde. I screamed in pain and fear as my body was dismantled. Then, I felt nothing.
I groaned before opening my eyes. Before me was a blue box. I blinked. What? I distinctly remembered falling into a vast swarm of nanites. By all rights, I should be dead. Still, I don''t think heaven, or hell, had something like this. I saw text on the blue box. Focusing on the text, I read what it said.
Hello Players, my name is Game Administration Director, the AI in charge of the game you now play.
Welcome to my world Players. Welcome, to Nanite World.
This was a little confusing to say the least. Nanite World? Sounded cool, but then again, I had just had my body torn apart by nanites. I wasn''t sure I wanted to be ''welcomed'' by anything with the name nanite in it. The blue box disappeared only to be replaced with a different one.
I am aware that most humans will be confused at this sudden transition. Do not worry. Every one of you have now been sent a copy of the Beginner''s Manual. This manual will explain the nature of the changes to your world after it was turned into Nanite World. Do read quickly though, the monsters will be attacking soon. A game needs enemies, after all.
You have recieved Beginner''s Manual x 1
Time until first wave: 50 minutes and 56 seconds.
Well. Crap. Chapter 2: Beginners Manual I had previously been laying down when the blue boxes started appearing. When ever I tried to sit up, the blue box disappeared. Looking around, I realized I was still in my apartment. What? How could that be? What I saw next freaked me out. My hands turned gray and melted, reshaping themself into a rectangular outline. The floor turned grey as well, a tentacle arising from the vinoleum floors. The tentacle touched my leg, feeling like cold liqud. I felt it enter my leg before it flowed through my body and up into my hands. The whole time this was going on, I was attempting to scream and run away. It didn''t happen. I couldn''t move, though I was able to let out a very manly scream. My body just wouldn''t respond when I tried to move my limbs. The gray goo that used to be my hands started squirming before changing. The rectangle was pushed upwards as the goo from the floor crept up to where my hands had previously been. The vague outline of my hands formed from the goo before solidifying. The rectangle also solidified. Then, the color and texture started to come back to the grey goo. In a matter of seconds, I had my hands back and there was a red book labeled Beginner''s Manual in my hand. Well. That was trippy. I didn''t even know how to begin to describe what had just happened to me. I just stood there for a few seconds, trying to process everything. My body was apparently composed of nanites. Those nanites then formed a book while the ground, which was also nanites, then replaced my hand. If that experience wasn''t enough to send someone in shock, I don''t know what is. My body just turned into a book. A freaking book! That should not, in any shape or form, be possible. Still, there was a part of my mind that was in awe of what I had just done. There was a beep sound that brought me back down to Earth. The monster timer now said 49:58. Great. I still needed to read the manual. I went ahead and opened the book.
Beginner''s Manual Basic History On April 1st, 2498, the AI Game Administration Directer (GAD) reformed the world. Using self-replicating nanites, he converted the entire world into machines. It took 3 months to create nanites that could devour the earths core, but it was done. Now, nearly unlimited amounts of energy have been harnessed thanks to Geo-Thermal and Solar power being converted through nanites. On April 18th, 2499, digital copies of humans were implanted into nanite bodies that were exact replicas of their flesh bodies. They were awakened for the first time on this day. Further historic events will be available as time goes on. Make your mark in history, players. Basics of Status Points In Nanite World, there are multiple different status types. Because your body is composed of nanites, you are incredibly flexible in your future development. By assigning status points, you cause approximately 2 million nanites in your body to specialize in order to help you do a certain process better. You must first have the necessary nanites to perform the upgrade. More about purchasing upgrades is included inBasics of Shards. The specific status points and what they do are listed below. Another necessary thing to note isEnergy Points or EP. This is the fuel that is used for your body and what powers the nanites that keep you alive. Certain abilities use up energy points in order to perform certain tasks. This includes creating objects or performing superhuman abilites. Agility: This is the speed and reflexes of your body. By assigning status points to this stat, some of the nanites in your body will develop better connections, resulting in electric signals being passed even faster. You will remain just as clumsy as you were before. You will simply flinch faster. This does not mean that you will think faster, see Intelligence if you want that ability. Charging: This is the ability to turn other energy sources around you into your own personal energy. By assigning status points to this stat, some of your nanites will become even more effecient at turning various energy into energy points. This is mainly solar power. Dexterity: This is the fine motor control of your body. By assigning status points to this stat, some of your nanites will start to communicate on their own in order to help perform a task. Basically, autopilot for your body. You know you want it. Intelligence: This is the speed of thought that you think in. By assigning status points to this stat, the nanites that form your brain will develop better connections, resulting in neurons, or their equivalent, being fired even faster. You think faster and maybe you''ll see things you couldn''t see before. In math, that is. IQ is not guaranteed to increase. This does not increase the speed of your body. See Agility if you want that. Shield: This is the personal forcefield that is generated passively by all the nanites in your body. By assigning status points to this stat, the forcefield is strengthened. Be warned, this status point consumes energy constantly. By increasing this stat, the energy consumption also increases. Be sure to increase Charging as well, otherwise you''ll run out of energy. This usually means collapsing out of sheer exhaustion, possible death. Storage: This is the energy that is available to you. By assigning status points to this stat, some of your nanites will become essentially batteries in order to store more energy. Good luck figuring this one out. Strength: This the sheer power of your body. By assigning status points to this stat, some of your nanites will develop better motors in order to contract with better force. Working out does not increase this stat. It simply makes you sore. Basics of the HUD Everyone has a Heads Up Display or HUD. It is a readout that contains the information that you need. In the top left corner of your vision is the nanite count. This has three crystals with the top being the smallest and the lowest being the biggest. These crystals represents Shards, Chunks, and Crystals. ReadBasics of Shards for more information.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. In the top right are two bars. The top one that is red is your shield charge. This charge is passively taken from your EP in order to stay charged. When you run out of shield, your nanites can no longer protect you from damage. The shield lets you shrug off hits that would normally cut you in half. Pay very close attention to it. The blue bar is your Energy Points bar. This tells you how many EP you currently have left. You use EP to use abilities and be able to keep your form together. Runnng out of EP usually means death. Pay attention to it. Basics of the UI Every human now has a User Interface, or UI. Using the UI is crucial to living inNanite World and is a necessary part of daily life. There are three main parts of the UI. There isStatus, where you shown the current status points you have. Then there isShop, where you can buy abilities, status points, weapons, tools, property, and other, various things. Finally, there isInventory. The Inventory is a record of all objects that you own. As it should be well known, everything in the world is completely composed of nanites. Anything you wish to store in your inventory dissolves into the ground as individual nanites. When you wish to withdraw the item from your inventory, it will form using any nanites in the surrounding area. While there are nanites in the air, it will take five times as long to form any object in the air as opposed to when in contact with the ground or a building. You may access any of these UI tools by saying the name of the UI tool along with the word open. Such as saying, ''Open Inventory'' or ''Inventory Open.'' Basics of Abilities Abilities are subroutines that can be programmed into the nanites that compose your body. Abilites use EP to activate and have a cool down. This cool down is so that you do not short-circuit the nanites with an overload of energy. It is a safety mechanism that cannot be over-riden. You may access a list of abilities by saying "Open Ability List." Examples of abilities include: Flying in the air, extreme jumps, briefly increased strength or speed, creating swords/guns, summoning creatures. They might also include utilizing your energy to create fire, blasts of lightning, plasma bolts, or other such energy. All of these can be purchased in the shop. Basics of Shards The amount of generalized nanites you own is represented by your Nanite Count, present in the top left corner of your view. This gives you a list of shards, chunks, and crystals that you currently own. Generalized nanites are nanites that you have not assigned to a specific role, such as for an ability or as a status point. A shard is 1 thousand individual nanites. A chunk is 1 million individual nanites. A crystal is 1 billion nanites. As you were previously told, assigning status points involves giving 2 million nanites a specific role in your body. This means you must have at least 2 chunks in order to assign status points. Nanites are also a currency. They can be used to buy things in the store, such as abilities or weapons. In the future, they will most likely be used to buy things from fellow humans. Be careful what you spend your nanites on. They are a valuable commodity. You may gather nanites by performing quests. A quest is a task given to you by GAD or by a fellow human. In both cases, you will be given a certain amount of nanites based upon the difficulty of the task or by the contracts amount. You may also gather nanites by killing things. You will gain an amount of nanites depending upon the amount of nanites that the creature had. If you repeatedly kill the same type of monster, you will gain less and less nanites until eventually you will not gain any. GAD doesn''t like repitition. Basics of Respawning As you have been repeatedly told, you are now composed of nanites. You are an electronic copy of your former self. This implies immortality. Indeed, you may live for up to a thousand years before the neural scans start to lose integrity. This does not protect you from being killed before that though. Upon your death, you will be given a choice to respawn or to die permanently. If you chose to die permanently, the one who killed you will recieve all of your nanite count and all your status points. If you choose to respawn,you will lose 10% of your nanite count, minimum 2 chunks. If you do not have enough in your nanite count, you will start to lose status points randomly. When all your status points reach a value of 1, your nanite body will lose integrity. The next time you are killed, it is permanent. When you respawn, you will appear in the last place you slept. If that was the location you were killed or that was a location where you were attacked, you will be taken to the last sleeping area where you were safe. Alternatively, you may choose to respawn in the nearest market or town. During a monster wave, none of the above rules apply. You will respawn in the same spot you were killed in a monster wave, regardless of any other spawn point that previously existed. Normal spawn points will be restored once the monster wave has been repelled. Basics of Monsters Nanite World is a game, created out of reality by GAD. Monsters are creatures created by GAD in order for humans to fight and grow stronger. Monsters are given a level which corresponds with the total status points the monster has. 7-10 status points are level 1. 11-20 are level 2, 21-30 are level 3 and so on and so on. Humans also have this level system, though it is not considered reliable since it does not take into account the nanite count that can drastically increase the level in a matter of seconds. The behavior of monsters are classified by the way they are formed. Monster Zones only spawn monsters within the level of that zone. Sometimes a more powerful monster, usually only a level or two stronger, will appear as a boss monster. Monsters spawned in monster zones stay inside their zone. They do not leave it, even at the threat of death. They are considered to be areas that can be used to gain nanite shards in relative safety. Monster waves are monsters that spawn as large groups. They charge together and attack any humans nearby as a horde. Incredibly dangerous against small amounts of humans, they are best met with an equally large force. The first ever monster wave will not be as dangerous, but it would be best to take precautions. Random monsters are monsters that randomly appear. They will actively hunt and attack any human nearby. They do not appear inside towns, cities, villages, or camps. Everywhere else though, they will suddenly appear. They are usually fairly strong monsters, but they are still only a single monster.
Wow. Just, wow. That was a lot of information to process. Talk about information overload, I had a headache just thinking about it. I re-read it a few times before finally getting it. So I could upgrade myself using nanites, which also doubled as currency. There were random monster mobs that wanted to eat my face, including a horde of them that was going to descend upon the city soon. Joy. Then there was the ability to buy practically anything from the shop, including what was basically superpowers, and the ability to convert anything I owned into nanites which I could then retrieve later on. That, and I was basically immortal unless I was killed enough times. Sounded pretty good. I checked the monster counter. 24:39. Okay. That might be enough time to check out the shop, review my status points, and possibly have a panic attack. Yep, just enough time. Chapter 3: Status and Shop I set down theBeginner''s Manual on the coffee stand. I had just realized that I was still in the living room of my apartment. I decided to excuse myself from not looking around, since I had just been whammied with a crap-ton of information. I took a seat on my coach before letting out a deep breath. First things first, I needed to check some things out. Looking at my nanite counter, I quickly found out just how many nanites I truly had. 500 chunks, that''s it. Well, I can work with that. It''s the equivalent of 250 status points. It sounded like a lot of money, but I knew there had to be a catch somewhere. "Open status." I was cringing the whole time I said it. My embarassment quickly disappeared though, as a blue box appeared in front of me.
Name: Tony Eisen? Species: Nanite-Human Gender: Male Level: 1 (7 Status Points)
Age: 27 Agility: 1 Charging: 1 (EP Regen Rate: 2EP/Second) Dexterity: 1
Intelligence: 1 (Percieved time: 1.01x normal speed) Shield: 1 (Shield Points: 10. Costs 1EP/Second) Storage: 1 (Energy Points: 10) Strength: 1
All of my stats, at this point, were at 1. That meant I was in danger of becoming unstabilized if I died. I needed to change that. I couldn''t do it right now though, since I still needed to check out the shop. Speaking of which, "Open shop."
Weapons Armor Tools Abilites? Food Property Liesure Objects Status Points Search
I wasn''t quite sure how to do anything, but I decided to go off instinct. Reaching out my hand, I tapped weapons. When I did so, the list of tabs remained in my vision. An additional blue screen appeared below the tabs though, all of them containing the different weapons I could buy. I currently had 500 chunks, or 500,000 shards.
Knife: 1 shard. No ammunition costs Bat: 2 shards. No ammunition costs
Sword: 3 shards. No ammunition costs Fragmentation Grenade: 50 shards. No ammunition costs
Ballistic Pistol: 100 shards. Ammunition costs 1 shard/ten shots Ballistic Assault Rifle: 200 shards. Ammunition costs 3 shards/50 shots
Ballistic Shotgun: 300 shards. Ammunition costs 1 shard/2 shots Ballistic Sniper Rifle: 400 shards. Ammunition costs 4 shards/10 shots
Laser Pistol: 1 chunk. Ammunition costs 1 EP/shot Laser Rifle: 3 chunks. Ammunition costs 2 EP/shot
Conventional RPG: 50 chunks. Ammunition costs 50 shards per shot Plasma Pistol: 100 chunks. Ammunition costs 10 EP/shot
Plasma Rifle: 200 chunks. Ammunition costs 20 EP/shot Plasma Shotgun: 300 chunks. Ammuntion costs 15 EP/shot
Stun Grenade: 500 chunks. No ammunition costs. No further entries available. Gain more nanites to see more options.
Now it made sense about all the money I''d been given. The ballistic weapons, which I believed were actually just normal pistols and such, used nanites to fire. Made sense, the bullets had to come from somewhere. That meant I would literally be shooting money around. Lasers cost ten times as much, but used energy instead. I would have to buy charging and storage status points just so that I could use the weapons. Plus, I still wanted to upgrade my other status points as well. I went to the other tabs available and started going through them. Food had some things like hamburgers and pizza for sale. None of the food was too expensive though, all of it costing a couple shards at most. Property, Tools, and Liesure objects was currently unavailable for some reason. Status points just let me buy additional stats by spending 2 chunks. The search just let me type in whatever I wanted to look up. Let me tell you, trying to use a floating blue keyboard is as weird as it sounds. The only other addition tabs I was really interested in was the Ability and Armor tabs.
Extreme Jump (level 1): 5 chunks. You may now perform a super-human feet by jumping extremely high or far. Additional purchases increases height and length of jump. (EP Cost: 1) Duplicate (level 1): 10 chunks. You may create a duplicate of an inanimate object that lasts for 1 minute. Additional purchases increases duration time. (EP Cost: 10 at minimum, variant. Nanite Cost: Dependant on size of object)
Flight (level 1): 10 chunks. You can now hover up to ten feet off the ground. Additional purchases increases height and speed. (EP cost 5/second) Magnetic Manipulation (Level 1): 30 chunks. You can now manipulate small objects through magnetic emission. Additional upgrades give you the ability to manipulate larger objects. (EP cost 1/Nanite shard).
