《StarPath Online》 Chapter 0 - Prologue Prologue A red-brown cloud of dust rises from the compact and dead ground of the desert. The dust and dirt swirl through the air and the very ground trembles as hundreds of feet slam into it at a dead run. Hundreds of goblins, dozens of ogres and a few orcs charge across the ground. They are not your typical monsters though, the goblins all wear some form of advanced armor from ballistic protection vests to armor reinforced spacesuits, to full-on sets of power armor covered in thick protective plates. Their weapons are no joke either, kinetic pistols, laser rifles, even plasma blasters, there is nothing primitive about these goblins. The ogres in the charge with the goblins are equipped in armor much the same as the goblins, though many more of them wear power armor and all of them carry clubs. Not primitive wooden clubs like their ancestors might have, but large constructs of metal that glowed with power, some even sporting arcane looking runes. Lastly, there are the Orcs and they are the most vicious looking of all. Though few in number they all sport advanced power armor that greatly enhances their already powerful look. Each Orc carries a large plasma rifle in one hand and a sword with a blurry edge in the other. On each of their backs is a small square pod with a multitude of small doors on it. Across the desert battlefield covered in cracks and pieces of skeletons from a myriad of races both monster and humanoid, a giant power armor covered foot comes crashing down and crushes a skull with three eye sockets to powder. The huge foot is covered with armor, gears, and pistons and moves with ease marking it as a well-made piece of equipment. The foot belongs to a giant being, easily over 9 feet tall and clearly covered in thick layers of muscle, even noticeable through the design of the power armor. Every part of his body is covered in the black armor except his large lizard-like head attached to an even thicker muscular neck. He lifts a huge multi-barreled weapon in both hands, lines along the body of the weapon glow with power running through them. He pulls the trigger, it takes a few moments for the barrels to get up to speed as they whirl in a circle. After that brief moment, no more than a second or two, when a barrel reaches the top in its spin it launches a crimson bolt of energy. The bolt of energy flies across the open expanse of the desert battlefield and slams into the body of a goblin. The bolt is nearly half the size of the body of the goblin and obliterates it. The force of the crimson bolt sends what is left of the goblins mangled corpse flying through the air. An instant later another dozen bolts slam into the front lines of the charging group and bodies go flying in every direction. The goblins roar their challenge and continue to charge at full speed, for they are many and the enemy is few. A woman appears next to the giant lizard-headed man in power armor. She is wearing thin white clothing that flutters in the wind, a long staff topped with a prismatic crystal is held in her right hand. She lifts the staff and shouts a command word to lift her entire body into the air. She floats a dozen feet above the lizard-mans head while holding her staff aloft. She begins to recite an incantation, her words running together into an unintelligible blur. The crystal topping her staff begins to glow and crackle emitting small bolts of electricity. She lifts the staff higher as she shouts out a final word and thrusts it forward. A thick blast of lightning flies from the tip of her staff and slams into a crowded area of the goblin horde. When the bolt slams into the middle of the group she aimed for the lighting spreads out like a wave. Bolts of energy leap from goblin to goblin electrocuting them, it even manages to fry a few ogres that are caught in the blast radius. Dozens of goblins collapse into smoking corpses. Another man steps up next to the lizard-man on the opposite side of the flying woman. The lizard-man is still firing hundreds of crimson energy bolts across the battlefield while waving the barrels back and forth to cut a swath of death through the enemies. This new man is much shorter and thinner than the lizard-man. He wears armor reminiscent of leather, but clearly made of something tougher and glowing with arcane runes. He lifts both of his arms, violent energy begins to crackle around his forearms and fists. With a command, the energy flies from his fists and into the corpses of dozens or even hundreds of goblins. They all glow with the purple light from the man''s actions for a moment before pieces of their armor are ripped from their dead bodies and floats into the air. It''s not just their armor though, it''s electronics, armor plating, pistons, gears, just about anything that hasn''t been destroyed by the lizard-mans blaster bolts or the hooded woman''s lightning bolts.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The multiple pieces of technology swirl around in the air like a mini tornado before beginning to coalesce together into a shape. It all takes only a half dozen seconds before there is a scrap golem about six feet tall standing on the battlefield. With a command the scrap golem charges through the crowd of goblins to attack the first ogre it can see, ignoring and trampling any goblins in its path to death. The two large beings slam into each other and begin to exchange blows. The ogre swings its powerful club at the golem, each blow it manages to land sends out shockwave so strong it knocks over nearby goblins. The golem doesn''t care as it bashes in the ogres skull. The man that summoned the scrap golem isn''t finished yet. He lifts his hands again as they crackle with the violet power once more. This time the power arcs between his hands and coalesces in front of him. The energy quickly becomes a massive weapon that sits on a tripod on the ground. A thick power line runs from the side of the weapon to a bundle of batteries that were also summoned, or created, by the man. He steps up to the hand grips of the weapon and grabs them before he immediately pulls the triggers. The large cannon roars and sends an enormous green bolt of energy, one that''s at least ten times the size of the lizard-man''s red bolts, into the crowd of charging monsters. The green bolt slams into an orc and explodes with a deafening roar. The blast annihilates the orc and a dozen goblins near him. The man laughs and starts sending out blast after blast from the cannon to decimate the orcs and the goblins near them while his scrap golem attacks ogres and tramples any goblins unfortunate enough to be in its way. A fourth individual steps forward, this one another woman. However, she is clearly different from the first three, nothing about her looks all that impressive or technologically advanced. Her weapon of choice is stranger still, a compound bow. She seems at ease with her companions as they decimate the goblins in their own ways, the female spell caster now causing a sixty-foot wide column of fire to erupt into the air. Calmly the woman pulls out a mundane looking arrow and knocks it onto the wire that makes up the string of her bow. She pulls it back and lifts the bow so the arrow is pointed into the air. She releases the arrow so that it flies through the air in a parabolic arc. The arrow swiftly flies up into the air, arcs, and begins its descent to the ground. The moment the mundane arrow strikes a random goblin it explodes into a fiery nova of death and dismemberment. The explosion is so forceful it leaves a hole in the line of charging goblins. A moment later another arrow slams into an ogre and explodes into a massive wave of frost that freezes a large group of the enemy. Yet another arrow erupts into a green acid fog that eats at the armor and flesh of the goblins, ogres, and orcs unfortunate enough to come into contact with it. Clearly, for such a mundane looking weapon it held some secrets. The goblins are close now, ranged attacks by the four individuals are becoming less effective since the large groupings have already been decimated. The huge lizard-man drops his Gatling weapon and materializes a massive axe covered in runes with the edge glowing a deadly looking red. The female magic user continues to cast spells, though of a smaller scale that only take out one or two enemies at a time. The male that summoned the scrap golem lets his cannon fade from existence and whips out two small weapons that resemble pistols from his thighs. The woman with the bow slings the bow over her shoulder and draws out a pair of short swords from her hips. The edges of the swords seem the have a thin white glow about them. The four individuals charge towards the few goblins, ogres and orcs that remain, ready to do battle in close quarters and claim victory over their enemy. Corpses litter the ground behind the charging enemy, the ground no longer completely dry as blood soaks into the soil. As the two groups collide and begin to exchange blows the actions pauses. StarPath Online! Join the action today! Chapter 1 - Creation Chapter 1 - Creation I sat at my desk having just finished watching the promotional video for StarPath, "So? What do you think?", the voice of Jeff, my best friend, asks. I look up at the digital rendering of his face on the vidcall and let out a deep sigh, "What do I think? It looks like an only slightly better than average action adventure game. You know I''m not really all that interested in that kind of thing." It''s Jeffs turn to sigh, the blonde haired blue eyed good looking guy just shakes his head, "Sometimes I really wish you weren''t like this. You know if you took half the items you made for yourself you''d end up as an unstoppable god of destruction in most of these games." I snort in reply, though that''s the first time someone has pointed that out and I had to admit it was partially true. Instead of following that line of thought I ask Jeff, "So why do you want me to play this game anyway?" Jeff shrugs his shoulders, "Well, the games been going for over a month giving me and my other friends about four months game time to get some ships, build up some finances and get pretty well equipped. Problem is, no one is really using the crafting system so we can''t get our hands on any customized gear." "Why is no one using the system? Is it one of those really shitty ones where it costs more to make something that to just buy it from a vendor? I fucking hate those games." Jeff laughs and shakes his head, "No, but by crafting a weapon you only save about ten percent off of the regular sales price. Some classes, perks, or other things can get vendors to give you more than a ten percent discount on their items so it becomes kind of pointless. They were a bit devious with the crafting system though. The materials are just one single material called an MCU, that stands for Micro Construction Unit. Using these MCU''s you can build anything as long as you have the schematic and appropriate skill levels. The catch is MCU''s cost about one credit each and it usually takes a number of MCU''s that''s just slightly less than the credit cost of a similar weapon." I frown at that, that has got to be the single shittiest crafting system I''ve ever heard of, "Why the hell would you think I would even consider playing this game with such a shitty crafting system? Nothing rare to hunt down? Only a single kind of material and it''s readily available? Where''s the fun in that? Is there even any freedom to modify the schematics and make new items?" Jeff shakes his head, "No, it''s basically buying the necessary MCU''s, buy the schematic, and use the skill to turn the MCU''s into a finished product." However, he begins to grin as he continues, "At least, that was the case until last night when one of the developers got fed up with the complaints on crafting and pointed out that there is a piece of Ancient Tech hidden in a dungeon somewhere that will change crafting for anyone who can find it." Jeff takes a breath before he continues, "The Dev didn''t go into much detail, but from what he did say it looks like this piece of tech can only be found in dungeons and is capable of modifying schematics to make brand new custom items. After the announcement, there was a huge rush by players to get to the level cap and start exploring all the high-level dungeons for the item. The first group to find it will get a huge boost in prestige and power until the next one is discovered." I cross my arms over my chest and lean back in my chair, "So basically you want me to join up now so I can get to the level cap and use the item to make you guys stuff when you find it?" Jeff nods, "Pretty much. I mean you''re not really doing anything until Age of Gods comes out anyways right?" I nod, it''s true, I was bored to tears from the game I had been playing previously, and Age of Gods was still a long ways out. While I ruminate on whether or not I want to join StarPath or not Jeff chimes in, ¡°If you do sign up and join my guild I''ll throw in a light freighter, a large supply of MCU''s and enough gear to outfit a full crew of six people up to level five.¡± That caught my attention, from what I knew light freighters were pretty decent ships, not the best or worst but had some space, decent armor, and some weapon mounts. I study Jeff for a few moments and then let out a sigh, "Alright. But, I''m only giving you one month game time to find one of these ancient devices for me, if you don''t have one by then I''ll find something else to do in my spare time." Jeff nods at me through the screen, "Deal. Send me a message when you get planetside after your tutorial and let me know where you are. From there we''ll figure out where to meet so I can give you your ship and gear." I let out a sigh and nod, "Sure. Any suggestions for making my character?" Jeff shrugs, "Do whatever you want. Since race really has no bearing on crafting skills it doesn''t matter which one you pick. Though when it comes time to select the theme for your character I suggest Builder. It comes with a nice selection of skills used in crafting to start with. A class is basically the same as race, just pick whatever has skills or abilities you think you will like." I nod and wave goodbye to Jeff, "Send me your in-game info and I''ll message you when I''m on a planet." With that said I end the call with Jeff and move to my terminal to purchase and download the files for StarPath Online. It takes about an hour for the files to download onto my local cluster, meanwhile, I get the email for Jeffs in-game data. What inthe fuck kind of name is Reginald? Whilethe game is installing I check all the connections to my Karonite Industries VX-98 Fully Immersive Headset, it''s about two years old but still functions perfectly. I check to make sure the connection is secure and move over to my couch, sitting in my chair immobilized for the next half-dozen hours or so would make my entire body stiff. I slip on the comfortable headset and fluff up one of the pillows on the couch, preparations done, I lay down and relax while finding a comfortable position. With everything set there was just one last thing to do, ¡°Login.¡± The world turns black.
Connecting to StarPath Online servers... Connection established! Checking headset calibration... Calibration at 100% Logging in!
When the messages clear I find myself sitting at a computer screen with instructions written on it. It''s an old-school way to create characters, doing everything via a touchscreen instead of talking to a personified AI. Still, it''s charming in its own way. The first step is for me to choose the race of my character. I want to be humanoid, but definitely not human. Given a choice I never play a human, I''m already one of those permanently, why choose to be one in a game? So I start by selecting humanoid and setting a height parameter of between five and seven feet tall. I didn''t want to be too tall or too short because I''d always found that disorienting. The last time I''d picked a short race I had chosen to be a Gnome for the racial bonuses to crafting. I''d regretted that choice the entire time until I managed to get someone to do a race change for me. Seriously, you can only stand to stare at peoples crotches for so long before it becomes annoying. Not to mention the pain in your neck having to look up at people all the time. With that past experience in mind, the list dropped from a little over a hundred races to about fifty. There are many interesting and unique races, Alvarian, Galuvian, Moosuarian, and Rescilion just to name a few. They all seemed interesting but they all have strange alien physiologies and I didn''t want to have to get used to new or strange limbs. Some of them also had appearances that I found to be a bit repulsive so they were ignored entirely. I spent the next hour scrolling through the races and checking their physical appearance before settling on an alien race called a Suverian.
Suverian (+1 to all attributes)
Born on the planet Suvas in the Velor Sector, Suverians greatly resemble humans. However, that resemblance is only skin deep. Suverians come in skin colors similar to humans, though, their hair and eye colors are all over the spectrum and can be just about anything. The hair color also doesn''t appear to come from parents as children rarely, if ever, share hair colors similar to their parents. Internal organs and skeletal structure are also different while maintaining a similar shape to humans. The Suverian race is extremely technologically advanced especially in the fields of nano-tech and cybernetics. All Suverians have nanites in their bodies from birth, the nanites being passed from parent to child. These nanites work to ensure that the children are born healthy with no physical or mental deformities, no child has been born with any for centuries. Suverians grow at a rate similar to humans but reach adulthood at 15 cycles. Throughout their childhood, their nanites work on their body making them inherently faster, stronger, and smarter than most other humanoid races. However, the nanites do come with a pitfall, they are only compatible with other Suverian technology making it harder for them to be replaced in areas of space outside the Suverian main sphere of influence. The nanites also make it impossible for non-Suverian biotechnology, such as implants or cybernetic limbs, to be used by Suverians. Suverians live long and healthy lives, upwards of 500 cycles, thanks to their technology.
Racial Bonus: During character creation, you may choose a single implant or cybernetic augmentation for free. The chosen item will automatically be Suverian.
Racial Pitfall: If you are injected with non-Suverian nanites you will be incapacitated with crippling pain for between 5-10 hours unless the foreign nanites are removed. If a non-Suvarian cybernetic implant is installed in or onto your body you will be incapacitated with crippling pain until the offending cybernetic is removed.
The racial pitfall seemed kind of harsh, but the +1 to all attributes and the racial bonus were pretty damned good. Most of the other races got a bonus of a point or two to a pair of attributes at most. The racial bonus also seemed perfect for abuse. I would just have to make certain of where any new augments or cybernetics came from before I allowed them to be installed on me. And avoid weaponized nanites like the plague. The next step was choosing my theme. There weren''t nearly as many themes as races, from what I could tell a theme was basically just a small boost to help you with your character concept. There were options like Bounty Hunter, Doctor, Hacker, Mercenary, and Pilot. Each theme offered a small boost to attributes and something special. The majority of themes offered to grant five skills at rank 5/100, though a few offered special abilities. As an example let''s look at the Outlaw theme.
Outlaw (+1 Agility) ¨C Whether accused of a crime you didn''t commit or happily admitting to a myriad of crimes you did commit, you are wanted somewhere for something. Whatever the case may be your desire to keep on the move and avoid being caught is the real deal. Whether you chose to be a criminal or not you have stepped into the underworld and managed to gain some connections there. You receive the Feature "Black Market Connections"
  • Black Market Connections ¨C Whether you know a guy, or know the guy that knows the guy, you can buy and sell just about anything. When selling illegal goods you lose 10% of the sale price to your fence. When purchasing illegal goods you can opt for a clandestine drop off point for an additional 10% fee.
Outlaw didn''t offer any skill ranks, but it did give a nice feature and I could definitely see how it would come in handy for someone who wanted to play a smuggler or something like that. It was worthless to me, instead, I focused on the theme that Jeff had suggested, Builder.
Builder (+1 Smarts) ¨C You specialize in the use of MCU''s (Micro Construction Units) and using them to create various items for yourself and your crew. MCU''s are a readily available resource in civilized space that allow you to create weapons, armor, and even parts of your spaceship. You can craft, repair, or replace just about anything as long as you have a schematic, an appropriate supply of MCU''s, and the right skill. You gain 5/100 ranks in the following skills: Armor Creation, Engineering, Ship Modification, Ship Repair, Weapon Creation
I have to admit, Jeff was right about the Builder theme. It fit me and what I liked to do pretty well and gave me a good start to several of the skills I would be putting to good use when making things. So without really looking at the other themes for characters, I selected the Builder theme. The screen switched to another giant list, this time telling me to select my class. I heave a sigh and look at the list, Jeff had said classes didn''t really have anything to do with crafting so I should just pick a class I like the sounds of. It seemed like magic and technology were big in StarPath so I limited my selections to classes that focused on those aspects of the game. I didn''t need to be wielding massive Gatling plasma cannons or anything like that so all the fighter or warrior type classes were out. A couple of classes caught my interest, like the Mechanic. The name alone made me feel like it was the perfect class for me, looking at it more closely it looked like it focused on robotic pets as its main source of combat potential. I could build various robots for various roles and have them do the fighting for me. It was pretty tempting I have to admit. There was also the Adept, basically a mage slinging spells for damage and effects, the Mystic was a divine caster like a cleric but slightly different, and the Operative a high-tech rogue type class. You couldn''t really go wrong with a mage or wizard type class, they usually started pretty weak but grew explosively in power with a few levels under their belts. But it seemed boring to just go with something so... mundane. So I kept looking randomly through the list for interesting class names, that''s when I noticed one. Technomancer. Depending on what game you played a Technomancer could be any number of things. Curious I selected it to see the basic info on it.
Technomancer (+2 Smarts, +1 Reason, 10HP+Toughness Bonus At level 1, 5HP+Toughness Bonus per level after level 1)
To some Magic and Technology are entirely different, you know better. Magic and Technology share more in common than most believe, as a Technomancer you bridge the gap and bring the two disparate disciplines together into a single powerful force. You use Technology to empower, harness and manipulate Magic and Magic to augment, control and manipulate Technology. You can hack the underlying laws of the universe bending science and magic to your will. Smarts is the main key to your abilities giving you a larger mana pool, increasing the power of your spells, and the number of spells you can know. Agility and Reason are good secondary stats for you. Agility will give you better accuracy when using ranged weapons and some spells. Reason will help increase your mana regeneration.
Armor Proficiency: Light Armor
Weapon Proficiency: Basic Melee Weapons, Small Arms
You gain 5/100 Ranks in the following Skills: Arcane Knowledge, Computers, Engineering, Hacking, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Sleight of hand.
Spells Known: Rank 0: 4 Rank 1: 2
Rank 0 Spells: Floating Lights, Flash, Detect Aberrant Status, Detect Magic, Energy Beam, Minor Sound, Minor Mending, Minor Psychokinesis, Minor Telepathy, Power Transfer
Rank 1 Spells: Language Comprehension, Detect Technology, Minor Disguise, Flight, Slip, Lock Door, Minor Holographic Image, Identify Object, Power Surge, Heightened Senses, Atmo Bubble, Over Heat, Overcharge Weapon, Force Servant
Level 1 Ability: Mana Capacitor ¨C You create aMana Capacitor out of any item you possess (such as a Datapad, Ring, staff, tech implant, etc) or one permanent body modification (such as a tattoo, piercing, etc). Using thiscapacitor you may castany single spell you know without it costing mana, you may select a different spell to cast each time you use this ability. If yourMana Capacitor item is destroyed you may replace it after one week, it takes eight hours of work to make a functioningMana Capacitor item. This ability has a 12-hour cooldown.
Technomancer seemed pretty interesting, a nice combination of technology and arcane power could come in handy when crafting items, plus the bonus skill ranks seemed to be in pretty good places. The class seemed more like a classic Sorcerer for the arcane part, with a limited pool of known spells, but once I knew them I could always use them easily. I didn''t mind that in the least, I would just have to be mindful of the spells I selected. Hacking and spell slinging, yeah I like that. I select Technomancer as my class.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Congratulations! You have finished selecting all of the basic information for your character! The next phase will be customizing your character. You have 30 points to spend on your attributes to raise them, no attribute may be raised above 20 at this time.
I started by pulling up the definition of every stat in the game. I had to admit, StarPath was a little more forthcoming on what their stats did and how they would affect gameplay so you could make informed decisions.
Might ¨C Might measure muscle and physical power. A Character with a Might score of 0 cannot move and is incapacitated. Your Characters Might affects the following:
  • Melee and Thrown Attacks
  • Bonus damage on melee hits
  • Physical skills such as Running and Climbing
  • Success or failure when attempting something physical, such as breaking open a door
  • How much gear your character can carry
Toughness ¨C Toughness affects your character''s health and durability. If your Toughness reaches 0 you die. Your Characters Toughness affects the following:
  • Stamina ¨C The higher your Toughness, the higher your stamina and the longer you will last.
  • Maximum Health ¨C The higher your Toughness the higher your maximum health
  • Health Regeneration ¨C For every 5 points Toughness is above 20, increase health regeneration by 0.1. Base HP regeneration is HP Max/12 per hour.
  • The higher your toughness the higher your odds of shrugging off things like poison, disease, etc.
Agility ¨C Agility affects your characters coordination, balance, and reflexes. A Character with 0 Agility cannot move and is incapacitated. Your Characters Agility effects the following:
  • All attacks with ranged weapons such as guns, energy weapons, some spells, or even bows.
  • Your ability to move to evade attacks
  • Your reflexes to avoid dangerous situations
  • Any skills that require the agile movement of your body, such as Sneaking, Piloting and Pick Pocketing
Smarts ¨C Smarts reflects your characters ability to learn and reason and is often associated with higher learning. A Character with a Smarts score of 0 is brain dead and incapacitated. Your Characters Smarts effects the following:
  • The number of languages your character knows when starting the game
  • How quickly you can gain ranks in skills
  • Any skills based on intelligence such as Computer Use, Engineering, Medicine, and the Sciences.
  • Bonus power to spells
  • Reduces the mana cost of spells by 0.1 for every 5 points above 20, to a minimum of 1.
Reason ¨C Reason reflects your Characters common sense, intuition, and willpower. A Character with a Reason score of 0 is brain dead and incapacitated. Your Characters Reason effects the following:
  • Your ability to shrug off mental attacks such as charm spells or mind reading
  • Any skills that involve things like Mysticism, your perception, or your senses. Even some professional skills.
  • Bonus mana regeneration of 0.1/Hour for every 5 points above 20. Base Mana Regen is Mana Max/12 per hour.
Charisma ¨C Charisma effects your Characters personal magnetism and leadership abilities. A Character with 0 Charisma automatically fails at any interactions with sentient beings. Charisma affects the following:
  • Skills based on personal influence such as bluffing, intimidation or disguises
  • Any attempts to influence others
  • Other individuals perception of your characters physical attractiveness (does not affect actual attractiveness)
So Smarts is my main stat, it gives me the most bang for my buck based on my class, with Reason giving me more mana regeneration and Agility to give me better accuracy with the weapons and spells I would be using. But I also couldn''t neglect the other stats, they all contributed something. I pull up the listing of my stats and where they currently sit to see what I have to work with.
Remaining Points: 30
Might: 11
Toughness: 11
Agility: 11
Smarts: 14
Reason: 12
Charisma: 11
Alright, I had thirty points to spend on increasing my stats and every stat had some role to play in the game. With thirty points I could just spend five on each stat and balance my stats out, that would give me a solid nineteen in Smarts, seventeen in Reason, and sixteen in everything else. Smarts is my main stat though, I should probably get that up to at least twenty so I will need to sacrifice points elsewhere. First, I spend sixteen points to bring Might, Toughness, Agility, and Charisma up to fifteen. ThenI place six points into Smarts to bring it up to twenty, lastly, I place the last eight points into Reason to bring it up to twenty as well.
Remaining Points: 0
Might: 15
Toughness: 15
Agility: 15
Smarts: 20
Reason: 20
Charisma: 15
Even I had to admit it looked a little off having the majority of my stats at fifteen while my caster stats were at twenty, but Smarts was going to be my main stat for just about everything so I needed it as high as possible. Reason also seemed pretty important for buffing my mana recovery speeds, though I still needed to get it another five points higher to see that happening. Ah, whatever, I hit finalize on my stats. Up next is the appearance of my character, because of my race I basically had the entire color palette to play with when it came to my hair and eye color. On the screen was a rendering of the real me so I needed to just modify my base body into my in-game avatar. First I make myself look fit and healthy, some muscles but not a hulked out monster. I tone down the fat everywhere and up the muscle mass giving me a somewhat lithe look. Otherwise, I pretty much left my body shape alone. After that, I moved onto the details, like my hair. Suverianscould literally have any hair color, so I did the smartest thing I could think of. I hit the ''Random'' button! The hair on my avatar flashed through dozens of randomized colors in seconds and slowly slowed down over time until it finally came to a stop. The randomly selected color was a deep violet that was just a few shades away from black. The highlights in the hair actually were black leading to it feeling like there was a depth of color there. I actually really liked it, it had a sort of cool and mysterious vibe to it. I copy that color and add it to my eyes so that they match. I don''t really know how to describe the effect but it was an alluring and powerful feeling look. For the final step on personalizing my avatar, I set my hair length to about shoulder length, if it bothered me I could always get it cut in the game to a different style. I double check everything so far and finding everything to my satisfaction I press the ''Next'' button. The screen goes blank for a second before coming up with some new options. It asks me to select the spells I wish to have when I start the game and presents me with a list and brief descriptions of each spell. After reading through them I chose the ones that seemed like they would be helpful.
Known Spells
Rank 0 (1MP)
  • Detect Aberrant Status - Determine whether a Target has an unnatural status such as poisoned, diseased, cursed, or is suffering a similar affliction.
  • Detect Magic - Detect spells, magic items, or magical effects within 60 feet.
  • Minor Mending - Restore between 1-4 Health Points to an object or construct.
  • Power Transfer - Transfer charges from one power source to another power source of the same type.
Rank 1 (10 MP)
  • Flight - One Target per level falls slowly. Upgrades as you level up.
  • Overcharge Weapon - A weapon you touch deals extra damage.
I select ''Next'' again and yet another list appears, this time it''s a list of starting gear and the prices for the gear. I''m given 2,000 credits to start with. I won''t bore you with the details but I spent the next hour combing through the list of items I could afford and end up with a fair bit of nice gear.