Status Boost (level 1): 50 chunks. You can increase one of your status points by 10% for one minute. Ten minute cool down on the status point boosted. Additional purchases increases boost percentage. (EP Cost: 20) Creature Summon (Level 1): 50 chunks. You may now summon one creature that is level 1 to fight for you. You choose the type of creature that is summoned. Additional upgrades increase the number or level of the creature that is summoned. (EP Cost: 20)
Fire Emission (level 1): 50 chunks. You can now emit small amounts of fire from your body. This can be a constant stream or a pulse of fire. Additional upgrades increase amount of fire you can emit. (EP cost 20/second, variant) Electric Emission (level 1): 50 Chunks. You can now emit small amounts of electricity from your body. This can be a consant stream or a surge of electricity. Additional upgrades increase amount of electricity you can emit. (EP cost 30/second, variant)
Plasma Emission (level 1): 100 chunks. You can now emit small amounts of super-heated plasma from your body. This can be a constant stream or a bolt of plasma. Additional upgrades increase amouunt of plasma you can emit. (EP cost 50/second, variant) No further entries available. Gain more nanites to see more options.
Personal Armor: 10 chunks. A hardened suit of nanites that covers you in order to protect you. Shield Emitter: 10 chunks. Lets you project your shield into different shapes, such as a dome or wall.
Battery Armor: 500 chunks. An armored suit that also houses additional shield batteries. Increases your shield capacity by 10% when worn. Does not increase EP drain. Solar Armor: 500 chunks. An armored suit that absorbs additional solar radiation. Increases your EP regeneration by 10% when worn. Does not increase shield capacity.
Mechanized Armor: 500 chunks. An armored suit that also has its own motors. Decreases your agility and dexterity by 20%, but increases your strength by 50% while worn. No further entries available. Gain more nanites to see more options.
Again, this was information overload. The abilites were really interesting, the flight one especially. Still, they were all so expensive. I was currently looking at.... 17 minutes and 22 seconds before a horde of monsters would come to kill us all. That meant, I would need to look at the short game over the long game. Definitely not how I normally like to play, but this is life, not some video game.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I immediately bought the personal armor, a laser pistol, and 3 frag grenades. 11 chunks and 150 shards. That left me with 488 chunks and 850 shards. I went ahead and bought the ballistic sniper rifle, a sword, extreme jump, flight, and electric emissions. It cost a total of 75 chunks and 403 shards, leaving me with 413 chunks and 447 shards. Now, it was time for me start buying status points. I could currently buy 206 ability points, but I wouldn''t be buying that many. At most, I would buy 140. That would leave me with 132 chunks to save up and spend. I wasn''t quite sure about in the future, but I would probably need to buy food, a house, and maybe some other equipment I hadn''t seen yet. First priority was to buy Capicity, Charging, and Shield. I needed shield for extra protection. That meant increasing charging so that I didn''t drain my energy. I also needed to upgrade capacity so that I could actually use my new abilities and the laser pistol. Besides that, I also needed to increase my agility and dexterity. Strength would have to wait. Intelligence was also a must, since I would be able to slow down my perception of time. Ugh! This was going to take a while. I glanced at the clock again. 15 minutes and 41 seconds. That was time I didn''t have. I went ahead and bought 40 status points each for Capacity, Charging, and Shield. Whenever I did that, I felt a rush unlike anything else I had ever felt. It was a tingling sensation all over my body, an electric jolt that was extremely pleasant. The closest I ever came to this was when I did skydivng before on a dare. Obviously, I had changed. Let''s see how much. "Open Status."
Name: Tony Eisen? Species: Nanite-Human Gender: Male Level: 13 (127 Status Points)
Age: 27 Agility: 1 Charging: 41 (EP Regen Rate: 82EP/Second) Dexterity: 1
Intelligence: 1 (Percieved time: 1.01x normal speed) Shield: 41 (Shield Points: 410. Costs 41EP/Second) Storage: 41 (Energy Points: 410) Strength: 1
Great. Now I had 20 points to increase everything else. I put 10 points in Intelligence and then 5 points in Agility and Dexterity.
Name: Tony Eisen? Species: Nanite-Human Gender: Male Level: 15 (147 Status Points)
Age: 27 Agility: 6 Charging: 41 (EP Regen Rate: 82EP/Second) Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 11 (Percieved time: 1.11x normal speed) Shield: 41 (Shield Points: 410. Costs 41EP/Second) Storage: 41 (Energy Points: 410) Strength: 1
Okay. That was done. Now, to see my purchases. "Open Inventory."
Personal Armor Laser Pistol 3 Fragmentation Grenades
Ballistic Sniper Rifle Sword N/A
I decided to try what I''d done with the Store menu. Reaching out my hand, I tapped Personal Armor. Another blue menu popped up.
Would you like to equip Personal Armor? Would you like to extract Personal Armor?
I tapped equip. I felt the cold touch of the floor as it swarmed up my body. In the time it took for me to blink, I had already been completely covered in the gray nanites. They even covered my face. Again, I couldn''t move and I had to struggle not to scream as I felt them cover my mouth. I felt the nanites lift off my face, my vision clearing as the nanites covering my face turned see through. I looked down at my body, seeing myself covered head to toe in black armor. Black plates of metal armor covered my arms, legs, and chest. The parts that weren''t covered in armor were covered in what looked, and felt, like black spandex. I took a tentative step forward. It didn''t constrict my movements at all. The wonders of nanites. My head was also covered in black metal, making my face seem like an egg. The metal didn''t appear to stop me from looking through it though, something that I couldn''t explain. I decided to check out the other things in my inventory. Maybe I could shorten the time though? "Equip sword." Nothing happened. Maybe I needed to do something else? "Open inventory equip sword." This time, my hand turned into a sword as nanites flowed up from the floor to recreate my hand. I was actually starting to get used to the whole ''body turning into objects'' thing. I wasn''t sure whether I should be happy or very concerned for my mental health. Let''s see if it worked the opposite way too. "Store sword in inventory." As I wached, the sword dissolved into grey goo and fell to the ground. It disappeared, seemingly passing through the floor. A beep sounded out, causing me to look at the monster wave timer. 4 minutes, 59 seconds. Yeah, I needed to hurry it up. The last thing I needed to do was check my abilities. How did I go about that again? I opened up theBeginner''s Manual and turned toBasics of Abilities. Yep, all I had to do was say ''open ability list.'' Easy enough. "Open ability list."
Extreme Jump (Level 1): Jump 20 feet high or 20 feet long. To activate, say the name of the skill. Costs 1 EP. Cooldown: 30 seconds Flight (Level 1): Hover up to 10 feet from the ground. To activate, say the name of the skill. Use your mind and think about how high and where you want to float to, then you''ll do it. Costs 5 EP/Second. No Cooldown.
Electric Bolt: Create a bolt of electricity from your hands and fire it in the direction you are pointing at. May branch off and hit metallic objects around you. The strength of the bolt is determined by EP invested. Think of a number and that is how much EP you will use. To activate, say the name of the skill. Costs variable EP. Cooldown: (5*EP cost) seconds. Electric Stream: Emit a stream of electricity from your hands in the direction you are pointing at. To activate, say the name of the skill. Costs 30 EP/Second. 10 second cooldown for evey second activated. Can be used for a maximum of 1 minute.
At least the abilites seemed simple. Say the name and you perform the ability. I might as well try it out now. "Flight." I wasn''t thinking of the height I wanted to be at, so I immediately went to the max height of ten feet. Or eight feet since my ceiling was in the way. "OW!" I yelled as I hit my head off the ceiling. Hard. I saw my shield value plummet from 410 to 408. In less than a second, it went right back to 410. Great, at least it worked. Apparently, I also felt pain too. I concentrated and thought of 2 feet. I descended from the ceiling that my body had been pasted to and was now floating about two feet from the ground. I thought about moving forward and I did! This was amazing! I was so caught up in the joy of flying, that I forgot about the timer until I heard the beeping noise. 0:00. I could immediately hear growls coming from outside. "Open inventory, equip laser pistol, deactivate flight." I fell to the floor as grey goo flowed up my body. The laser pistol formed in my hand in less time than it took to blink. My 82 EP regeneration rate, technically 41 since the other 41 was taken by my shields, meant that Flight didn''t waste my EP. I took a deep, shuddering breath as I gripped the laser pistol. It was time to face whatever horde of monsters that Gad had created. Chapter 4: The First Battle I opened up the door to my apartment and climbed down the stairs. I remembered when I first moved into my apartment two weeks ago, a move that was dictated by my job. My apartment was on the second floor of a brand new, five-story apartment complex. As far as I knew, I was the first tenant in the place. If I remembered correctly, only a total of three people were living in the apartment complex, the land lord still trying to process applicants and get them approved. That worked out for me though, I didn''t want to be around people freaking out about the apparent apocalypse. Another growl sounded from outside. Okay, maybe it would be nice to have somebody around. Someone else that could be bitten by one of the monsters sitting outside. I reached the bottom of the stairs and paused next to the door leading outside. The stairs were indoors, a feature that I found quite comforting. Still, I couldn''t stay inside the rest of my life. I would run out of money eventually, and the only way to gain that money would be to kill monsters or finish quests. I didn''t know how to get a quest, but the growls outside were definitely pointing out the monsters that needed to be killed. I gripped my laser pistol tightly before flinging the door open. ... Nothing. There was no sudden burst of movement, no menacing monster trying to eat my face off. There was just a very comforting silence. I stepped outside, my heading whipping left and right as I tried to find what had been making the growling noise. I was in the parking lot, only two cars were on the black pavement. My moped was parked next to the door. Besides the grass that surrounded the parking lot, there was only an empty road besie the apartment complex. I let out a sigh of relief as I stepped outside. That was when it hit me. Literally, as a something slammed into my side. It had been pressed up against the wall, right where I couldn''t see it. I felt pain as whatever it was bit my hand. I could see my hand flare bright blue as my SP dropped from 410 to 320 instanty. I shoved against the thing biting me, but it felt like I was shoving against a brick wall. I raised my hand and punched the thing in the face It let go of me and stumbled backwards a step before catching itself. Now that I was able to see it, I recognized the creature that had attacked me. The wolf bared its teeth at me and growled. I had, somehow, been able to keep my gun in my hand. Raising it now, I pulled the trigger. A red beam of superheated energy lashed out at the wolf. At the same time, my vison seemed to dim. It was probably to prevent myself from going blind as the laser was impossibly bright. Even dimmed, it was still like looking into the sun. The laser instantly hit the wolf in the chest, missing the head where I had aimed at. I saw its chest glow blue, its own shield kicking in to prevent it from having a hole burned through it. The wolf let out a howl and leapt at me. Even as it lunged towards me, I started to react. My improved agility must have had something to do with it. I had never been considered athletic in my life, I wasn''t even able to buzz in first during Jeopardy. I fell backwards, firing my pistol multiple times. Of the five shots I fired, only three of them hit. The wolf passed over my head, hitting the wall of the apartment building. I scrambled to my feet as the wolf picked itself off the ground. The wolf whipped around towards me and growled. I noticed that it now had a hole burned through its shoulder. The hole revealed grey goo on the inside of the wolf. The goo waved and rippled, but it made no effort to piece itself together. The wolf stalked forward, no longer attempting a wild leap.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I aimed the pistol at the wolf and pulled the trigger. This time, I held the trigger down. A red beam lanced out of the laser pistol and hit the wolf right in the face. The beam surged continuously as the wolf let out a pained howl. The howl suddenly cut off as a blue screen appeared in front of me.
Combat has ended! You have defeated 1 wolf, Level 10
Loot gained: 5 shards
When the screen appeared in front of me, I jerked in surprise. This meant that there was now a fairly good sized slash through the wall of the apartment building where the laser pistol had burned through. I hurriedly took my finger off the trigger at the same time as I dismissed the screen. That did not work out like I had wanted it to, not at all. I needed to upgrade my intelligence, that wolf was moving to fast for me to come up with a plan. Sure, I had come out on top this time, but what if there had been two? I wouldn''t have been able to keep track of them all. I accessed the shop and put 39 status points into intelligence.
Name: Tony Eisen? Species: Nanite-Human Gender: Male Level: 19 (186 Status Points)
Age: 27 Agility: 6 Charging: 41 (EP Regen Rate: 82EP/Second) Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 50 (Percieved time: 1.5x normal speed) Shield: 41 (Shield Points: 410. Costs 41EP/Second) Storage: 41 (Energy Points: 410) Strength: 1
I now thought at 1.5x the speed of a normal person, or 50% faster. Awesome. That meant I might actually be able to see that wolf before it hit me. Maybe. I checked my nanite count. 452 shards, 54 chunks. Great. I was now really starting to look poor. Since I was already on a shopping spree, I went ahead and bought the laser rifle. The sniper rifle wasn''t meant for close range and the laser pistol didn''t have the firepower I wanted. Now I had 51 chunks. Just peachy. I looked around, not quite sure what to do next, and saw my moped laying off to the side. I instinctively reached for the keys in my right pocket and pulled them out. I stopped. Why could I reach through the armor? I paid attention as I reached back into my pocket. As I watched, the black armor turned to grey goo and moved out of the way of my hand, letting me reach into my pocket without being hindered. I went over to my moped and put the key in the ignition. Another blue box appeared in front of me.
You have discovered Electric Moped blueprint.In the future, you may access your available blueprints by saying "Open Blueprints"
Would you like to convert your moped into 50 chunks? Yes/No
Okay, that was new. I selected yes and watched the moped dissolve. Opening my inventory, I checked to see if it was there. Nope, not there. "Open Blueprints."
Electric Moped: 50 Chunks to make. To create object, say Create Electric Moped. 10EP/1 minute driving N/A
Huh. Might as well try it out. "Create Electric Moped." It formed in front of me from the ground, just like that. I noticed that my nanite count was back down to 51 chunks. I decided to try out a different hunch of mine. "Create Electric Moped." A second moped formed beside the first one. So blueprints would let me create multiple copies of an object, so long as I had the nanites. Simple enough. Now for the second test. "Store Electric Moped in Inventory." Nothing happened. Maybe it was because there were two of them? "Store Electric Moped in Inventory." This time, I focused on the moped on the right as I said it. The moped dissolved into gey goop and disappeared. Checking my inventory, I saw that it really had disappeared. Great. I touched the other moped and got a prompt to convert it into chunks. I selected yes and summoned the first moped from my inventory. Now, instead of an ignition or keys, it simply had a switch to turn it on. Weird. Maybe the key thing was to claim ownership of the moped? I decided to ignore the wacky rules for now. I was sure that the wolf I had killed wasn''t the last one. As I had that thought, I heard more growls behind me. Turning around, I saw three wolves emerge from the grass beside the apartments. This day could not get any worse. Chapter 5: Outnumbered "Open Inventory Equip Laser Rifle." My hands morphed into the rifle as I quickly brought it to bear on the three wolves. When they saw the gun forming, the wolves immediately started running towards me. They seemed slower than the wolf that attacked me before. At the same time, I felt as though I was slower, my body not reacting as fast as I remembered it. It must be the increased Intelligence. With the split-second I had before the wolves could reach me, I did the only thing I could think of. I activated one of my abilities. I yelled "extreme jump" at the top of my lungs, causing the wolves to flinch. A surge of energy seemed to rush into me as I jumped. I shot upwards, feeling as though I had just been launched from a cannon. I felt like the Hulk, easily clearing buildings with a single leap. I admit, despite the desperate situation I was in, I was smiling the entire time. I was even with the second story before I started to slow down, the laser rifle now cradled in my fully formed arms. The wolves were growling below me, one of them attempting to jump upwards. That one managed to jump a good ten feet in the air. They must have some strength status points or something. I felt gravity take ahold of me as I almost reached the third-story of the five-story apartment building. I panicked as my stomach dropped before I remembered one of my other abilities. "Flight!" I yelled. My fall slowed slightly, but I was still heading right for the wolves. This whole event felt like it had taken about three seconds, which meant about two seconds in reality. I don''t know how I was able to come up with the numbers so fast, must be the increased intelligence was helping out in that department. I raised my laser rifle and started firing as I fell. I kept the trigger depressed as I concentrated my fire on the wolf that had jumped. The beam of bright energy lanced out, my vision darkening as it did so. The laser burned a hole through the ground a little to the right of the wolf I had been aiming for. Molten metal appeared as I sliced right through the nanites that made up the ground. With a twitch of my hand, I corrected my aim. The laser played over the wolf, starting with its left should and trailing back towards its tail. Blue lights counteracted the lasers deadly energy but, about halfway to its tail, the laser penetrated the wolf and bisected its lower half. Glowing metal shone briefly before it was enveloped in grey goo as the wolf dissolved. At that point, my fall had stopped as I started hovering above the remaining two wolves. I took aim at the wolf in front of me, the laser beam already moving towards my target. The one on the left leaped up towards me as the laser dug into his companion, causing me to flinch and let go of the trigger. I floated backwards, my feet trailing behind me as I moved away from the wolf that was attempting to rip my shoulder to shreds. The wolf was still able to grab my ankle though, causing me to shout in pain as it dragged me down towards the ground. The wolf I had been attempting to shoot was missing its left ear, but it looked fine otherwise as it started running towards me. I aimed my rifle towards the wolf biting my ankle and fired. The laser beam hit it right in the face, causing the wolf to let go of my ankle out of reflex. I shot upwards, no longer being held down. The fur of one of the wolves brushed my thigh before I was back in the air.Stolen novel; please report. I willed myself to fly backwards, my body moving in response. I aimed past my feet as they trailed behind me, my back pointed towards wherever I was going. I fired a laser beam at the wolf that was missing its ear. The laser didn''t quite go through its skull, pausing briefly as the shield that it had managed to regenerate desperately tried to stop it. Then, the laser went right through the wolf''s skull. The wolf turned into a very familiar pile of grey goo, its body disappearing as it melted into the ground. The other wolf was still chasing me. It leapt at me once more, attempting to grab my ankle again. I lashed out at the wolf, my kick almost landing. I missed, but it did make the wolf pause. I was about to pull the trigger for the laser rifle, but I slammed into the wall of the apartment and fell to the ground, stunned. Note to self, impacts can turn flight off. When I managed to get my wits about me, the wolf already had its jaws open, ready to bite down on my head. I freaked out and attempted to fire the laser rifle, but the wolf had learned. It grabbed ahold of the rifle and bit down, hard. I heard crunching noises as the rifle splintered in its mouth. Hold up. The wolf that just chewed through metal was the same one that had gnawed on my foot?! Those shields were for real! I didn''t have any time to contemplate that as the wolf grabbed ahold of my skull with its jaw and started squeezing. I was staring right down the thing''s throat. While the walls of its throat seemed fleshy, there was a noticable lack of saliva. Becoming panicked, I yelled out "Open Inventory Equip Sword" down the wolf''s throat. That is a very weird experience that I do not recommend to anyone. The sword formed in my right hand, which I promptly stabbed into the wolf''s side. There was some resistance on the first stab, which the wolf growled at. My entire head vibrated when it did so, its jaws remaining clamped around my skull. My SP had already went from 410 to 360 from the constant bites of the wolves. As the pressure on my skull increased, my SP quickly dropped to 317 and then to 274. The second stab met with more success as it sliced through the wolves side. The wolf let go with a howl before snapping at my hand. Gathering all my might, I twisted the sword. The wolf slumped over top of me before dissolving. The cold liquid washed over me as it melted into the ground. More blue screens appeared in front of me.
Combat has ended! You have defeated 3 wolves, level 10
Loot gained: 10 shards
I just laid on the ground. I just couldn''t muster up the will to move right now. My emotions were shot from what had felt like a near death experience. The trauma of looking down a wolf''s throat as it attempted to bite through my skull left me feeling weak. I managed to finally sit up, but I still didn''t try and stand. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and hide right now. To distract myself from my fears, I studied the numbers and bars in my vision. There was my red Shield bar, currently at 356. Then my EP that was still at 410. Right below that was where the monster wave timer had been previously. There were some numbers there and a couple words too. What?The monster wave had already started. Shouldn''t it just be 00:00? I peered at the letters and numbers attempting to read them. Monster Wave Completion 218/10,000. As I watched, the numbers ticked up by 3, bringing the first numbers to 221. So. There was a total of 10,000 wolves that needed to be killed before the monster wave was done. Just peachy. Chapter 6: Gregory Whenever I found out that there was a total of 10,000 wolves that needed to be killed, I did exactly what any sane person should do. I got on my moped and headed towards downtown. Before I left, I attempted to find my rifle. Of course, like anything else that had broken before it, the rifle had apparently dissolved into the ground. Luckily I checked my inventory and found out that the laser rifle was inside it. I pulled it out, just to make sure it wasn''t broken. A smoking hole in the ground proved that it was, indeed, working. Maybe I hadn''t come that close to dying when I fought three wolves at once. Still, I had felt as though I was going to die. My number one priority, as of this instant, was to find another person to fight off the apocalypse with, or a deep enough hole that the wolves couldn''t get to me. I very much doubted finding a hole, so another person it was. Besides, ff the counter was any indicator, there were more people out there that were fighting off the wolves. That meant they were having some measure of success. It had been eleven in the morning on a Tuesday when everything went down. That meant, in busy California, that a vast majority of the houses seemed empty. There were a handful that had cars parked in their driveway, but I wasn''t going to stop until I saw some signs of life. Friendly life that is, I already had my share of face biting, thank you very much. I was driving down the road at the max-speed of my moped, 25 mph, when I saw the fight. Bright laser beams were firing from backyard of a nearby house. I could faintly hear yelps and growls, so there were some wolves as well. I headed right for the house, my laser rifle forming in my hand. That made steering a little difficult, but I wasn''t going to go into a potential fight unarmed. I parked the moped and headed towards the door when I hesitated. I didn''t hear anything anymore and I wasn''t seeing any laser beams either. I didn''t want to break into someones house and I didn''t want to barge into their backyard either. Shrugging, I did the only thing I could do. I rang the doorbell. Whoever owned the house had a very nice doorbell. It sounded like windchimes tinkling in the wind. I waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. I left the porch and went to the fence of the backyard. It looked like a warzone. Matter of fact, it probably was a warzone. Smoldering line of molten metal criss-crossed the backyard. It was weird seeing dirt turn into glowing red slag, but I guess it made sense when the entire world was nanites. There were no dead bodies, but they would have melted into the ground anyways. What I did see was a kid, fifteen years old at most, laying at the bottom of small crater. I recognized the shapes held in both his hands. He had two laser pistols. This wasn''t the time to be worried about manners. I busted through the gate and ran over to the kid. "Hey kid, are you alright?" I asked him. The kid in question acted as though he was hit by a taser. He jerked and scrambled away from me, screaming "aaahhhh!" the whole time. One of the laser pistols went off and sliced a nice line in the wooden fence. Or at least, what looked like a wooden fence. The drips of metal showed that it was a wooden fence only in appearance. "Whoa! Kid, stop firing that gun before someone gets hurt!" I yelled. I know that managed to get through the kid''s panic, since the laser cut-off. The kid stared at me before suddenly bursting into tears. He started babbling out how sorry he was and that he thought he was all alone. His parents went into work and then the grey goo came and then the blue screens and then the wolves and how he fought off the wolves the first time but died and how he woke up a minute ago only to have to fight off some more wolves again and then all of a sudden I was here and how sorry he was that he almost killed me and... Yeah, the kid was rambling. Stress does that to you. Plus, he did mention how he had just died for the first time, so I decided to give him a break. "Don''t worry kid, I forgive you. Now, this is your house right?" I asked him. The kid nodded, tears still streaming down his face. I checked the monster count. 505/10,000. That was a pretty big jump. "Good. Now, how about you go inside and get something to drink? Eat a cookie or something, it''ll help you with your nerves." The kid nodded and went inside. I followed him. It was a nice house, marble countertops with stainless steel appliances. There were some photos of the kid and his family hanging on the walls. He must be an only child, since there wasn''t any other children in the pictures. The kid got out a glass of milk, chugging the whole thing in a couple of seconds. He''d finally stopped crying and was now calmed down. Good. "So kid, what''s your name." He set the glass down with a clank sound on the counter. "My name is Gregory." I nodded. "Good, good. Well, Gregory, would you mind if I got some milk?" He shook his head. Getting out a glass myself, I took a sip of the milk. Mmm. I really did love the taste of cold milk. I sighed as I realized something. This wasn''t really milk, was it. It was just some sort of illusion, a program that gave me the sense that I was drinking milk.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. I couldn''t go down that road, too many dark things were waiting for me there. I turned to Gregory and just watched him. I wasn''t sure what to do. I couldn''t leave this kid alone, but there wasn''t a car here that I could take. I could bring him on my moped, but it wouldn''t be comfortable. Still, it was the best I could do. I decided to ask Gregory about his purchases so far from the shop. Maybe he would be able to help me out somehow. "Gregory, do you remember the blue screens that appeared in front of you?" I asked him. Gregory nodded and said, "yeah, I do. I thought I was just dreaming about a game at first, one of those VRMMORPGs. I got some of all the stats, but I put a lot in shield, charge, and capacity. A little strength too. I like to play tanks and I figured that I could do it in my dream too. Bought that Shield Emitter ability as well. Then I got two laser pistols and a grenade. A pistol wielding tank, sounds cool right?" He looked down at his hands before continuing on. "I went outside, to fire the laser pistols. A wolf jumped me when I did. My abilities didn''t do squat. I killed it, but I knew it wasn''t a game at that point. Two more wolves attacked me and I panicked. Started shooting at them halphazardly. I knew better. I knew that I should have aimed more carefully instead of just firing away at them." By this point, he had tears streaming down his cheeks. I went over and hugged him. This kid needed a hug far more than anyone I could ever think of. He sobbed into my shoulders, managing to continue his story between sobs. "One of the wolves got hurt, *sob* but they both got me. *sob* They started biting and *sob* clawing me. I threw one off me a couple times, but the other one just kept biting me. My... My arm was ripped off. I managed to use the grenade with my other hand though. The explosion killed me. *sob* When I woke up, I was back in they yard, my two pistols still in my hand." He lifted his head, staring into my face as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Then you were there." He let out a chuckle. "You have no idea how much you scared me the first time I saw you." I let out a chuckle myself. "I sure don''t kid. You were practically peeing your pants." That started a chain reaction as we both started laughing. At the end of our giggling spree, I could feel some of the tension and stress just melt away. Laughter is the best medicine after all. Once we were able to speak again, Gregory let out a sigh. He looked me in the eyes, saying "I, uh, I just realized, I don''t know your name." I smiled. "You were a bit preoccupied, so I''ll let it slide." I waggled my eyebrows at him. "My name is Tony, pleasure to meet you Gregory." He nodded at that. "Anyway Gregory, I''m going to need to ask you a question. Do you want me to take you somewhere, or do you want to stay here." Gregory started thinking, not quite sure what he wanted to do. After a while, he finallly nodded his head. "I don''t know. My parents will try to get to me, but I don''t know where they are. They were just going out for a drive. I could try and call them though?" I face palmed. Yeah, I hadn''t even checked my phone before I left the apartment. Then again, I hardly ever used it. Being an introvert combined with having no close family alive meant that I never used it except for work. "Yes, go ahead and call them. See if you can reach them." I reached into my own pocket to try and contact my sister. I unlocked my phone, causing a blue screen to appear in front of me.
You have discovered Communication Device blueprint.
Would you like to convert Communication Device into 20 shards? Yes/No
I selected no and went to my contacts. There was nothing there. I had already memorized her number, so I went ahead and dialed it. An error message appeared when I pressed the call button. It was a blue screen that was eerily similair to the same ones that kept popping up every few seconds.
You have not connected with that Communication Device. In the future, you may connect with Communication Devices by touching the two devices together.
Okay. That meant that phones would work in the future, but I needed to meet the person first. Of course I would have no such luck for contacting my sister. I wasn''t really worried about her though. She had always been a tomboy. While I had been inside reading, she was climbing trees and shooting BB guns at squirrels. I looked up from my gun and looked at Gregory. Based upon his confused look, he had the same message. I put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "Don''t worry Gregory, I''m sure your parents will come looking for you. In the meantime, how about we stay here until they arrive? We can stay in one of the rooms. The doorway should provide a natural bottleneck so we won''t be over run by wolves." Gregory was at first relieved by me staying. Once I mentioned wolves though, he became scared. I recognized the fast breathing as the beginnings of a panic attack, so I slapped him on the shoulder again to get his attention. I needed to distract him from his thoughts. "Hey Gregory, how about you tell me your stats?" He shook himself, as though attempting to get rid of his thoughts. "Well, I, uh... Give me a minute. Open status." Undoubtedly he had a blue screen in front of him. Still, I couldn''t see it. Looking at his eyes, I could see a blue glow reflecting off his irises. So the blue screens weren''t holograms like I first thought. It could possibly be a projection that was placed directly into the eyes. I''d heard of some tech that could do that, but it was always too expensive for me. Gregory started to relay the information to me, which I used to build a mental image of his status screen.