Weapon(s):
  • Mana Pistol (Tactical) ¨C 300C, 1-6 Piercing, 30ft effective range, 20 charges, 1 charge per shot, 1MP refills 1 Charge
  • Mana Shotgun (Snub) ¨C 500C, 1-4 Piercing Per Mana Pellet (5 Pellets), 15ft Cone, 20 Charges, 5 Charge per shot, 1MP refills 1 Charge
  • Class 1 Frag Grenade (5) ¨C 35C, 1-6 Piercing and Bludgeoning, 15ft Explosion Radius
Armor:
  • Second Skin ¨C 250C, +1 Energy Armor, +2 Kinetic Armor, 1 Upgrade Slot (Empty)
  • Street Clothes ¨C 1C, No Armor Bonus, No Upgrade Slot
Gear:
  • Tier 1 Personal Computer with Artificial Personality and Comm Unit¨C 60C
  • Basic Medkit ¨C 100C
  • Engineering Tool Kit ¨C 20C
  • Hacking Tool Kit ¨C 20C
  • Backpack ¨C 3C
  • Hygiene Kit ¨C 3C
  • Synaptic Accelerator MK. III (+6 Smarts) ¨C 0C
I chose the Mana weapons for a couple of reasons, first they weren''t too expensive, second they didn''t require me to purchase additional ammo or batteries, and third I didn''t have to lug around said extra ammo and batteries. Sure they would be an additional drain on my mana but I only had one real combat spell anyways so for the time being I could afford to use my mana as ammo. The grenades, well, who doesn''t like grenades? The armor I got is called ''Second Skin'', it''s basically a high tech body glove that matches the color of my skin exactly. It will be pretty hard for people to tell that I am wearing armor, it also had a nice upgrade slot. I just couldn''t afford any of the good upgrades. Everything else is just basic gear that I figured I would need to use my skills in the game properly. Everything except the Synaptic Accelerator MK. III, that particular item was the highest class of implant I could find on the list of starting gear. It was also an excellent price of zero credits because of my racial bonus. It was a head implant that would give me a solid plus six bonus on my Smarts, very worthwhile. I double check over everything, I still had a spare 568 credits, but there wasn''t really anything else I wanted to buy right now, I had all my bases covered and it was always a good idea to have at least a little spare money on hand. Once again I press the ''Next'' button and get a final prompt.
Please enter your character name.
There was only one possible name I could use so I typed it in and hit the ''Finalize'' button.
Character finalized! Processing... Applying Skills... Applying Bonuses... Finalizing... Displaying Character data!
Name: Thomas Darkrose Race: Suverian Age: 21
Gender: Male Home World: Suvas Theme: Builder
Class: Technomancer Level: 1 Experience: 0/1000
Health Points: 12/12 (+1/Hour) Mana Points: 60/60 (+5/Hour) Stamina: 20/20 (+0.33/Minute)
Kinetic Armor: 15 (-2 Damage) Energy Armor: 14 (-2 Damage) Perks/Titles: None
Attributes
Might: 15 Smarts: 37
Toughness: 15 Reason: 20
Agility: 16 Charisma: 15
Known Spells
Rank 0 (1MP)
  • Detect Aberrant Status - Determine whether a Target has an unnatural status such as poisoned, diseased, cursed, or is suffering a similar affliction.
  • Detect Magic - Detect spells, magic items, or magical effects within 60 feet.
  • Minor Mending - Restore between 1-4 Health Points to an object or construct.
  • Power Transfer - Transfer charges from one power source to another power source of the same type.
Rank 1 (9.7 MP)
  • Flight - One Target per level falls slowly. Upgrades as you level up.
  • Overcharge Weapon - A weapon you touch deals extra damage.
Skills
Skill Name Skill Rank
Arcane Knowledge 5/100 (+1 Smarts)
Armor Creation 5/100 (+1 Smarts)
Computers 5/100 (+1 Smarts)
Engineering 10/100 (+2 Smarts)
Hacking 5/100 (+1 Smarts)
Life Sciences 5/100 (+1 Smarts)
Physical Sciences 5/100 (+1 Smarts)
Ship Modification 5/100 (+1 Smarts)
Ship Repair 5/100 (+1 Smarts)
Sleight of Hand 5/100 (+1 Agility)
Weapon Creation 5/100 (+1 Smarts)
Equipment
Mana Pistol (Tactical) 1-6 Piercing Damage, 30 Ft.
Mana Shotgun (Snub) 1-4 Piercing Damage per pellet, 15 Ft. Cone
Class 1 Frag Grenade (5) 1-6 Piercing and Bludgeoning Damage, 15 Ft. Radius
Second Skin (Armor) +1 Energy Armor, +2 Kinetic Armor, 1 Upgrade Slot (Empty)
Synaptic Accelerator MK. III +6 Smarts (Brain Implant)
Personal Computer
Model: Tier 1
Upgrades: Artificial Personality Comm Unit
I stare at the deluge of information as it pours in. If I had known that the skill ranks would provide bonus stats like that I would have spent my points on the attributes differently! It looks like I get a bonus of plus one to a relevant stat for every five ranks I have in the skill, well, it doesn''t matter. My Smarts are now ridiculously high and giving me a pretty okay discount on my first level spells. After taking the time to look at everything and get a good feel for what I have at my disposal I decide it''s time to begin my tutorial. I''ve been making my character for hours, I''m ready to try it out and see how it does. I push the ''Begin Tutorial'' button and unfortunately, one final option appears.
Select Game Difficulty
Easy
  • Pain Threshold: 25%
  • Experience Gained: -25%
  • Slavery Maximum: 1 Week
Normal
  • Pain Threshold: 50%
  • Experience Gained: Normal
  • Slavery Maximum: 1 Month
Hard
  • Pain Threshold: 75%
  • Experience Gained: +25%
  • Slavery Maximum: 1 Year
Hardcore
  • Pain Threshold: 100%
  • Experience Gained: +50%
  • Slavery Maximum: Unlimited
I look at the options, Easy was definitely the safest but I didn''t want to lose out on any experience points. I was supposed to be trying to get to the level cap as fast as possible to help create items. Normal seemed safe enough, but also kind of boring. Hard was a bit scary but offered a nice bonus to experience. Then there was hardcore, the scariest of all, no pain reduction and you could end up a permanent slave. The bonus to experience though... Well if my goal was to level as fast as possible then Hardcore was the best option. I would also have Jeff helping me out once I was out of the tutorial so I shouldn''t have to worry about slavery. Worst case scenario, I just quit playing StarPath and find something else to do until Age of Gods is out. Nodding to myself I select Hardcore and the world immediately goes black. Chapter 2.1 - Tutorial 1 Chapter 2.1 - Tutorial 1 When the darkness clears I find myself in a dim room only lit by running lights on the floor and above the door leading out of the room. The room is pretty small only containing a bunk and a small metal lockbox to put items into. The first thing I really paid any attention to though was my heartbeat. You know how you don''t really notice your heartbeat unless it''s hammering away? Well, if the position of your heartbeat changed I''m sure you would notice right away. I could feel my heart beating rhythmically, but not in the center of my chest like I was used to. No, my heartbeat felt like it was coming from near my stomach, down where my ribs would have ended in my human body. The heartbeat also felt really strange, normally a heartbeat only feels like two quick pulses even though it''s four. I could distinctly feel four pulses. Did I have two hearts? Was I a Timelord now? Snickering to myself I sit up in my bunk and look around, my eyesight isn''t too bad in the dim light, but I definitely didn''t have low-light vision or darkvision. I walk to the wall and flip a switch on it to turn on the illumination in the room and check myself out. My clothing looked pretty basic, black boots, dark brown pants, white tee shirt and a nice fitting black jacket. I could feel the [Second Skin] armor lightly compressing my body, but with a casual glance, I couldn''t tell it was there. I could only notice the armor when I felt for the edge of it on my wrist and lifted it up a little bit. On my right thigh was the holster for my [Mana Pistol] so I reach down and pull out the weapon to check it out.
Mana Pistol (Tactical)
Item Level: 1
Toughness: 7
Hit Points: 18/18
Damage: 1-6 Piercing
Range: 30 Feet
Magazine: 20 Charges, 1 Shot per Charge
Reload: 1 MP refills 1 Charge, 1 Second per charge
Type: Small Arm
Description: Mana Pistols fire compressed bursts of pure mana in a shape similar to a bullet, though this Mana Bullet degrades rapidly over a short distance. Mana Pistols have very few moving parts making them exceptionally sturdy and reliable weapons. However, Mana Pistols can only be charged by individuals who have mana. This particular model of Mana Pistol greatly resembles an old-fashioned Semi-Automatic Handgun with an under barrel mount where various tactical items, such as a flashlight or laser pointer, can be attached.
True to the description of the [Mana Pistol] it really felt like I was holding an old 21st-century firearm, though the outward appearance was slightly different. The entire weapon was white except for a few blue lines that glowed softly and led from where the magazine on a pistol would be and up the grip to flow along the barrel. It was actually really nice looking and I was kind of looking forward to giving it a try. I slip the [Mana Pistol] back into its holster and reach over my shoulder to pull out my [Mana Shotgun] and check it out.
Mana Shotgun (Snub)
Item Level: 1
Toughness: 7
Hit Points: 18/18
Damage: 1-4 Piercing per mana pellet, 5 mana pellets per shot
Range: 15 Foot Cone
Magazine: 20 Charges, 1 Shot per 5 Charges
Reload: 1 MP refills 1 Charge, 1 Second per charge
Type: Long Arm
Description: A compact and powerful weapon that resembles an old Earth Shotgun. When fired this gun releases a burst of 5 small compressed pellets of Mana in a small cone dealing damage to up to 5 targets caught in the blast, though these pellets degrade rapidly over a very short distance. If used in close quarters where a single target can be hit with all 5 of the Mana Pellets this weapon can be devastating. Mana Shotguns can only be charged by individuals who possess Mana. Mana Shotguns have very few moving parts making them sturdy and reliable firearms.
The weapon felt like an old sawed-off pump action shotgun with a pistol grip, those had always been extremely nasty weapons when used up close where you could hit a single person with the full blast, but it was also relatively decent for crowd damage if you got it aligned right. I''d actually chosen it with the intention of sticking it right in peoples faces and pulling the trigger. I try to slide the pump on the shotgun but it doesn''t move, it seems to be there for aesthetic reasons instead of functional ones. Like the [Mana Pistol] the shotgun is white and has the lightly glowing blue lines along the pistol grip and barrel. I slide the shotgun back into the holster over my shoulder and continue to check myself out. On my left arm, covering my forearm from the wrist almost all the way to my elbow is my [Personal Computer]. I touch the computer and a holographic display appears and hovers above it while a somewhat feminine electronic voice intones, "Welcome new user. Please state your name." Shrugging I answer the question out loud and give the computer my name, "Acknowledged. This unit is now registered to Thomas Darkrose. User settingsare now available." The display changes and shows me a list of options, most of them are pretty basic customization options. Several of them are greyed out with the message ''Software Not Installed''. It looked like I could customize pretty much anything, I could install avatars for the [Artificial Personality] as well as custom voice options and more. I left everything at default, for now, I could customize it later on when I had more software to make interesting changes to the device. I look around the room and notice something is missing, my backpack and all the other smaller mundane things I had bought, like my [Medkit], [Hacking Toolkit] and [Engineers Toolkit], not to mention my [Class 1 Frag Grenades]! I really wanted those in case I got into a fight. I look around the room, even checking in the lockbox, but I can''t find any sign of the rest of my items, "Where the hell is my stuff?" "Items you do not have equipped are stored in your Utility Belt", my personal computer informs me in the same flat robotic voice it''s used every time it has spoken. I glance down at my waist, the belt I have on is okay, but it doesn''t look like a fancy [Utility Belt] like the computer said it was. Curious I tap on the buckle, my touch causes a small holographic display to appear showing icons for all of my remaining items. I see, so what this is telling me is I wasted perfectly good credits on a [Backpack]. With a sigh, I tap the icon representing my grenades. An instant later a grenade materializes in my hand and the belt feels a tad lighter. I hadn''t really noticed before since I was wearing it when I spawned, but the belt is pretty heavy. I look the grenade over and smile, it''s pretty high-tech looking. Instead of a pull ring and lever, it has two buttons on the top. One marked ''Prime'' and the other marked ''Safety'', the intention was pretty clear. Push the Prime button, then hold the Safety button until you tossed it. It reminded me of a deadman''s switch, which actors had been using the levers on grenades as for centuries in movies. I look at the grenade and then my belt and frown, "Now how the hell do I put it back in?" Right on queue, my computer answers, "Simply hold the item you wish to store up to the belt and touch the buckle." I follow the directions and the grenade dematerializes and stores itself back inside of the belt, which makes the belt a little heavier. Seems like while the belt could store items, it didn''t decrease their weight. Both convenient and inconvenient at the same time. It did give me hope that there would be [Utility Belts] with weight reduction properties though. Now that I know where everything is it was time to know where I was, "Computer where are we?" "Currently we are on board the transport ship New Dawn and heading for the port city of Varion on the planet Gharstavh.", the computer replies.
New Quest!
Make your way toVarion the capital city ofGharstavh.
Rewards: Experience
Never heard of any of that, not surprising really. And who names the tutorial ship New Dawn anyway? So cliche! Still, now I had my first quest and it didn''t seem to be that difficult to accomplish, but how long until we got there? "Computer, how long until we arrive at the port?" "The itinerary has us scheduled to make landfall in six hours", comes the flat reply from the machine. I was definitely going to get a more interesting voice for this thing when we got there, the robotic, flat and somewhat feminine tone was annoying as hell. With nothing to do for the next six hours, I lay down on my bunk and closed my eyes, who would have thought a tutorial could be so boring?
I should have kept that last thought from surfacing, as soon as I finished the thought klaxons began to blare loudly as the entire ship shakes violently. I snap up to a sitting position on my bunk while red lights begin to flash in my room. A man''s voice comes over the intercom, "Attention crew and passengers, the New Dawn is under attack by pirates. All passengers please stay in your cabins, all crew report to ready stations." Pirates? Seriously? I shake my head and climb to my feet, no way in hell was I just going to sit in my cabin while pirates attacked and probably boarded the ship. That was tantamount to asking passengers to stay in their cabins while a ship at sea slowly sank. Pardon me for not wanting to drown with the rest of you. As I move over to the door of the cabin I once again unholster my [Mana Pistol] and check the gauge to make sure it''s fully charged. After I see that it is I holster it and pull out the [Mana Shotgun] to do the same. With both weapons fully charged and in their holsters, I step over to the door and press the panel that should open it. Nothing happens. Grumbling I slap the panel and still, nothing happens. Seems like the cabin door had been locked, I guess that was supposed to keep the pirates out or the passengers in and out of the way of the crew. I kneel down in front of the door and tap my [Utility Belt] to pull up my inventory. When the screen appears I select my [Hacking Tookit] which materializes in my right hand. I set it down and open the toolkit, I was instantly familiar with all the tools inside of it and knew how to use all of them properly, thank you [Hacking] skill ranks! I pull out a slim but sturdy piece of metal and shimmy it into the seam on the right side of the panel. With a little lift and twist the panel pops off of the door to expose the wiring behind it. Replacing the pry bar in the kit I pull out a pair of wire strippers and quickly strip several of the exposed wires. With that done I swap the wire strippers for a connection cable that ends in several clamps. I clamp most, but not all, of the clamps onto exposed wires and then plug the other end of the wire into my [Personal Computer], "Alright, time to see what you can do." "Establishing connection. Connection Established", the computer utters those two phrases. Huge blocks of computer code in a coding language I''m not familiar with in the real world scrolls across the holographic display of the computer. After the code scrolls for a while the screen changes and becomes something of a mini-game. Thanks to my skill ranks in [Computers] and [Hacking] I understand what I am seeing. The screen is broken into two columns, on the left are small bits of code and on the right, the control code for the door slowly scrolls up. Inside of the control code there are blank spaces, the goal is to place the proper bits of code from the left column into the holes in the code on the right column. This will complete the hack and open the door for me. Even with my skill ranks, I would have to pay close attention and make sure to match the right bits of code with the right holes or I could end up sealing the door. I study the slowly scrolling door code for clues and begin to spot them, there are small fragments of code that match up with the bits of code in the left column. I quickly drag and drop one of the bits of code into a spot I think will match. The screen flashes green and the bit of code disappears while the hole is filled. Now that I know what I am looking for I drag and drop the bits of code into the proper holes as quickly as I can to complete the hack. When the last bit is dropped into place the whole right column lights up green and the door lets out a hiss before popping open just an inch or so.
Computers +1. Hacking +1. Experience Gained: 37 (25+50%)
Not too bad, I got one rank each in [Computers] and [Hacking] and a few experience points to boot. Looks like the game allowed for experience gains in other areas and not just combat, that could be very nice in the future. While I think about that I quickly disconnect the clamps from the exposed wires and unplug the wire from my computer to store it back inside of the [Hacking Toolkit]. With my tools cleaned up, I store the kit back inside of my [Utility Belt], then draw my [Mana Pistol]. There was no telling what would be happening outside and I would much rather be armed and ready.
I move over to the side of the door that''s opposite to how it swings, this will let me push the door open without exposing myself to anything, or anyone, that might be outside of the room. With a quick shove, the door swings open completely. I lean out a bit to peer around the door frame and into the interior of the ship. I can see the door to another cabin directly across from me and red lights flashing but not much else. The hallwayis well lit though so, fortunately, I''m not peering into the dark. With the coast looking clear I lean a little bit out of my room and peer outside. My room is connected to a corridor that''s lined with six doors, three on either side of the hallway. My door is in the middle of the three on my side of the hallway.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. I look in both directions, to my left the hallway ends at a dead end, to my right the hallway turns right and leads somewhere else. So I pretty much know which direction I will be going. Since the hallway looks clear I step out of my room and close the door behind me, no need to leave evidence that I''ve left my room. [Mana Pistol] in hand I creep down the hallway until I get to the end. Once there I place my back to the wall and carefully lean out to look around the corner. I can see a woman standing in the hallway at a computer terminal located on the wall. No idea what she''s doing but she looks frantic. She looks human with dark hair and is wearing a smart looking light blue uniform of some sort. It''s a blue jumpsuit with a black jacket bearing a golden insignia on the shoulder that I can see. As I watch her a man walks into the hallway beyond the woman, putting her in between him and I. This guy, how should I describe him? My first impression is I should definitely shoot him in the face. He looked human too, but he was definitely not wearing a nice clean uniform, nothing about him was clean. He very definitely gave off the impression of ''pirate''. Oh, and the large gun he was holding didn''t dissuade me from that notion either. He looked like he was just wearing ragged clothing with a simple looking bit of armor that protected his chest and stomach. Seriously, it looked like someone had hammered out a piece of sheet metal and he was just pretending it was armor. For all I know though it was really good armor. The woman in the uniform was about ten feet from me and the pirate looking guy was about another thirty past her. In just the few seconds since he came around the corner he spots her and begins to lift his weapon. I can''t let the woman just die so I lean around the corner and shout out to her, "RUN!" The woman is startled by my shout and looks in my direction instead of the pirates. Shit, I never really was good at the knight in shining armor routine. Lucky for me the pirate is surprised by my shout too, I take the opportunity to run out from around the corner and aim my [Mana Pistol] at the man. By my estimate, he''s too far away for the pistol to actually even reach him, but I don''t think he knows that. He shifts his aim from the woman to me, but I''m already pulling the trigger on my weapon. The gun fires smoothly and launches a blue projectile. I can''t actually see the projectile because of the speed it''s moving, but I can tell it''s brightly glowing blue because of the light trail left in my vision. I keep firing the gun and realize that''s there''s hardly and kick back from the weapon. I rapidly fire a half dozen shots down the hallway at the man and he wisely retreats around the corner to avoid getting shot. The moment I get to her I grab the woman by the wrist and drag her back around the corner. At just about that time the pirate realizes my shots aren''t even hitting the wall at the end of the hallway and steps back out. A barrage ofbullets slams into the wall across from us sending up sparks. The woman and I press our back against the wall and keep anything from going out into the hallway while the pirate is unloading on full auto. The pirate shouts as he''s firing, "Come on out, I won''t hurt you I promise!" It would be much more convincing if he wasn''t still blasting down the hallway in our direction. I give the scared woman a nervous smile as an idea comes to mind, "Quick question." She turns and looks up at me, her eyes are bright red and watery like she''s about to burst into tears at any moment, "W-what?" I gesture absentmindedly at the walls around us, "I was just curious if any of these walls are external walls." She frowns but shakes her head, "No, we''re at the interior of the ship, shouldn''t you know that?" I ignore her question while I fumble with my [Utility Belt]. I select the item I want and when she sees it the woman''s eyes go wide and she starts to hyperventilate. I turn and give her a wicked grin while I hold the grenade in my hand. She was having a perfectly natural reaction to a high explosive being pulled out inside of a spaceship. A hole in the hull of a spaceship was a good way to get dead fast, but I was willing to take a chance because of a few things. First, the grenade was only an MK I grenade and the damage on it was comparable to my [Mana Pistol] so I didn''t expect it to have a huge amount of power. Which leads to point two, we''re at the interior of the ship and the grenades effective range was fifteen feet. I highly doubt it will puncture several bulkheads and get to open space. The pirate shouts out again, sounding much closer, "Come on out and play!" Oh, I was going to play alright. I push the ''Prime'' button and a spot on top of the grenade lights up in red to display the number five. I push the ''Safety'' button next and immediately release it, the display reading five ticks down to four. Ahhhh, digital timers on the grenades, so nice and accurate. Seeing the timer ticking down the woman next to me begins to shriek as her panic rises. Couldn''t blame her for that, this was known as ''cooking'' a grenade, letting the time tick down before you throw it to give the enemy less time to react. I move to the edge of the hallway and the instant the display reads two I toss the grenade around the corner while shouting, "I play rough!" Okay, yeah in retrospect that was a tad lame. But the sound of the man shrieking like a little girl when he spots the grenade is priceless. Two seconds later there''s a deafening explosion and two more screams. One from the pirate and one from the woman I rescued.
Damage Dealt: 6 Piercing and Bludgeoning
Skill Gained
Throwing 1/100 (+0 Might)
After the explosion and damage notification, I charge around the corner. The pirate is collapsed face down on the deck, his back covered in blood from small pieces of shrapnel. He groans to politely let me know he''s still alive, well for now. I step up behind him and aim down at his head with the [Mana Pistol] then decisively pull the trigger.
Headshot! Damage Dealt:24 Piercing
Experience Gained: 150 (100+50%)
Skill Gained
Shooting 1/100 (+0 Agility)
The mana bullet simply pierced the pirates head and instantly killed him, sadly there was no exploding brain matter just a slow leak of blood. I kneel down next to the pirate while I holster my [Mana Pistol] and pick up his weapon to check it out.
Machine Gun (Light)
Item Level: 4
Toughness: 13
Hit Points: 27/27
Damage: 1-10 Piercing
Range: 60 Feet
Magazine: 40Rounds
Reload: 5 Seconds
Type: Heavy Arm
Description: The smallest and lightest version of a machine gun, prized by mercenary groups for their portability. Despite their antiquity, these heavy weapons remain reliable for their automatic fire and damage capability.
I check the remaining ammo for the [Machine Gun] and it seems to be down to just ten shots. Setting the rifle aside I check of the pirate''s body but find no spare ammo for the [Machine Gun]. Then I remember my [Utility Belt] and check the pirate once again, he''s wearing one as well so I quickly strip it off of him. It weighs a lot more than mine does. I touch the buckle on the belt to get the display of items inside of it and begin to understand why it''s so heavy. The [Utility Belt] is holding ten of the magazines for the [Machine Gun] and each magazine weighs quite a bit, there are also 108 credits. So ammo and money, well at least he appeared to have his own set of priorities. I take the credits and pocket them. Well, I say ''them'' but credits are just digital information mostly. What I''m really taking is a small stick with a numerical display on it saying how many credits are stored on the stick. I also take out one of the magazines for the [Machine Gun] and reload it, followed by two more that I store in my [Utility Belt]. The class I had chosen is not proficient in the use of Heavy Arms. For that matter, it wasn''t good with Long Arms either, but in the case of my shotgun, I figured a lack of distance would make up for a lack of accuracy. In the case of this [Machine Gun], I was going to use it for good old ''spray and pray''. I also take the time to reload my [Mana Pistol] by spending seven seconds and seven mana to replace the charges I''d used fighting this pirate. With weapons reloaded and loot claimed I turn to look at the uniformed woman and give her a smile, "By the way, I''m Thomas, who might you be?" The woman looks at me like I''m crazy, well I did set off an explosion inside of a spaceship so maybe I was a tad bit crazy. She takes a moment to get a hold of herself by inhaling deeply and letting the breath out, "I''m Nanase, a stewardess forNew Dawn." I nod, "Nice to meet you Nanase." As soon as I finish speaking the captain''s voice comes over the loudspeaker again, "Message to all hands, abandon ship! Repeat, all hands abandon ship!" Sounds like the pirates are winning this one. I climb to my feet and smile at Nanase, "Well, let''s get out of here. Are there escape pods or something nearby?" She nods and points down the hallway the pirate came from, "At the end of that hallway is a stairway leading down to the lower deck, from there we can get an escape pod." Once again I nod and heft the [Machine Gun], "Right, stay behind me and give me directions." With that said we head to the corner, as I reach it one of the cabin doors behind me hisses open. I spin around and aim the [Machine Gun] at the opened door. A man shrieks and jumps back inside of his room. Well, I say man but I honestly couldn''t tell you what sex the alien was. It was about my height but itswhole body was less than a third the thickness ofmine and its head was oblong and bright pink. It also wasn''t wearing any clothing, but since I didn''t spot any genitalia that didn''t seem to be an issue. "Sorry!" I call out, "Just a bit jumpy!" The alien peeks out of the door to its room while I lower the [Machine Gun] so I''m not aiming at it anymore. The being has no eyes, instead, there are just divets in its face where its eyes should be. The being steps out of its room, everything about it is thin and bright pink, except the head, the head is the same size as a human head. It kind of makes me wonder how such a thin neck can support such a big head. I get the feeling it would be rude to ask though. Instead, I gesture down the hallway Nanase and I are heading for, "C''mon, we''re heading for the escape pods." The creature nods its head and begins to follow us. The next hallway is empty of anyone so we make it to the stairs leading down to the escape pods without issue. Once we were on the lower deck though an issue became apparent, those not killed or captured by the pirates were flooding this deck to get to the escape pods and to safety. The majority of the passengers and crew looked human, maybe with some outlandish features here and there, but in general, I''d say at least eighty percent of the sentient beings I could see were human or human-ish. Nanase and the slim pink alien head for an escape pod together and slip into it with a half dozen others. Seems the pods could fit around eight to ten human-sized individuals. As I watched a fight broke out between two humanoids, seems like one wanted to bring a large container into the escape pod and the other wanted to stop him. I kind of agreed with the one stopping it, if it came down to a choice between my stuff and my life I would choose my life every time. Even in a game like this. While the two fight I walk over to an escape pod that''s not being used or boarded by anyone, it seems significantly smaller than the others, maybe a spare pod? Whatever the case may be I slip into the pod and seal the door, but I don''t pull the launch lever. I needed to decide what to do next. The way I figured it I had two choices. The first choice, pull the lever and escape the ship, easy, effective, and I could do it right now. Choice B, I could kill all the pirates invading the ship and reap the experience rewards. There were definite risks with attacking the pirates, death, slavery, other annoying things I hadn''t thought of. My goal was to reach the level cap as fast as possible, killing at least six more pirates worth 150 experience points each would get me to level two without a problem, and if there were more pirates all the better. What I needed was a plan, and I had a fun idea about that, "Hey computer, do you have the schematics of this ship?" The computer replies in its flat and annoying feminine voice, "Negative." "Alright, if I plug you into a terminal on the ship can you download the schematics and plot direct courses through the ship?" "Affirmative." Alright, that''s one part of the plan. I needed to make sure my ride would still be here when I was done though. I pull out my [Hacking Toolkit] as I walk over to the console of the escape pod. I pull out a connecting wire and plug it into a port on the console and the port on my computer. Locking the pod down and creating an override code doesn''t take very long at all, the pod has no security to speak of. To protect the pod from being easily hacked by someone like me I download a copy of the security program on my computer to the pod and use it to lock the pods'' systems so only someone with the passcode can activate the pod. Basically, this thing was mine now.
Computers +1 Hacking +1 Experience Gained: 37 (25+50%)
With my escape secured I pack up my [Hacking Toolkit] and use the new access code to open the pod door and step out of it. Once out I close and secure the door once more. There are significantly fewer people on the deck, the last ones are piling into the two remaining escape pods. I ignore them and head back the way I came while keeping the [Machine Gun] at the ready. As I move I keep my eyes out for a ships terminal I can plug into, it doesn''t take me long to find one. I step up to the terminal and plug my computer directly into it, "Alright computer, access the schematics and download them." "Accessing... Access Denied." I pull up the holographic screen on my computer and begin the process of hacking into the terminal. The same minigame-like interface appears and I begin to drag and drop the bits of code into the proper holes. Unfortunately, I''m moving a little too fast and drop an incorrect bit of code into the wrong hole. The right column flashes red and I feel a sharp stinging sensation on my arm.
Damage Taken:2 Electrical
Shit, not only did the computer have a decent firewall, the firewall had teeth! I check my computer to make sure it''s not fried, but it seems fine. Either the electrical charge only hit me or the hardware of the computer was well protected from such things. Whatever the case, I restart my attempt to hack into the system and get the schematics. It takes a good five minutes but I finally get through the defenses of the ships computer and download everything I need.
Hacking +1 Experience Gained: 75 (50+50%)
"Computer, plot a direct course for the ships main core. Time to have some fun..." Chapter 2.2 - Tutorial 2 Chapter 2.2 - Tutorial 2 "Plotting course to ships main core", the computer replies. I was really getting sick of that grating voice, seriously first chance I got I was buying something a lot more soothing. The holographic display on my computer lights up and plots a simple course through the ship. The ship was a transport ship with most of the space dedicated to passenger cabins and cargo space. The ship''s design was pretty straightforward so I wouldn''t be crawling through any ducts or anything like that to get to the core. Thinking about my plan there was something else I needed to know, "Computer can you track who is on board the New Dawn still?" The computer chimes up, "Affirmative. Tracking fifteen life signs." "Can you cross reference the life signs with the ships manifest to determine whether the remaining life signs are crew, passengers or pirates?" "Affirmative." "Alright, display the location of all life signs, mark passengers and crew as blue and pirates as red." A few moments later several indicators appear on the schematics of the ship showing the locations of the life signs. There were only a few blue indicators, the majority of which were near the escape pods. Only one blue indicator wasn''t and it was located on the bridge and surrounded by five red indicators, "Computer can you show me the bridge?" "Affirmative." The holographic display turns into a video screen. On the screen, I can see three of the five pirates on the bridge and the single non-pirate. The non-pirate is wearing a uniform similar to the stewardess I rescued, though the insignia on his shoulder is a lot more intricate. The non-pirate is a man, human looking, and appearing to be somewhere in his fifties with gray hair and a few wrinkles on his face. The wrinkles really stand out beneath all that red blood. He''s in really bad condition, all four of his limbs are bent in the wrong direction, and it looks like he''s been shot in each of his shoulders, arms, and legs. I''d say it''s pretty clear he''s being tortured to death and isn''t likely to survive much longer. Hero or not seeing someone treated like that really pisses me off, these pirates deserved everything I was going to do to them. I had no delusions about rescuing the man and saving his life, there was really nothing I could do to help him. Maybe, just maybe, he would live long enough to realize someone had taken revenge on the pirates for him, it was the best I could offer. "Okay, show me the map of the ship and the route to the core again." The screen changes to the information I asked for, I study the route and spot two red dots in my way, but the ship isn''t large enough for there to be alternate routes. Seems like I would have to kill at least two more pirates. I unplug the cable from the ship''s terminal and my computer to store it back in the [Hackers Toolkit] and store the kit back in my [Utility Belt]. It was time to get to work and get that man some revenge.
Following the map I''d downloaded I made italmost all the way to the core before coming up on the last known position of the second pirate that is supposed to be in my way. I''d run into nothing on the way here, the ship was extremely quiet, the only thing moving was the flashing red lights in all the hallways. I was currently on the middle deck of the ship, the same deck my cabin was on. The ship was comprised of just three decks, the top deck being the location of the bridge and crew quarters, the middle deck being passenger cabins, cargo holds and the core of the ship and the bottom deck being cargo holds and the escape pods. Right now I was at the end of a passenger cabin lined corridor that ended in a right turn. Around the corner would be the door leading to the computer core. So far I hadn''t run into any pirates, the first one that was in my path earlier wasn''t there when I arrived, but I was pretty sure the pirate near the ship''s core would still be there, likely guarding it. I carefully peek around the corner and sure enough, there''s a very bored looking pirate standing across the hall in front of the door leading to the core. The pirate looks much like the first one I killed, just a slightly different physical appearance. He was probably human with long dark greasy hair and an unshaved face wearing rags and another one of those cheap looking hammered sheet metal armor plates. I''d forgotten to check out the armor on the first pirate, but frankly, even if that armor was of epic proportions I wouldn''t wear it. It just looked so crappy and I had a reputation to uphold! Okay not really, I just had standards okay? I duck back around the corner out of the sight of the pirate and try to decide what to do. He was close enough that I could reach him quickly, and his [Machine Gun] was hanging from his shoulder so it would take him some time to pick it up and then aim it at me. That would give me a few precious moments to close distance or to get off a few shots from here. I wanted to take him down fast and hard though, preferably with a single shot. I think it''s time to use a little magic. I open my system menu and select one of my spells to double check the description of it.
Overcharge Weapon
Rank: 1
Mana Cost: 9.7
Casting Time: Instant
Range: 1 Weapon you are touching
Description: You overcharge a weapon you are holding. If the weapon¡¯s next attack hits within 10 seconds, the attack deals 4-24 additional damage if the weapon is a single target attack. If the weapon attacks all creatures in an area or fires multiple projectiles at once, it deals an additional 2-12 damage. In the case of multiple projectiles at once the bonus damage applies to each projectile.
Now if I was reading this spell right, using it on my [Mana Pistol] would amp the damage from 1-6 to 5-30 damage. But if I used it on my [Mana Shotgun] then it would amp the damage of each pellet from 1-4 to 5-16, meaning if I could close the gap and hit the pirate with all five pellets it would deal a staggering 25-80 damage. Even if the pirate had double my health the odds were pretty good that just one blast would take him down. This seemed like a good plan to me, quick, efficient, and a lot less likely to get me shot. Decision made I store the [Machine Gun] in my [Utility Belt] and pull my [Mana Shotgun] out of its shoulder harness. I double check the energy gauge to make sure it''s still at twenty charges, I know I haven''t used it and I know it was fully charged earlier, but it was always better to make sure of everything you could before going into a life or death situation. I take a slow deep breath to calm my nerves and prepare to cast the spell. Because of my [Arcane Knowledge] skill, I know all I have to do to cast a spell with a casting time of instant is to say the spells name out loud. I take one final deep breath to calm my nerves. If I didn''t take the pirate down in the first shot the odds were pretty good he would be shooting back at me and getting shot would not be a pleasant experience. I grip the [Mana Shotgun] tightly in my hands and crouch down a little. I leap around the corner and charge towards the pirate, "[Overcharge Weapon]!" I feel the mana leave my body and pour into the shotgun, the lightly glowing blue lines on the weapon turn red and glow brightly. Small discharges of electricity spark off of the now red lines as I charge the few feet between the pirate and myself. The pirate is at first surprised and then gets determined as he reaches for the [Machine Gun] hanging at his side. The distance is short and his moment of surprise is enough for me to get within a foot of him and pull the trigger on the shotgun. The gun roars loudly and kicks violently in my grip as it blasts out the overcharged pellets of mana in a bright red burst. With such a short distance between the barrel of the shotgun and the man''s chest, there''s just no space for him to even attempt to dodge the gunfire.
Damage Dealt: 51 Piercing
Experience Gained: 150 (100+50%)
Shooting +1
New Skill
Long Arm Proficiency 1/100 (+0 Might)
The blast from the shotgun slams into the man''s chest, ripping his flimsy armor to shreds and blows out behind him. Blood coats the door at the mans back and leaks profusely from the gaping wounds in his chest and back. The [Machine Gun] he''d just barely managed to get a hold of clatters loudly to the floor, followed a moment later by the man''s body crumpling lifelessly. The red glow and sparks are gone from the [Mana Shotgun] though a hint of smoke leaks from the barrel and fills the air with the smell of ozone. I kneel down next to the body and take off his [Utility Belt] to check its inventory, at the same time I dump five mana into the [Mana Shotgun] still in my hand to refill the charges on it. The pirates [Utility Belt] contained pretty much the same thing as the previous one, extra ammo and a credit stick. I pull out the credit stick and check the balance on it, 164 credits. Not a bad haul from one dead pirate. I shove the pirate''s body out of the way and hit the panel to open the door to the core, naturally, it doesn''t open. Sighing I kneel down and take out my [Hackers Toolkit] and once more proceed through hacking open the door. This door takes a couple of minutes to hack, the security on it was quite a bit higher than the security on my door and a little higher than the security protecting the schematics of the ship. Well, that made sense since this was the heart of the ship after all. A little less than ten minutes later the door lets out a hiss and pops open. I pack up my tools and shove the door open the rest of the way.
Computers +1 Hacking +1 Experience Gained: 60 (40+50%)
I step into the room for the ship''s core and I have to say, it''s not exactly impressive. The room was extremely utilitarian, the walls almost all completely blank except for the back wall that had a single computer terminal on it. I was expecting something... I don''t know more impressive? Something that would be a science fiction feast for the eyes maybe? But no, two blank walls and a wall with a single terminal is all I get. With a sigh, I walk up to the terminal and go through the process of plugging a cable into the port of the terminal and attaching it to my personal computer, "Alright computer, let''s see if we can gain root access to this terminal." "Acknowledged. Connecting to ships main core.", the computer replies in that grating voice. The holographic display changes to show the two columns with the column on the right scrolling at a pretty decent speed. The number of bits of data I need to inject into the code is easily five times more than any previous hack I had performed so far. This was going to take a little while.
About fifteen minutes later I drop the last bit of code into the proper gap in the security program and the right column turns green. My personal computer speaks up, "Root Access to ships systems gained. You now have complete control of all ship''s systems."
Computers +1 Hacking +2 Smarts +1 Experience Gained: 112 (75+50%)
I grin broadly, "Oh this is going to be fun. First, scan all life signs on board and make sure everyone that isn''t a pirate is either off the ship or dead." A few seconds later the computer replies, "Scan complete. All life signs register as pirates." The display pulls up the map of the ship and shows me the location of all the pirates, the majority of them seem to be working in the cargo holds to unload the stuff theNew Dawn was transporting. There are a few moving through various corridors in the ship, but they just seem to be patrolling to keep an eye out for stowaways, like me. Well with it just being me and the pirates on board there was no need to hold back. I move through the systems menu of the ship to find what I need, it takes me a moment to find it since I''m not sure what they call it in this game, but when I see it on the menu I know it''s what I want. The Arcane Corridor Core, aka the FTL drive. Fortunately, while I scroll through the options and settings for the A.C.C. my skill ranks in [Engineering] and [Computers] come together to let me know what setting does what. I take a few moments to think about this knowledge and smile wickedly, "This should work." First, I disable all the warning and safety systems attached to the ship''s A.C.C., I didn''t want anyone to know something was going on. Then I quickly change a few of the settings to unbalance the systems, when I make the last change my computer speaks up, "WARNING! The changes you have made will lead to a cascade failure culminating in a core meltdown. All core energy will be released at once."The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "By ''all core energy will be released at once'' you mean an explosion right?", I query the computer. "Affirmative." I nod, that''s exactly what I wanted. I save the changes I''ve made and as I hoped none of the warning lights or system messages mention anything about the system being compromised or the A.C.C. beginning to fail. I quickly pack up my gear and store it all in my [Utility Belt], by my estimate I had about five or six minutes before the ship turned into a massive fireball of death and destruction. With everything packed I retrieve the [Machine Gun] and start running for the escape pod I had secured earlier. Now, you might be wondering why I''m setting the ship to blow up instead of just venting the atmosphere and suffocating the pirates to save the ship. I could definitely do that, but there was a pirate ship docked with theNew Dawn somewhere and I had no idea how big it was or how many pirates would be on it. Or anything else relevant. Just killing the pirates on theNew Dawn would be fine, but would leave me with the problem of dealing with the remaining pirates on their ship. If I blow the A.C.C. though, it should hopefully not only kill all the pirates on this ship but all the pirates on their ship too.
Three minutes later I ran into a bit of a problem, just as I turned a corner close to the stairs leading down to the deck with the escape pods I ran into a pirate. This pirate was not like the other two I fought, his clothing wasn''t rags and his armor was decent looking and not that cheap crap the others had on. As soon as he spotted me he lifted a [Machine Gun] that was a bit larger than the ones the last two had and began opening fire. I''d managed to get back around the corner and avoid being filled with many holes, but now I''m stuck here while he fires away. I point my [Machine Gun] around the corner, only exposing the barrel of the weapon, and pull the trigger. The gun shakes in my hand threatening to dislodge from my grip with every forceful kickback from each shot fired. I had no proficiency with this weapon and firing blindly like this I wasn''t likely to hit jack shit. It would force the other pirate to retreat into cover himself though or risk getting randomly hit by a bullet. True to my expectations his shooting stops a few moments after I open fire. I pull back the [Machine Gun] and eject the magazine, there were only a half dozen rounds left in it anyways. I pull out one of the spares and slam it into the weapon, there was no need to prime the gun since I hadn''t fired it until it was empty so there was still a round in the chamber. I peek around the corner and spot the pirate doing the same from thirty or forty feet away. Right about now I really wish I had a spell I could use in this situation, or better yet a full suit of power armor to protect me from head to toe. The pirate ducks back behind the corner he''s at, I can hear his voice, but I can''t make out what he''s saying. I can make a guess though, he''s probably calling for help. This is bad. If more pirates come before I get to the stairs just past him I''m pretty likely to die, either the pirates will shoot me, or the self-destruct I''d set in motion would get me. Either way did not sound like a pleasant experience. The pirate is still ducking around his corner and speaking. I really only had one option available to me, I had to break through. I charge around the corner while firing short controlled bursts from the [Machine Gun], I needed to conserve as much ammo as I could while making my way down the corridor. I aim at the corner that the pirate is hiding behind trying to keep him pinned there so he doesn''t hop out and fill me full of bullets. My luck holds out and the pirate stays hidden behind the corner until I''m just a few steps away. I drop the [Machine Gun] and pull out my [Mana Pistol] instead, I needed to use a weapon I was proficient with to give me the best opportunity to kill this guy. As I run into the corridor with the pirate I call out, "[Overcharge Weapon]!" The blue lines on the [Mana Pistol] turn bright red just as they had on the shotgun earlier, even the small discharges of energy off of the now red lines are the same. The pirate turns to look at me in surprise as I pull the trigger while aiming at his center mass. The [Mana Pistol], which has never kicked before, lets out a loud roar of discharging energy and kicks back forcefully in my hand. A large bright red light flashes in my eyes before the compressed mana round slams into the pirate''s chest.
Damage Dealt: 16 piercing
The red light fades from the gun returning it to blue but I immediately pull the trigger over...
Damage Dealt: 4 Piercing
And over...
Damage Dealt: 6 Piercing
And over again...
Damage Dealt: 6 Piercing
Experience Gained: 225 (150+50%)
Shooting +2
Until I get the message about gaining experience. The pirate falls over backward and blood quickly spreads from the multiple gunshot wounds. The first shot I fired, the overcharged one, had blown a large hole through his armor and dug a deep gouge out of his chest. The following shots had flown into the large gap of his armor and pierced what remained of his chest to finish him off. I don''t have time to do a proper search of his [Utility Belt] because I am sure reinforcements are on the way. It''s time to get the hell out of here. I grab the pirates entire [Utility Belt] and take it with me, it''s got to be the heaviest one yet. I charge down the stairs to the escape pod I secured and punch in the code to open the hatch. Just as I leap into the hatch I hear gunfire and bullets ricochet off the open hatch and walls. As soon as I am inside I seal the pod and yank on the release lever in my panic. This turned out to be a very unwise decision on my part. The engines on the escape pod instantly ignite and the pod accelerates like a ballistic missile, except in the gravityless space the acceleration is even more pronounced. The sudden thrust slams my whole body into the wall of the escape pod and pins me there as it continues to accelerate and rush away from theNew Dawn.
Damage Taken: 8 Bludgeoning
While the pod rapidly accelerates and flies away from the ship I take a brief moment to note that getting slammed into the bulkhead of the escape pod not only hurt like fucking hell, seriously I''m surprised I didn''t break something, but it also damn near killed me! Note to my future self, sit the fuck down and buckle in before pulling the launch lever on an escape pod in the future! The escape pod continues to accelerate for a full two minutes before the speed finally levels off. With the drop in acceleration, my body is freed from the bulkhead and I begin to gently float in the weightlessness of the pod. No artificial gravity here. My whole body aches like one giant bruise as I float my way over to the viewport in the escape pod''s hatch. With the distance I have traveled, theNew Dawnappears as hardly more than a grey spec when light from the faraway star in the center of the planetary system happens to glance off of the dull grey hull of the ship. I can''t even spot the pirate ship that''s likely docked with it somewhere. Any moment now though... All of space as far as I can see turns bright white as the A.C.C. in theNew Dawn overloads and fails. There is no sound in space, but the bright white flash of light instantly makes me shield my eyes for fear of going blind. I have no doubts that if I had left a minute or so later than I did that my pod would have been caught in that explosion and been destroyed. The sheer amount of energy released had to be greater than any nuclear explosion ever released on Earth.
Skill Gained
Demolitions 1/100 (+0 Smarts)
Demolitions +4 +1 Smarts
Pirates Defeated: 100 Exp x13
Pirate Lieutenant''s Defeated: 150 Exp x1
Pirate Lord''s Defeated: 225 Exp x1
Known Pirate Ship''s Destroyed: 1,000 Exp x1
Civilian Transport Ship''s Destroyed: 500 Exp x1
Experience Gained: 4,762 (3,175+50%)
New Perk Gained!
Ship Killer You''ve destroyed a couple of spaceships and know what it takes to take one down. +10% to all damage you deal to spaceships (minimum +1 Damage).
Level up! Level up! Automatically updating Health Point and Mana Point Totals... Health Points: +14! Mana Points: +10! You have 2 Attribute Points to spend. You may select 2 new Rank 0 Spells. You may select 2 new Rank 1 Spells. You have may select your first Magic Hack Ability! You gain Specialization with all weapons you are proficient in using! You gain Arcane Damage Focus! You gain Technolore!
Holy shit! I mean... HOLY SHIT! I expected to getsome experience for killing the remaining pirates, but I even got experience for destroying both ships?! Not only am I now level three, but I gained a ton of new stuff to go with the levels! Okay, let''s take this one step at a time. First, calm the fuck down. I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. I needed to go through this step by step to learn what all my new things were. Second, spend the attribute points, no need to let them go to waste. So I spend the two points I gained to increase my [Reason] from twenty to twenty-two. It would have no immediate effect, but I wanted to start getting it closer to my [Smarts] so that I not only got discounts on mana cost but increases to mana regeneration. I could have put a single point in my [Smarts] to up it to forty, but so many of my skills would grant me [Smarts] bonuses that I felt the points should go into [Reason] which had so many fewer skills at the moment. Third, I needed to pick four new spells, two for each rank I had access to. For the Rank zero spells, I select Minor Telepathy and Floating Lights. Minor Telepathy will let me send telepathic messages a short distance and receive a reply, I figured it would be great for teamwork. Floating Lights was a simple utility spell that allowed me to create two floating orbs of light that I could move around, it would save me from needing a flashlight. For the rank one spells my choice was a bit harder to make. In the end, I chose Slip and Over Heat. Slip reduced the friction coefficient of surfaces making them... well slippery. Over Heat lets me send out a blast wave ofheat in a small cone to deal fire damage. All in all, they were just fancy names for well known and effective spells in a myriad of roleplaying games. Up next was looking through the list of available [Magic Hacks] and seeing what I could do. The list I can choose from isn''t very large, and each choice seems to have a certain play style in mind. For example, there''s one called [Arcanized Weapon] which is essentially the same thing as [Overcharge Weapon], except I get a bonus of 2-7 damage for every five mana I spend when activating the ability and it seems to have no listed upper limit. If I used it with all of my mana I could amp up a single shot from my [Mana Pistol] from 1-6 to 29-104 damage. Given that even the bottom of the damage potential on that single shot would be enough to take me out it seemed like an excellent glass cannon option. I like flexibility though and while huge damage is awesome, I found a [Magic Hack] that I honestly wish I''d had sooner. What I pick is...
Technomantic Proficiency: By spending 15 mana points to activate this ability you temporarily learn how to use a weapon of your choice in combat for 1 hour. This gives you proficiency with the chosen weapon.
So for a measly fifteen mana, I could use any weapon in the game with proficiency for an hour. That seemed like an excellent use of mana to me. It also had other desirable traits to it, for example when I''m making a new weapon I would be capable of properly testing every weapon I make. That alone makes it a good ability for me, but it also had proper applications in combat, I could have easily used the [Machine Gun] I had abandoned on theNew Dawn properly if I had this ability back then. Next up was the specialization with all weapons I was proficient in using. This ability was pretty decent, but not groundbreaking or amazing. It just added bonus damage to my weapons equal to my level. So as a level three my [Mana Pistol] would now deal 4-9 damage. Like I said, useful, but not groundbreaking. At least, not until you included the fact that I could now be proficient in any weapon whenever I chose, so instead of a small buff to a few weapons it was now a buff to all weapons, as long as I spent that 15 mana. If we imagine the combination of these two abilities with the [Machine Gun] I had, then the [Machine Gun] would deal a staggering 4-14 damage with full auto spewing out dozens of rounds in rapid succession. Fast forward to the level cap of twenty and that same basic gun is now doing 21-30 damage a hit. Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I like it. I only had two things left to check out while I await rescue in this pod. First [Arcane Damage Focus]. This ability was pretty simple, it just increased damage from my damaging spells by ten percent. Nothing to write home about. Up last was [Technolore]. I''m not really sure how I feel about this one since it''s so... ambiguous. The ability basically let me touch any technological item and get a sense of what information was contained in it. For example, if I touched a data pad that I took off of a military officer if would give me something like ''Military Records'' or the like. I guess maybe it could be useful for a quick peek at something before hacking it?
Technolore: You can get a general sense of what information is stored on drives or other means of digital data storage when you touch them. The information you receive is very general such as "financial records" or "personal data". To get the more detailed information you will have to use a proper interface.
All in all though, I think it''s a pretty good haul of abilities and I''m pretty happy with it. I''ve got a few more spells, a few more abilities, and a couple of attribute points, and even a perk. I''m definitely happy with this. I float my way over to one of the chairs in the escape pod and pull myself down into it to strap in and wait for my rescue. I check the pod''s console and I am sending a proper help signal so all I had to do was sit back, relax and... oh, you know what? Forget that! I still needed to make my [Mana Capacitor]. Now, what could I put that into... Chapter 3.1 - Getting Started 1 Chapter 3.1 - Getting Started 1 I''ve been stuck in this pod for ten goddamn hours. Sure, the first eight weren''t so bad because I spent them working on creating my [Mana Capacitor] in my [Personal Computer]. I also took a little time to dig through the [Utility Belt] of that last pirate I killed. I found a nice haul of 286 credits which I was more than happy to add to my total. In addition to the money, I found several magazines of ammo for his weapon and a nice item called a [Weapon Fusion].
Weapon Fusions A weapon fusion is a small, prepackaged add-on that can be attached to any weapon to infuse it with magic.
  • Item Level - Fusions cannot be placed on weapons with lower item levels than their own.
  • Multiple Fusions - You may place multiple fusions on a single weapon, but only if the total item level of all fusions is less than the item level of the weapon.
  • Intallation - It takes 10 minutes per Item Level of the fusion to properly install it. Those with the Engineering skill subtract 1 minute per Rank in Engineering.
Weapon Fusion: Spellthrower
Item Level: 2
Description: This fusion allows you to load a single Spell Gem into your weapon at a time. You may only load Spell Gems that contain spells with a Casting Time of Instant. You may only load Spells Gems that contain a spell with a rank no higher than one half of the weapons Item Level. Once a Spell Gem is installed you may use it at any time, but must obey any rules required for casting the spell.
So the [Weapon Fusion] I had was pretty neat sounding, but also really worthless for the time being. I didn''t even have a weapon I could install it on or any of the things called [Spell Gems]. Judging from the information presented they seemed like this games version of spell scrolls. I kind of liked the idea of spells being stored in gems, seemed more interesting than carrying around a load of rolled up papers everywhere. After that was done there was literally nothing to do. I even took some time to log out, stretch, use the restroom and check my messages. Yet I am still stuck in this fucking escape pod. You''ll have to pardon my excess swearing, boredom pisses me off. I just couldn''t think of a reason it would take so long for rescue to arrive, according to my computer we''d only been six hours from making landfall when the pirates attacked. By my best guess, it shouldn''t have taken any more than seven or, at the longest, eight hours for rescue to arrive. Yet here I am, ten hours later and wishing I had something, anything, to do. I''d already memorized my new abilities and spells and come to the realization that I could definitely hold my own in a fight with someone else my level easily. I''d been here so long my HP had almost fully regenerated from me nearly killing myself. I''m really glad I didn''t kill myself, that would have been an embarrassing story to relate to my friends. Sorry, I''m definitely rambling at this point, did I mention how bored I was?
An hour later, eleven hours inside of this fucking escape pod and I finally see another ship outside of the viewport. The huge ship silently glides through the black of space towards my pod. I watch it carefully, I have no idea who these people are and I''d been broadcasting my emergency signal for a long time so they could have been anyone. As the ship pulls alongside my pod I get a good look at the ships name, it''s nice and brightly illuminated,Kagarezaka. No idea what that means, alien word maybe? As the ship pulls closer the console in my pod crackles with static and comes to life and a strong male voice speaks, "This is the Pact Navy shipKagarezaka contacting the escape pod on our port bow. We''ll be pulling you into a cargo bay momentarily, please make sure you''re strapped in it can get a little bumpy." Not one to argue I make sure the harness on my seat is strapped around me tightly so I don''t get thrown around the escape pod again and once more risk my death. I''d just spent the last eleven hours slowly recovering my health points, the last thing I needed to do was lose a large chunk of them again. I don''t have to wait long before the entire escape pod jolts as its momentum is completely halted. Some sort of tractor beam or something must have grabbed onto the pod, I didn''t see or hear anything before the pod jerked to a stop so odds were it wasn''t a physical cable or anything like that. I spend the next few minutes watching as I glide past the hull of the Kagarezaka, or maybe it''s gliding past me? It''s really hard to tell in space, so from my point of view I''m gliding past it! Eventually, I see a large opening that my pod is guided into, must be the cargo bay the voice mentioned. A few moments later there''s a loud crashing sound and a jolt as the escape pod is set down on the floor of the cargo bay. My whole body suddenly feels heavier, it''s kind of disorienting to suddenly feel gravity after being out of it for so long. A short time later there''s a loud clang of metal hitting metal followed by the same voice from earlier speaking over the consoles communications array, "Alright, the cargo bay is sealed and atmosphere has been restored. Welcome to the Kagarezaka, please disembark your escape pod." Finally! I was one step closer to getting to civilization, though with the size of this ship it might be like stepping into a city. Alright, that''s a bit of an exaggeration, if I had to guess this ship was only about five times the size of the New Dawn. I quickly unbuckle the harness and climb out of the seat to stretch and get used to standing on my feet once again. After being weightless for so long standing on my feet feels kind of weird, but a good weird. Stretching done I walk over to the escape pods hatch and give my override code to open it up. As soon as the hatch opens the sight outside... well let''s just say it''s not really what I was expecting. I was hoping for someone nice to take me somewhere to get something to eat, I was thirsty and starving. I also really wanted a shower. Instead, I see half a dozen men wearing military armor and pointing the very large barrels of very mean looking guns at me. My hands are instantly up in the air, "Don''t shoot!" The six soldiers keep their weapons trained on me while a seventh man walks between them, "As long as you don''t do anything aggressive they won''t shoot. I''d like to ask you to disarm and remove your [Utility Belt] please. Once you have we''ll escort you through the ship and to your quarters. Unfortunately, we''re going to need to lock you there until your identity can be verified. I do hope you understand but we can''t risk a potential pirate being loose on the ship." What the man said made sense, it made even more sense with guns pointed at me by six soldiers. I think it''s the best policy to not argue with bullets, or whatever those guns fired, so I slowly and very carefully did exactly as requested. I pulled out my [Mana Pistol] with just two fingers to show I had no intention of even trying to use it, then very carefully set it down. Getting the shotgun out was a little more complicated since it was over my shoulder, but I did my best to convey my intention to not pick a fight. With both of my weapons removed I took off my [Utility Belt] and set it down as well. Completely disarmed of my weapons I stepped away from them all and a little closer to the soldiers. The man who spoke smiles, he''s a pretty good looking guy. Uh, not that I swing that way. His hair was bright red and matched his eyes, his complexion was fair and he looked physically fit. He gestures to his right, "Right this way mister?" Obviously, he wanted my name and I had no reason not to give it to him, "I''m Thomas Darkrose, a passenger from theNew Dawn." He nods, accepting what I say for now. It probably helps that I don''t look like the pirates that attacked the ship, they seemed rather ragged and I was still wearing my nice starter clothing. "Welcome aboard theKagarezaka Mr. Darkrose. I''ll lead you to your quarters now." I nod and start walking in the direction indicated by the man, "I don''t suppose I can look forward to a meal, drink, and a shower? I''ve been stuck in that pod for eleven hours with nothing." The man gives me another smile and nods, "We can prepare a simple meal and some water for you." That was music to my hungry ears. I nod in appreciation and follow him, five of the six soldiers follow behind us to keep an eye on me while the sixth retrieves my items. I''m led through the ship, the corridors inside of it are pretty large, easily enough for the guards behind to all keep an eye on me. We pass by many doors with labels like ''Authorized Personel Only'' and ''Danger: Explosives''. I don''t think I want to go into any of those doors. After around ten minutes or so of walking we arrive at the door to the room I''ll be staying in. My escort speaks up, "You''ll be staying here until we''re sure of who you are and that there are no outstanding bounties on you. We''ll also be sure to send down a meal for you followed by someone to take your statement about what occurred on theNew Dawn." After he finishes speaking he touches the panel to the door and it slides open instead of swinging open. I step inside and the door slides shut, a green light on the panel to open the door on my side turns red. The room is bigger than the cabin I was in on theNew Dawn, with a double bed, a small desk and chair, a lockbox I could put stuff into if I had any, and a door that leads into a small bathroom with a tiny shower.