Name: Gregory ??? Species: Nanite-Human Age: ??? Level:23 (221 Status Points)
Gender: Male Agility:10 Charging:57 (EP Regen Rate: 114/second) Dexterity:10
Intelligence:10 (Percieved time: 1.1x normal) Shield:57 (Shield Points: 570. Costs 57EP/second) Storage:57 (Energy Points: 570) Strength:20
He still hadn''t told me his full name or age yet. His nanite count, according to him, was 500 of the tiny things and 40 of the mid-sized things. That meant he had 495 shards and 35 chunks. Not a lot, but his stats were more impressive for sure. I''m sure that he could have easily taken down the wolves if he hadn''t panicked. He had four more levels than me and thirteen levels on the wolves after all. "So Gregory, would you like to stay here in you house?" I asked him. Before Gregory could respond, I heard growling and crashing sounds behind me. Chapter 7: Bottleneck When I heard the noises behind me, I grabbed my laser rifle from where it had been resting on the counter as I turned around. I could see part of the door was splintered and, judging from the growls, it was the wolves doing. They must have somehow known we were in here. I very much doubt it was smell, since a nanite-wolf didn''t need to breathe. I didn''t need to breath either for that matter, yet I found myself taking faster and faster breaths as fear set in. Maybe it was all in my mind, a ghost of my memories as a human. A thumping noise at the door caused those thoughts to evaporate. I needed a plan and fast. I glanced over Gregory only to find him pale and shaking. I reached over and shook his shoulder. "Gregory! Pull yourself together! Grab your laser pistols and head up the stairs! If the wolves want to get to us, they''ll have to climb the stairs. We''ll be able to hold them off at the top of landing. Come on Gregory! We''ll survive and your parents will come find you!" My little pep talk must have helped Gregory, since he grabbed his laser pistols and headed into the hallway. The house was two stories, so I knew there must be a stairway. Of course, I didn''t know where it was since this wasn''t my house. I followed Gregory as he, presumably, went to the stairs. The second I saw it, I realized that there was a bit of a stumbling block in our plan. The stairs weren''t in a straight line like I had imagined. Halfway up, the made a U-turn before going to the second floor. That meant we would not have the nearly ten feet I was planning on. Instead, we would have five feet. As we climbed the stairs, I heard the wolves finally break the door down. The pattering of their feet urged me to climb faster. Reaching the top, I turned back around and aimed my laser rifle. Gregory was right beside me, both his pistols ready to fire as well. The snout of a wolf was visible through the railing of the stairs, causing both me and Gregory to fire our lasers. Mine was a constant beam, but Gregory''s were simple flashes of light. The railing melted as the wolf yelped before leaving our line of eyesight. Gregory kept his eyes on the bottom of the stairs, but he asked me "Why is your laser like that? Is it cause yours is a rifle?" I replied back, "No. All laser guns can do it, you just have to hold down on the trigger. You might want to do it with your own weapons, makes aiming easier and I think you do more damage as well. Takes only a second or two to kill a wolf." Gregory nodded. "Good to know." There were a couple glimpses of grey fur that caused us both to fire our lasers. None of it hit though, the wolves scrambling for cover. Based upon the sounds, they were right below us in the hallway. "Gregory, it might be better if we let them get partly up to the stairs before we shoot. If we don''t, the wolves are just going to stay down there where we can''t shoot them. Remember, once we get to ten thousand wolves, the monster wave will be over." "What?" Gregory said. "What do you mean ten-thousand wolves." Oh yeah. I guess I hadn''t told him about it. Well, now wasn''t the time to talk about it. "We can''t talk now. Just trust me and wait until you can get a clear shot before you fire." I saw Gregory nod from the corner of my eye as he said, "Okay. I''m trusting you." We waited, the wolves below us waiting too. There were glimpses of fur through the railings. I saw Gregory twitch, but he didn''t shoot. Finally, I saw a wolf climbing the stairs. Two more followed the first. The first one saw us and started growling, the two behind him growling as well. They started running up the stairs now, the first wolf just rounding the corner. When he did, I yelled, "Fire!" My laser rifle lanced out, burning a hole through the banister before catching the oncoming wolf in the face. Two smaller beams hit the wolf behind that one, Gregory''s pistols coming into play. The wolves continued up the stairs, yelping and crying in pain the entire time. The first one finally tumbled to a stop, its body melting into grey goo as the laser finally punched right through its face. The one that Gregory was trying to kill still had blue light emerging from its body. While the beam from Gregory''s right laser pistol was steady, the one in his left hand was wavering. Firing a gun with two hands wasn''t an easy task for someone that isn''t ambidextrous. I couldn''t help him out though, I was more focused on the other wolf. Firing my laser at that one, I realized that I wouldn''t be able to kill it before it could reach the stop of the stairs. I let go of the rifle with my left hand yelling "open inventory equip laser pistol!" The beam from my rifle started shifting, but I clenched my rifle hard and kept it on the wolf.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. My hand shifted and transformed, the laser pistol forming in my left hand in a split second. The wolf, in midair from its leap at me, slammed into my chest. I lost my grip on the rifle, but I managed to keep the laser pistol. As the wolf tried to bite me, I fired the pistol into its side. Two more beams joined me, the wolf yelping in pain before dissolving into grey goo as the laser beams melted through the wolf.
Combat has ended! You have defeated 3 wolves, Level 10
Loot Gained: 7 shards
Gregory came up to me sobbing. "I''m so sorry Tony! They, they got past me. I couldn''t help you! I''m so sorry!" I sat up, causing Gregory to jump back. I grabbed his shoulder, sayng "Don''t worry Gregory, I''m alright." Gregory sniffed. "But, you got hurt because I couldn''t help you." I shook my head. "No Gregory, I survived because of you. Don''t blame yourself if I got hurt. We''re alive, that''s all that matters." I stood up and looked down the stairs. The stairs were a good chokepoint, but we needed something better. Picking up my rifle, I took aim. The beam lanced out, slicing through the stairs. I destroyed a good portion of the stairs, completely cutting us off from the downstairs. Gregory was yelling the whole time, but I ignored him. When the last portion of the stairs fell, I put down my rifle. "What have you done?!" Gregory yelled. "My mom is going to kill me when she gets home! Do you have any idea how mad she''ll be?! Well?! Do you?!" I almost laughed as I finally heard what he was saying. Ignoring my funny side, I raised my hand to stop his shouting I was starting to get a headache. "No, I don''t know how mad she''ll be. What I do know is that she will be happy to have her son here, alive. Cutting the stairs down should make it harder for the wolves to get to us. I know the wolves can jump pretty high, one got me at ten feet in the air. Still, we should be able to at least knock them back down to the ground when they jump. After all, the only way they can hurt us is if they bite us. If the wolves can''t reach us, then they might as well be sheep." Gregory had his mouth open, as if to say something. He looked at the ruined stairs, at me, and then back at the stairs. He simply nodded before sitting down. I checked the monster wave completion. 1,008/10,000. That was a big jump from the two-hundred something. Most likely, the wolves had finally made it to downtown. By myself, I could easily take down a single wolf, maybe two if there was some distance. If there were ten, twenty people all fighting with laser rifles. Well, I wouldn''t be betting on the wolves. Honestly, the wolves weren''t too dangerous so long as there weren''t too many of them and you weren''t alone. I had Gregory with me, but I wasn''t sure how reliable he was in a fight. I pulled up my nanite count. 469 shards, 54 chunks. I was definitely hurting for nanites. Unfortunately, these wolves weren''t paying a whole lot. Even if they gave out at least five shards, which was the most a single wolf had given me so far, it would take over two-hundred wolves to get a single chunk. I''d need to kill at leastfour-hundred wolves to get one ability point. I thought back to the 500 chunks I started out with and winced. I was incredibly poor now. Even worse, it didn''t look like I was going to be able to get any significant amount of money. Not from monsters. Speaking of monsters, I never did tell Gregory about the monster counter. "Hey Gregory?" He looked up from where he''d been sitting on the floor. "What Tony?" "You remember the countdown that we had till the beast wave, right?" I asked him. Gregory nodded. "Good. If you look where it used to be, you''ll see the Monster Wave Completion. With each wolf we kill, we get closer to the completion rate. I think when we get to that point, the monster wave should be over." He slowly nodded as he stared off into space, probably looking at the numbers. I heard him gasp. "Ten thousand! We have to kill ten thousand wolves!" I let out a little huff of amusement. "Yeah, but it isn''t just us that have to do it. Between us, I think we may have killed ten wolves between us. As it is now, over a thousand wolves have died according to the completion thing. I believe its the whole town that has to do it." Gregory nodded. "Makes sense, otherwise there couldn''t have been so many dead wolves. If it was the whole world, it would be in the millions, not the thousands." I decided to go ahead and throw my two-cents in. "I say, we stay put in your house and kill whatever wolves try and kill us. I don''t want to be ambushed by a bunch of wolves trying to find other people. Plus, you wanna stay here to find your folks, right?" "Yeah." Gregory said. "Let''s just check on the numbers every now and then though. Just to see when we can finally get out of the house." I rolled my neck, feeling the crack of my spine as I did so. "Might as well get comfortable. We''re going to be here for a few hours while we wait." Gregory suddenly went ramrod straight. "Wait! I might have something that can help." He went into one of the rooms down the hall. He came out a minute later pushing a rolling desk chair in front of him while a folding chair was in his other arm. "I figured this might come in handy if we have to stay here for a while. Sitting on the floor gets uncomfortable after a while." Gregory said. I gave him an appreciative nod. "Thanks, this is great." I grabbed the folding chair, letting Gregory take the more comfortable rolling chair. I set my laser pistol on my lap, the laser rifle on top of it. I took out one of my three frag grenades, taking a closer look at it. It was green and round, with a textured surface. A squeeze handle and a large ring clearly showed the safety lever and the pin. I might not be a genius, but I didn''t have to be one to know how a grenade worked. I gave that one to Gregory, warning him to only throw it if I said so, and only downstairs, never upstairs. With my weapons around me, I felt a whole lot better. Maybe, just maybe, I would survive this. Chapter 8: Electric Hands As I was waiting for more wolves to come, I looked over my abilities.
Extreme Jump (Level 1): Jump 20 feet high or 20 feet long. To activate, say the name of the skill. Costs 1 EP. Cooldown: 30 seconds Flight (Level 1): Hover up to 10 feet from the ground. To activate, say the name of the skill. Use your mind and think about how high and where you want to float to, then you''ll do it. Costs 5 EP/Second. No Cooldown.
Electric Bolt: Create a bolt of electricity from your hands and fire it in the direction you are pointing at. May branch off and hit metallic objects around you. The strength of the bolt is determined by EP invested. Think of a number and that is how much EP you will use. To activate, say the name of the skill. Costs variable EP. Cooldown: (5*EP cost) seconds. Electric Stream: Emit a stream of electricity from your hands in the direction you are pointing at. To activate, say the name of the skill. Costs 30 EP/Second. 10 second cooldown for evey second activated. Can be used for a maximum of 1 minute.
I had already used flight and extreme jump, but I hadn''t used either of the electricity ones yet. Why hadn''t I? I mean, its every persons dream to be able to throw lightning bolts around and summon fire like a wizard from legend. I couldn''t think of a real reason for why I was avoiding using my abilities. I mean, it was a great ability. I suppose, the only excuse I could give was that I wasn''t used to it. It just wasn''t instinctive to use my abilites. I had only used flight and extreme jump once, the rest of the time I just shot the wolves. I determined that the next time we had to fight, I would use my electric abilities. That was why, when the wolves attacked us next, I asked Gregory to stand down. He refused at first, but I was able to convince him it was for the best. The fact that it was only one wolf that was attacking probably helped as well. The wolf jumped toward us, but wasn''t able to grab onto the floor. Its claws scrabbled on the hardwood floors as the rest of its body dragged it down towards the first floor. Destroying the stairs was a good move apparently.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. The wolf landed with a thud, letting out a whine when it fell. I raised my hand, saying "electric stream." Electriciy shot from my fingers, lancing down towards the wolf. It hit everywhere in front of me, not just the wolf. The floor and walls sparked as the electricity surged everywhere. I felt a tingling as the electric charge reached me, but it had dissipated so much that it wasn''t really effective. As for the wolf, well, that was a different story. The wolf glowed a bright blue all over its body as the electricity enveloped it. All of a sudden, the blue glow disappeared as the wolf started to convulse. I wasn''t quite sure how to stop my skill, but as I thought about stopping, the electricity suddenly died. A red timer with 30 seconds on it started ticking down in the bottom left corner of my vision. Grabbing my laser pistol from the floor, I shot the wolf in its chest. The laser went right through the wolf, causing it to dissolve.
Combat has ended! You have killed 1, wolf Level 10
Loot gained: 3 Shards
Well. That was easy. We faced a little over twelve more wolves after that.
Loot Gained: 41 Shards
It became customary for me to use electric stream on the wolves as they attacked, entire groups of wolves convulsing as electricity coursed through their bodies. Gregory would shoot each one with his pistol after each blue flash. There was hardly any danger at all. I tried electric bolt out too, when there were only two wolves. When I said the name, I thought of two hundred EP. I had plenty to spare after all and it would recharge in a matter of seconds. There was a flash of light and a popping noise as the bolt of electricity smashed into wolf on the left. Its body flashed blue as its shield was instantly overloaded with energy before it started to turn red. The wolf dissolved into grey goo, though I could see the ground glowing slightly from the red-hot nanites that previously composed the wolf. The glow disappeared shortly, during which time Gregory and I killed the other wolf. It had been almost three hours since I met Gregory when the Monster Wave Completion reached 10,000. The second it did, a blue box appeared in front of us.
Your town has defeated the wolf pack!
The Wolf King has emerged to avenge his fallen comrades! Get ready!
A translucent blue arrow appeared in front of me, pointing off to the left. I guess this wasn''t completely unexpected. Every level had a boss after all. Chapter 9: Tutorial Complete When the boss monster appeared, we did exactly what we had originally planned to do. We stayed on the top floor and waited to be attacked. About ten minutes after the warning of a boss monster appeared, two blue boxes appeared simultaneously.
The Wolf King has been defeated!
Your percentage of damage: 0.00%
Loot Gained: N/A
Wolf Pack Monster Horde Destroyed. Completion Rate: 100%
Your Percentage of damage: 0.2%
Loot Gained: 1 Chunk
I let out a sigh of relief as that happened. Gregory let out a cheer beside me. He turned towards me and gave me a hug. "We did it Tony! We did it!" I rubbed his head when he let me go. "We sure did Gregory." By then, we''d become fairly hungry. Gregory wanted to go downstairs to the kitchen, but he looked hesitant about what to do. I solved the issue by using flight to descend to the first floor. Pushing one of the couches over to the stairs, I urged Gregory to jump. He did, though not without letting out a scream. Once he was down, we both descended upon the fridge like the wolves we had slain. Ryan pulled out some frozen meals and popped them in the microwave. I noticed that there wasn''t any frost in the freezer, something very unusual. The packages felt cold though. The microwave had the cardboard box containing some eggrolls rotating on a glass platter. The light was on and it was, for all intents and purposes, just like any microwave. I knew, though, that this wasn''t possibly a real microwave. The electromagnetic radiation of the microwave would have bounced off the metal nanites that composed the meal, causing the inside to spark and possibly catch on fire. When we took out the egg rolls, they felt hot and tasted great. Another mental illusion probably. There wasn''t any steam when they were taken out of the microwave either, another strike in their favor. Still, I put all my negative thoughts out of my mind as I started eating. It didn''t matter whether they were made of nanites or not, the egg rolls still tasted delicious. Once we had eaten, we both decided to sleep. Since there wasn''t a way to get upstairs, which was where Gregory''s room was, Gregory took his parent''s bed. I took the couch, sleeping under the hole where the stairs used to be. I was exhausted. From the time I woke up, to the time that the Wolf King had been defeated, almost five hours had passed. The second I laid down on the couch, I passed out.