An hour later I''d showered, eaten and was resting on the comfortable bed in the cabin, all in all... I was fucking bored again. You know, all the promotional videos had made it seem like this game was non-stop action and adventure, they neglected to even mention the hours you could spend doing absolutely nothing at all. I was contemplating logging out again to do a few things around my apartment when the door chimed and slid open. Standing in the doorway was a seriously beautiful woman wearing a uniform similar to the man that had guided me to this room. I assume she''s a crew member from the outfit. She''s tall, at least six inches taller than myself and I was just an inch shy of six feet. All her curves were perfectly proportioned and shaped, nothing too big or too small where it mattered. Her hair was dark, black it looked like, and wound up in a tight bun on the back of her head. She studied me with her iridescent blue eyes from behind the lenses of her glasses. I sat up in my bed as she greeted me, "Hello Mr. Darkrose, I''m Riva one of the Inquisitors here on theKagarezaka. I''ll be taking your statement and checking it against accounts from other passengers from theNew Dawn as well as the ships manifest. May I come in?" I make a gesture for her to come on in, "Please come in." She gives me a curt nod and walks into the cabin and takes the seat from the desk to sit in and look at me. She looks down at the small digital data pad she had with her, "Right to business then. We have the manifest that theNew Dawn submitted and indeed your name and picture are on the manifest so we''re confident in your identity. We would still like an account of everything you did and witnessed during the attack by the pirate ship though." I nod and explain most of what I did from the time the pirates attacked, my escape from my room, rescuing Nanase, and escorting her and the pink alien to the escape pods. From there I changed my story. In the time I''d had to myself I''d come to the decision that it was probably best not to admit to blowing up theNew Dawn and pirate ship. I didn''t know what laws this incident would fall under and I didn''t want to have to take any responsibility for the destruction I had caused. Sure the cargo would have been stolen by the pirates but there was no guarantee that they would have taken theNew Dawn itself and I really didn''t want to have the price of the ship becoming a debt I had to pay off. So my modified story was pretty simple, after dropping off Nanase and the pink guy I explained that I had returned to a console in the ship to check for any other survivors, I added in seeing the crew member being tortured to death. Then explained that when I returned to the escape pods only the one I took was left. I didn''t exactly lie, I just didn''t tell everything. I didn''t know if inquisitors could detect lies or not so I thought it best not to tell a bold-faced lie. When I finish telling my modified story Riva nods and scrolls through some data on her screen, "What you''ve said matches up with what Ms. Nanase and Mr. Buxolextox gave in their accounts." She looks at her pad for a bit longer then looks at me, "Do you know what caused the explosion that destroyed theNew Dawn and the unregistered pirate ship?" Technically, it was me. I can''t say that out loud though or don''t want to say it is more accurate so I sort of deflect, "From what I saw through the hatch viewport on the escape pod it appeared to be an A.C.C. meltdown, perhaps a self-destruct? Or maybe one of the pirates did something stupid?" Fortunately, none of that was a lie, it did look like an A.C.C. meltdown because that''s exactly what it was, and a self-destruct or one of the pirates doing something was a possibility. Framing it as a question instead of a statement also prevented it from being an outright lie. I know I''m skirting the truth with a minor technicality, but it works for me. Riva studies me for a moment so I give her a small smile. She doesn''t return the gesture and keeps a stern look on her face while she returns to her datapad and adds some information to it.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "Thank you for your statement Mr. Darkrose. At this time you''re cleared on suspicion of being a pirate. When we arrive atGharstavh you will be placed on a dropship with other rescued survivors. From there you will be dropped off in the port city ofVarion as theNew Dawn would have done." When she finishes speaking Riva stands up and leaves the room without another word.
Skill Gained
Deception 1/100 (+0 Charisma)
After she leaves I recline on the bed once more and sigh, too bad she left. It might sound misogynistic but wound up seeming women like her were almost always wild beasts once you got them out of their clothing.
A few hours later my door chimes and then opens, the man who had escorted me to the room was at the threshold. He gave me a smile and greeted me, "Hello Mr. Darkrose. We''ve arrived atGharstavh and I''m here to take you to the dropship." He lifts up his arm and my [Utility Belt] is in his hand, "I''ve also brought your possessions, your weapons have been stored inside, please leave them there until you have exited the dropship." I roll off of the comfortable bed I''d been dozing on and walk over to retrieve my [Utility Belt] and put it back on, "Thanks. I was worried I might not get them back." The man laughs, "Well, we would have given it back to you after speaking with Ms. Riva, but after the account of Ms. Nanase and your own admission to using a grenade on board theNew Dawn we decided it was best not to let you have such dangerous items for the time being." I could have pointed out that even without the weapons I could have easily caused damage to the ship with magic, but wisely decide not to. I give the man a smile and gesture for him to lead the way, "Well let''s go then, I''m excited to finally get planetside." The man nods and leads me through the ship once more. A few minutes later we arrive at a large area with the dropship inside of it. I recognize a few of the people boarding as passengers from theNew Dawn, mostly because of their uniquely alien looks. I even spot the thin pink alien, couldn''t remember his name though. As I walk up to the dropship a familiar woman walks over to me and gives me a smile, Nanase, the woman I saved. "I''m so glad I got to see you again. In all the commotion on theNew Dawn, I didn''t have a chance to thank you for saving my life. Even if you did almost scare me to death in the process of saving me." I make a dismissive gesture with my hand, "Sorry about scaring you, but I''m glad you''re alright." She nods, gives me another warm smile, and gets in line to board the dropship. I follow her and get in line behind her. Once on the dropship, I strap into one of the seats and relax. I was finally going to get onto an alien planet, from there I needed to do a little shopping and contact Reginald, Jeffs character.
Another half an hour later, a bit of a bumpy ride through the atmosphere, and we finally land onGharstavh. When I disembark the dropship I take my first breath of air on an alien world. It smells... different from the air I''m used to in the real world. There''s a hint of something in the scent of the air that I can''t make out, along with all the other scents of a fully industrialized city. I walk over to the edge of the landing platform and gaze out onto my first alien city. The city ofVarion is a sprawling metropolis of massive buildings reaching into the sky. Some of the buildings I can see have strange shapes and architecture, but for the most part, it doesn''t look too disparate from cities back in the real world.
Welcome toVarion the Capitol of Gharstavh!
Quest Complete
Make your way to Varion the capital city of Gharstavh. It has been a long journey with many trials and tribulations, but you have finally arrived at Varion!
Rewards: Experience
Experience Gained: 750 (500+50%)
New Quest
Now that you have arrived in the city of Varion head to Grizwalds Discount Ship Emporium to claim your free basic starter ship.
Rewards: Minimally equipped Light Freighter
Oh? How very nice. Seems like I was going to get a little ship for free. Well, that would make it easier to meet up with Reginald halfway between here and wherever he is. As long as it had an A.C.C. so I could travel it would be good enough until we met up and he gave me the ship and gear he promised me. First things first though, I was finally in a city. It''s time to upgrade my [Personal Computer] so it stops annoying the fuck out of me with its voice. Unfortunately, I was going to have to speak with it to find my way around, "Hey computer, do you have a map of the city?" "Negative." "Well can you get a map of the city then?" "Affirmative. Connecting to the local wireless network. Downloading public map. Download complete." Seriously hate the grating electronic feminine voice! "Alright then, plot a course to the nearest place that sells software upgrades for you." The holographic display comes up and a map of the city appears with a little indicator showing where I was and a line leading into the city. I pull out my [Mana Pistol] and [Mana Shotgun] from my [Utility Belt], check that they''re still fully charged and holster them. No point in walking around the city unarmed. Preparations done I follow the directions given to me by the computer. I could have asked for verbal directions, but I''m sure you understand why I didn''t.
One hour and two credits for public transport later I find myself inside of an impressive store. The walls are lined with all sorts of different personal computers with prices ranging from fifty credits all the way to hundreds of thousands of credits. There were also dozens of video screens advertising the different software available and touting how much it would change my life. I ignored all of that and went to the shops counter at the back of the large brightly lit and glittering store. The man standing behind the counter, well actually the orc standing behind the counter gives me a welcoming smile. He''s big, I meanbig a massive seven foot tall being covered in thick muscles and grey skin wearing a formal business suit. It''s... really fucking weird actually. Normally when you see an orc in a game your first instinct is to shoot it in the face right? I mean, in every game I''ve played orcs were monsters who wanted to kill men, rape women, and just pillage and plunder in general. This guy though, he''s just wearing a snappy business suit and working in a high-tech store like any other John Doe. Seeing the confusion on my face the orc grins and speaks up with a deep baritone voice, "Welcome to Grizmok''s, first time seeing an orc?" I feel a tad taken aback but I shake my head and give him a smile in return, "Ah, no, not my first time seeing an orc. I''m just sort of used to orcs trying to kill me on sight, not selling me stuff." The orc doesn''t seem the least bit surprised or upset at my frank answer, in fact he laughs and nods, "That sounds about right. But we''re not all like that, just like not all humans, like you, are pirates and the like." I lift a finger, "Actually I''m Suverian, but I''m sure that''s a common mistake since we look so much like humans." "My apologies. Well, I''m Grizmok, how can I help you today?" I lift up my left arm to indicate my [Personal Computer], "I just got this and the voice for the Artificial Personality is really grating on my nerves. I am hoping you have a nice soothing female voice that I can replace it with, as well as a matching female avatar." Grizmok nods, "Ah, so you want a diva package." I arch an eyebrow at him, "Diva package?" He nods, "We have many packages for Artificial Personalities, one with a nice voice and matching avatar is referred to as a diva package. Some celebrity men and women even model for the avatars and provide their voices. It''s how the package got its name." I shrug, "Well I don''t need a particular celebrity, in fact, I would prefer not to have a celebrity." I rub my chin as I think, "Can you show me the most uncommonly used diva package?" The orc shrugs, types at a console built into the service desk and a moment later it lights up and displays an arrangement of ten holographic females, "Just touch the spot in front of the avatars to hear them speak a few lines." I nod and go through the line touching the spot in front of each of the avatars to listen to their voices. All of them are pretty nice, but I rule out a few right away. The first one sounds a little too sultry, I didn''t want to feel like my [Personal Computer] was trying to flirt with me. The fifth one has a childish voice, like a middle school girl so I rule that one out as well. I didn''t need people thinking I was into that sort of thing. In the end, I select the seventh one in the line. The avatar looks like a human woman in her early twenties with long hair and a pretty smile, her voice is kind and sweet but she sounds like a woman, not a child. "Ahhh the Celeste model. Not a bad choice. Until the traveler idols began to show up she was extremely popular. Now though, she barely gets sold to anyone. Pretty much everyone wants a traveler idol for their Artificial Personalities these days." Grizmok shrug as he speaks. Travelers? Where had I heard that term before... OH! Right, that''s what players in StarPath were called by the NPC''s. Jeff mentioned it about a week ago when he was talking about the game. The developers deemed that all the players would be known as travelers, beings from another dimension that came here to explore. Or something like that. It was meant to explain our pseudo-immortality to the NPC''s. After all, players come back from the dead and NPC''s do not. Though players did die it was just a temporary thing, a minor inconvenience for us. It must make us seem like gods to the NPC''s. Grizmok pulls out a small stick, I recognize it as a [Data Chip] thanks to my [Computers] skill, and sets it on the counter, "Is there anything else I can get for you sir?" I think about it for a bit and nod, "Actually yeah, I could use a wireless earpiece to connect to my computer for quieter communications as well as some game software for it." I''d already spent over a dozen hours in this game doing nothing at all, it would help to have some entertainment to keep me busy on long flights. Grizmok nods and pulls out another [Data Chip] to set on the counter next to the Celeste diva package. Then he heads over to a shelf and retrieves a small package containing the earpiece. "The Data Chip contains the current top one hundred popular games and the earpiece I selected is a midrange model, unless you would prefer something else?" I shake my head, that all seemed fine to me. I think for another moment and a bit of inspiration hits me, "Do you happen to have any upgrades for the artificial personality to change the way it speaks? To get rid of it saying things like ''Affirmative''"? Grizmok gestures to the Celeste [Data Chip], "The Diva package already contains that. The personality will speak according to the model''s natural patterns." Oh, that was good to know. I couldn''t think of anything else I needed, "I''m all set then. How much do I owe you?" Grizmok types in his console again,then scans the items and a holographic display appears stating the total. Fifteen credits for Celeste, twenty credits for the games, and ten credits for the earpiece. A total of forty-five credits. I pay Grizmok and he hands over the items to me then speaks up, "Now that your business is concluded I was wondering if you would be interested in a proposal from me?" That peaks my curiosity, I didn''t have much else to do but get to the place with my ship and meet up with Reginald, so I could spend a little time listening, "Sure." Grizmok nods, "Thank you very much. I was wondering if you would be interested in modeling for an Artifical Personality Avatar?" Okay, wasn''t expecting that. My first instinct is to say no, but again my curiosity overcomes that so instead I ask, "Why?" Grizmok shrugs his massive shoulders, "Well, and please don''t take this the wrong way, you are fairly attractive looking for a male Suverian and your voice is rather masculine without being overbearing. I think a model of you might sell fairly well and could earn both of us a few credits. On a full-color model, your dark purple hair and eyes would be fairly appealing to female buyers." I think about it for a moment then ask, "How long would it take and what would my payment be?" Grizmok smiles broadly, "The scan takes only a few moments and the voice recording takes at most an hour. If you agree I would be willing to give you a commission of twenty percent on all sales of your packages." Twenty percent of a fifteen credit sale didn''t seem like very much, it was only three credits. I think for a bit and counter his offer, "I''d prefer forty percent." Grizmok grimaces and shakes his head, "I''m afraid that''s a bit steep, how about twenty-five percent?" I counter, "Thirty-five." Grizmok sighs, "Thirty percent and that''s my final offer." I grin and nod, "Deal."
Skill Gained
Negotiation 1/100 (+0 Charisma)
Grizmok smiles and pushes a button on his console, "Gorblar come and run the counter for me." His voice echoes through the entire store from loudspeakers. A minute or so later another impeccably dressed orc that looks like he could be Grizmok''s twin comes out from a back room and steps to the counter to take his place. Grizmok gestures for me to follow him into the back. Once there we go through the process of making an artificial personality avatar of me. The process is simple, if tedious. First, a quick scan to make a digital rendering of myself, then about an hour of reading lines from a script to record and digitize my vocal patterns so the avatar could reproduce the way I spoke. Given this experience, I had no intention of ever voice locking something. When everything was done Grizmok hands me a digital pad outlining our contract. I read through it carefully looking for any potential loopholes that would let him get out of paying me, but everything seems right. Grizmok speaks up, "Once you authorize the contract I''ll need the information for your GalNet Bank account." I look up at him from the contract, "I don''t have one." Grizmok nods, "That''s fine, just make sure you get one and send me the information so I can make a monthly deposit into your account. If you don''t I''ll keep the credits until you come to collect them." I decide that I will open an account, I liked Grizmok and all, but I didn''t want to make monthly trips here just to collect a few credits. The bank account would probably come in handy for other things anyway. That decided I authorize the contract.
You have entered a binding agreement with Grizmok of Grizmok''s Electronics. You will receive a monthly payment equal to 30% of all sales of your digital avatar, synthesized voice, or packages containing either. This contract is valid for your natural lifespan or 250 cycles, whichever comes first.
I hand the data pad with the authorized contract back to Grizmok, after checking it he nods and holds a [Data Chip] out to me, "My contact information for when you open your bank account. It''s been a pleasure doing business with you." I take the [Data Chip] and stick it in my [Utility Belt] with my other purchases, "A pleasure doing business with you too." With my shopping here done and a little extra, I head out of Grizmoks. Chapter 3.2 - Getting Started 2 Chapter 3.2 - Getting Started 2 After stepping out of Grizmok''s Electronics I walk over to a public bench and sit down. I still had a couple of things to do before picking up my starter ship, like opening a bank account. But before I do any of that there was one very important thing to do. I pull out the [Data Chip] with the Celeste diva package on it and slip it into the proper slot on my [Personal Computer]. The holographic display lights up and asks me if I want to install new software, obviously I select yes. Once the installation is complete I go through the user settings on the device and change the computer voice option from default to Celeste, and set the computers avatar from none to Celeste. Time to test it out, "Computer, plot a course to the nearest branch of the GalNet Bank that''s on the way to Grizwalds Discount Ship Emporium." A small woman appears as a fully colored holographic display above the computer on my forearm, she''s a beautiful woman with long dark hair and bright green eyes wearing a simple white sundress. "Sure Thomas, is there anywhere else you would like to stop along the way?", the voice on the computer now is so much nicer, kind, sweet, but clear and easy to understand. Her way of speaking had even changed. Oh yes, this was much better than the dreadful default settings. I can''t help but smile because if I didn''t know better I would swear I was having a conversation with a real person now, "No, but thank you for asking. By the way, is it alright if I call you Celeste from now on?" The holographic image of the woman gives me a radiant smile, "It''s no problem Thomas, and you can call me anything you like." I keep smiling as I converse with my computer, I can''t help it. The personality change is pretty drastic and is making using the computer much more enjoyable to speak with, "Then from now on, I will call you Celeste." I eject the [Data Chip] and store it in my [Utility Belt], at the same time I retrieve the package with my earpiece in it. After removing and discarding the package in a nearby trash bin I turn it on and get it into a comfortable position in my right ear. "Celeste connect with my earpiece and give me verbal directions to the bank." The holographic woman nods and the next time she speaks I hear it from the earpiece instead of the computer, "All set Thomas."
A short time later I''m leaving the GalNet Bank after opening an account. The process was pretty simple, just a D.N.A. sample and my name were all I needed to open the account. Apparently when my character was created all relevant legal information had been added to the game to make me a legitimate citizen. So when they checked my name it gave them my information. The D.N.A. sample was a security measure on my account. I had all the relevant information now and had given it to Celeste to store, well everything except the password. "Celeste, forward the necessary information to Grizmok so he can make deposits into my account. Then tell me how to get to Grizwalds Discount Ship Emporium from here." Celeste responds with a chipper, "No problem Thomas." Following the directions Celeste gives me I make my way Grizwalds, it takes me about an hour and another two credits for public transport to get there. By the time I arrive the sky is turning red and the sun is about to set. The storefront isn''t very large, but the lot behind the store is massive with a large array of different looking ships of all shapes and sizes. Some look brand new, others look like they''re only being held together with prayers. When I step into the store and see the individual behind the counter I have to wonder if all the shop owners in this city are monsters of some sort. The... man behind the counter is massive. I don''t mean muscular either, I mean fat. He has to weigh at least six hundred pounds while being no more than five feet tall making him look extremely wide. His entire body juggles with every movement he makes. On top of that he looks like a pig, and no that isn''t a euphemism for how fat he is, his head literally looks like a pig. His skin is dark green and despite his animal look, there are very definite signs of intelligence behind his beady little eyes. "Ah, welcome welcome. How can I help you today good sir?" I can''t help but be a little surprised at the being''s voice, it''s smooth, strong and masculine. It gives off a no-nonsense businessman sort of vibe. It was a little surprising that he could speak so clearly with a snout instead of a normal mouth. I move closer to the counter and give him a smile, "My name is Thomas Darkrose, I believe you have a ship here for me?" The pig-man waddles over to a console and types in my name, "Oh yes, Mr. Darkrose it seems I do indeed have a ship reserved for you. It seems you paid for a Light Freighter, is that correct?" I didn''t technically pay for it, but it seems like that''s how the game plays it out so I nod, "That''s correct." He nods his piggy head and his jowls continue to shake for a few seconds after he stops. You would think someone so fat would be equally dirty, but he was wearing a pair of black overalls and a gray tee-shirt without a single stain on either, "Excellent. If you will follow me I''ll take you to your ship." I nod and follow him as he steps from behind the counter and leads me to a door heading out to the shipyard in back. I am shocked when I see his legs, they can''t be more than a foot long and end in small hooves. I can''t even begin to imagine how he manages to stay standing with such small feet holding all that weight. Outside he steps on a small railed platform with some driving controls on it and gestures for me to join him. The platform looks like it could hold half a dozen people my size, but the sheer bulk of the pig-man makes me have to stand uncomfortably close to him. He takes the controls and begins to drive us through the shipyard. There are dozens upon dozens of ships here in all shapes and sizes. I see some that are sleek, aerodynamic, and look like oversized fighter jets, some that look like large rectangles with windshields, and one that looks like it''s made out of crystals sticking out at sharp angles giving the ship an aggressive look. That last ship glitters menacingly in the red light of the setting sun. It doesn''t take very long for the pig-man to drive me to a ship and park the platform near it, "Here she is Mr. Darkrose." I look up at the ship and study it. It''s not very big, maybe a hundred feet long in my estimate. It looks more like an ancient Earth shuttle than any kind of freighter I''m familiar with, given the size of the ship there definitely wouldn''t be much room for cargo. The ship has a rounded nose that sweeps back in a somewhat aerodynamic design that looks like it would be equally good at flying in the atmosphere as it will in space. All in all, it looks like a good ship, if it was a hundred years younger. The entire thing is covered in splotches of rust and the landing gear looks like it''s going to shatter and collapse under the weight of the ship. Just about everything about the ship screams that it''s a piece of junk, I think I even see a bit of duct tape holding parts of it on! I look at the pig-man, "Are you sure this is the right ship? It doesn''t look like it would be very safe to fly." The pig-man looks at me and I can instantly tell he''s insulted, "I''ll have you know that all the ships in my lot are certified by the highest safety standards. Any one of them will get you from here to the other side of the galaxy without any issues!" He huffs and crosses his fat arms over is even fatter chest and glares at me. I decide it''s best to smooth things over, "Sorry. It''s my first time owning a spaceship," in this game, "so I guess I shouldn''t judge a book by its cover. Just to make sure though the ship is equipped with an Arcane Corridor Core yes?" The pig-man harrumphs and nods, "Yes, the ship is equipped with an A.C.C. and shields to protect it at faster than light speeds. Though, it''s just a basic model and doesn''t include any armaments. You can purchase weapons for it here if you need them. It also has two single person cabins, but not much else. These are the specifications you sent when making the purchase you know." I didn''t send jack shit, must have been the game again to keep the immersion for the NPC''s. I hold back a sigh and nod to answer yes to his question, "Alright I''ll take her. Is there any paperwork or anything we need to do?" The pig-man shakes his head, "Nope it''s all taken care of. When you get on board though you will need to name the ship and register it with the Pact authorities, they''ll issue you a registration number to go with the ships name. Once that''s done you''re free to take off and head wherever you wish. I would suggest hopping on the local network though and seeing if there''s anyone that wants deliveries or has jobs that need doing on the way to your destination." I see so that''s how I can pick up quests. I nod to the pig-man and give him a smile as I step off the platform, "Thanks for all your help and advice." I turn to start heading to the ship. "Wait!", he calls out to me while digging in one of his pockets. He pulls out something that my skill ranks in [Computers] tells me is an electronic key, basically a small device you plug into something to show you have the authorization to use it. Kind of like a key to a car. He tosses it to me and I catch it easily, "If you want to go anywhere you''re going to need that to open the ship and start it up." I give the pig-man another smile and wave while he turns his mobile platform around and drives back to his storefront. I turn around and face my ship, "What a piece of crap."
Quest Complete
Now that you have arrived in the city of Varion head to Grizwalds Discount Ship Emporium to claim your free basic starter ship. Having met with Grizwald you have claimed your first ship. You are now free to take jobs, travel, or just explore as you desire.
Rewards: Minimally equipped Light Freighter
New Quest
Congratulations on claiming your first ship! Now it''s time to put it to good use. Accept any quest that requires the use of your ship and complete it.