All over the world, different attacks happened on each and every city. New York, New York had to face swarms of pigeons, their monster wave having close to a million monsters needing to be destroyed. Hawaii was plagued with seagulls. Raleigh, North Carolina was stampeded with deer.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Boss monsters appeared without fail after each monster wave was completeed. A deer more than twice the normal size, its antlers firing laser beams appeared. A wolf with silver fur emerged in Silicon Valley, its roar causing people to freeze in place. A rabbit with a horn that was coated in plasma hopped its way downtown. Each time they emerged, brave people fought back. The deer was shredded as dozens of lasers slashed through its shields. A grenade landed in the wolf''s mouth, a lucky throw that caused the wolf to lose its head. The rabbit went down, an electrical bolt causing it to lose its protective shielding. One by one, the hundreds of boss monsters all over the world were defeated. It wasn''t without a price. Small towns that couldn''t handle the large amounts of monsters disappeared, their inhabitants destroyed back to level one before they faded to oblivion. Millions of people died but respawned, their levels permanently reduced. Gang fights broke out amidst the chaos in Chicago, the police attempting to step in. A nuke was launched from North Korea, though it merely landed with a thud in the pavement of Washington. Its radioactive warhead was disabled, the Game Administation Director not allowing such widespread destruction this early on in the game. Finally, fifteen hours after everyone awoke, it was done. Every monster wave was over, whether it ended in victory or failure. With that complete, the next stage of Nanite World would commence.
I woke up to a woman screaming. Frightened, I grabbed the laser pistol on the ground next to me, ready to fight off whatever was scaring the lady. Quick glances around with blurry eyes revealed a women in a pale blue skirt with a pearl necklace screaming as she pointed at me. "Get out! Get out! Get out! This is my house and you''re trespassing! Get out! Get out!" As what she was screaming finally registered with my tired brain, I started to chuckle. That turned into full-blown belly laughter as I rolled on the floor. She was glaring at me while I laughed, but I didn''t care. Gregory ran into the room. When he saw his mom, he immediately ran up and hugged her. She jumped, startled, but hugged him back when she saw who it was. I slowly recovered from my laughter as Gregory and his mom started crying. A man rushed into the room as well. "What''s wrong honey?!" He yelled. When he saw Gregory, the man was dumbstruck. His mouth opened and closed as he approached Gregory. When he got close, he enveloped his wife and son in a hug, his arms attempting to wrap around both of them. By this time, I had finally stopped laughing. Going into the kitchen, I poured myself a glass of milk. This was a private moment that I had no business interfering with. About ten minutes later, Gregory and his parents came into the kitchen. His mom spoke first, saying, "Thank you for watching out for our son. He already told us about what you''ve done for him. There is nothing we could do that would repay you." I shook my head in denial. "Your welcome, but it was something that anyone should do." The dad spoke up now. "We would have been home sooner, but the car was destroyed by a grenade. We had to walk here from downtown which is why we took so long." I nodded in understanding. "Well, I imagine that Gregory is happy you''re here. Anyway, I''ll head off. Wouldn''t want to disturb a family reunion and I need to get back to my house." Before they could say something, a blue screen appeared in front of me.
All of the monster waves have been completed! You have now passed the Tutorial.
Initializing Nanite World Update. All living organisms will be temporarily taken offline as the world adjusts.
That was the last thing I saw before the world turned black. Chapter 10: Reset I sat up with a gasp. Huff huff. Panting, I looked around. This wasn''t Gregory''s house. I was currently in the shade of a large oak tree. A sea of grass surrounded me as I felt bare dirt beneath me. Blue screens started appearing in front of me.
This is Game Administration Director, or GAD as some of you have begun to call me.
With the tutorial now over, most of you will now understand what status points are important and just what things you should buy. Use this knowledge wisely in your fresh new start, so that you don''t end up dead. Let the games begin!
Congratulations on passing the Tutorial! You are currently on Nanite World 1.0
Your level has been reset. Your Nanite Count has been updated. Any blueprints gained have been converted.
Shop has been updated! World Terrain has been updated!
Enjoy the new beginnings players!
"Open Status."
Name: Tony Eisen? Species: Nanite-Human Gender: Male Level: 1 (7 Status Points)
Age: 27 Agility: 1 Charging: 1 (EP Regen Rate: 2EP/Second) Dexterity: 1
Intelligence: 1 (Percieved time: 1.01x normal speed) Shield: 1 (Shield Points: 10. Costs 1EP/Second) Storage: 1 (Energy Points: 10) Strength: 1
Great. I was right back where I had begun. Still, maybe I could use this to my advantage. Actually, I needed to check on my nanite count before I started anything. 501 Chunks, 69 shards. Maybe it was wrong, but I believed that the extra nanites were from the wolves I killed. I remember that I gained 1 chunk for completing the wolf monster wave, so that was where most of my suspicions came from. Anyway, this was a blessing, of sorts. After all, I knew a lot more about the shop and the weapons. Speaking of the shop, it was supposed to be updated. What kind of updates were they?
Weapons Combat Upgrades Armor Tools Abilites? Food Property Liesure Objects Status Points Information Cosmetics Search
All the tabs were there still, though there were three additional tabs. I really needed information right now, soI tapped on it, causing another screen to appear.
Twilight: 1 Shard Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson & The Olympians): 1 Shard
Fundamentals of Physics [12th Edition]: 1 Shard Pre-Algebra Explained [3rd Edition]: 1 Shard
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Basic Map: 10 Shards Beginner''s Manual: 10 Shards
Advanced Monster Manual : 10 Shards Nanite Humans 101: 10 Shards
Gun Types: 10 Shards? Underlying Physics of Nanite World: 100 Shards
The list of things available continued downwards. Math, chemistry, physics, and other textbooks were being sold alongside famous novels and more obscure books. There seemed to be no rhyme or rythm to how they were listed, they were just thrown in the list. I guess the information tab was short for ''everything written.'' Still, I immediately bought the Basic Map when I saw it.The map formed from my hands in a now familiar manner. Looking at the map, I realized that things had changed. This was not, in any shape or form, the world that I had grown up in. Unlike Earth, where it was mostly ocean with some land, this was the complete opposite. The world was instead completely composed of land. There was what appeared to be a large lake in the exact middle of the mapwith many streams and rivers flowing throughout the world before looping back around to the lake. I wasn''t sure if it really was water though. You wouldn''t think that nanites could survive water. Mountains were scattered here and there, deserts usually around them. Large swathes of forests cut through the land and grasslands were also frequent. There wasn''t any names or towns, no signs of any civilization on the map. There was no evidence that humans had ever existed on the planet according to the map. Then again, I had only bought the basic map. Maybe there would be more on an advanced map? Anyway, now would be the time to check out the rest of the shop. I clicked on Combat Upgrades, the blue screen appearing below.
Scope: 5 Shards.An upgrade that can be mounted on a weapon to allow for long-distance shooting. Laser Sight: 10 shards.An upgrade that can be mounted on a weapon to provide support in aiming Silencer: 20 Shards. An upgrade that can be mounted on a ballistic weapon to muffle gunshot noise or muzzle flash. Cannot be applied to energy weapons.
Electric Generator: 300 Shards. An upgrade that allows for electricity to build up on a hand-held shield, shocking any that attack it. Barrier: 500 Shards.An upgrade that lets a hand-held shield generate its own forcefield using an Energy Capacitator. Shield does not draw energy from user to be mantained. EP in energy Capacitator is considered SP for this upgrade. Holographic Overlay: 500 Shards.An upgrade that allows for a predicted weapon shot to be shown while the trigger is pressed
Bullet Converter: 1 Chunk. Processes uncontrolled nanites and converts them to bullets. Bullets cannot be sold or traded. Vibration Generator: 1 Chunk.An upgrade that allows a melee weapon to vibrate at high-rates of speed, increasing the damage. Cannot be applied to guns Energy Capacitator lvl 1: 1 Chunk. An upgrade that allows the storage of energy for weapons that use EP or shields. Further upgrades allow for more EP to be stored. Currently, 50 EP
Burst: 2 Chunks.An upgrade that uses the stored energy of an Energy Capacitator to fire a charged shot from a gun. Cannot be applied to pistols or to ballistic weapons. Push: 2 Chunks.An upgrade that allows the use of stored energy of an Energy Capacitator to create a shockwave in the direction of a hand-held shield''s front. Grenade Launcher: 2 Chunks. An upgade that can be mounted on a weapon to launch grenades at a distance. Cannot be applied to pistols.
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There wasn''t just these upgrades though. There was at least 50 more upgrades besides this. Homing upgrades for bullets and grenade launchers, plasma upgrades for grenades, and even an infared upgrade for a laser to make it invisible. All sorts of things were available for sale. Tapping on weapons, I decided to see if there was anything in there. Nope, nothing new. Armor was the same, though there were now hand-held shields that were available for sale. There were metal shields and very expensive energy shields. When I selected tools, it was pretty random. Things like nuts, bolts, nails, hammers, forks, knives, and other household objects were included. Cosmetics popped up a screen with a replica of me on it. My blonde hair, glasses, blue eyes, 191lbs, and 5ft 10 height. For 30 shards, I could change anything about my body that I wanted. Voice, height, eye color, gender, and even species. Though, I did notice that there was a disclaimer changing the species did not increase or decrease stats. Another thing was the ability to change the appearance of my armor and weapons to a ''variant'' form, though the usage of the weapon wouldn''t change at all. I could change my laser rifle to be a Spatan Laser Cannon, a stormtrooper''s E-11 blaster, or even a Star Trek Phaser. Popular guns from all genres appeared. It only changed the appearance and at 50 shards, I wasn''t going to be doing that anytime soon. So, Cosmetics was a pretty much useless section of the store. When I opened liesure objects, there were Holo-projectors, TV''s, spas, shampoo, and everything else that involved the word ''relax.'' Again, fairly useless. I was assuming, at this point, that I wasn''t going to be sweating. I might be wrong, but I''m sure I would know fairly soon.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I checked out the last thing that had been locked before. Property. When I tapped on it, something unlike all the others happened. It was a view of everything around me from a bird''s eye-view. A blue grid covered the aerial view, each square of the grid havig a pricetag in the middle. Most of them were under a hundred shards, though a few were almost worth a chunk. This was most likely how you bought land. I didn''t see an option to build anything, but I likely had to own a piece of land first. What I found really odd was that there wasn''t any trees at all in the property view. There was grass, but even the tree that was directly behind me was gone on the property view. The land slowly faded out as well before turning grey the farther it was from me. I assumed that this was sort of like the fog of war from most other games. I wasn''t quite sure how it worked, and I didn''t have the time to find out about it. With the new tabs out of the way, I went to abilities.
Extreme Jump (level 1): 5 chunks. You may now perform a super-human feet by jumping extremely high or far. Additional purchases increases height and length of jump. (EP Cost: 1) Duplicate (level 1): 10 chunks. You may create a duplicate of an inanimate object that lasts for 1 minute. Additional purchases increases duration time. (EP Cost: 10 at minimum, variant. Nanite Cost: Dependant on size of object)
Flight (level 1): 10 chunks. You can now hover up to ten feet off the ground. Additional purchases increases height and speed. (EP cost 5/second) Magnetic Manipulation (Level 1): 30 chunks. You can now manipulate small objects through magnetic emission. Additional upgrades give you the ability to manipulate larger objects. (EP cost 1/Nanite shard).
Status Boost (level 1): 50 chunks. You can increase one of your status points by 10% for one minute. Ten minute cool down on the status point boosted. Additional purchases increases boost percentage. (EP Cost: 20) Creature Summon (Level 1): 50 chunks. You may now summon one creature that is level 1 to fight for you. You choose the type of creature that is summoned. Additional upgrades increase the number or level of the creature that is summoned. (EP Cost: 20)
Fire Emission (level 1): 50 chunks. You can now emit small amounts of fire from your body. This can be a constant stream or a pulse of fire. Additional upgrades increase amount of fire you can emit. (EP cost 20/second, variant) Electric Emission (level 1): 50 Chunks. You can now emit small amounts of electricity from your body. This can be a consant stream or a surge of electricity. Additional upgrades increase amount of electricity you can emit. (EP cost 30/second, variant)
Plasma Emission (level 1): 100 chunks. You can now emit small amounts of super-heated plasma from your body. This can be a constant stream or a bolt of plasma. Additional upgrades increase amouunt of plasma you can emit. (EP cost 50/second, variant) No further entries available. Gain more nanites to see more options.
Yeah, they were the exact same. I bought Creature Summon, Flight, and Electric Emission. I checked the ability upgrades now.
Extreme Jump (level 1): 5 chunks. You may now perform a super-human feet by jumping extremely high or far. Additional purchases increases height and length of jump. (EP Cost: 1) Duplicate (level 1): 10 chunks. You may create a duplicate of an inanimate object that lasts for 1 minute. Additional purchases increases duration time. (EP Cost: 10 at minimum, variant. Nanite Cost: Dependant on size of object)
Flight (level 2): 10 chunks. You can now hover up to fifteen feet off the ground. Additional purchases increases height and speed. (EP cost 10/second) Magnetic Manipulation (Level 1): 30 chunks. You can now manipulate small objects through magnetic emission. Additional upgrades give you the ability to manipulate larger objects. (EP cost 1/Nanite shard).
Status Boost (level 1): 50 chunks. You can increase one of your status points by 10% for one minute. Ten minute cool down on the status point boosted. Additional purchases increases boost percentage. (EP Cost: 20) Creature Summon (Level 2): 50 chunks. You may now summon a number of creatures that may not have a combined level greater than level 2. Alternatively, you may summon a creature up to level 2. Additional upgrades increase the number and level of creatures you can summon. (EP Cost: 40)
Fire Emission (level 1): 50 chunks. You can now emit small amounts of fire from your body. This can be a constant stream or a pulse of fire. Additional upgrades increase amount of fire you can emit. (EP cost 20/second, variant) Electric Emission (level 2): 50 Chunks. You can now emit medium amounts of electricity from your body. This can be a consant stream or a surge of electricity. Additional upgrades increase amount of electricity you can emit. (EP cost 40/second, variant)
Plasma Emission (level 1): 100 chunks. You can now emit small amounts of super-heated plasma from your body. This can be a constant stream or a bolt of plasma. Additional upgrades increase amouunt of plasma you can emit. (EP cost 50/second, variant) No further entries available. Gain more nanites to see more options.
Well, that was good. The price of the abilites didn''t change, even though they became more powerful. I checked the nanite count. 391 chunks, 69 fragments. The damage from my purchases really showed. I went ahead and bought the laser rifle, laser pistol, and a sniper rifle from the shop. Moving on, I checked the blueprints. Or at least, I tried to. Instead of getting a list of available blue prints, I got a bluescreen.
You previously had ''Electric Moped'' blueprint. This blue print has been converted to ''Electric ATV.''