Rewards: Experience
Shaking my head I walk all the way around the ship to examine it, the more I look at it the more I''m worried it will fall out of the sky or just flat out explode on me. After a full walk around I step up to the back of the ship and insert the electronic key into a small slot. The entire back of the ship begins to open so I make sure to step out of the way to keep from becoming a stain on the pavement. When the back finishes opening it forms a ramp about forty feet wide. I pull out the electronic key and walk up the ramp and into the ship. The back of the ship is just empty space, cargo space, about forty feet wide by fifty feet long, ortwo thousand square feet. From top to bottom it''s about ten to twelve feet, so I could fit at least a little bit of cargo into this thing. At the end of the cargo bay is a door leading to the interior of the ship, so I head that way and open it. The door leads to a corridor about twenty feet long that begins to angleup about halfway along it, at the opposite end of the corridor is the door to the cockpit. About five feet in front of me on my left and right are two doors that lead into small cabins with beds, a small desk, and a small bathroom with a toilet and shower. There''s a hatch built into the ramp leading up to the cockpit that leads down into the engine room where the A.C.C. is located. I step into the cockpit and sit down in the only seat in it. I stick the electronic key into the slot and the ship comes to life with a soft hum of computers booting up. Soon several screens light up and begin displaying diagnostics of the ship''s systems. Fortunately, I have the [Ship Repair] and [Ship Modification] skills so I can understand most of the readouts as they scroll by. Despite the look of the ship, all the systems seem solid. Once the boot up is complete I look at my [Personal Computer], "Celeste can you connect with the ship''s systems so I can issue verbal commands?" "Sure Thomas, give me just a second aaaaand... done!", the word ''done'' echoes from the loudspeaker system of the ship. "Nicely done Celeste. Can you confirm the ship''s systems are all functioning properly? I''m pretty sure they are but a second set of eyes inside the electronics never hurts."Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. "Sure Thomas.", again her voice is over the loudspeaker, "Looks like you were right. I''m not detecting any faults in the systems, everything is green." "Okay Celeste, connect us to the Pact authorities so we can register the ship and get our registration number." She doesn''t say anything for a moment and then I hear a rough sounding man''s voice coming over my earpiece, "This is Private Maenard of the Pact Ship Registration Office. Your computer contacted us and said you wished to register a vessel?" I nod, then realize the man can''t see me, "That''s correct." "And it''s the ship you''re contacting us from?", he asks. "That''s also correct.", is the reply I give. "Just a moment while I pull up the information on your ship, may I have your name for verification?", he asks. So I give him my name and spend the next minute waiting as he does whatever he needs to do, then he speaks up again, "Alright I''ve got all the information and a new registration number ready for you. What do you intend to call your ship?" I grin, I can''t help it, I''ve thought of a truly terrible and lame name for this flying deathtrap called a ship, "I''d like to register it as ''My Little Pile''." The man says nothing, not even a snicker. A few seconds later he speaks up, "Alright your registration is complete. Be sure to contact us, or have your computer contact us, to submit a destination when you leave the planet." I have to tell them where I''m going? That''s annoying, so I ask, "Why do I have to submit a destination?" "Technically you don''t have to. However it is strongly recommended that you do so that if anything happens and you do not arrive when expected we can calculate possible routes you took to rescue you.", is his reply. "Understood, thanks for your help.", I end the call there. I lean back in my chair and sigh. Now that I was done with that and my ship was registered I could contact Reginald and find a way to meet up with him to get a real ship. "Hey Celeste, how do I make an interplanetary call?" "You just need to connect the ship to the FTL-CN, that''s the FTL Communications Network.", she replies. I nod and type in the contact info Jeff gave me for his character Reginald into my [Personal Computer], "Connect to the network and contact Reginald." I sit in silence for a few minutes then I hear a familiar voice on my earpiece, "Hey man. I''ve been waiting for you to contact me." I smile, Reginald sounds pretty happy, "Hey Reggi, I just got my ship registered and need to know where I''m going if I''m going to pick up any quests on the way there. Right now I''m onGharstavh." Reginald coughs, "Reggi? The hell man?" I laugh, "What? It''s your fault for picking such a weird name." He laughs, "Says the guy who only ever uses one name!" I shake my head while smiling, "So where are we meeting up?" "Just a second.", there''s silence for a few moments, I assume he''s looking at a map to figure out where we should meet. He speaks up a little bit later, "Alright, it looks like the best spot to meet up is at Valencia-5, the fifth planet in the Valencia system. It should be roughly six hours at FTL from you, about seven from me." "Alright, I''m going to see if I can pick up any quests on the way to Valencia-5 then. Just don''t forget to bring what you promised me alright?" Reginald laughs, "I won''t forget. I''ll have your freighter, MCU''s, and gear with me when I arrive, plus a few of the guild members. We''ll also have you join up while we''re there. So how was your tutorial?" I grin and regale Reginald with the full unedited story of what I did in the tutorial, from my daring rescue to detonating the ship to wipe out the pirates. When I finish my story he speaks up, "Jesus man. You actually blew up two ships?" "Yup. I hacked the A.C.C. core and made a sort of self-destruct out of it. The explosion wiped out theNew Dawn and the pirate ship. I got a ton of experience for it." Reginald laughs, "I bet, what level did it get you up to?" "I''m level three and a little over a third of the way to level four. I figure if I can get a decent quest or two I can be up to halfway to level four when we meet up." "That sounds about right Thomas. Get your quests and get into FTL, then I suggest you log out for a bit and get some dinner and do some stretching. We''ll talk more when we meet up.", he ends the call there. "Celeste, connect to the local network and pull up any jobs in the direction of Valencia-5." Celeste projects her avatar out of one of the projectors in the cockpit, "Sure thing Thomas. I took the liberty of excluding jobs for deliveries that wouldn''t be able to fit into the cargo space of the ship." Damn, she''s good. I nod in approval, "Show me what we got."
Available Quest
Varax Industries needs 1 bulk of construction supplies delivered to the VC-5A Orbital Station orbiting Valencia-5.
Rewards: Experience, 5,000 Credits
Failure: Compensation for lost goods
Available Quest
Draeivian Tech needs 3 bulk of electronics delivered to their satellite office on Valencia-5.
Rewards: Experience, 12,000 Credits
Failure: Compensation for lost goods
Available Quest
Exolt Vahn needs 4 Bulk of items discreetly delivered to Valencia-5.
Rewards: Experience, 25,000 Credits
Failure: Compensation for lost goods
This was a small sample of possible jobs. Though I would be avoiding ones like that last listing like the plague. It just reeked of smuggling and I didn''t have the ship, skills, or disposition to get into that kind of thing. I ended up taking the first two jobs. From what I could tell one bulk was about fifteen by fifteen feet, so I had enough space to store the items they wanted to deliver and then some. From my math I should be able to fit about six bulk in my cargo bay.
New Quest
Varax Industries needs 1 bulk of construction supplies delivered to the VC-5A Orbital Station orbiting Valencia-5. Varax Industries has been notified of your location and will arrive within the hour to load their cargo onto theMy Little Pile.
Rewards: Experience, 5,000 Credits
Failure: Compensation for lost goods
New Quest
Draeivian Tech needs 3 bulk of electronics delivered to their satellite office on Valencia-5. Draeivian Tech has been notified of your location and will arrive within forty-five minutes to load their cargo onto theMy Little Pile.
Rewards: Experience, 12,000 Credits
Failure: Compensation for lost goods
Forty-three minutes later a representative for Draeivian Tech shows up with the cargo on pallets being pulled by a remote-controlled drone. I wave at the representative, "Welcome to theMy Little Pile." The human looking male representative takes a long discerning look at the ship and sighs, "Just to be sure, you are aware that if anything happens to the cargo you are responsible for the cost of the lost goods plus compensation right?" I turn my head to look over my ship, it definitely still looks like a piece of crap even in the last rays of light from the setting sun, but I turn back to the representative and smile, "Don''t worry, she may look like this but she flies just fine." Okay, truth time? I have no idea how she flies. Frankly, I''m not even sure I can fly her properly since I have no skills related to piloting spaceships, just memories from a previous game or two. It would just be monumentally stupid to admit things like that to a customer so I decide to go with a little white lie. I mean, how hard can flying a spaceship really be? It''s not like it''s rocket science. It''s probably closer to nuclear science. The representative sighs and shakes his head then usesthe remote control to pilot the drone and deliver the cargo into the cargo bay of the ship. He does a good job of it too, two of the large containers are placed on the port side of the ship close to each other and the third is placed on the starboard side of the ship. This leaves just a bit of room to walk between them to get through the cargo bay and keeps the load on the ship relatively balanced between the port and starboard sides. After dropping off the cargo the rep has me authorize some paperwork taking the cargo into my custody, along with responsibility for it, and leaves. A few minutes later the rep forVarax Industries arrives with another drone pulling a single container. I go through the same song and dance with this rep before she loads the container into the cargo bay taking up the space next to theDraeivian Tech supplies on the starboard side. The four containers leave just enough room between them for me to walk from the ramp to the door that leads inside of the ship. And enough room at the back of the ship for at least two more containers. I would have taken more quests, but they all were going to different areas or required much larger cargo space than I had available. After I give my authorization and the last cargo container becomes my responsibility I''m ready to begin my first interstellar flight in StarPath. I get settled in my seat in the cockpit and close the rear hatch of the ship. I''m actually feeling a little nervous, I can feel my weird heartbeat pounding away down by my stomach. I take a few deep calming breaths and begin my pre-flight preparations. First I go through the processes of getting the thrusters started up, they take around two minutes to get fully warmed up and ready for use. While that''s happening I have Celeste use the ships navigation system to plot a course from here to Valencia-5. The calculations the ship''s computer has to make are massive so those won''t be done for a little while yet, it looks like being able to jump to FTL isn''t a quick or easy process. I take a few moments to read through some basic directions on flying this ship. The control inputs are pretty simple and it looks like there are several systems in the ship designed to simplify the process of flying it. That''s going to help me a lot. The controls I will be using primarily are a throttle and a joystick. The throttle''s forward and backward movement controls thrust in those directions while a pair of buttons on it control up and down vertical thrust. Meanwhile, the joystick controls pitch and yaw of the ship. With a simple setup like this, I shouldn''t have too much trouble flying it. I take one final deep breath to calm my nerves and press the vertical thrust button. The whole ship vibrates and I can hear a dull roar coming from the thrusters outside as they ignite and begin to push against gravity. Slowly the ship begins to ascend into the air and gradually picks up speed. Through the window of the cockpit, I can see the ground slowly growing further and further away. Oh yeah! "Hey Celeste, just this once register our flight path with the authorities. Just in case something happens to us on the way." "Sure thing Thomas." While she does that I watch our height on the altimeter, once we''re about three hundred feet into the air I slowly push the throttle forward to begin accelerating in that direction. I can feel the large engines at the aft of the ship ignite and begin to push the ship forward, pushing me back into my seat. The ship quickly picks up speed as I continue to slowly inch the throttle forward. I pull back on the joystick to pitch the ship upwards and start a steady climb to escape the atmosphere of the planet. While I do that I also keep an eye on my scanners to make sure no other ships are in my projected course, the last thing I needed was to blindly kamikaze another ship. I continue to pitch the ship up while increasing my speed until I hit maximum velocity. The ship shakes every now and then as I fly through the atmosphere of the planet. It takes less than two minutes overall for me to lift off from the ground and blast through the atmosphere and into the black of space. Once the gravity of the planet begins to fade off the artificial gravity of the ship kicks in and keeps me comfortably grounded. I keep the ships acceleration at maximum so that I continue to accelerate faster and faster in space.
New Skill
Piloting (Light Freighter) 1/100 (+0 Agility)
As I fly I adjust my trajectory to the one the ship''s computer has plotted for me so that I can get properly aligned in the direction I need to go to reach Valencia-5. "Hey Celeste, how much longer until the jump calculations are complete?" Celestes small avatar turns to me and smiles, "The calculations will be done in less than a minute Thomas." I nod and make sure the ship is on the proper trajectory while I wait for the calculations to complete. In the reading I had done to prepare for my first flight I had noted that using an A.C.C. too close to a planet could potentially cause stress to a ship that could do anything from lightly damaging the hull to completely sheering a ship in two. I didn''t want to experience any of that so I made sure we got as far away from the gravity well ofGharstavhas we needed to. True to Celeste''s word less than a minute later the computer shows a message letting me know the jump calculations are complete and the ship is ready to engage the A.C.C. I triple-check that we''re on the right course and engage the A.C.C. The view of the black of space sprinkled with the bright specs of stars shifts drastically as the A.C.C. engages. All the specs of light from the stars vanish as I enter the Arcane Corridor that allows for faster than light travel. It''s nothing but pitch blackness, no light, no stars, not even a feeling of actually moving. It''s creepy, almost like the entire universe has ceased to exist except for me and my ship. I double check all of the computer screens and everything is green, the shields are up and protecting the ship, the ship is calculated to be on course and on time. Nothing is wrong, I''m just in the emptiness of the corridor. I unbuckle myself from the pilot''s seat and move out of the cockpit to head into the cabin on the port side of the ship. Both cabins were the exact same so it didn''t really matter which one I took, I just randomly chose this one. Inside of the cabin is a lot like the inside of my cabin on theNew Dawn when I first logged into the game. I walk over to the twin sized bed and lay down on it, "Celeste I''m not going to be available for a while. If anything happens or there are any communications let me know when I return." "Return?", I can hear the confusion in her voice over the loudspeaker, "How can you go anywhere? We''re in the corridor now." I can''t help but laugh, "Let me rephrase, when I wake up give me the information I asked for." "Oh... okay Thomas.", I can still hear the confusion in her voice. I lay my head on the small pillow, "Logout."
I sit up on my couch and carefully remove the headset and set it to the side. I stretch and get to my feet to look around my apartment. Of course, nothing had changed in the few hours I''d been logged into StarPath. I had about an hour and a half in real-world time before the ship was scheduled to arrive, I should get back a little early though so I can be in the cockpit on arrival. I spend the next hour making myself dinner, taking a shower, using the facilities, and in general doing some of the things human beings just have to do. Chapter 3.3 - Getting Started 3 Chapter 3.3 - Getting Started 3 Having logged back into the game I''m now sitting in the pilot''s seat on the bridge of the My Little Pile and looking out the windshield and into the ever-present darkness there. The Arcane Corridor was odd, it gave no impression of movement, speed, acceleration or anything that made you feel like you were even moving. It was like sitting in black nothingness. The only thing indicating I was moving were the holographic displays streaming along information. It would only be a few more minutes before I exited the Arcane Corridor back into real space for my approach to Valencia-5. First, I planned to stop by the orbital to drop off the construction supplies, they needed to be unloaded to get to one of the containers of electronics for my second quest. Second, I would head down to the planet''s surface to drop off the second load of cargo. Third, I would contact Reginald and decide a place to meet up so he could give me what he promised. This was the extent of my planning, after this, I would need some advice on where to go and what to do. Luckily for me, Reginald and his guild members would probably have plenty of advice for me. A little while later the ship jolts a bit and I drop out of the corridor and into real space, the sight of the stars in the darkness is very reassuring. A small part of me had worried that I might end up stuck in the corridor and that empty blackness for all eternity. I''ve come out about thirty light-seconds from the orbital, the standard distance for jumping into a system, so it will still take me a little longer to get to the station. The My Little Pile is only capable of reaching 0.25c, or twenty-five percent the speed of light, in normal space. It''s kind of impressive when you think about what a piece of junk the ship is. Makes me wonder what the ship Reginald is giving me will be like. About a minute later the station finally comes into sight through the windshield of the ship, it''s unbelievable. It''s a gigantic cylinder that has to be at least a half dozen miles long and a couple of miles in diameter. There are dozens of ships of all shapes and sizes flying to, flying from, and docked with the station. One, in particular, catches my eyes, it''s the biggest ship docked with the station and right in my current path. The enormous ship is visibly covered is a number of weapons and has a very aggressive look to it, definitely a warship of some kind. I would not mind having a ship like that to call my own someday, but I got the feeling that was definitely a military-only ship. If I had to guess I would label the squarish looking ship, reminiscent of an Old-Earth destroyer, as a Dreadnaught-class vessel. I finally pull my eyes off of the ship and continue to slow my vessel down as I approach the station, "Celeste, contact the station and request a place to dock so we can unload our delivery, then contact Varax Industries and let them know we''ve arrived with their delivery and what port we''ll be docking at." The little holographic display of Celeste nods in confirmation of her orders and turns to face away from me. When she does a small holographic desk appears complete with chair, phone, pens, and sheets of paper. She sits down and picks up the phone while dialing a number on it. I can''t help but laugh at the little holographic display of her getting to work like she''s my secretary, well I guess she kind of is. But that''s what I bought the [Personal Computer] and the [Artificial Personality] for. A moment later a chipper female voice comes over the loudspeakers in the ship, "Greetings My Little Pile, and welcome to the VC-5A Orbital. We''ve got you on approach and with your permission, we will engage the auto-docking sequence to get you connected with landing port number three-three-five-nine." I turn and nod to Celeste, "Do it." The station''s auto-docking system takes control of my ships flight controls and carefully guides my ship to the proper docking port. I have to admit I was a little worried about what could happen if I was to attempt to dock the ship manually. My flight skills were not exactly top notch, or even remotely good for that matter. With this, the problem is solved and I can get docked to the station without worrying about crashing into it or doing something worse. The auto-dock system carefully flies my ship to the assigned dock, turns the ship around so the rear is facing the station, and with a loud clang and hiss the ship is connected and locked onto the station. The same chipper female voice from earlier comes over the comms once more, "Docking complete! Welcome to the VC-5A Orbital, we hope you enjoy your stay!" I give my thanks to the flight controller and turn my attention to Celeste, "How long until the Varax Industries rep arrives?" Celeste turns around in her little seat and gives me a warm smile, "They should be here in half an hour or so. They thanked us for our prompt delivery of their supplies." I nod as I unstrap myself from the pilot''s seat and open the cargo hatch at the back of the ship, "Alright, I''m going to go sit at the back of the ship and wait for their arrival. Once we finish this delivery let the station know we''re taking off right away and we''ll head down to the planets surface to finish our other delivery."
I sit on the ramp for my ship for the next twenty or so minutes until an older gentleman approaches me with another of the remote-controlled drones dragging behind a pallet. He stops in front of my ship and studies it with a discerning eye, it was going to be good to get a nice ship from Reggi so people stopped judging me for this piece of crap. Still, the gentleman gives me a warm smile, "Captain Darkrose of theMy Little Pile I presume?" I climb to my feet and dust my ass off, "That''s me." The man nods and steps closer holding out a data pad for me to take a look at. I read it over and confirm that he''s here to pick up the cargo I''ve brought. I authorize the transfer and hand the data pad back before gesturing to the container that now belongs to him, "It''s that one there." He nods and uses the controller for the drone to guide the pallet into the cargo bay and retrieve the container. When he''s finished he turns around to me once more and holds out a different datapad, "I''ve confirmed receipt of the cargo. Once you authorize this I can give you your payment." I nod and take the datapad to scan the contents of it again, seeing nothing fishy I authorize it.
Quest Complete
Varax Industries needs 1 bulk of construction supplies delivered to the VC-5A Orbital Station orbiting Valencia-5. Varax Industries has been notified of your location and will arrive within the hour to load their cargo onto theMy Little Pile. You have delivered your cargo in a timely and professional manner, your reputation with Varax Industries as a reliable courier has grown.
Rewards: Experience, 5,000 Credits
Failure: Compensation for lost goods
Experience Gained:750 (500+50%)
Quest Complete
Congratulations on claiming your first ship! Now it''s time to put it to good use. Accept any quest that requires the use of your ship and complete it. You have completed your first ship-related mission, you''re officially a spacer now!
Rewards: Experience
Experience Gained: 1,500 (1,000+50%)
I dismiss the notifications while the gentleman pulls out a credit stick and hands it to me, "A pleasure doing business with you Captain Darkrose." I accept the credit stick and pocket it for now, "The pleasure is mine. If Varax Industries needs anything delivered, and I''m nearby, please keep me in mind."
New Skill
Diplomacy 1/100 (+0 Charisma)
The gentleman nods, turns, and leaves with the cargo. That wasn''t too bad really. A short flight and a little smooth talking earned me a decent bit of experience, a new skill, and a potential new contact for future jobs. You might be wondering why I was excited about jobs right? After all, my main goal is to make things. It''s pretty straightforward really. In all games, your level is of paramount importance, as are your skills and abilities. To get those higher, quests are necessary. However, in this game, the quests also provide the main resource, perhaps the only resource, I needed to craft in StarPath, Credits. To build in this game I needed a shit-load of credits, to get credits I needed do quests like this. A part of me, a very small one, has to admit that only needing money to build things was a bit of a nice break from the usual. I''m starting to think of my time in StarPath as a bit of a vacation from the grueling work of crafting in other games where I could spend a week just looking for a single piece or item to add to a recipe when making something. Yeah, let''s go with that. Here in StarPath I can break with my usual modus operandi and just have some fun doing random stuff to earn money, buy MCU''s and make different things. Well, provided that Reggi lives up to his end of the bargain and finds that Ancient Tech item to change how crafting works, whatever that means. I let out a soft sigh and feel my whole body relaxing, yeah let''s go with this for now. I turn around and walk through my ship and into the cockpit to sit down and strap in. I close the cargo hatch and look to Celeste, "Alright let the authorities know we''re ready to leave. We''ve got one more delivery and then we''re meeting up with Reggi to get our new ship and join his guild. From there we''ll figure out what to do next." Celeste smiles and picks up her little holographic phone once more. A minute later I hear the docking clamps release and feel the ship begin to drift a little. I take hold of the controls and begin to fly the ship on the course the navigation system tells me to follow. Time to head to Valencia-5 and drop off the last of the cargo. Following the navigation computers instructions I leave the heavy traffic area around the orbital and fly into empty space. Once I''m far enough away I throttle the ship up to full speed and point it in the direction of Valencia-5.
Piloting (Light Freighter) +1
It doesn''t take long for me to fly the ship from the VC-5A orbital to the planet Valencia-5, this is my first time seeing a planet from space in StarPath. When theKagarezaka dropped me off onGharstavhI was stuck in the back of the dropship and it had no windows. Valencia-5''s atmosphere is bright green, don''t ask me why I''m not a scientist, but it is beautiful. From up here, I can see the various continents with swaths of green forests, yellow deserts, and green oceans. Maybe it''s the color of the oceans that makes the whole planet seem green? I don''t know but it is very beautiful. I turn to Celeste, "Connect to the local network and look up the contact info forDraeivian Tech and let them know we''re here and need to know where to meet them. Then have the ships navigation plot a course for me, preferably the easiest one, this is my first time entering the atmosphere of a planet after all." Celeste gives me a thumbs up and picks up her little holographic phone to do as I''ve asked. It only takes a few minutes before the navigation screen lights up and gives me the path I need to take. Celeste puts her phone down and turns to me, "They want us to land at their landing pad in the city of Nekaris, Captain." I check the navigation computer for directions and nod, I don''t think this will be too hard. Worst case scenario I fuck up the approach and either burn up in the atmosphere or bounce off of it. If I had a choice I choose bouncing off of it. Still thanks to the navigation system it''s not that difficult to point myself in the proper orientation and begin my descent to the surface of the planet. As my ship descends, the friction builds and increases the temperature of the hull. The windshield is completely blocked by the orange glow of plasma from the orbital entry. I can''t see out of the windshield but my instruments are feeding me all the information I need, like my altitude and speed. I guide the ship along the prescribed course using the instruments and no visuals. I can feel my heart, or hearts, hammering away as my nerves build. This is pretty goddamn terrifying you know? Before long my speed begins to drop and the ship begins to level off as I control it, the orange glow fading away and giving me a spectacular view of the planet below. It''s breathtaking, the scenery is indescribable. In the distance, I can see one of the megacities of the planet and according to my instruments, it''s where I am heading, Nekaris. I check everything as I use the joystick and throttle to pilot the ship, thanks to the meager few ranks I''ve earned it''s a bit easier than it was before, but I wouldn''t be pulling any flying tricks anytime soon. Following the directions of the navigation system, I find the spot where I am supposed to land, "Celeste, contact Draeivian Tech and let them know I''m coming in for my landing." While she calls them on her little holographic phone I begin the landing procedures. I pull the ship directly over the landing pad and stop my forward momentum. I ease off the power of the vertical thrusters and slowly descend, at the same time I lower my landing gear. With a somewhat rough bump, the ship successfully lands on the landing platform.
Piloting (Light Freighter) +1
With the landing complete I set all the ships systems to idle. Celeste speaks up, "They should be here momentarily to pick up their cargo." I nod and hit the control to open the cargo hatch at the back of the ship and let myself out of the straps of the pilot''s seat and move through the ship to wait for whoever is picking the cargo up to arrive. I don''t have long to wait until three people show up, all in business suits. Two men, led by a woman, approach the ship and greet me, "Welcome to the Draeivian Tech offices on Valencia-5. I take it you''re Captain Darkrose of theMy Little Pile here to deliver our cargo?" I nod and gesture to the three large containers behind me, "Got it all right here for you nice, safe, and sound." I hold out my hand, "I''ve shown you mine, now show me yours." The womanlets out a sultry laugh at the lame joke and holds out a data pad for me. I scan through it to make sure the authorization is correct and nod, "Looks good, have at it."A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I authorize the transfer while the two men begin to unload the cargo onto the same kind of remote-controlled drones that everyone has used so far. I step next to the woman and hand the pad back to her. In exchange, she hands over the credit stick with my payment on it, another twelve thousand in my pocket.
Quest Complete
Draeivian Tech needs 3 bulk of electronics delivered to their satellite office on Valencia-5. Draeivian Tech has been notified of your location and will arrive within forty-five minutes to load their cargo onto the My Little Pile. You have successfully completed your delivery for Draeivian Tech and shown them you can do a job in a timely fashion. You have increased your reputation with Draeivian Tech.
Rewards: Experience, 12,000 Credits
Failure: Compensation for lost goods
Experience Gained: 1,500 (1,000+50%)
Diplomacy +1
Level up! Automatically updating Health Point and Mana Point Totals... Health Points: +7! Mana Points: +120! You have 1 Attribute Point to spend. You have unlocked Rank 2 Spells. You may select 2 new Rank 2 Spells. Your Flight spell has grown in power.
Nice! Got enough experience to level up, I dismiss the windows for the time being. I''ll go through and finish picking my spells and stuff when I''m alone. Once the unloading is finished the three reps leave me alone on the landing platform. I walk back into the cockpit of my ship and sit down in the pilot''s seat. With a quick swipe on the console, I close the cargo bay and smile to myself, time to pick new spells! Now, what were my choices...
Rank 2 (19.7 MP)
  • Caustic Nanites - Magically summon and fling nanites at one target that deals 4-16 acid damage to the target.
  • Command Undead - One undead creature obeys your commands.
  • Darkvision - Grant the ability to see in total darkness.
  • Fog Bank - Create a cloud of fog that obscures vision.
  • Holographic Image - Create a hologram with sound.
  • Implant Data - Implant data of your choice into one computer or system.
  • Inject Nanobots - Your touch deals 4-32 damage and confuses the target.
  • Chameleon Cloak- Target becomes invisible for 1 minute per level.
  • Decode - Unlocks one locked or magically sealed door.
  • Logic Bomb - Target Computer deals 6-36 energy damage to the first creature that attempts and fails to use it
  • Repair - Restore 5-30 health points to a target object or construct.
  • Holographic Mirror - Create decoy duplicates of yourself.
  • Recharge - Replenish the charges on any device that holds charges.
  • Magical Cyberlock - Magically lock a portal, chest, or computer system.
  • Invisibility Scan - See invisible creatures or objects.
  • Spider Climb - Grants the ability to walk on any surface.
There were quite a few good looking spells on the rank two list, and some I wasn''t sure I could see a good use for. Unfortunately, I could only choose two, and since I wanted to survive the first one I select is [Chameleon Cloak]. I figured [Comeleon Cloak] would work amazingly with my beloved idea of getting into someone''s face and shooting them with my [Mana Shotgun]. The next choice was going to be a lot harder to make. There were several combat options and several decent looking utility options. I honestly didn''t know what would come in the handiest, several spells seemed pretty useful for how I wanted to play. Darkvision, Decode, Repair, Holographic Mirror, Recharge, Magical Cyberlock, and Invisibility Scan all seemed like they would have excellent uses. I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose and shake my head, none of the other ranks had been so difficult to choose from. Alright, when all else fails choose something that will help with survival. I select [Holographic Mirror], the decoys would help prevent me from getting shot in combat and keep me alive. Alive is always the best condition, right? Lastly, I drop my attribute point into [Reason] to bring it up to twenty-three. With everything done I spin up the ship''s systems and turn to Celeste, "Alright, get in touch with Reggi, he should be in the system now and we should be able to figure out where to meet up." "Sure thing Captain.", she turns and picks up her phone and does as I asked. "Hey Thomas!", Reggi''s voice comes over my earpiece, "I take it you''re all done with your quests?" "Yeah all done on my end. Where do you want to meet up?" "We''re parked at a public landing area on the east side of the city, I''ll give your Celeste the coordinates so you can join us.", he finishes. I look at the information he sends over, it''s only a few hundred miles from here so it shouldn''t take me all that long to get there. I spin up the thrusters and begin my vertical take off. I don''t bother retracting the landing gear since it will be a short flight. I keep an eye on the sensors to make sure no ones in my way and start pushing the throttle forward to fly over to the designated area.