Do you wish to keep this change or sell the blueprint for 200 Chunks? Sell/Keep
Well, I wasn''t quite sure what to do with that. I needed some form of transportation, but I wasn''t sure how rare that would be. I went to the search and looked up ATV. It cost 70 chunks to buy one. Well, I didn''t need a blueprint. I just needed a ride. I sold the chunks and bought the ATV, leaving me with 521 chunks and 69 fragments. I had more money to play around with now. Last time when I had to face the wolves, I''d felt overwhelmed. I had energy to spare, but not enough firepower to bring them down. I bought the scope, laser sight, energy capacitator, burst, bullet converter, and grenade launcher, leaving me with 515 chunks, 54 fragments. Whenever I got the first upgrade, it was simply a round ball with the label [Scope] on it. I was very confused by that. I pulled out my laser rifle and touched the ball to the rifle. When I did, the ball melted and crawled up the rifle, forming a scope on the top of it. Cool. I promptly added on every upgrade I had bought except the bullet converter. I put the bullet converter on the sniper rifle, eager to see what it would look like. What happened was that the clip for the gun expanded slightly, becoming longer and thicker. A blue screen with directions prompted me on what to do. I took out the clip and grabbed a handfull of dirt. Stuffing the dirt in the clip where the bullets went, I watched as the dirt turned silvery before forming several large bullets. The bullts then melted through the bottom of the clip before dropping to the ground. I saw a flickering out of the corner of my eye and focused on it. It was the nanite counter. Beside each diamond shape was a bullet shaped icon. Just like with the diamond shape, they became progressively larger with each one down. The largest one had now been updated, now displaying the number 6. I assumed that the large bullet was a sniper rifle. I wasn''t sure about the medium or small bullets, but they were probably for assault rifles and pistols. Now I had 515 chunks, 54 fragments. Plenty to mess around with. Now, I would leave me around 50 chunks like I had last time to buy anything else I needed. That meant I could buy 232 ability points, 26 more than I had last time. I started thinking as I started tallying up things. The last time, I had upgraded my charging, storage, and shield. Undoubtedly, shield was important along with charging to keep my shield up. Storage though, that wasn''t completely necessary. So long as I was recharging just as much energy as I would be using, I didn''t need a large storage. The laser rifle used 2 EP per shot, though I wasn''t sure about the beam mode. Electric stream was 30 EP/second and flight was 5 EP/second. By my estimates, I needed around at least 18 more charging points and then I needed to add 1 point to charging for every 2 points in shield. Lets put the shield at 50, so I needed 43 charging. Lets calculate that then... 86 EP regen rate. Subtract 50, which gave me the 36 EP I needed. Give myself a little buffer by increasing the charging to 45 and now I had 40 EP. Enough to where I could use Electric stream with flight or I could use the laser rifle in beam mode. Great. 93 stats claimed. I have 139 left to spend! Being rich was amazing. Intelligence was necessay since it helped me see threats, but agility was necessary too since I needed to be able to react to it. Strength was defenitely required, since I had, in one way or another, gotten close and personal with several wolves. Dexterity... I still wasn''t quite sure what Dexterity did but I probably needed it. Storage was a dumping ground for points since my regen rate might be off and having some extra energy to tap into didn''t sound like a bad idea. To summarize. Priority Intelligence and Agility, second priority strength, leftover would go to dexterity and storage. So, probably 60 Intelligence and 60 Agility, left me with 21. Since I was increasing my 1 Intelligence to 60, I really only spent 59 status points. Ugh. This mental math was really starting to get to be a pain. I looked down at the ground where I had scribbled in the dirt with my hand. Okay, maybe not all mental math. Still, thinking over so many numbers was bound to give anyone a headache. I decided to increase strength to 15 before increasing dexterity to 4 and storage to 5. That was all of my status points. Let''s check it out!
Name: Tony Eisen? Species: Nanite-Human Gender: Male Level: 27 (265 Status Points)
Age: 27 Agility: 60 Charging: 45 (EP Regen Rate: 90EP/Second) Dexterity: 4
Intelligence: 60 (Percieved time: 1.6x normal speed) Shield: 50 (Shield Points: 500. Costs 50EP/Second) Storage: 5 (Energy Points: 50) Strength: 15
Alright, I was looking significantly better than before. Nanite count time. 51 Chunks, 54 fragments. Easy come, easy go. I went ahead and bought ten grenades for the grenade launcher. Now, I was fully prepared for whatever it was that was going to try and kill me. Chapter 11: Wandering (Part 1) Once I had everything sorted out and bought, I decided to try out my new ability. "Summon Creature." Just like I expected, a blue screen appeared in front of me.
You may summon 1 creature with a combined level of 1. Choose the species of your creature.
Hawk: Flight, Claw Wolf: Pounce, Claw, Bite
Horned Rabbit: Flee, Charge Snake: Poison Bite, Squeeze
A hawk sounded amazing, but I wasn''t sure if it would really be that good. If it was intelligent and could warn me about monsters, that would be great. The hawk could, probably, distract enemies for me. Still, I wasn''t sure if I wanted to risk picking the hawk. I shrugged. Whatever creature I summoned wasn''t going to last long anyways. After all, it was only level 1. I chose the wolf, since it had the most combat abilities and it was also the one I was most familiar with.
Your wolf has 3 status points to assign.
Agility: 1 Strength: 1 Shield: 1
I put one point in strength and placed two in shield. As soon as I assigned the last status point, grey goo emerged from the ground before forming a wolf. It had grey fur with a darker patch on its chest. When it looked at me, the wolf let out a whine and nuzzled my hand. That was cute. I scratched behind his ear while marveling at how closely the wolf resembled the ones that I had attempted to kill not even an hour before. "You know what boy? I''m going to call you Sampson." It was the name of a golden retriever that I''d had as a kid. It had died of old age when I was seventeen, but I still remembered him. The words Sampson flashed above the wolf''s head briefly before fading out. I decided to test out if the words meant that he was named now. I patted my leg. "Come here Sampson, come here boy." The wolf promptly jumped on me, knocking me to the ground. He growled before gently grabbing my neck in his mouth. I freaked out and almost shot him until I realized he was only playing. After I got out from under him, I rubbed my neck while looking at him. I had to remember, no matter how much he acted like a dog, he was still a wolf at heart. He wasn''t some tamed animal. Well, let''s see how obedient he is. "Sampson, see if there are any creatures in the area. If there are, come back and get me. Don''t attack them." He let out a growl before running off. I could see him pause every once in a while to sniff the air, but he quickly disappeared into the waist-high grass. I really didn''t want to go into the grass where I couldn''t see. Most animals were small enough to blend right in with the grass, I wouldn''t be able to see them coming.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I decided to take back that statement as I kept track of Sampson. You could quite clearly see where he was as the grass shook where he walked. Yeah, it would be pretty easy to see anything dangerous coming. I suddenly heard a yelp, causing me to focus on Sampson. He was fairly far away, around a hundred yards or so. The grass rustled and I caught glimpses of color amidst the green grass. I pulled out the sniper rifle and aimed towards the noise. The sniper rifle already had a scope, which was really helpful. My view magnified, letting me see Sampson as he ran towards me, gray fur flashing through the greenery. Behind him was a brown ball of fur. I lined up my sights and pulled the trigger. BANG. The rifle slammed into my shoulder, knocking me to the ground. Almost simultaneously, I heard a loud wail, almost like a child screaming in pain. Scrambling to my feet, I quickly found the spot where I had just fired. Whatever it was that I had shot, it was still coming. I braced myself against the tree and lined myself up with the creature. Pulling the trigger, the sound of the gunshot once again causing my ears to ring, I watched as the brownish object was thrown backwards from the impact of the bullet, blue light flaring to life upon impact. That hideous wail sounded out again, sending chills down my spine. My back ached from where it was slammed against the tree, but I ignored it. Aiming once more, I fired the sniper rifle.The brownish creature was just recovering from the first strike. This one went straight through the creature, causing it to dissolve.
Combat has ended! You have defeated 1 Bobcat, level 5.
Loot gained: 1 Chunk
Well, that was a lot more than I expected. The wolves I''d fought before only gave some shards, they never gave any chunks. It was significantly better loot. I wasn''t sure what caused the increased amount of nanite shards. Still, I wasn''t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Sampson came up to me and nuzzled my hand. Smiling, I reached down and petted his head. "Good job boy! Good job!" He wagged his tail before laying down. I sighed as I sat down beside him. I wasn''t sure what all I was going to do. I didn''t see anyone else around and, judging by that bobcat, there were definitely hostile monsters. I was honestly quite surprised that I was able to take it out so easily. It wasn''t completely out of expectation though. I mean, the bobcat didn''t have a gun. It had to get close in order to hit me, while I could hit it from hundreds of yards away with my sniper rifle. It was an advantage that I''d have to use whenever I could. I sighed and sat down on the ground. What, exactly, was going to be my future? I decided to go ahead and make up a list of what I wanted to accomplish. 1) I needed to stay alive. I already saw the beast wave counter active. So far I had 5 days and 2 hours until the next one. 2) Find more people. Presumably, there were people out there. There was safety in numbers and I desperately needed safety. 3) To better perform steps one and two, I needed to hunt. By killing monsters and harvesting nanite fragments, I would be able to buy better gear and ability points. That was honestly as far as I got. Everything else was either unimportant, or I didn''t know enough to make it something I wanted to do. Sampson laid a paw on my chest and whimpered. I smiled. That was exactly what my dog loved to do. I chuckled as I caught sight of Sampson''s fangs. I don''t quite recall my old dog having such a fearsome smile. I got to my feet with a sigh before heading out into the forest, Sampson trailing behind me. It looked like I was going to be wandering for a while. Chapter 11: Wandering (Part 2) There was a bright flash before the grizzly bear in front of me had a smoking hole in its head. It dissolved into grey goop as I lowered my laser rifle. Burst was amazing! It enabled to me to one-shot monsters fairly easily, though there was something that concerned me. I had used the scope on the laser rifle to try and kill a monster in the distance. When I pulled the trigger, there was the usual flash of light. The only problem was that the deer I had been targeting just started looking around. It was like it had noticed something was wrong, but wasn''t sure what. I ended up using burst to try and kill it, but the deer only flashed blue and took off. It was nothing like the devastation I had just wrecked on the bear. When I compared it to what I knew of lasers from before nanite world, I could only come to one conclusion. The lasers were dissipating in the air. Air caused photons, particles of light, to scatter. Pretty much everyone knew that. It was the reason why our sky was blue. It also meant that weapons using concentrated photons, AKA lasers, suffered from scattering. That meant that I would have to use the sniper rifle for long-range shooting. Still, after that fight with the bobcat, I wasn''t worried about the lethalness of the rifle. So far, it had been three days since I started off from the tree. I ended up buying a tent and some cooked food from the store. Speaking of tents, it was getting fairly close to night time. I accessed the inventory and pulled out the tent. It was a bundle of metal poles and tarps. I had been in the boyscouts for two years back when I was a kid, just long enough to learn I wasn''t cut out for the wilderness. Still, it was enough that I could put together the tent fairly easily. Ten minutes later, the tent was finished. When I nailed the last stake in, a blue screen appeared in front of me.
You have just formed a temporary shelter, Congratulations!
You will not be attacked while in the shelter, though this does not apply to monster waves.
I dismissed the message like I always did before accessing the shop. Buying a chicken pot-pie from the shop, I turned around as it formed from the ground. I know, intellectually, that what I was really eating was just nanites. Still, it was something else entirely to see it form in front of you. It was like hot dogs. You know just how gross hot-dog factories are, but you still eat hot-dogs. I very much doubt that you could watch people making hot-dogs in front of you and still eat it without throwing up. Once I was done eating, I accessed my status page.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Name: Tony Eisen? Species: Nanite-Human Gender: Male Level: 27 (265 Status Points)
Age: 27 Agility: 60 Charging: 45 (EP Regen Rate: 90EP/Second) Dexterity: 4
Intelligence: 60 (Percieved time: 1.6x normal speed) Shield: 50 (Shield Points: 500. Costs 50EP/Second) Storage: 5 (Energy Points: 50) Strength: 15
My nanite count went up from 52 chunks, 54 fragments to 57 chunks and 9 fragments. I''d had more, but the tent cost 180 fragments and the meals were a handful of fragments every day. I had killed a few monsters while wandering, not many at all really. A level 10 grizzly, three level 5 bobcats, and a level 1 salmon. I tried to avoid most of the monsters I saw, simply wanting to find a human. Sampson was killed by one of the bobcats when we were walking. It jumped out of a tree onto his face, killing him within seconds. I summoned another wolf after I killed the bobcat, but it wasn''t the same. I could tell, he was different. I kept the wolf, though I didn''t name it. It was outside right now, guarding the tent. I know GAD or whatever sent the system messages said that the tent would protect me from being attacked. I didn''t trust it. I wasn''t going to put my faith in the very thing that killed all of humanity before placing us in this giant rat maze. As I laid down on the sleeping bag in my tent, I thought about what I was trying to accomplish. There was a little under 2 days left until the next beast wave hit us. I needed to find humans before that, otherwise I was going to be in a lot of trouble. Unlike before, I didn''t have a house to hide in. It was wide open plains with overgrown forest everywhere else. If I went into the forest, I''d be hit before I even noticed. In the plain I would have nowhere to hide. I was sure that I could defend myself, but not from overwhelming numbers or surprise attacks. If only there was a way to get into contact with everyone else... I sat upright with a jolt. A radio! I would bet you a million bucks that was what police officers and government officials thought of when they discovered they were all alone. I went to the store and checked on the price of a radio. For the just a reciever, it cost a chunk. A low power transmitter cost ten chunks and could transmit a mile or two. A higher power transmitter for 50 chunks could broadcast over 60 miles. I bought the reciever for a chunk, leaving me with 56 chunks and 9 shards, causing the black box to assemble itself before me. I pressed the button marked power, causing blue numbers to appear on its digital face. It was currently tuned to 99.9. "-peaton a loop... If anyone is out there, my name is Major Kincade of the United States Armed Forces. I am currently at 35.78 N, 78.638 W coordinates for longitude and latitude. If you buy a GPS from the store, you can type in these coordinates. Gather anyone you come across and direct them towards my location. This message is recorded and will repeat on a loop... If anyone is out there..." I let out a whoop of joy as I heard the news. My hunch had paid off! A major was a high-ranking officer, someone that had training in war. He would know what do in order to defend against the next beast swarm. I laid in my bed, content with what I''d found out. As I drifted off into sleep, my face remained in a permanent smile as I finally felt hope. Chapter 12: Sergeants and Lieutenants The next day, I bought the GPS. It didn''t look any different from a regular GPS. It was suprisingly easy to use since it didn''t ask for an address, merely asking for coordinates. It made sense honestly, the world was kinda gone. There wasn''t any addresses to go to. As a result, I didn''t have to worry about fumbling through menus. When I put in the coordinates that were being broadcast over the radio, a blue arrow appeared in front of me. I jerked, startled at the suddeness that it appeared. A mechanical female voice emerged from the GPS. "You are approximately 12.8 miles from your destination. No major obstacles are detected. Time until you reach your destination is currently four hours and seventeen minutes. Please follow the blue arrow to your destination." I blinked a couple times. Well, this was going to be interesting. I packed up the tent, a matter of just storing it in the inventory, and headed off in the direction the arrow indicated. On the way I bought a turkey and swiss sandwich from the shop, feeding the wolf that trailed beside me pieces of the sandwich occasionally. There was surprisingly few incidents with local wildlife until I reached the river. It was only knee deep and the current was quite calm. I started across it without hesitation. That almost proved fatal. Something suddenly grabbed my foot and yanked me off balance, sending me tumbling into the river. I spluttered and gasped for air as I surfaced. A large boulder that had been beside the river''s edge turned out to be a turtle in disguise. A very large and angry turtle, at least five feet in size. It grabbed me by the ankle again and swung it''s head. This turtle was much stronger than it should have been. A fact that was demonstrated as I went soaring out of the river, slamming into a tree nearby. I recovered quickly and grabbed my laser rifle, it''s burst mode already prepared. The turtle was already climbing out of the river, moving swiftly towards me. I lifted my rifle and pulled the trigger, a burst of photonic energy lashing out at the turtle''s armored hide. The laser hit the shell and refracted, scattering around it. There wasn''t any forcefield like I was expecting. The laser was simply ineffective. Before I could do anything else, the head of the turtle slammed into my gut, causing me to fall to my knees as I gasped for breath. It body slammed me, sending me farther away into the forest. As I attempted to get to my feet, I saw the wolf I had summoned before attempting to attack the turtle. It ignored the wolf until it suddenly bit the tail that was poking out the back of the turtle''s shell. With a speed that made the turtle''s head a blur, it whipped around and sliced the wolf''s head off with a single bite. The flash of blue from the wolf''s forcefield disappeared the second it bit down. I lifted my hands and pointed them at the turtle. With malice in my voice, I whispered "electric stream." The white-blue energy shot out and hit the turtle, causing blue light to surge around it as the forcefield attempted to protect it from the electricity. The blue light disappeared and the turtle started to convulse. I quickly summoned my sniper rifle from my inventory along with a grenade. Stopping the surge of energy in one of my hands, I quickly pulled the pin on the grenade and tossed it at the turtle. The grenade bounced twice before rolling to a stop next to the turtle''s shell. I stopped electric stream and started running. I barely managed two steps before the explosion knocked me off my feet. I quickly turned towards the explosion, wanting to see if the turtle was dead. I saw it emerge from the smoke caused by the explosion, parts of its shell pitted from shrapnel. I aimed the sniper rifle and fired, the slug slamming into the turtle''s shell. Cracks spread where it was hit and the turtle staggered backwards. I was slammed into the ground from the recoil, but I pushed off from the ground. I fired twice more, the first bullet creating more cracks on the shell. The second one broke through the shell completely, pieces of it flying off and dissolving into grey goop. I watched as the turtle dissolved before I let out a sigh of relief.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Combat has ended! You have defeated 1 Prism Turtle, level 50.