Piloting (Light Freighter) +1
After landing at the lot that Reginald selected and lowering the cargo hatch I step out of the ship and look around. There are quite a few ships around, as I look around a group of people approaches me. The leader of the group is tall, skinny and bright red. Two black horns grow out of his forehead and curl back over his slicked back black hair. He even has a little black goatee growing out of the center of his chin, the typical appearance of a depiction of Satan. Next to him, on his right, is a giant creature that tops out at around at least nine feet wearing a set of thick power armor covering him from the neck down. His large head looks reminiscent of a small tyrannosaurus rex and a thickly armored tail trails out behind him. On the devilish looking mans left is a lithe human-looking woman with short dark hair. She''s wearing a skin-tight black suit with silver glowing lines running across it, it reminds me of a really high tech ninja outfit. She''s also the only one who is clearly armed, I can see the butt and barrel of a sniper rifle, as well as the handle of a sword, crossed over her back. She also has a small sidearm on her right hip. The leader walks up to me with his two companions and waves then asks, "Thomas?" I nod, "Reggi?" The devil looking man grimaces, "I really wish you would call me Reginald man." I laugh and step up to him offering him my hand to shake, "Now why would I want to do that? I''m wondering what you look like when you blush now. What''s with the sinister looking guise?" Reginald grabs my hand in a firm shake, "What can I say? The Devilion race called my name. Despite these looks, there''s no prejudice against me and I think it''s really fun!" I laugh and look at the other two, "Going to introduce me?" Reginald nods and gestures to the large guy in power armor first, "This is Leriod, he''s a Rexarian." He then turns and gestures to the woman, "This is Nania, she''s a Suverian." That catches my attention so I turn to Nania and smile, "Nice to meet a fellow Suverian. I gotta ask, are you weirded out by your heartbeat too?" Now that she''s closer I can see that she''s a rather good-looking woman, despite being lithe she''s got all the right curves in all the right places in proportionate sizes. As I look a little closer I notice her eyes are not natural eyes, they''re cybernetic implants that seem to try and replicate the look of natural eyes but fall just short. She gives me a grin and replies, "Yeah, having two hearts and having them both positioned down near my stomach took a bit to get used to." Oh, turns out we do have two hearts? I was joking about that before but that''s fine. I can''t help but grin and return my focus to Reginald, "So Reggi, what next?" Reginald rolls his pitch black eyes and turns to look at Leriod, "Send a guild invite to Thomas Darkrose." The giant guy nods and does something that opens up a notice in front of me.
Leriod Vestorax has invited you to join the guild Chaos Rig. Accept: Y/N?
I select yes and get a notification that I''ve joined the guild as a recruit, "I''m in." Reginald claps his hands together, "Excellent. Now that the small stuff is out of the way lets show you to your new ship." I nod and look down at my [Personal Computer] on my wrist, "Celeste pull yourself out of the My Little Pile." Celeste appears hovering over the computer, "All done Thomas." I look back at Reginald, "So what should I do with the My Little Pile?" He looks over at the ship then turns to Leriod, "Transfer the ship to Leriod, he''ll take it to the guild headquarters and store it with the other starter ships. We keep them just in case we have a use for them in the future." I nod, "Do it Celeste. Kiss the piece of crap goodbye." Celeste lets out a delightful little laugh and turns around to blow a kiss at the ship, "Goodbye!" Leriod checks his own [Personal Computer] and nods, "Trasssssfer Complete." I toss him the [Authorization Key] for the ship and smile as he catches it, "The My Little Pile is all yours." He shakes his head, "Sssssuch a ssssstupid sssssship name." I laugh and nod, "Damn right it is." I turn to Reginald, "So where''s my new ship? I''m excited to take a look at it!" Regnilad shakes his head while Leriod heads into my ex-ship, "Follow me." Reginald turns around and leads Nania and me back into the array of ships in the landing area. We walk for a few minutes before Reginald stops in front of a large grey ship. Its shape is somewhat similar to the My Little Pile, except an order of magnitude bigger. The front end is a blunt cone shape leading along the fuselage to a pair of massive angular wings. The ship has to be over five hundred feet long and a couple of hundred tons. I can see a couple of large weapons sticking out of the front and an even larger one sticking out of the wing on this side of the ship. Reginald gestures grandly to the ship, "I''d like to introduce you to the CR Spectrum. A Heavy Freighter we got ready for you. It''s got a little of everything so you can do what you want while the rest of us hunt for that Ancient Relic for you. Your job is to get as many levels and skill ranks as you can while we do that. On board, there''s an Arcane Laboratory, Tech Workshop, and enough bunk space for a full crew of twenty. You''ll need at least a quarter of that for full combat functionality, and only two or three to just fly it around." I look at the ship and smile broadly, "I like it." Reginald grins and lifts his arm to type on his [Personal Computer], then Celeste chimes in through my earpiece, "You''ve been given command authority of the CR Spectrum, Captain." Reginald turns to me then and gestures to Nania, "For now, Nania will be your second in command. She''s a level fifteen Operative." Nania turns and gives me a small smile, "My specialty is long-range sniping and close range stealth kills. I''m also a pretty good pilot. Reginald figured your specialty would lay elsewhere so you could use someone to fly this tub around." I smile back at Nania and nod in agreement, "He''s right, my flight skills are abysmal so having a real pilot around will be a huge help." Reginald claps his hands to get our attention and retrieves an authorization key from his [Utility Belt] and offers it to me. I take the key and step up to the ship to use the key and open it up. A door on the hull swings inwards and a ramp slides out for me to climb. I turn to Reginald and give him a warm smile, "Just don''t forget your promise to find that piece of Ancient Tech for me. You got a month." Reginald nods, "Don''t worry we''re already looking for it, your job right now is to gain levels and skills. We''re investing heavily in you with this ship, just remember while we''re giving you command of it the ship still belongs to the guild so don''t go getting it blown up. Still, you''re welcome to upgrade it as you see fit." I nod, "You got it." Reginald smiles and gestures grandly, "Well don''t let me keep you. Go ahead and get on board and assign Nania as your second in command, after that do whatever sounds fun!" I laugh and nod, "You got it. Shall we number one?" Nania smirks and follows me into the ship. The interior of the ship feels similar to theMy Little Pile, just on a grander scale. Nania and I head through the ship to the bridge, yes an actual bridge with several seats and control stations. I grandly walk over to the seat in the center, the Captain''s chair. I turn on the console and several holographic displays appear, "Celeste, connect with the ships computer like you did on theMy Little Pile and run a ship diagnostic to make sure everything is in top shape." It''s not that I didn''t trust Reginald, but you never, ever, fly a ship you haven''t checked. While Celeste does that I go through the ships menus until I find the spot to assign crew. I assign Nania as my second in command and get a notification.
New Title!
Captain You are officially the captain of a ship with a crew. All crew members receive a bonus of +10% to all actions when following your commands.
After that, I pull up a display of the ship''s information and status.
Ship Name: CR Spectrum Ship Class: Heavy Freighter Crew: 2/20
Hull Points: 140/140 Shield Points: 20/20 (+1/Min) Power Core: 240/250
Damage Threshold: - Critical Threshold: 24 Target Lock: -4 (+1 Size, -5 ECM)
Ship Length: 550 Ft. Ship Weight: 285 Tons
Weaponry: Chain Cannon: Forward Arc, 6-24 Damage, Short Range Chain Cannon: Forward Arc, 6-24 Damage, Short Range Heavy Laser Cannon: Port Arc, 4-32 Damage, Medium Range Heavy Laser Cannon: Starboard Arc, 4-32 Damage, Medium Range
Expansion Bays: Crew Quarters (10) Crew Quarters (10) Arcane Laboratory Tech Workshop Escape Pods Cargo Bay (8 Bulk) Cargo Bay (8 Bulk) Cargo Bay (8 Bulk)
Ship''s Systems: Power Core: CZ-5 250 Main Computer: MK II Tetranode Thrusters: L6 Thrusters Electronic Counter Measures (ECM): MK V Arcane Corridor Core (A.C.C.): Basic Sensors: Advanced Medium Range Shields: MK II Basic
I check the definitions of some of the things I''m not familiar with.
  • Damage Threshold - Damage below the Damage Threshold is too low to cause any damage to the ship.
  • Critical Threshold - If the ships Hull Points drop below this value ships systems will begin to randomly fail.
  • Target Lock - This represents how easy it is for guided weapons, such as missiles, to lock onto your ship, lower is better.
After I finish reading Celeste speaks up, "All systems check out Captain." One of the holographic emitters lights up and a life-sized version of Celeste appears on the bridge, she looks even more beautiful life size. She must have been a model or actress or something with how good she looked. Celeste gives me her usual beaming smile as she struts around the bridge. I turn to Nania, "So number one, shall we find some adventure?" Nania shakes her head, "Only if you stop calling me ''number one''." I sigh, "No fun.", then I grin, "So any suggestions on where we should go next Nania?" After thinking for a minute Nania nods, "Actually I know of a pretty good spot. We should head to the planet Garbumont. Even if we can''t find any quests in that direction we should go there. There''s a known dungeon on the planet, but it''s a low-level one with a level cap of five. No one has cleared it because by the time people get there they''re usually above the maximum level of the dungeon. If you can clear it, you should get a large bonus in loot and experience from it being the first clear. The loot will be negligible, but the experience is nothing to scoff at." I nod, it sounds like a solid idea and dungeons were always a good source of experience, just one problem, "I would love to do that, and as epically amazing as I am, I don''t think I can solo a dungeon." Nania smirks, "True, you''re not that amazing. I have a suggestion though, we should hit the local slave market and see if we can find someone level five or below for sale with a combat specialty. You should only need one for such a low-level dungeon, as long as they can wear some of the armor on this ship and use the larger weapons properly." Slaves huh? I guess that was an option, and a slave should be completely loyal and someone I shouldn''t have to worry about potentially betraying me or any of my secrets... when I had secrets to keep. "Alright, that will be the plan for now. We''ll head over to the slave market and pick up a weapon monkey, then see if there are any good quests on the way to Garbumont where we''ll take on the dungeon. Any objections crew?" With neither Nania nor Celeste raising any objections we get to work.
In the darkness, something stirs... Chapter 4.1 - The Dungeon 1 Chapter 4.1 - The Dungeon 1 As I climb out of my captain''s seat I turn to look at Nanaia, "So what can you tell me about the slave trade?" She shrugs her shoulders, "It''s not really all that bad. The rules of slavery are extremely strict and breaking any of them is a serious crime that will get the offender turned into a slave. All slaves are either debtors who sold themselves into slavery in hopes of paying their debts or criminals charged with serious crimes, just not serious enough to warrant the death penalty. Slavery is also a limited time gig, well mostly. Sometimes really high debt or really bad crimes necessitate lifetime slavery. There are also rules for when you own slaves, but the short of that is as long as you don''t deliberately kill them or send them somewhere suicidal against their will you''ll be fine legally speaking." I nod as I listen to her explanation, "So we probably want a criminal with combat experience, like a mercenary or a pirate right?" She nods, "True, but also court marshaled ex-military would work too." I turn and walk into the interior of the ship, "Before we leave I want to check out the rest of the interior of the ship." First I check out the crew quarters, there''s nothing special about them. They''re broken up into rooms for two, each room containing a single sized bunk bed, bathroom, desk and some storage space for personal items. Nothing impressive there, but it was functional. The impressive room was mine, the captain''s quarters. It was a decent sized suite with all the amenities and a fair bit of space, it even included a double sized bed. "Looks like this is our room Celeste." One of the holographic projectors in the room lights up and the life-sized version of Celeste appears. She immediately puts on a demure look and even makes the effort to appear to be blushing, "Why captain, how forward." Was Celeste making a joke? Is she even capable of making jokes? Well, whatever, I give her a big playful grin and shrug my shoulders, "Life is short, I''ve only got another four hundred and fifty cycles or so left you know." Celeste laughs and disappears as I leave the cabin and head to a different section of this ship. Up next I tour the Arcane Laboratory, picture your average alchemist''s workshop, then make it high tech and you can kind of picture what I''m looking at. Instead of pestles and mortars, I''ve got high tech grinders, instead of balance scales and weights I''ve got digital scales. It''s a lab geeks dream covered in arcane looking runes and sigils. Up next is the Tech Workshop which consists of computers, a large table, and a couple of robotic arms. When I check the supplies in the lab I find a small library of schematics for weapons and armor ranging up to level fifteen, ship replacement parts, and cybernetic implants and replacements. I also find my promised supply of MCU''s, ten cases of ten thousand each. That basically gives me one hundred thousand credits worth of gear I can make. I''m a little excited to get started, but first I''d like to get my new crew member and see what they would like. Flights also tend to take a while so I could do the crafting while we''re in the dark of the corridor. The remainder of the ship is essentially empty space where I could install additional modules or carry cargo for quests. The empty space alone was enough to store the My Little Pile and have room to spare. The length of this ship is no joke, I know five hundred and fifty feet is hard to imagine, just picture it as being the length of one and a half football fields. With my inspection of the ship done I head back to the hatch with the ramp I entered from and exit the ship this time. Nania follows closely behind me in silence, I''m starting to notice that she doesn''t really speak unless I ask her something directly. It occurs to me that she''s probably not too thrilled to be babysitting someone less than a third of her level. She probably wanted to level up like everyone else and here she was stuck with me, even suggesting we go to a dungeon she can''t participate in. I''ll have to think of a way to thank her for what she''s doing somehow. Well, there''s no time like the present, as we walk towards the exit of the dockyard I turn to look at Nania, "Listen, I want to thank you for coming along to help me learn the ropes and keep my ass out of trouble. But if you would rather be off getting experience and doing stuff more level appropriate I''m sure someone else could be roped into being my babysitter." Nania looks a little taken aback at first, then lets out a soft chuckle, "Reginald was right. He said you would say something along those lines." She focuses her attention on me, "I volunteered for the job of ''babysitting'' you so you don''t need to worry about that. I''ll still get experience for any quests we go on and any aliens, monsters, pirates, or anything else we run into and kill, negotiate with or trade with. So don''t you worry your pretty little head about me. I''ll be hitting level twenty long before you do." I nod and turn to keep walking, "So level twenty really is the level cap?" Nania follows behind me as we step onto some public transport heading in the direction of the slave market, I spend two credits for the both of us to get on board. As we sit down Nania begins to explain a little more, "Yes, and no. When you reach level twenty you''re presented with a new option called ''Ascension''. Ascension is a complicated thing, there''s lots of rules and stuff for what you get to keep when you ascend, and what you lose. When you ascend you lose your class, your levels, your experience points, your skill ranks, as well as any kind of spellcasting your class granted. It''s harsh, but in exchange, you get to keep all of your stats where they were. Health, Mana, Stamina, Might and so on stay at the amounts you earned and set when leveling up. Aside from the all-important stats you also keep any abilities you earned from your class. After that, you get to pick a new theme and class like you''re making a new character, though a much more powerful one." That... that was one hell of an infodump. I sit back and think about what she said about ascension. It definitely seemed complicated, but it also seemed like it was a good way to rack up a huge number of abilities and stats to grow in strength. Still, the loss of all skill ranks seemed devastating, but that gives me a question, "When you are regaining your skills after ascending do you get the bonus stats again?" Nania nods, "Yeah, it''s one of the main methods people are using to get stronger and increase their overall power. Right now there are two schools of thought on ascension. The first school is that you should ascend as soon as possible after reaching level twenty to pick a new class that compliments your previous class so you can grow in power. For example, someone with spellcasting would pick another spellcasting class to get more abilities related to magic. The other school of thought is that you should spend all your time after hitting level twenty to gain as many skill ranks as possible, every skill you get to rank one hundred gives you plus twenty to a stat and if you max out a bunch of skills, then ascend and max them again you get the most stats possible." I sit back again and think over the new info, both methods seemed pretty good in their own way, it basically came down to getting more special abilities or getting more stats. I guess it just depends on how much time you want to spend skill grinding to get the most stats. One last question, "Can you only ascend once?" Nania shakes her head, "You can ascend more than once, but so far only a couple of people have done so, no one knows exactly how many times you can ascend before you''re not allowed to again. I''ve not ascended yet so I don''t know all the details on it myself, just what a couple of guild members have said." Celeste chimes up in my earpiece, "We get off at the next stop Captain."
The slave market is... well it''s not what I was expecting. I don''t really know exactly what I was expecting but definitely not a place that looked like a strip mall with a bunch of small stores in it. Each store represented a different slave trading company and had different ways of displaying their wares. The first store we looked in wasn''t a place we wanted to buy anything from. All the slaves for sale were alien women trained to be servants, maids, caregivers and so on. And no, no sex slaves, according to Nania sex with an unwilling slave was still rape and if discovered could get you in deep shit. They might be slaves, but the society was still civilized so they had some rights, just not many. We checked several shops and found a few promising candidates to be a heavy for the dungeon, unfortunately, all of them were over level five and couldn''t join me in the dungeon. Turns out finding a low-level slave is actually a bit of a pain in the ass. We visited over a dozen slave dealers until we found one that specialized in low-level slaves. If there was some sort of goddamn directory for this place we would have found it sooner. When we step into the store a human looking man approaches us with a slimy looking smile, instinctively I do not like this guy. I don''t know what it is but something about him just rubs me the wrong way, "Welcome to Haravat''s, I''m the proprietor of this branch. How can I help you today?" I gesture to some of the slaves on display, there is an array of different alien races, but also quite a few that look like humans, "I''m looking for a slave at or below level five that is capable of using heavy armor and heavy weapons. Someone who can act as a guard for my ship and can handle themselves in a heavy combat situation without losing their mind to fear." The man ponders for a few moments and nods, "I believe I have one or two that will meet your criteria." He gestures for us to follow him, so naturally, we do. The inside of the store looks like many of the others. The slaves are kept in small rooms with a clear wall that we can see them through. Next to the wall is a datapad that lists all the information on the slave. He leads us to a display with a large Rexarian in it. The Rexarian is as large as the one that I met with Reginald, though this one has a reddish hue to his skin and scales. He''s a massive wall of muscle that threatens to rip the stitching on his clothing if he moves wrong. I hadn''t noticed before because of the power armor Reginald''s friend wore, but his hands and feet ended in clawed appendages that looked pretty deadly in their own right. "This one is Prexire, a Rexarian Grunt with basic military training. He was court marshaled and enslaved for attacking a superior officer and damn near killing the officer. He won''t give more details about it and the records are sealed, but my guess is it had something to do with his honor. Rexarian''s are all about their honor.", the proprietor shrugs his shoulders like it''s no real concern of his. I step up to the datapad and read over it, Prexire was level four, proficient with small arms, heavy arms, heavy armor and power armor. I would definitely keep him in mind, but I would prefer someone less likely to try and kill me. "You mentioned you might have another?" The man nods and leads me further inside the store to another display, inside of this one is a woman, though she''s definitely not human. She''s shorter than me, maybe around five and a half feet tall. Her skin is a dark grey and her eyes are solid black. Her hair is black streaked with grey and styled in a bob cut, from her hair grow two small antennae that twitch every now and then. She was well built, muscular without being a wall of meat, though her bust was oddly large for her frame. It made her look a bit unbalanced honestly. "This is Jerilda, she''s a Varaxian. Despite her shorter stature, her planet is known for it''s crushing gravity, as such her species developed a unique musculature that is denser and more powerful than most sapient species. She could probably beat Prexire in hand to hand combat without breaking a sweat. Unfortunately for her she is extremely unlucky and ended up in debt from gambling, a bit cliche but it happens more than you would think.", the proprietor points to her datapad, "I should also point out that she is a level three Traveler, but don''t worry, even if she should die in the line of her duties when she revives she will still be contracted to you if you purchase her."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. I walk over to the datapad while I think about that, so some travelers really did get turned into slaves huh? That gives me pause though, depending on her difficulty setting it could end her slavery to me at a bad time. Then again, if I bought her and treated her well she might choose to stick around as a friend instead of a slave. I check the info on her, she''s proficient in all the same things as Prexireso there are no problems there. She also wasn''t enslaved for a violent act, which helps. I turn to the proprietor, "Can I speak with her?" He nods and points to a button on the wall for a small intercom system that I hadn''t noticed, "She and all the slaves here have been ordered to speak truthfully at all times." That''s helpful, I push the button and speak up, "Hello Jerilda, my name is Thomas. I''m a Traveller like yourself and I''m considering buying you as a slave. I had a few questions though. What''s your difficulty setting?" The proprietor looks utterly confused by this question, and I make no effort to enlighten him about it. Jerilda frowns and crosses her arms beneath her abundant bust, "Hard." If I remember correctly hard was a maximum of one year, so even if she had become a slave on day one she would still have at least eight months before her slavery term would end. That would be long enough I think. After that, we''d just have to see what she would decide to do. "I''m looking for someone to act as my personal bodyguard and enforcer. I have a heavy freighter and intend to do things like trading, dungeon crawls, and anything else interesting we might come across in our travels. Does that sound interesting to you?" She stares at me through the clear wall and stays silent for a moment before speaking up in a flat voice, "Does what I think really matter? I''m a slave, I have to do whatever my owner tells me to do." I frown, that''s not exactly what I was hoping she would say. We stare at each other for a few moments before she finally speaks again, "If you arm and armor me I''ll do what you ask. If you treat me good we''ll part on good terms later, but if you don''t..." She leaves the threat unsaid, but I get the gist of it. If I do something to her she doesn''t like then when she is no longer a slave she''ll do something unspeakable to me. I''m fine with that since I have no intention of abusing her anyways. I turn to look at the proprietor and smile, "I''ll take her." He gives me a smile that just makes me feel dirty and gestures for us to follow him further into the store where the sales are made, "A fine choice sir. Varaxian''s make excellent soldiers thanks to their enhanced strength." He leads us into a cramped office and sits down behind a desk. He pulls out a datapad and sets it on the desk before turning his attention back to me, "This is a standard contract for transferring the ownership of a slave. Once we complete the transaction her slavery implant key will be given to you and you will officially be her owner." I pick up the datapad and begin to scroll through the lawyer speak to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Then pass the pad to Nania so she can do the same thing, she might spot something I missed. While she does that I turn to look at the weasley man, "How much is Jerilda anyways?" I hadn''t seen a price tag at her viewing room or in the contract, the man smiles at me again and I feel the urge to punch him in the face. Seriously, I don''t know what it is about him that makes me feel like doing that. He looks perfectly normal and has been nothing but a good host, yet still, the urge to do violence to him is there. "Jerilda is currently marked as fifteen thousand credits." I scoff, that was a huge price tag. Yeah, I''d made that much with just a few deliveries, but from what I''d experienced a single credit was a good bit of money, you could buy entire sets of clothing for it. Before making a counter offer though I ask him, "How long has she been a slave?" He pulls up a holographic screen and pulls her data, "Looks like she was enslaved for debt three months ago. I''ve had her in my possession for two months." I nod, "I''ll give you ten thousand for her. She''s a Traveller, no matter what happens she''ll be free in another nine months. That significantly reduces her value as a slave." He scoffs, "That''s impossible. The amount of debt she had accrued made her slavery sentence six years." I grin and gesture in the direction of Jerilda, "Go ask her yourself. I''ll wait here." Grumbling and looking at me like I''m wasting his time he leaves the room. Meanwhile, Nania hands the datapad with the contract on it back to me, "It''s the standard. Nothing special or hidden in it." I nod and we wait a couple of minutes until he returns and looks a little less confident than he had before, "She said she would be free in nine months just like you did. But that''s impossible!" I grin and nod, "So is coming back from the dead, but we Travellers have our ways. Every day she goes unsold is another day closer to her being free. You''ve had her for two months and haven''t sold her yet, how much longer before she sells if I don''t buy her now? Her value as a slave goes down day by day." He groans and cradles his head in his hands, "Fine, thirteen thousand and she''s yours." I cross my arms over my chest, "Twelve. Not a credit more." The proprietor lets out a deep sigh and nods, "Fine, twelve thousand credits and she''s yours."
Negotiation +5 +1 Charisma
I dismiss the notification and take a minute to transfer the appropriate number of credits to a single stick that I hand to the man. Afterwards, we both authorize the contract and he hands me a small data chip, "Just use this with your personal computer to take control of her slavery implant. After that, she''s all yours." We all head back out the to display room where I slip the chip into my [Personal Computer]. Celeste pops up as a hologram and smiles, "I''ve got the data Captain, control of Jerilda''s slavery implant has been transferred to you."
Notice!
Ownership of the slave JerildaHarotat has been transferred to Thomas Darkrose. All rights and responsibilities as an owner have been transferred to Thomas Darkrose.
New Title
Slave Owner You are the owner of one or more slaves. Slaves that are loyal to you receive +10% to any actions they perform while obeying your orders.
I dismiss the new title notice and nod, the door to Jerilda''s exhibit is opened, she steps out and looks at me, she does not look very happy. Then again who would? I turn to the guy running the shop, "Does she have any belongings we need to get or anything?" I honestly didn''t expect she would, but better to ask than assume. Still, the man shakes his head so we leave with Jerilda in tow. I can feel Jerilda glaring hard at my back as we walk, she hasn''t said a thing since I bought her. I honestly don''t know what to say to a slave so I keep quiet myself. The three of us silently walk out of the slave market. I lift my arm and address my [Personal Computer], "Celeste, can you find a place selling schematics for small transport vehicles? Something that can seat up to four and won''t take up much space in theCR Spectrum." Celeste pops up and nods, "Sure, but you could just buy the plans and download them instead of getting a copy from a store." Well shit, why didn''t I think of that. I nod, "Do it Celeste." She disappears and a holographic screen appears with thumbnail images of several kinds of small vehicles. You might be wondering why I want the schematics instead of dropping a few credits to buy one? Skill levels. I figured building one of these should get me a hefty amount of skill levels without being a complete waste of resources like building a bunch of crappy level one guns would be. I select two models from the display. The first is a small one, it looks like a motorcycle without wheels. The second looks like a small sports car with a swept back aggressive design. Combined they would take up less space than a single bulk of goods for transport so they would be perfect for getting around on planets without having to use public transport. I pull out one of my credit sticks and slip it into a slot on the computer, I watch as four hundred and fifty credits are transferred and Celeste downloads the plans. From here it''s a very long, very awkward, three credit trip back to the ship.
Back on board the ship, I lead Jerilda into one of the empty cabins, "This will be your bunk. You''re free to explore the ship as much as you like, just don''t do anything that could get us killed. I am the Captain, Nania is my first officer. You will obey her commands like you would mine. Once we''re in the corridor I''ll work on making you some gear if we don''t already have some you can use. Do you have any preferences or requirements?" Jerilda looks around the small bunk, it''s still nicer than the display case she was locked in earlier. She turns to look at me and speaks in the same flat, deadpan voice she''s used so far, "My class is called Mech-Warrior, my abilities all focus on enhancing the power, performance, and defensive capabilities of Power Armor while I use large weapons to deal damage. It''s a literal tank class. I get the best use of my abilities from Power Armor so if I have a set of that I should be alright. I don''t have many abilities since I was stuck in that fucking cage for so long, but if you take me out to get some experience I''ll just become tougher and stronger." I nod, three months of playtime lost because she was stuck in a cage for gambling of all things, "If you don''t mind me asking, how the hell did that happen anyways?" She sighs and looks down at the decking of the ship, it''s the most emotion I''ve seen from her since we met, "When I first arrived here I went to a bar to have a few drinks and celebrate getting my ship. I was drinking with this group of people and one of the guys kept eyeing me." She lifts her large chest and then lets it drop to indicate exactly what he was eyeing, "So I did a little harmless flirting for some free drinks. We both got pretty wasted and he told me about a fix he knew of for one of the local racing events. Now I''m not an idiot and I didn''t just take him at his word. I dug into it a bit and it seemed like what he told me was true, so I placed a bet. I put up my ship as collateral, though I may have stretched the truth a bit on how good the ship was to get a bit more credit. During the race, it looked like the guy I bet on was going to win. Then, about three-quarters of the way through the race, the fucking moron gets hit by a tiny meteoroid and taken out of the race. One in a billion chance of that!" She lets out a heavy sigh and goes to sit down on the lower bunk, still looking at the ground as she finishes her story, "So with him taken out of the race some other dickbag won and I was out all of my credits and my ship. But when they found out I lied about the value of my ship it got worse. I was legally turned into a debt slave. I''d barely gotten past the tutorial and ended up spending months of game time stuck in that goddamn box!" She turns to look at me, "So you better make good on what you said about going out exploring, questing and hitting dungeons. If I don''t get to do something soon I''m going to lose my fucking mind!" This is the first time she''s been so animated, so I nod and say, "We''re going to leave shortly for a planet called Garbumont. When we get there we''re heading into a dungeon that hasn''t been conquered yet. The level cap on it is five, so you''re lucky I was looking for a low-level slave to enter the dungeon with me or you would still be in the cage." Her eyes are practically sparkling now, "So we''ll be the first ones taking it on huh? I hear there are good rewards for the first clear of a dungeon so it would definitely be worth doing." "I hear the same thing too. I''m going to head to the bridge and get us into the corridor and on our way to the planet. Feel free to explore the ship and check out the armory to see if there''s anything you can use in it. If not I''ll make you something in the Tech Workshop.", I turn and head for the bridge. As I walk Jerilda calls out, "What should I call you? Sir? Master? Thomas? Captain?" I''ve never had a slave before so I hadn''t even considered what to tell her to address me as. My first instinct is ''Thomas'' or ''Captain'', but a little dark part of me speaks up, "Master will do." Look, name one straight guy that doesn''t want a rather attractive woman to call him ''Master'' even a little bit and I will show you a liar. She looks slightly irked at that but nods, "I''ll do as you suggest, Master." We part ways here, I head to the bridge while Jerilda goes to explore and check the armory. On the bridge, Nania is waiting for me. I sit in the captain''s chair, "Celeste, let the locals know we''re taking off and get the computer running the calculations for a jump toGarbumont. Nania as soon as we''re clear get us off this planet and on course for the jump." Celeste manifests from one of the emitters on the bridge and gives me a playful salute, meanwhile Nania starts warming up the thrusters. I can hear a soft hum in the background that I''m sure is loud as fuck outside, I can also feel a slight vibration as the thrusters spin up. It takes no time at all before Celeste chimes up with, "We''re cleared for takeoff Captain." It takes a good five minutes for the thrusters on the ship to get up to power, but after that Nania easily pilots the ship with a level of skill I never even came close to having. She skillfully maneuvers this much larger hunk of metal, or whatever it''s made of, off of the ground and into the sky. She carefully pilots the ship through the traffic in the sky and steadily gains altitude until we break through the atmosphere and enter space. I look over at her and give her a smile, "Hey Nania, think you could teach me how to fly this thing? Maybe teach Jerilda too so there''s always someone around who knows how to drive it at least." Nania nods, "Yeah I can do that. You''ll gain skill levels a lot faster by having someone teach you instead of trying to figure it out on your own. A lot fewer explosions and painful deaths too." She gets us onto the proper trajectory indicated by the navigation systems. The calculations for the jump had been completed in less than a minute thanks to the much more powerful computer in this ship versus the piece of crap I had before. Once we''re lined up the Arcane Corridor Core is engaged and without preamble, we enter the pitch black emptiness of the corridor. Chapter 4.2 - The Dungeon 2 Chapter 4.2 - The Dungeon 2 Being in the corridor was still creepy as hell, the silence, the darkness, the lack of any feeling of moving. Whoever designed this part of the game must have been into horror movies. It felt like at any moment something from the Cthulu mythos was going to emerge from that blackness and devour the ship. It was not a pleasant feeling. To get my mind off of that I stand up from my seat and ask aloud for either Celeste or Nania to answer, "How long until we arrive at our destination?" Celeste is the first to speak up, "It will take about two and a half days captain." Over two full days, well that will give me plenty of time to get some skill ranks and stats before entering the dungeon. I nod to give my thanks to Celeste and leave the bridge to head to the Tech Workshop and see what I could do. Actually, let''s go to the armory first, it''s right next to the workshop anyway. I call it an armory, but really it''s just a line of lockers with various items in them. I haven''t taken the time to go through them all yet, but I figured now was the best time since all I had was... time. Jesus that''s saying ''time'' a lot. I open the first locker and see an array of various pistols ranging from old-fashioned looking to ultra high tech looking. I pick up one of the more interesting looking ones and examine it.
Laser Pistol
Item Level: 1
Toughness: 7
Hit Points: 18/18
Damage: 1-4 Fire, May set the target on fire dealing additional damage
Range: 60 Feet
Magazine: 20 Charges, 1 Shot per Charge
Reload: 5 Seconds
Type: Small Arm
Description: Laser pistols fire intense pulses of light causing fire damage and usually set the target on fire to deal additional damage over time. Laser weapons are some of the oldest and most reliable energy weapons in the galaxy and can be found throughout it.
That''s actually a pretty cool weapon, nothing like setting someone on fire using what amounts to an intense beam of light. I set the pistol back in the locker and pull out one that looks a little older and that I''m pretty sure is a projectile weapon.
Semi-Automatic Pistol (Advanced)
Item Level: 7
Toughness: 19
Hit Points: 36/36
Damage: 2-12 Piercing
Range: 60 Feet
Magazine: 12 Rounds
Reload: 5 seconds
Type: Small Arm
Description: A more modern take on a classic weapon, the Advanced Semi-Automatic pistol uses modern materials to add more power to the old lead thrower.
Well nothing thrilling there, but not everything was going to be mind-blowing. I set the pistol back in the locker and close the locker so I can peek into another one. Inside of it, I find something very interesting.
Carbon Stealth Suit
Item Level: 3
Toughness: 11
Hit Points: 24/24
Kinetic Armor: +4
Energy Armor: +3
Upgrade Slots: 1 (Empty)
Description: Though these suits of light armor appear to be made of stiff fabric, they are actually woven from layered carbon fibers. The suit is designed to stand up to light energy and kinetic impacts without sacrificing flexibility. The level of protection combined with the dark matte finish makes it the armor of choice for infiltrators.
This suit of armor looked strikingly similar to the one Nania wore, though hers was clearly of a higher quality and possibly had more features. I was also pretty sure she had an upgrade or two installed in hers, I know I wanted to install one in this thing right away. I search through the remaining lockers and see a nice array of weapons of various sizes and types, sniper rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, handguns, various grenades, and even a nice grenade launcher. I leave everything where it is for now because I wanted to see what I could craft first. Though my skill ranks meant I could only craft level one items for the time being. In one of the lockers, I find a small selection or weapon and armor upgrades, one, in particular, catches my attention.
Personal Forcefield MK I
Item Level: 3
Protection: 5 Hit Points
Recovery: 5 Hit Points/30 Seconds
Capacity: 10 Charges
Usage: -1 Charge/Minute
Recharge: +1 Charge/Minute when not in use
Description: The most basic, and therefore weakest, version of the personal forcefield. When activated it will generate a shield equivalent to 5 hit points that recovers at a rate of 5 hit points every 30 seconds. The forcefield protects against solids and liquids, but not gasses or light (Including laser pulses). If the shield receives damage greater than its Protection value you will take the remainder of the damage.
Hell yeah! This plus the armor I found earlier would increase my defenses significantly. The less getting shot and dying, the better. The only item I take from one of the lockers and use immediately is a new [Utility Belt] with a larger storage space and a fifty percent weight reduction property added onto it. Now I could carry twice as much without becoming encumbered. With everything from my old belt transferred to my new belt I walk over to the table in the Tech Workroom and use the built-in computer to start browsing through the catalog of schematics. I browse through the listing of weapons and armor that are item level one, the only level I can craft.I need five ranks in either [Weapon Creation] or [Armor Creation] per item level of whatever I wanted to make. So to make a weapon with an item level of two, I needed a [Weapon Creation] rank of ten. Pretty simple and straightforward. I pick up one of the MCU''s and examine it to get more information on it.
Micro Construction Unit (MCU)
A Micro Construction Unit, or MCU, is the basis for most technology used in the Pact Systems. Each MCU is a tiny multifunction component no larger than a grain of rice, yet capable of becoming any constituent component. MCU''s can be spun into fabric, broken down into component chemicals, reconstituted into new chemicals, or substituted with base materials (such as dirt) to form massive braces or walls. The right combination of hundreds, or even thousands, of MCU''s can create just about anything.
Yeah, these things are bad ass. Just don''t ask me the exact science behind how they work because I don''t have a goddamn clue. All I do know is I have one hundred thousand of these things and a small library of stuff I can make with them to rank up my skills. I pull up a random schematic, at this point whatever I made was solely for the purposes of ranking up my [Weapon Creation] skill. Turns out I picked something rather useful, a [Combat Knife]. I didn''t have anything for melee, not that I actually wanted to get into melee, but having a knife wasalways a good idea. According to the schematic, I need eighty-five MCU''s to make the knife, luckily there''s a nice little dispenser so I pour one of the cases of ten thousand MCU''s into it and have it dispense the necessary number for me. With the small pile of MCU''s on the table, I select the [Combat Knife] schematic and start the process of crafting the weapon. A new holographic screen appears and introduces me to another minigame like interface. This time it shows a wireframe model of the knife with sections of it grayed out and one section flashing green. A small timer appears above the wireframe model of the knife showing the number three. It begins to count down so I press the flashing green section. As soon as I touch the flashing section the MCU''s on the table begin to move almost like a liquid. They reshape and reform themselves to become the pommel of the knife. The flashing green section moves to the handle and the counter appears again. It seems like a very basic interface and minigame, but I can picture more complex items requiring more steps with shorter timers for me to press the right section. I press the next section and another small swarm of MCU''s flow over the table and reshape themselves into the handle of the knife, a solid black affair with a nice ergonomic grip. Again the flashing green section moves to the blade of the knife and I press it before the counter has a chance to tick down from three to two. The last of the MCU''s flow over to the handle of the knife and reform themselves into a chrome blade.
Weapon Creation +2
Six hours, twelve weapons, thirteen armors and seventeen thousand seven hundred and fifty MCU''s later.
Weapon Creation +23 +5 Smarts Armor Creation +25 +5 Smarts Mana Points: +30!
Not a bad haul if I do say so myself. I could have done it faster but I didn''t want to craft anything above item level two, the MCU''s required started to skyrocket after that point. Still, I managed to average about two skill ranks per item and gained a significant amount of [Smarts] for all my effort. With thirty ranks in each, I could create weapons with item levels up to six now, so I will be able to create gear when I level up and creating that gear will level up my skills. I store all the crap I''ve made into the lockers, sorting them out into the different lockers that already had similar items, I should probably see about selling some of this stuff just to get rid of it. After storing everything I return to the table and take a serious look through the available weapons and armor at item level four. It was time for some upgrades. First up is a new [Mana Pistol] that costs two thousand and seventy MCU''s.
Weapon Creation +1
Mana Pistol (Tactical)
Mana Pistol (Tactical)
Item Level: 4
Toughness: 13
Hit Points: 27/27
Damage: 2-8 Piercing
Range: 45 Feet
Magazine: 20 Charges, 1 Shot per Charge
Reload: 1 MP refills 1 Charge, 1 Second per charge
Type: Small Arm
Description: Mana Pistols fire compressed bursts of pure mana in a shape similar to a bullet, though this Mana Bullet degrades rapidly over a short distance. Mana Pistols have very few moving parts making them exceptionally sturdy and reliable weapons. However, Mana Pistols can only be charged by individuals who have mana. This particular model of Mana Pistol greatly resembles an old-fashioned Semi-Automatic Handgun with an under barrel mount where various tactical items, such as a flashlight or laser pointer, can be attached.
The damage only went up a little, but the range also increased making it a little better than before. Not like I expected the weapon to suddenly become super-powered just because it went up three item levels. But with my [Weapon Specialization] ability it would deal a worthwhile 6-12 damage, then I could always add on [Overcharge Weapon] for even more damage. This is looking pretty nice! Up next I make a level four [Mana Shotgun] for another two thousand and seventy MCU''s.
Weapon Creation +1
Mana Shotgun (Snub)
Mana Shotgun (Snub)
Item Level: 4
Toughness: 13
Hit Points: 27/27
Damage: 1-6 Piercing per mana pellet, 6 mana pellets per shot
Range: 15 Foot Cone
Magazine: 20 Charges, 1 Shot per 5 Charges
Reload: 1 MP refills 1 Charge, 1 Second per charge
Type: Long Arm
Description: A compact and powerful weapon that resembles an old Earth Shotgun. When fired this gun releases a burst of 6 small compressed pellets of Mana in a small cone dealing damage to up to 6 targets caught in the blast, though these pellets degrade rapidly over a very short distance. If used in close quarters where a single target can be hit with all 6 of the Mana Pellets this weapon can be devastating. Mana Shotguns can only be charged by individuals who possess Mana. Mana Shotguns have very few moving parts making them sturdy and reliable firearms.
The [Mana Shotgun] ended up with a nice damage boost and an additional pellet when fired, a very nice increase in damage for face shots. With the weapons made I take the time to look through the locker containing the weapon upgrades to see if there''s anything I can add to these new beauties. What I find makes a smile slowly spread across my face. Oh, this is going to be fun. I grab four of the [Weapon Fusions] out of the locker and head back over to the worktable in the Tech Workshop. I dispense two thousand and seventy more MCU''s and spend the time to make another [Mana Pistol]. The second mana pistol is the exact same as the first, no differences at all. However, now it''s time to make them different! I set the four [Weapon Fusions] on the table and separate them between the two pistols. Over the next few minutes, I add the fusions to the guns until... Merciful Holy Mana Pistol (Tactical)
Merciful Holy Mana Pistol (Tactical)
Item Level: 4
Toughness: 13
Hit Points: 27/27
Damage: 2-8 Piercing
Range: 45 Feet
Magazine: 20 Charges, 1 Shot per Charge
Reload: 1 MP refills 1 Charge, 1 Second per charge
Type: Small Arm
Description: Mana Pistols fire compressed bursts of pure mana in a shape similar to a bullet, though this Mana Bullet degrades rapidly over a short distance. Mana Pistols have very few moving parts making them exceptionally sturdy and reliable weapons. However, Mana Pistols can only be charged by individuals who have mana. This particular model of Mana Pistol greatly resembles an old-fashioned Semi-Automatic Handgun with an under barrel mount where various tactical items, such as a flashlight or laser pointer, can be attached.
Merciful: Merciful weapons often have a soft pleasant sounding hum about them and sometimes seem to sound like soft musical notes are being played when they are fired. The magic of this fusion turns the damage dealt by this weapon into non-lethal damage. If an individual takes non-lethal damage equal to or greater than their remaining Hit Points they are rendered unconscious. You may enable and disable this fusion at will.
Holy: A weapon infused with the Holy Fusion becomes blessed by a good-aligned deity. Whenever this weapon hits any evil-aligned creatures, such as undead, it ignores any damage resistance they might have as well as dealing double the normal amount of damage.
Ominous Unholy Mana Pistol (Tactical)
Ominous Unholy Mana Pistol (Tactical)
Item Level: 4
Toughness: 13
Hit Points: 27/27
Damage: 2-8 Piercing
Range: 45 Feet
Magazine: 20 Charges, 1 Shot per Charge
Reload: 1 MP refills 1 Charge, 1 Second per charge
Type: Small Arm
Description: Mana Pistols fire compressed bursts of pure mana in a shape similar to a bullet, though this Mana Bullet degrades rapidly over a short distance. Mana Pistols have very few moving parts making them exceptionally sturdy and reliable weapons. However, Mana Pistols can only be charged by individuals who have mana. This particular model of Mana Pistol greatly resembles an old-fashioned Semi-Automatic Handgun with an under barrel mount where various tactical items, such as a flashlight or laser pointer, can be attached.
Ominous: A weapon infused with the Ominous Fusion trails a shadowy haze and moans a menacing dirge in battle. This weapon gains Intimidation as an on-hit effect. Whenever you hit someone with a lower Reason score than your own they are inflicted with an intense feeling of fear and may flee at the very sight of you.
Unholy: A weapon infused with the Unholy Fusion becomes blessed by an evil-aligned deity. Whenever this weapon hits any good-aligned creatures, such as angels, it ignores any damage resistance they might have as well as dealing double the normal amount of damage.
The [Merciful Holy Mana Pistol] changed in shape, the sides of the barrel looked like they had been carved to resemble feathered wings and the softly glowing blue lines were now a bright golden yellow. The weapon exuded a feeling of peace and contentment that just made you want to stroke it while listening to that soft hum. Meanwhile, the twin next to it had changed as well. Along the barrel were the swooping lines and jagged points of bat wings and the energy lines had changed to a dark blood red. The weapon felt menacing, dangerous like it might try to eat someone''s soul if given half a chance. Oh yeah, I loved both of these things!The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I grab a spare holster from one of the weapon lockers and strap it around my waist so I could carry both pistols at the same time. On my right, the [Merciful Holy Mana Pistol], on my left, the [Ominous Unholy Mana Pistol]. The holy weapon giving off a gentle warm glow, the unholy weapon leaving behind a shadowy trail of haze. Thankfully both the merciful and ominous fusions were item level one, while the holy and unholy were item level two. This allowed me to combine the two fusions into the two guns since their total item level was less than the weapons. With my two new amazing weapons on my hips I scroll through the armor options but nothing beats the [Carbon Stealth Suit] I found in the lockers so I''ll use that for the time being. Unfortunately, no weapon or armor upgrade schematics are in the library, I''d have to remember to yell at Reginald for that later. I look around the Tech Workshop and sigh, I think I went through my skill grinding a little too fast. Well, that''s okay. I had two other things I could be working on, my small personal vehicles.
Thankfully it took me sixteen hours spent over the course of two days, with a logout to take care of myself, and twenty-five thousand MCU''s to build the [Hover Bike] and [Personal Racer].
Engineering +6 Smarts +1
All in all, I think I''ve spent the last few days pretty well. I''ve got some upgraded gear, two small vehicles for traversing planets and boosted my [Smarts] a good amount. With the vehicles done and taking up one of the bulk spaces in my ship I head to the armory and begin to outfit myself with all my new gear. I swap my [Second Skin] for the [Carbon Stealth Suit] with the [Personal Forcefield MK I] installed in the upgrade slot, the new [Mana Pistols] with their fusions, and the new [Mana Shotgun]. I also add the [Combat Knife] I created first to my lower back, and store several types of MK II [Grenades] and one of the grenade launchers in my upgraded [Utility Belt]. I was preparing for fuckingWAR. Checking through my stuff I realize there''s something I''ve forgotten to upgrade. I look at my [Personal Computer], it''s only a Tier 1 model, I could upgrade it to a Tier 4. "Celeste, how much longer until we leave the corridor?" A holo-emitter lights up and a full sized Celeste appears nearby, "We''re still about eight hours out, Captain." I nod and smile, "How do you feel about getting an upgrade?" I lift my left arm to show her the [Personal Computer], which is kind of stupid since she''s technically inside of it. Celeste gives me a smile and nods, "I would be much more efficient and more capable if you took the time to upgrade me, Captain." I go back to the workbench and scroll through the [Personal Computer] models until I find the Tier 4. I also look up a few upgrades for it and grin when I find a few excellent ones. I spend the next three hours creating the new [Personal Computer], the upgrades for it, and transferring all the data over to the new device so nothing is lost. In the end, I''ve made a much nicer place for Celeste to live in.
Engineering +2
Personal Computer
Model: Tier 4
Upgrades: Artificial Personality (Celeste) Comm Unit Wireless Connectivity I (100 Ft.) Self-Charging
The new upgrades were going to make life much easier. The [Wireless Connectivity] allowed me to lock onto any device with a wireless signal and attempt to hack it, meaning I didn''t need to get out the connection wire every time. The [Comm Unit] just broadcast on public channels, the [Wireless Connectivity] would let me lock onto private networks. It''s kind of like the difference between a cell phone tower and a wifi-router. And the [Self-Charging] added a small thermal pad on the computer that let the battery on it charge from my body heat. So as long as I was alive it would never need to be charged. Granted having to charge the original once a week wouldn''t have been a big deal, but never having to charge it was easier. So this is what my gear looks like now.
Weapons:
  • Merciful Holy Mana Pistol (Tactical) - 2-8 Piercing, 45ft effective range, 20 charges, 1 charge per shot, 1 MP refills 1 charge
  • Ominous Unholy Mana Pistol (Tactical) - 2-8 Piercing, 45ft effective range, 20 charges, 1 charge per shot, 1 MP refills 1 charge
  • Mana Shotgun (Snub) - 1-6 Piercing Per Mana Pellet (6 Pellets), 15ft Cone, 20 Charges, 5 Charges per shot, 1MP refills 1 Charge
  • Grenades - Various MK II Grenades
Armor:
  • Carbon Stealth Suit - +3 Energy Armor, +4 Kinetic Armor, 1 Upgrade Slot (Personal Forcefield MK I)
  • Street Clothes - No Armor Bonus, No Upgrade Slot
I look myself over in a full-length mirror in my cabin and grin. I looked like a stone-cold badass if I do say so myself. I''d swapped my starter clothing for the [Carbon Stealth Suit] with blue jeans, a plain black teeshirt, and a black cloth duster that hung down to the back of my knees. I had to wear a pair of boots that were a couple of sizes too big to get them to fit around the armor, but all in all, with a cursory glance it wasdifficult to tell I had the armor on, but a closer look would make it fairly obvious. On my hips are my Merciful and Ominous [Mana Pistols], and my [Combat Knife] is in a sheath at the small of my back, tilted at an angle so I could grab it with my right hand. Lastly, I had my new weight-reducing [Utility Belt] around my waist with an array of things I''d stuffed into it to prepare for the dungeon, not the least of which was a variety of different MK II grenades I was looking forward to playing with. Nodding to myself in approval of my outfit I head up to the bridge of the ship, we''re just a couple hours out from Garbumont. No one is on the bridge so I sit in the captain''s seat and push the intercom button, "All crew to the bridge." Yeah yeah, there''s only two of them or maybe three if you count Celeste. Celeste seems to count herself though as one of the emitters lights up and she appears full sized and sits in one of the chairs. A short time later Nania shows up and takes the pilots seat and is closely followed by Jerilda who takes the weapons controls seat. Nania looks much the same as when I met her, wearing the stealth suit, just without her weapons visible. Jerilda though has changed into a suit of thickly plated armor that looks like a weird mix of Kevlar and Full Platemail. She''s also wearing a pistol visible on her right hip, but no other visible weapons. I assume the heavy artillery is inside of her [Utility Belt]. I turn to Nania and ask, "Can you tell us anything about the dungeon on Garbumont?" Nania shakes her head, "Not really. Like I said before it has a level cap of five and by the time people find it they''re above that level so no one has been inside of it." I nod, "Alright, what general information can you give me on dungeons then?" "Dungeons always have a minimum and maximum level requirement, Garbumonts is a minimum of level one, maximum of level five. Dungeons also usually have a specific theme for them. For example one of the level ten dungeons is an alien insect hive. The floors and walls are covered in slime making it difficult to walk, and the bugs attack in small swarms. Completing the dungeon means taking out the queen of the hive. Once you defeat the final boss you will find the loot from the boss either in their lair or through a short pathway to where the loot is stored. The first time a dungeon is cleared there is always significantly more loot than any future clears." She takes a moment to let that sink in before she continues, "Low-level dungeons are usually between one and three floors, if a dungeon has more than one floor then there will be a miniboss in the middle floor. So if the dungeon on Garbumont is two floors there will be a miniboss on the first floor and the boss on the second floor. If it''s three floors then the miniboss would be on the second floor, and so on and so forth." I listen intently and keep all of that in mind, I was kind of hoping the dungeon would be at least two floors, I would very much like to be at least level five when I finished the dungeon. I lean back in the captain''s chair and look over to Jerilda, "I assume you went through the lockers to find gear you could use?" Jerilda nods, "I did. But the lowest level Power Armor was level five so I can''t use it yet. I did grab this armor, some guns, and some explosives." She gives me a hard look with her solid black eyes, "I should be able to protect you pretty well with this equipment as well as lay down heavy amounts of suppressive fire and damage, Master." Nania quirks an eyebrow when Jerilda calls me Master but says nothing about it. Honestly, it was a weird combination of embarrassing and thrilling to hear Jerilda call me that. I turn to focus on Nania, "For the remainder of the flight in the corridor I''d like you to show me and Jerilda how to fly this thing properly. When we get to the planet I would like to be the one landing the ship on the surface, if you think I am capable at that time." Nania nods and stands up from the pilot''s chair so I can sit in it. For the rest of the trip through the corridor, she teaches me about the controls and best methods for flying the ship.
Skill Gained
Piloting (Heavy Freighter) 1/100 (+0 Agility)
Piloting (Heavy Freighter) +6 Agility +1
Turns out Nania is an excellent teacher. Thanks to her Jerilda and I got quite a few ranks in the [Piloting] skill for this class of ship, I even earned myself an extra [Agility] point. I return to my captain''s chair and Jerilda returns to the weapons controls while Nania retakes the pilot''s seat. We''re just a couple of minutes from dropping out of the corridor and back into normal space. I have to say I am really looking forward to seeing something outside of the windows other than pitch black. Right on schedule, the darkness changes from sheer pitch black to the dark open black of normal space where stars glitter everywhere. In front of us, though still a fair ways away, I can see the small sphere of Garbumont, but I can''t make out much about it from this distance. It will take another few minutes for us to get closer to the planet and then land on it near the dungeon. I turn to look at Nania, "Take us in Nania, time for us to go conquer a dungeon." In case you were wondering, Nania declared I wasn''t ready to land this tub on a planet yet. Garbumont is a regular looking planet, from here I can see a large blue ocean and two continents. One of the continents is a deep lush green while the other is nothing but a yellow desert as far as I can see. A pretty striking contrast actually. Nania flies us skillfully into the atmosphere, this much larger ship shakes and rattles more than the one I piloted before, but in the skilled hands of Nania there''s no fear of any kind of accident. She guides the ship expertly towards the desert continent. As we get closer to it I can see various large settlements scattered over it, though we fly over all of them. Soon we approach a large mountain range where Nania carefully lands the ship. Once the landing procedure is complete Nania turns to me, "We''ve arrived, Captain. The dungeon is in the mountain range and shouldn''t be hard to spot from the air." I nod and climb out of my chair then turn to Jerilda, "It''s time to go capture a dungeon and get our hands on some excellent loot." Jerilda, despite her normal attitude, grins and gives me a mock salute, "Yes, Master." Before we leave the bridge though, a thought occurs to me. I turn to Nania, "How do I form a party with Jerilda?" Nania shrugs, "There''s no official party system. In the field experience is shared among crew members automatically and also with anyone who helps take down the target. When entering a dungeon all experience is automatically split between everyone inside. Since it will only be you two in there it shouldn''t be an issue." I thank Nania for the explanation then Jerilda and I head to the cargo hold of the ship, "Celeste, lower the cargo ramp for me please." Without a reply, the ramp at the far back of the ship begins to lower. I lead Jerilda to the area where I''ve stored the [Hover Bike] and [Personal Racer] I made during the trip. I climb onto the [Hover Bike] and start it up. It gives out a soft hum as power flows through it and gently lifts it off of the ground. I turn to look at Jerilda, "Hop on." Jerilda glares at me and then points to the [Personal Racer], "Why aren''t we taking that one?" I look over at the racer and then back to Jerilda, "Because this one seats two just fine and I really want to try it out." I didn''t own a motorcycle of my own back in reality, but I had driven ones owned by my friends and I had loved every moment of it, so I was going to take this opportunity to drive the [Hover Bike] whether Jerilda liked it or not. Jerilda glares at me, "You just want to feel me pressed up against you or something, is that it?" It''s my turn to glare at her, those kinds of thoughts hadn''t even crossed my mind, I just honestly wanted to give the [Hover Bike] a try. I shake my head, "No. Now get on, that''s an order." Grumbling some very unpleasant sounding things Jerilda does as I''ve commanded and straddles the bike behind me. I look over my shoulder, "Hold on. It''s my first time driving this thing so try not to fall off." She silently glares at me while she takes a firm grip on some handholds built by the seat. There''s only one throttle control just like a regular motorcycle, but by pulling up on the handles the bike would ascend, and by pushing down it would descend. Slowly I increase the throttle and the bike begins to glide forward. Carefully I pilot it through the ship, but instead of going down the cargo ramp like I had expected the bike continues on a level course above the ground. Grinning I slowly increase the throttle while pulling up on the handlebars to climb into the sky, "Celeste, close the cargo hatch and plot a course for the entrance of the dungeon." A small digital display on the bike turns on and shows a flashing indicator of where the dungeon entrance is and where I currently am flying. The entrance looks to be a few miles away, I would have to try and remember to thank Nania for not landing any closer. I level off the bike and lean forward as I slowly increase the throttle. As the speed picks up a windscreen snaps into place to block out the wind pressure and allow me to go even faster. I gun the throttle and Jerilda yelps in surprise and instinctively wraps her arms around my waist to hold me tight. It''s not as pleasant of a sensation as you might imagine. Between the hard plates of her armor and the brutal strength of her arms, it''s actually quite painful. I tap her arms and shout at her to loosen her grip before she squeezes me to death, it takes a moment but she eventually does. Though she doesn''t stop holding onto me as we blaze through the air. Sadly, the trip to the dungeon entrance is over all too soon. I slow the speed of the bike and descend to the ground near the large entrance. It''s a massive doorway at least fifty feet tall and probably thirty feet wide with a shimmering curtain of energy taking up the space where doors should be.I park the bike close to the dungeon entrance.