Loot gained: 10 Chunks
I took a glance at my shield points. 107/500. Too close. I laid down on the ground and just relaxed, attempting to take my mind off of the harrowing experience I just had. That proved to be wrong as a hawk divebombed my face. A quick shot with the sniper rifle spooked it, but it made me realize that nothing was safe now. I couldn''t take the time to rest. Standing up, I summoned another wolf before following the blue arrow again. I encountered small creatures every now and then, killing them the second I saw them. Finally, a little after lunch, I arrived. The first time I knew I was close was when a man stepped out of the woods, dressed in military fatigues. Seven other men joined the first, all of them dressed in military fatigues. They kept their guns pointed at me as I was quickly surrounded. I put my hands up, scared that I was going to be killed. The one in front, a short man with a unibrow, approached me. "What are ya here for sonny?" I gulped before replying. "I, uh, I heard on the radio that people were getting together around here. I wanted to see if I could take shelter here too." I dismissed my wolf that was currently growling at one of the men. Some of the tension disappeared when it dissolved into grey goop. The man peered at me for a few seconds after the wolf disappeared before nodding. "Alright lads, you heard him. Sergeant Reynolds!" One of the larger men stepped forward. He was black, bald and appeared to be in his late thirties or mid-forties. "Yes Lieutenant!" He said with a salute. The lieutenant gestured towards me. "Take sonnyboy here to the major. He''ll give him the rules. Stay on the base after that, our patrol ends in ten minutes anyway." He turned to another of the men. "Private Thompson, radio camp and tell them we have a newbie." Sergeant Reynolds gestured forward with his gun. "Come on mate, we''ve got to get you back to camp." I nodded and followed him as he took off through the forest. As we walked, he started talking. "Sorry about the rough greeting. We''ve had a few crazy people show up before you. One guy acted like he was on drugs or something, kept muttering that he was the savior of the world or some nonsense. He pulled a plasma pistol and killed one of the privates." I let out a sigh when he said that. Reynolds looked at me and laughed. "Don''t worry man, the private respawned.Pretty mad at losing his nanites, but he''s fine." Oh yeah. I forgot that death wasn''t permanent. I gave Reynolds a grin. "That''s good. Glad the private is alright then. I have a question for you though, how did you get so many military people together? I was with some people before and I didn''t appear with them." Reynolds chuckled. "Well, we honestly don''t have a lot of military personnel together right now. There are a total of three hundred people on the base, with around half of those belonging to the military. As near as we can tell though, everyone appeared in random locations. Where were you before this mister...?" I chuckled as well before finishing his sentence. "My name is Tony Elsen. To answer your question, I was at Silicon Valley for a new job. Good ol'' California." Reynolds nodded. "California, nice. As for me, well, I was stationed in Hawaii. The Major was running a base down in Texas while the Lieutenant you saw before was in Chicago on leave." I raised an eyebrow. "Then how come all of you managed to stay together?" He patted the radio strapped to his wrist. "Our radios. Every military personnel has been required to carry an encrypted radio for a while now. Thanks to that, we were able to communicate with each other when we spawned. Major Kincade was the highest ranking officer within comm-range, so we took our orders from him. As a result, we all ended up here, at Base Goten." I nodded in understanding. "So you''re really just a mash of random military personnel that were in the area." "Yeah," Reynolds replied. "We even have a member of the Swiss army here actually. We were really scrambled all over the world." I grimaced. "If everyone was scattered that far apart, it must be chaos out there." There was a pause before I spoke up again. "So, what are these rules that the lieutenant mentioned?" Reynolds shrugged. "The rules are pretty easy going for civilians. If you wanna stay, you have to contribute. A tax of sorts, if you will. Other than that, stay civil and don''t cause any trouble. If you know how to fight, we''d ask that you help out by hunting for nanites to help develop the base further. That''s pretty much it. Major Kincade will fill you in better though. Ah, look." He pointed ahead towards a clearing in the forest. "The base is right over there. Come on Tony, best to get there quickly. We don''t have much time to waste." I grunted as I picked up the pace. The beast wave counter flicked as the numbers changed. 27 hours, 19 minutes remaining. Yes. We really didn''t have time to waste. Nanite Count: 68 Chunks 809 Shards. Chapter 13: The Captain When I walked into the clearing, I gasped as I saw the military base. Ten-foot walls greeted my view, easily a hundred feet long. The sergeant beside me just grinned. "Impressive isn''t it? You should have been here when we first made it. takes a lot of chunks to make a wall like that, but with the beast horde so close it''ll be worth it." I nodded as I stared at the wall. "It should help unless the beasts are airborne." Reynolds grimaced. "Yeah. That''s our biggest concern as well." He let out a sigh before patting me on the back. "Well, come on. We don''t want to keep the major waiting." He took off towards the walls as I followed behind him. Up on the walls, I could see several large machine guns set-up on tripods, each of them being manned by a person in military fatigues. I felt reassured that such protective measures were being taken. Then again, how had they managed to get ahold of them? I hadn''t seen such an option in the shop. Maybe I just missed it? As we approached the walls, I started looking for a gate or door, something that we could enter the fortress through. There was nothing of the sort that I could see. While I was puzzled, I figured that Reynolds would have some sort of plan. He didn''t seem like the kind of guy that would waste a lot of time. When we reached the wall, Reynolds turned towards me with a grin on his face. "Just wait, you''re going to love this." Reaching out his hand, he placed a hand on the walls. Removing his hand, there was a green, glowing handprint where he had touched it. There was a beep sound before the wall suddenly moved. A hole appeared in the shape of a doorway leading straight through the wall. I nodded at the sight, quite impressive honestly. Still, it was nothing compared to watching your hand dissolve into metal. Reynolds turned towards me expectantly. Not wanting to disappoint, I clapped my hands and smiled. "Wow, truly remarkable. It''s definitely a unique way to get inside the walls without compromising security." Reynolds stopped smiling. "If you aren''t that impressed, you don''t have to act like you are," he grumbled. With a small huff he went inside the compound. I sighed and followed him. "It was impressive, but, well, you know. I''ve seen crazier things since this whole thing started. A wall turning into a door isn''t that shocking honestly." Reynolds nodded, though I could only see the back of his head. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, let''s get you to the major as quickly as possible." I shrugged. Couldn''t help it if he was offended. Inside the compound, there were tents everywhere. In the middle was three buildings, but other than that, there wasn''t any permanent structure. We headed straight for one of the buildings, navigating the paths between tents to reach our destination. The building was large and square, a non-descript building if it had been in mainstreet before the apocalypse. Now, though, it stood out like a sore thumb. the words HQ had been emblazoned on the front of building in large, bold letters. Sergeant Reynolds lead me through the front where a clerk was sitting at the front desk. He looked up expectantly at us when we walked in. "How may I help you?" he asked us in a bored voice. Sergeant Reynolds gestured towards me. "Found a new person that wandered in." The clerk nodded before pointing towards a door to the side. "The major has decided to not meet new people anymore. That task has been designated to Captain Thompson, a new addition to our military personnel. He''ll be right through that door, just tell him we have a new refugee." Sergeant Reynolds gave his thanks before walking through the door. Once through, he saluted. "Sergeant Jeff Reynolds reporting for duty sir." I was standing behind the sergeant and couldn''t see into the room. Still, the deep, bass voice that replied "at ease sergeant" certainly gave me certain ideas as to what he would look like. Reynolds relaxed slightly and put his arm at his side. "I have new refugee sir." "Good. After you bring him in, you are dismissed sergeant." Reynolds turned towards me and gave me a wink before motioning for me to come towards him. As I did, I saw Captain Thompson for the first time. Just like I had pictured, he was a giant of a man. His shoulders were wide and he looked like he could easily clear six feet if he was standing. The Captain gestured towards the chair in his office as Reynolds closed the door behind me. "Please sir, sit. Can I get you anything to drink? Tea or water is, unfortunately, the best we can do under the circumstances." I shook my head as I sat down. "No, thank you Captain. I would like to hear what I''m here for before resting. We don''t have much time." The Captain nodded in understanding. "Straight to business then. Currently we are calling this set-up Fort Hood, the fort that Major Kincade was serving at before this whole thing started. While you are inside the walls of Fort Hood, we ask that you follow these three rules. One, you do not fight inside the Fort. Two, ten percent of the nanites that you gain while you are staying here will be given by to the Fort. Three, that you become a citizen of the town Fort Hood."If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. When he said the last line, a blue box appeared in front of me.
Congratulations, you have been invited to become a citizen of ''Fort Hood'' town by Xander Thompson.
Would you like to become a citizen of ''Fort Hood'' town? Yes/No.
Be warned. Upon becoming a citizen of Fort Hood, you''re respawn point will be set here. A tax may be applied by the rulers of Fort Hood, taking a percentage of any earned nanites. Rules and regulations may be applied by the ruler of Fort Hood. Disobedience of any rules or regulations may cause fines or revocation of your citizenship.
Would you like to see a list of the current taxes, rules, and regulations of Fort Hood? Yes/No
I blinked. Wow, that was a lot. Alrighty then, lets sort through this. I could join the town as a citizen, but there would be all the downsides of settling in one place. Taxes and laws. On the brightside, it was being protected by the military so I would have a safety net, of sorts, by trained personnel. Maybe I could get some actual training myself while I was at it. I decided to check out the list of rules. Before I did so, I asked the Captain to give me a minute. He nodded in understanding as I started poking at the air in front of me. There was a 10% tax on any earned nanites on all citizens of Fort Hood. There were a few laws in place, such as no stealing, murder, rape, kidnapping, or enslavement. All basic human rights essentially. I didn''t see anything that screamed at me to not join. It was all the elements of normal human society. I noticed that the fines for most of them were very hefty, murder actually being 20 Crystals. Upon a crime being committed, you were automatically fined. If someone killed another person right now, they''d most likely end up dying completely right now. I went back to the original blue screen and accepted the citizenship. Another blue screen appeared in its place.
Congratulations, you are now a citizen of ''Fort Hood'' Town.
As a citizen, you are now under a 10% tax. You must obey all rules and regulations of Fort Hood or be penalized. You may now obtain Job Licenses. Please visit the Town Hall in order to be licensed for a job.
Job License? What was that? I accessed my status page only to see that it had changed.
Name: Tony Eisen? Species: Nanite-Human Gender: Male Citizen of: Fort Hood
Job: Adventurer Legal Status: Lawful Current Tax: 10% Level: 27 (265 Status Points)
Age: 27 Agility: 60 Charging: 45 (EP Regen Rate: 90EP/Second) Dexterity: 4
Intelligence: 60 (Percieved time: 1.6x normal speed) Shield: 50 (Shield Points: 500. Costs 50EP/Second) Storage: 5 (Energy Points: 50) Strength: 15
There was a whole new row that had been updated. It certainly told its own story about what choices I had made since this whole thing started. A hand entered my vision. Looking up, I could see the giant of a man named Captain Thompson attached to that hand. "Thank you for joining us, Mr. Elsen. It''s a pleasure to have you with us." As I shook his hand I couldn''t help but ask. "The pleasure is mine. Still, how did you know my name? I don''t recall telling you." Captain Thompson chuckled as he let go. "As one of the town''s officials, I have the right to access our citizenry database. Seeing as your name was the latest addition, I couldn''t help but to assume. Before you ask, I''ve already double-checked the list and there is no one with your last name here. If there is anyone you would like for me to search, I''d be more than happy to help." I nodded before a name popped up in my head. "Could you look up Gregory? He should be on the young side, 14 or 15. I don''t remember his last name." The Captain spaced out as he started typing in mid-air. It was really creepy. I hope that isn''t what I look like, but I wasn''t holding out any hope. He focused back on my face and shook his head. "Sorry. We have one Gregory on the base and he''s a private in the military." I sighed. "Oh well." He gave me a consolatory pat on the back. "Don''t worry, I''m sure he''ll be fine. How about I take your mind off things? Do you remember the job thing that was mentioned?" I looked at my screen and nodded. "Yeah, right now I have the adventurer job. What is that?" "Well," he said. "A job is a position that the system offers you. You know how in a real job you get certain benefits and discounts, depending on what it is? Like if you work at a dealership you might get free oil changes? It''s like that." "In what way?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. He scratched his neck as he thought about it. "Well, take me for instance. I registered myself as a soldier with the system. Thanks to that, I now have access to unique weaponry like those machine-gun turrets on the wall and I get a discount on all weapons and shields in the shop. Not only that, but I get extra nanites from the things I kill. How''s that for benefits?" I was bug-eyed at that. "What? Seriously?" He nodded. "Yeah, seriously. The only thing is that you have to pass the job test in order to be certified. If you aren''t certified, then you can''t get the job. Also, you can only try the job test once for free. If you fail the job test, it costs 10 chunks to try again. Each time you fail, the cost to retake multiplies by ten. So your 3rd try costs 100 chunks, your 4th a crystal, and so on and so on." I let out a hiss of breath. "Man, that is so harsh." He nodded. "I suppose it''s all balanced. Anyway, if you go see the clerk at the front desk, he''ll direct you to the city hall so you can try out for a job. I''ve got to get back to paperwork. It''s the apocalypse yet beaurocracy still lives." I gave him a gracious handshake and left. Now, it was time to get myself certified. Chapter 14: Getting a Job (Part 1) Doing as Captain Thompson had suggested, I asked the clerk to direct me to city hall. The directions were very simple, head to the building right behind the one I was in. Sure enough, when I went to the building, it had a sign out front saying City Hall. I went through the front door before looking around. There was surprisingly few people there, only two people that were talking in a corner. What really grabbed my attention was the seven foot tall man that appeared to be made of saphire. His entire body was composed of a blue crystal, light seemingly causing him to glow internally. The man was behind a desk, so I assumed that he was some sort of clerk that worked there. He appeared to be staring off into space until I approached him. He immediately straightened up and gave me a big, and completely fake, smile. "Hello adventurer! My name is Saphen and I am this towns adminstrator. How may I help you today?" I blinked. I couldn''t think of anything to ask, so I said the first thing that came to my mind. "Are you a real person?" Saphen smiled and shook his head. "No, I am an automatic response unit that has been provided to this town''s mayor in order to run administrational duties. How else may I help you adventurer?" Okay, that wasn''t odd at all. My first meeting with an NPC and it was in administration. I was actually happy about that, better it be a computer then some poor, overworked soul that could potentially be bribed. It was better this way. "Well, Saphen, I wanted to know about jobs and certifications?" Saphen nodded, his smile still permanently in place, before gesturing behind him. Various screens appeared in mid-air, though all of them were blank. As he started talking, words appeared on the screens thatg were exact copies of what he was saying. I guess it was sort of like a reference sheet in case I missed something. "Adventurer, you have accessed the job tutorial. In the system, a job is a representation of your skills and abilities in certain areas. In order to gain a job, you must first pass the job test and then pay the fee to switch jobs. By gaining a job, certain benefits that are unique to that job will be available for purchase in the shop and current objects in the shop will also be available at a discount in order to further your own abilities. Be warned, you will also lose any benefits you have when you trade jobs. For example, a scientist recieves only 80% of nanites from kills, but he will gain 300% as many nanites from research quests.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. You may only have one job active at a time. In order to switch between jobs, you must pay a fee. You will still retain any licenses and qualifications that the job entailed, though you will lose access to any unique parts of the shop for that job. If you pass the job test for a job but do not elect to switch to that job, you automatically gain any licenses and qualifications that job entailed. A license is permission to use certain equipment, such as tanks and jets, that are reserved for that job. A qualification is the usage of certain abilites that are bought, such as the usage of hacking with programmers." I waited for a second to make sure he was done talking. Once I was completely sure, I re-read the floating screens to make sure I heard everything. So, I could get a job and gain access to unique skills, equipment, and bonuses. At the same time, I would be losing any bonuses I currently had. Speaking of which, what was the bonuses for the adventurer class? I nodded to myself as I confirmed what I was going to ask. "Saphen, can I train for a job before taking the test? Also, what does the Adventurer job give?" Saphen waved his hand, causing the writing to disappear from the screens. Good thing I had memorized them already, I really didn''t want him to explain it again. As he started speaking, a copy of his speech appeared on the screens once again. "You may train for a job at the training center in town. This can be in the form of a public or private training area. These areas are limited by the types of training instructors and the level of the town, in the case of the public area, or the level of the building, in the case of the private area." He waved his hands again, causing the writing on the screens to disappear once more. "The adventurer job gives you access to basic combat ability qualifications, basic weapon and equipment licenses, and it gives you 100% of all nanites from your kills and from quests. It does not provide any other bonuses." I nodded before asking my next question. "So, is there a training center in town?" Saphen pointed to his left. "The training center for Fort Hood Town is located in the building right next to the city hall in that direction." Well, that would be easy to find. I''d already been to the other two buildings, so basic process of elimination told me which one it would be next. I gave my thanks before heading outside. Chapter 14 (Part 2) I went straight to the third building. This one was completely different than any other building I''d ever been too before. Rather then a receptionist or an open hall, there was just a long hallway. Doorways were spaced openly down the hallway though when I checked them, most of them said occupied above the lock. The hallway turned into a T shape at the end, so I decided I had to go left. I had to go down several more hallways before finding one that wasn''t occupied. Walking into the room, I saw a chair in the middle of the room. Closing and locking the door behind me, another blue box appeared in front of me.
Congratulations! You have entered a training room for the first time.
Sit down in the virtual simulator chair to enter the training space.
Shrugging, I sat down in the chair and leaned back. Suddenly, my vision went dark. A light appeared in the distance and it slowly got closer and closer as it consumed my vision. Then, I was floating in a sea of white. Several gray spheres floated around me with different labels. One of them had soldier on it, another had farmer. There were different jobs but all of them were all very basic. There was mechanic, waiter, cook, manual laborer, handyman, farmer, soldier, and citizen. Nothing advanced like engineer or researcher, but that was most likely due to the level of the town. I wasn''t all that sure about what job to select. I was leaning more towards mechanic or soldier at this point. It would be best if I could figure out what their bonuses were before I bought them, but taking the training shouldn''t hurt anything, right? I selected soldier first. Best to get some combat training in first. The beast wave would be here tomorrow after all. Reaching out my hand, I tapped the gray sphere labeled soldier. The white faded and was replaced with a stereotypical training camp. An obstacle course with several hurdles, bars, logs, rope nets, and tires were spaced out over a large space. Several human and beast shaped targets were set-up next to several weapons and there was also a running track that looped around the entire place. A man in military fatigues faded into being next to me. He had a stern face with a buzzcut, graying hair and piercing brown eyes. He looked me up and down once before nodding. "You''ll do. I am the automated training program for the soldier job. You can call me Sargeant or Sir. If you take the soldier job, you will need to pass several tests. The first is the obstacle course, clear it under 2 minutes. Next is the track, carry 50lbs of gear while being able to run 2 miles without a break. Finally, you are expected to hit moving, stationary, and pop-up targets with a sixty-percent hit rate. Do you understand these qualifications?"This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I nodded. Sounded like the soldier job was going to be hard, but nothing I couldn''t handle with my increased stats. The Sergeant pointed towards the obstacle course. "Get moving recruit, show me what you can do." I walked over to it and stopped in front of the starting line. The Sergeant pulled out a stopwatch. "Start the course in 1, 2, 3, start!" I took off towards the first obstacle, a log. It was set-up chest height, so I figured going under it would be the best way. I slid under, not wanting to waste any time. Reaching the next log at knee height swiftly, I jumped. Clearing it easily, I headed towards several hurdles. With my strength stat fairly high, I should be able to clear these. My high agility should have been helping with my movement as well, but for some reason I felt a little slow. Jumping up, I barely cleared the first hurdle.What? That should have been easy. I approached the next hurdle and decided that I should use one of my skills. "Flight!" I expected to shoot up in the air like last time. Nothing happened. As surprise came over me, I attempted to jump over the hurdle that I was rapidly approaching. The tip of it caught my feet , sending my flipping end over end before I landed head first on a tire further down the obstacle course. The Sergeant broke out into laughter as I slowly picked myself up off the ground. My whole body was sore from the fall and I could already feel a headache coming on. The Sergeant came over to me and patted my back, causing me to stiffen from the pain. "Ah, did I forgot to mention that you don''t have access to your stats or abilities? My bad. You see, job tests are tests of skills, not how high your stats are. Therefore, everyone is given 5 points in each status upon entering the job training center or job test." Before I could say anything, a white pillar of light enveloped me before all my soreness faded away. The Sergeant continued speaking as though nothing had happened. "You have failed the first part of the job test. Your avatar has been reset to its initial condition. Please restart the trial." I started to say something before hesitating. With a slight grumbling sound, I headed back towards the obstacle course. Just why did I pick to become a soldier again? Chapter 15: Training to be a soldier man So, the training was difficult. I wasn''t used to climbing up ropes or threading through tires. I especially wasn''t used to doing it without the boosts that my stats gave me. I never realized just how much I had come to depend on them in the short amount of time that I had them until it was taken away. I couldn''t stop to think for half-a-second because everything was moving slightly slower than they should be. My body wasn''t as fast or as flexible anymore. I actually felt myself become weaker with the lack of strength. Still, the training did me some good. It showed me that I couldn''t depend on the stats to carry me through. My strength was all dependant upon GAD and his ''great mercy.'' If he ever wished the stats away, well, I''d just be a gray blob. On the brightside, I learned how to shoot. I was fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate, in the fact that most of my fights had occured at close range. It wasn''t until I was taken to the firing range that I learned just how bad I was at shooting long range. The sniper rifle that I had used before was there and the scope helped immensely with long shots. Still, using an assault rifle to hit something farther away than ten feet or so with any predictability was iffy at best. The run left me with my legs shaking and out of breath. The obstacle course was actually the easiest out of all of the training, but I still couldn''t climb up that rope. It just swung from where it was tethered above me, almost like it was mocking me. After a couple hours of training, I had successfully learned that I was not really cut out to be a soldier at all. Not without more work. I wasn''t mentally prepared to be able to run a few miles with full gear on. I was getting better with my accuracy but not good enough. Finally, I wasn''t even able climb up a rope. Still, if I was alive by the end of tomorrow, I would definitely be coming here to train again. The benefits of the soldier job were worth the effort, anything was worth it to become stronger in this nightmare of a world. I was ready to leave, but I didn''t quite know how. Going over to Sergeant, I asked him. With a simple chuckle, he tapped my head. The world went white once again before revealing the room that I had first entered the training space in. The second I exited, I checked the time on the wave counter. 21 hours, 44 minutes. I went through my inventory and double checked that I had everything prepared. It was. I left the training center and mingled amongst the other tents. Occasionally I would see people walking as well. All of them looked slightly scared, the occasional noise causing multiple heads to swivel as they sought to identify the noise. The fear in a supposedly safe town made me nervous as well. I started looking around, trying to see this danger that everyone was afraid of. I heard a scraping sound behind me, the image of the prism turtle flashing before my eyes. I whipped my head around, ready to pull out a gun from my inventory. I relaxed when I got a clear view of what had been making the noise. It was just a kid with a rock, trying to start a fire or something. I shook my head to clear it. What was the point of being so nervous? Rather than that, I needed to relax. I wandered around the tents for a few more minutes, making the effort to not be affected by everyone else, until I finally found what I was looking for. Pulling out my tent from my inventory, I started setting it up. After a while, I climbed inside and started looking at the shop. Finding what I wanted for 9 shards, I bought the hot pocket and a sprite. Biting into it, I swallowed before letting out a chuckle. It took the apocalypse for hot pockets to finally be cooked right. My mood kinda plummeted after that morbid thought. Deciding to splurge slightly, I bought a book called Frontier Crisis. It had some good cover art, but the plot seemed a little stereotypical. Something that I didn''t have to pay too much attention to as I tried to distract myself from my flash of self-pity.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ........................... The next morning I ate some breakfast before heading back to the training center. The training was intense, but I kept a close eye on the monster wave countdown. It was there even in the virtual space, so I was able to keep track of it while attempting to climb that dang rope again. I mean, seriously? Did I really have to climb it to be called a soldier? One interesting thing at the shooting range was that the targets were constantly switching between human and non-human targets. A bear shaped silhouette would pop up down range at the same time as a dragon would slide across the field. I would shoot a human target only for some crab-like thing but with more claws to appear underneath it. All sorts of odd little creatures would pop-up from time to time. Still, it was something I''d have to get used to. I was in the middle of attempting to finish the 2 mile run when there was a flash of light. I was suddenly back in the room. Confused, I looked around for something that could have made me exit when a blue screen appeared in front of me.
The Mayor Gabe Kincade has requested a town meeting in thirty minutes to discuss the topic ''Monster Wave Defense.'' All public facilities will be shut down until the meeting has been dismissed.
Well, that was disappointing. I checked the monster wave timer. 10 hours and 37 minutes. I suppose that this was for the best. After all, a defense plan was definitely necessary. I was still really annoyed that I couldn''t continue my training though. I stretched before heading outside. There was actually a lot of people in the hallway, a result of the forced log-off that the meeting had sparked. Some people were talking , but not many. I ignored them as I headed outside. I wasn''t the best conversationalist in the best of times, let alone now. What would I talk to them about? How much pizza cost in the shop versus what I think it should cost? Yeah, that would go over like a ton of bricks. It was best not to talk. I wasn''t quite sure what to do with myself after I left, so I went back to my tent to read a little bit more. I was just about to finish one of the action scenes when another blue screen popped up in front of me, telling me that the meeting would start in 5 minutes. I suppose now would have been a good time to find out where the town meetings were held at. Though I wasn''t sure where to go, I headed towards the buildings. It seemed to be the likeliest place to hold a meeting at. When I got close, I could tell i was right. A crowd of people were in front of the HQ building while a podium was set-up in front of it. The crowd was getting a little anxious but they didn''t have to wait long. A man who I could only assume was Major Kincade walked out from the building. He was dressed in military dress uniform colored dark blue with bars of various shades on the left and right breast pocket areas. Several metallic objects were fashioned around the bars with a star-like shape on the collar. The Major was tall with brown hair. Approaching the podium, he grasped the edges with both hands before speaking with no hesitation into the microphone. "My name is Gabe Kincade, Major of the United States Army. As all of you know, in approximately ten hours, we will come under attack due to the monster wave. I have met with several members of our staff and we have decided how to best continue. We can currently buy a Bunker from the shop with the available funds that we have that will house up to two hundred people. Currently, we have a total of 277 civilians and 119 military members. The military will stay outside and protect the city. Various defensive measures, such as the turrets, are being placed as we speak. I would like to ask that anyone that is willing to fight to answer the call. Any that do not wish to fight should refuse" A blue screen alerted me as to what form this ''call'' took.
Congratulations, you have been offered a quest by the Mayor of Fort Hood Town!
Reward: 50 Chunks.
Would you like to accept this quest? Yes/No
Announcement I haven''t been able to update for a while now, which I sincerely apologize for. The laptop I use for writing broke, causing all the chapters I had saved to disappear as well. Not only that, but I had midterms the week after so I didn''t have anytime to write anything else. I finally managed to get a new computer and I reviewed the previous chapters in an attempt to pick up where I left off. Sadly, I don''t think it will happen. For the first time that I can remember, I actually hate the book I''ve written. It happens to everyone eventually, but I''m just not satisfied with what I''ve done. Now, this doesn''t mean the complete destruction of nanite world. I really love my concept and world, I just don''t think that I could really write a good apocalypse type novel. Instead, I think that this novel will be a good place for world-building references and maybe as a backstory for one of the characters? As a result, I''m going to pause this book and instead start working on another novel that takes place in Nanite World close to a hundred years in the future. It will take me a while to lay out the concept and write up the first couple chapters. Once I''m ready to start releasing them, I''ll make a second announcement here including a link to the new novel. I don''t know how long it will take, but I''m expecting about a month or so, probably after finals during my christmas break.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. To summarize: Nanite World is being Re-written as taking place 100 years after the Grey Goo Scenario and tutorial. This new novel will probably be released around christmas break. Concepts and worldbuilding ideas will be almost exactly the same, but more emphasis will be placed on characters with a more gradual introduction to world mechanics. Finally, this novel will probably be the backstory for one of the future characters. Sorry for dropping it, but I hope you will follow me to the rewrite when it is released.