Skill Gained
Piloting (Hover Bike) 1/100 (+0 Agility)
Piloting (Hover Bike) +2
Jerilda immediately hops off of the [Hover Bike] and glares at me, it brings to mind the phrase ''if looks could kill''. I just give her a beaming grin. Aside from her nearly squeezing me to death I had greatly enjoyed the ride over here. She crosses her arms under her breasts, which doesn''t look nearly as enticing with the thick armor on and says accusingly, "You did that on purpose." I look at her and answer with as much sarcasm as I can muster, "Yes, because the feeling of hard plates against my back, while I''m being squeezed like a tube of toothpaste, really gets my motor going." She huffs loudly and storms over to the entrance of the dungeon but doesn''t try to go into it yet. Meanwhile, I turn on the security for the [Hover Bike]. It seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere and there hadn''t been any signs of civilization from the air, but better safe than walking out of the dungeon to a stolen bike. With that done I join Jerilda at the entrance to the dungeon and look at the shimmering entryway. I turn to look at Jerilda, "Time to get your game face on." Jerilda gives me a grin and operates her [Utility Belt], a moment later she''s holding a massive beast of a weapon in both hands, with a large barrel and glowing lines of energy all along it. I lean close and examine the weapon to see exactly what she is using.
Artillery Laser
Item Level: 3
Toughness: 11
Hit Points: 24/24
Damage: 3-12 Fire, May set the target on fire dealing additional damage
Range: 120 Ft, Penetrating Line
Magazine: 20 Charges,2 Charges per Shot
Reload: 10 Seconds
Type: Heavy Arm
Description: Artillery Lasers fire thick intense pulses of light causing fire damage and usually set the target on fire to deal additional damage over time. Artillery Laser weapons are designed to take out hardened targets such as armored vehicles and bunkers. Laser weapons are some of the oldest and most reliable energy weapons in the galaxy and can be found throughout it.
HolyFUCK! That thing was ridiculous. I stare at the gun then turn to look at Jerilda, I guess I wasn''t the only one who had planned to go to war in this dungeon. She turns to me and seeing the look on my face gives me a smile that can only be described as beautiful, then says something that''s not, "Yeah, mines bigger than yours." I shake my head and give her a wry grin, it was looking like this was going to be a lot of fun. Between my [Overcharge Weapon] attacks and her massive laser, we were going to decimate anything inside of this dungeon. I turn back to face the dungeon and walk towards the shimmering portal. Jerilda follows close behind me. Together we step through the portal and into our first dungeon, together.
Welcome to Vortrax''s Base
Chapter 4.3 - The Dungeon 3 Chapter 4.3 - The Dungeon 3 As soon as we passed through the portal into the dungeon the surroundings changed. Given we were in a mountain range I had expected it to be your standard run of the mill cave filled with spooky things that needed to be slaughtered for the betterment of civilization. I''m sure you get what I mean. Instead, I find myself standing in a metal hallway, like the kind you would see in a high tech lab or an evil villain''s secret research facility. This definitely explains why the dungeon is called ''Vortrax''s Base''. From where Jerilda and I are standing we can see the end of the hallway, it leads to a set of double doors, there''s nothing else but smooth metal walls. "Celeste, can you find any signals we can hack into from here?" Celeste replies through my earpiece, "No Captain, my signals aren''t penetrating the walls of this hallway." Damn, I was hoping I could find a system to access and maybe get some information or even a map of this place. I turn to look at Jerilda and gesture to the door, "Ladies first." Now, this might seem like a dick move, but she was the one in thick armor with the giant fucking gun. Also, she had the class for this kind of thing and it''s specifically what I bought her for. Jerilda gives me a penetrating look then moves down the hallway towards to the door while I follow a few steps behind her. After checking the door we can see it''s not locked, so this must be the first real door to step into the dungeon. We can''t hear anything past the door and there''s no way to see through it so we both take up positions on opposite sides of the door. Jerilda makes sure her [Artillery Laser] is prepped and ready while I do the same for the holy and unholy [Mana Pistols]. I''ve decided to wield one in each hand and have the merciful setting off so the projectiles from both weapons will be deadly. With both of us prepared I give a nod and Jerilda steps forward to kick the door open and take the vanguard position. Through the doorway is another short hallway that ends with another set of double doors. This time though, there are double doors in the middle of both walls leading to rooms or hallways on the left and right. There''s no sign of anyone in the hallway. Jerilda stays on guard while I look around. Celeste chimes up in my ear, "Captain, I''m getting some signals now." I take a knee and lift up my left arm while holstering the holy pistol so I can operate my [Personal Computer], "Celeste, lock onto the strongest signal. We''ll use it to hack into whatever we can, let''s go for root access." Jerilda steps in front of me to protect me while I go through the process of hacking into the signal Celeste has locked onto. The hacking minigame hasn''t changed since my time on the New Dawn, however, this system must have much better security because there are more pieces of code that I need to drag into the gaps than I''ve ever seen before, and the code is scrolling almost too fast for me to spot the clues I need to know which section of code to drag and drop into the holes. Still, by taking what little time I can to look for the clues I manage to successfully hack into the system.
Hacking +3
Once I''ve got my root access I begin to browse through the files while relaying what I get to Jerilda, "Looks like this is set up as some sort of research facility, but there are no files on the research here." I scroll through more files and grin broadly, "This is the main computer for the defense systems of the base. I now have control of all the defensive systems here and a map of where the automated defenses are throughout the base." I can''t help but laugh, this was seriously like cheating, "Celeste, go through all the defense system controls and change them so that Jerilda and I are friendlies and mark everything else as enemies." While Celeste goes through that tedium at a much faster pace than I could personally do it I browse through the files until I find the security cameras. Once I access them I start scrolling through them to see what kind of enemies we''ll be dealing with here. The first few cameras show empty hallways until I find one looking into a lab. What I see leaves me somewhat speechless. Inside the lab there were four [Goblins], but not like I had ever seen before. They all wore nice clothing, didn''t seem to be carrying any weapons, were using advanced lab equipment and computers, and weirdest of all they all had on white lab coats! They were goddamn [Goblin] researchers! This game was seriously starting to mess with my head. [Goblins] aren''t usually much of a threat because they''re stupid and weak, but smart [Goblins]? I didn''t even know where to begin to deal with them. Okay, well I did have one idea, "Celeste, start activating all of the internal security measures and traps wherever you can." "All security systems activated, Captain. I''ve had the system mark you and Jerilda as friendlies while labeling anything else that moves as an enemy.", when she finishes speaking the video feed changes to another hallway. A panel in the floor opens and a small automated turret slides up into position. There''s hardly a pause before pulses of energy begin to fire from the turret at a small group of [Goblins] wearing light looking armor and carrying sophisticated looking weapons. The surprise attack from the turret mows them all down before they can have a chance to react. The camera view switches to another screen, showing one of the labs with [Goblins] in lab coats working on something. The doors to the lab lock and white gas from the fire suppression system pours into the room and removes all of the oxygen to suffocate the little green bastards. The screen switches again to show an automated turret dropping down from a ceiling and opening fire on a small group of [Goblins] led by a much larger [Orc] in thicker armor. The [Goblins] are mowed down but the [Orc] manages to destroy the turret while taking heavy damage. Scenes like this happen throughout the facility as all the fodder and a few of the tougher enemies are taken out by their own security measures.
Party Experience Gained:5,025 Personal Experience Gained:3,768 (2,512+50%)
Working my way through the video feeds I count fifteen [Goblin Scientists], ten [Goblin Guards], five [Goblin Commanders], and two [Orc Leaders], among those defeated by the security system I had control over. The remaining enemies were either in areas without defense systems, or had managed to survive the attacks. There were many wounded that wouldn''t be too hard for Jerilda and me to finish off. I stand up and give Jerilda a grin, "How was that for the opening salvo?" She snickers and rubs her stomach, "It was delicious, can I have some more?" I laugh and pull up the map I downloaded for the facility. It''s large, but in a mostly square shape, and sadly only a single floor. We''re on the far eastern side with a somewhat maze-like distribution of corridors and rooms leading from here to the other side of the base. On that side there are a couple of huge rooms, one is a dock for the base to recieve supplies, the other I couldn''t get a view into. My best guess is it''s the room with the dungeon boss in it. After checking the camera feeds to the two rooms on our left and right we enter them and take a look at the dead [Goblin Scientists] inside of them. Unfortunately, none of them wore [Utility Belts], had any weapons or anything of value. They were worthless. I tried looking at whatever they were researching but it was over my head so I had no idea what they were supposed to be planning or working on. Well, it wouldn''t matter when the base was filled with nothing but corpses. We move deeper into the base, Jerilda leading the way while I use the security feeds to check rooms before we enter. The first half of the base is filled with the various dead [Goblins], it seems to me that all the [Goblins] the system had killed were the equivalent of trash mobs while the tougher opponents managed to survive. A little disappointing really. We press on through and do manage to find a few credits on some of the [Goblin Guards], totaling out to three hundred and thirty-seven. Their weapons and equipment are worthless though so we leave all of that behind. Naturally, I pocket all the money myself, not to be a dick but Jerilda was technically my slave. At the door leading to the next hallway, I spot the first survivor from the initial barrage from my take over of the security system. I tap Jerilda on the shoulder and point to the door, "One of the injured orcs is through the door. He''s hunkered down on the left side of the hallway and aiming towards this door." She nods and looks at me, "What''s the plan, Master?" "I''ll let you decide. Either we kick open the door and you blow him to pieces with that oversized piece of artillery, or we slightly open the door and I throw in a grenade to finish him off." She thinks for a moment and comes to a decision, "Grenade him. I''ll probably be getting shot at more as we get deeper in the base so I''d rather wait until then to deal with getting hurt, Master." That''s a decision I can respect, why take getting shot when blowing them up from safety was a better option? I open the menu for my utility belt and pull out one of the new grenades I took from the ship''s armory.
Incendiary Grenade MK I
Item Level: 2
Damage: 2-8 Fire, Sets Targets ablaze dealing additional fire damage over time
Range: 20 Ft. Radius
Type: Small Arm
Description: Grenades are thrown weapons that detonate in an explosive radius. Incendiary grenades detonate and release a blast wave of superheated plasma to scorch and ignite their intended targets.
The grenade was a cylinder like the frag grenade I used on theNew Dawn, except it was solid black with a bright orange flame on it. Jerilda looks at the grenade in my hand and snickers, I join her in the snickering. I push the prime button then hold down the safety button when the counter on top of the grenade shows the number three. I look up at Jerilda, "You open the door, I toss the grenade, you close the door and we take cover behind them. I''m aiming for the other end of the hallway so we should be safe from the blast." Jerilda nods and grips the handle to the door while I crouch down and get into position to toss the grenade. With a nod from me, Jerilda pushes the door open a few inches. Immediately the [Orc] at the end of the hallway opens fire. Laser pulses slam into the metal of the door giving off bursts of smoke. We both ignore this while I give the grenade a hard underhand toss through the gap of the door, aiming to toss it as far down the hallway as I can. As soon as I move back Jerilda pulls the door closed and we both hunker down. Exactly three seconds after I let go of the safety button on the grenade there''s the sound of a small explosion, really not very loud at all, followed by a blast wave of intense heat that can be felt even through the metal doors. Or maybe it can be felt because they are metal and conducting the heat? Either way with the doors this hot the interior of the room must be hot as the pits of hell.
Damage Dealt:9 Fire
Throwing +1
We can hear the muffled screams of the [Orc] for a few seconds before the screams stop and we get the experience notification.
Party Experience Gained:525 Personal Experience Gained:393 (262+50%)
We wait just a bit for things to cool down a little before opening the doors to the hallway and stepping into it. The entire hallway is scorched black, and the corpse of the [Orc] is hardly more than charred bones with a little blackened meat still attached. Still, I take a moment to check for a [Utility Belt] to see if it managed to survive the explosion and subsequent burning, fortunately, it did. [Utility Belts] are some tough items, inside of it I find thirty-three credits and replacement batteries for the laser weapon the [Orc] was using. The weapon is a half-melted piece of scrap so I discard everything but the money. I check the video feeds and it seems like from here on we''re going to have to fight our way through. The next door leads into a larger room and inside of it there is an [Orc Leader] and three of the [Goblin Guards]. The [Goblins] are all wearing protective gear and carrying either a rifle or pistol of some sort. I turn to Jerilda while I retrieve another grenade from my [Utility Belt]. She looks at the grenade and grins broadly, then gives me a nod while she gets into a stance in front of the door with the large barrel of her [Artillery Laser] ready to mow down anything in sight. I move over to the door while I prime the grenade and hold the safety button down. I glance back and Jerilda and she nods that she''s ready. This time I open the door a little and throw the grenade inside before they can open fire on me. As soon as I slam the door closed several laser pulses slam into it. Exactly three seconds later there is a deafening bang and bright flash of light followed by screams inside the room. I throw the door open and dive to the side out of the line of fire from either the creatures in the room or the woman with the massive weapon.
Throwing +1
There are popping sounds as the capacitors on the [Artillery Laser] discharge their energy into the weapon and fire off pulses of energy that rip into the [Orc Leader] first, then start to indiscriminately target the [Goblin Guards]. I watch as she quickly and efficiently discharges five shots from the [Artillery Laser] putting two of the powerful laser pulses into the [Orc Leader] and one each into the [Goblin Guards]. They''re all dead before they can recover from the disorientation of the [Flashbang Grenade] I tossed into the room.
Party Experience Gained:975 Personal Experience Gained:731 (487+50%)
We move into the room and collect the credits and check their gear, none of it is worth taking so we leave it and keep the two hundred and forty-eight credits we find. So far this is going pretty smoothly, pop open the door, toss in a grenade of some kind, and maybe finish off anything still left alive. Yeah, hacking the security system and knowing everything is definitely a cheat and makes this a whole lot easier. I''d definitely have to remember to try and do the same thing in the future. We move through the next few rooms, there are not many survivors left and they seem to be moving to a location and gathering together. Frankly, that will just make our job easier, explosions are much more effective when targeting groups instead of individuals. We make our way to the room where they have gathered, the doors are shut and the various [Goblins], a few [Orcs], and a single [Ogre] are all inside of the room. The [Goblins] and [Orcs] have their weapons trained on the door while the [Ogre] stands in the back holding a giant metal club that glows with power. Electrical power I mean. I study the room from the two angles the security cameras inside of it provide and share the details with Jerilda. It''s time for me to use some magic I think. First, "Technimantic Proficiency, Grenade Launcher." After saying the magic words, literal magic words, I feel a small amount of mana drain and a large amount of information on how to properly use a [Grenade Launcher] flow into my mind. Mixing magic and technology is the best! With my new knowledge, which will last for the next hour, I pull up the inventory screen for my [Utility Belt] and retrieve my [Grenade Launcher].If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Grenade Launcher
Item Level: 1
Toughness: 7
Hit Points: 18/18
Damage: By Grenade
Range: 60 Feet
Magazine: 6 Grenades
Reload: 5 Seconds Per Grenade
Type: Heavy Arm
Description: This is one of the most common models of grenade launcher available and can be fitted with any sort of grenade available. Grenades are loaded individually instead of in a magazine. You may load different types of grenades into the launcher and select which grenade to fire at will.
I happily load six [Fragmentation Grenade MK II]''s into the [Grenade Launcher], they work just like the MK I''s, except they deal double the damage. With the [Grenade Launcher] loaded I pull out another [Flashbang Grenade] and prime it, then hold the safety down. I turn to look at Jerilda and give her a grin, "So here''s the plan. I''m going to cast my Chameleon Cloak spell to go invisible while sticking very low to the ground. While they open fire I want you to distract them with some covering fire from around the corner. You don''t have to actually hit anyone, but feel free to do so as long as you don''t endanger yourself. While they''re distracted I''ll drop the Flashbang. After it goes off I''ll pop the six grenades from the launcher into the room. After that, we''ll clean up anything still alive."
Chameleon Cloak
Rank: 2
Mana Cost: 19.4
Casting Time: Instant
Range: One target you are touching
Description: One Object or creature you are touching, no larger than fifty square feet, becomes invisible for one minute for every level you have. If the target is a creature everything it is wearing or carrying becomes invisible as well. The invisible target can only be seen by creatures that can normally see through invisibility, or by magical means. The spell ends if the target attacks a creature. An attack includes any spell or harmful effect that targets an enemy or whose area of effect includes an enemy. Causing harm indirectly is not an attack.
The wording of the spell was a tad ambiguous. I couldn''t figure out if popping off the grenades would end the spell or not, but I knew for sure that as soon as the first one exploded the spell would end. It didn''t really matter though, the whole point of the spell was to get out the [Flashbang Grenade] unseen, and I knew for sure that wouldn''t end the spell because it wasn''t an attack, at least I didn''t think it was. Worst case scenario, I''ll cast the spell again if the [Flashbang Grenade] does end it. With Jerilda in place and the flashbang primed I chant, "Chameleon Cloak" while touching my chest and vanish from sight while my MP drops. According to the spell, I only had four minutes, but that would be more than enough time. I turn the handle on the door and push it open an inch or so while I kneel on the ground. Laser pulses immediately begin to slam into the door as it moves. I ignore the heat and explosive sounds and lie down on the ground to make sure I stay out of the way of all the laser fire. I push the door open a little wider, cock my arm and throw the grenade into the room. As soon as it''s free from my hand I cover my ears and close my eyes.
Throwing +1
Three seconds after I let go of it there''s a loud boom and a flash of light so bright I can see it through my eyelids. Flashbangs are not something to scoff at. As expected the flashbang did not end my invisibility. As soon as the flash is over I aim the [Grenade Lancher] into the room and pull the trigger. There''s a soft pop as the grenade is launched into the air. I pump the handle on the grenade launcher to spin the barrel to the next grenade and pull the trigger again. I do it over and over in rapid succession hearing a soft pop from each of the five remaining grenades as they''re fired. Just after the sixth grenade is released the first explodes.
Damage Dealt: 13 Bludgeoning and Piercing
Then the rest explode one after another. I keep my head down and cover it with my hands, I should be out of the effective range of the explosions, but as soon as the first went off I became visible once more. Damage Dealt: 53 Bludgeoning and Piercing
Damage Dealt: 8 Bludgeoning and Piercing
Damage Dealt:11 Bludgeoning and Piercing
Damage Dealt:14 Bludgeoning and Piercing
Damage Dealt: 8 Bludgeoning and Piercing
Damage Dealt:12 Bludgeoning and Piercing
New Skill
Heavy Weapon Proficiency 1/100 (+0 Might)
Heavy Weapon Proficiency +5 Might +1
Party Experience Gained:3,450 Personal Experience Gained:2,587 (1,725+50%)
Overall the explosions did over sixty damage to the creatures in the room. Still, not all of them were dead. Luckily Jerilda remembered the plan and comes around the corner, her [Artillery Laser] making those popping sounds as she fires massive laser pulses at the wounded, disoriented, and scared survivors of my fireworks display. With how many shots Jerilda is firing she must have reloaded while waiting for the grenades to go off. While she fires I pull out my [Ominous Unholy Mana Pistol] and aim it at the still surviving [Ogre], "Overcharge Weapon!" The dark blood red lines on the gun suddenly glow brighter and begin to pulse like a heartbeat, the black haze it emits becomes thicker and darker and I could swear I heard the gun moaning in some weird ass mixture of pleasure and pain. Frankly, it was creeping me the fuck out. I aim down the barrel at the [Ogre] while Jerilda steps to the side to reload her spent weapon. When I pull the trigger there''s a horrendous screech, like some sort of monster screaming, as the mana bolt is fired. I still can''t see the bolt itself as it flies through the air, but I can see the smoke-like hazy black trail it leaves behind as well as the pitch black splatter of energy as it slams into the [Ogre].
Damage Dealt: 31 Piercing and Unholy
Shooting +1 Agility +1
The [Ogre] screams from the pain of the shot but is still standing, he turns his hate-filled eyes towards me and freezes. His dark grey skin gets several shades lighter as the blood drains from his face and his entire body begins to shudder. With a feral scream of fear, the [Ogre] turns away and starts to run from the room. His power club smashing two of the wounded [Orcs] that try to stop him from getting out of the room as fast as he possibly can. While the [Ogre] flees Jerilda steps back into the doorway above me and fires off her [Artillery Laser] at the fleeing [Ogre]''s back.
Party Experience Gained: 1,650 Personal Experience Gained:1,237 (825+50%)
As the smoke clears we stay on guard for any signs of movement, but all is still and silent. After a good minute of waiting to see if anything is moving, we decide everything is dead and move into the room. Jerilda ejects the nearly spent battery on her gun while I put a single point of mana into mine and holster it. She glances at the dark weapon on my hip and then looks at me, "What the hell kind of gun is that anyways, Master?" I look down at the gun and grin, "It''s a Mana Pistol that has the Ominous and Unholy Weapon Fusions installed on it." She grimaces and looks away from the gun while muttering, "Damn thing sure sounded unholy." We move through the room to loot the many many corpses of [Goblins], [Orcs] and one [Ogre]. All in all, we find four hundred and fifty credits which I happily add to my [Utility Belt]. Jerilda also decides she likes the suit of [Power Armor] one of the [Orcs] was wearing so we take the time to strip it off of his body and store it into her [Utility Belt]. The [Power Armor] was heavily damaged by the [Ogres] club so it would need repairs, it was also sized for a creature that was well over six feet tall and much more heavily muscled than my shorter slave. Still, with some work we could make it fit her, plus it had a micro missile launcher attached to the back so it would make an excellent heavy weapon for her. I also take the time to pull out some of the enemies power cells for their energy weapons and cast [Power Transfer] three times to transfer energy from them into her partially spent and empty batteries to refill them to capacity. I knew that spell would eventually come in handy. With the looting, reloading, and everything picked up and stored back in our [Utility Belts] (including my [Grenade Launcher]), I lift my left arm, "Celeste, how many enemies are still around?" It was faster to ask her instead of looking through every video feed myself. She pops up as the small version of herself, "None, Captain. At least none that I can see. There may be any number of unknown enemies in the one room we can''t see inside of." I nod to Celeste and turn to look at Jerilda, "Looks like it''s down to us and the dungeon boss." She nods and lifts her [Artillery Laser] into a ready position, "Between the two of us we should be able to take him out, Master." Jerilda seems a lot happier now that there''s been some death and carnage, with neither of us taking so much as a scratch so far. Between my hacking their security system and the multitude of grenades I''ve used this has been a walk in the park. Together Jerilda and I head to the double doors that lead to the one room I can''t get a camera feed from. We stop at the doors, naturally, there are no windows in them so we can''t see what''s beyond them. This is where I wish I had some x-ray goggles or something so I could see through the door and into the room. I lift my left arm and address the computer, "Celeste, can you get any reading at all from the next room?" Celeste appears and shakes her head, "No Captain. The room seems to be shielded from all electronic communications." I sigh, well it was worth asking. I think for a moment then turn to Jerilda, "Okay here''s the plan. I''m going to use my Chameleon Cloak again. We''ll go into the room together with you in the lead." I pull out my [Mana Shotgun], "While you distract the target I''ll get close, cast a spell to try and trip the boss up, then stick this in its face and see if it can survive the full blast with a dose of Overcharge Weapon." Jerilda grimaces at the thought of being bait but nods. She readies her weapon while I ready mine. We face the door and I quickly chant, "Chameleon Cloak" and vanish from sight. With me invisible Jerilda opens the door and we charge into the room together. The interior of the room is rather large, larger than I thought given the map I got from the security server. The interior is pretty open with large containers and crates scattered here and there. On the opposite side of the room is a single door, and standing between us and the door is an [Orc]. Not just any [Orc] either, it''s the biggest and meanest looking one we''ve seen so far and it''s wearing a [Power Armor] with thick protective plates and sporting a large square micro-missile launcher on its back. Sadly the [Power Armor] covers the [Orcs] entire head in a helmet that only has a clear faceplate for the [Orc] to see through. Jerilda immediately begins to open fire with her [Artillery Laser] while she makes her way for cover behind one of the containers in the room. Meanwhile, I move closer to the [Orc] and cast my first spell, "Slip!" The area beneath the feet of the [Orc] becomes frictionless, without friction it''s no better than standing on slightly wet ice. The armored feet of the [Orc] immediately lose their grip on the ground causing the [Orc] to tumble and land on it''s back, it''s feet comically flying into the air. As soon as it falls Jerilda steps out from behind her cover and begins to blast away. Bursts of fire and clouds of smoke explode and cover the armor in scorch marks as she nails it repeatedly and blasts off large chunks of the armor plating. Her gun was designed to destroy hard targets after all. Every time the [Orc] tries to get up it slips and falls back to the ground and is nailed repeatedly by Jerilda. I step closer to the [Orc] but make damn sure I stay out of her line of fire, she can''t see me and it would be a very bad idea for me to get blasted with that gun of hers. I get an idea though so I whisper as low as I can, "Telepathic Message." Jerilda, try and aim for just one section of his armor and blast it off, go for the chest or back. Yes, Master! Obeying my order she concentrates her fire on the chest plate of the [Orcs] [Power Armor] blasting off thick chunks of the plating. When her gun runs out of power she steps behind the container to reload the weapon. Meanwhile, the [Orc] is carefully crawling away from the area I cast [Slip] on and attempting to get to a spot where he can stand up again and fight us. I have no intention of letting him do that. As soon as he manages to get to his hands and knees I whisper, "Slip" and cast the spell beneath him once more. The [Orcs] arms and legs slide out from beneath him and he falls face first onto the ground with a loud clang of metal. While my mana pool wasn''t huge I could do this for quite a while, while Jerilda covers him in laser fire. Finished with her reload Jerilda steps out from her cover and starts to hammer away at the back plate of the [Orcs] [Power Armor]. Each powerful blast from the laser slams the [Orc] into the ground and blows off another chunk of armor. It takes the entire battery but when she goes into cover again to reload I can see a small gap in the [Power Armor] where the [Orc] has been lightly singed. I cancel both of the [Slip] spells and whisper, "Overcharge Weapon." As soon as the [Orc] realizes he can get a grip on the ground he immediately begins to climb to his feet. While he''s on his hands and knees I sprint over to him and point the barrel of the [Mana Shotgun] at the exposed portion of his back and pull the trigger. There''s a loud roar as the six overcharged mana pellets blast out of the shotgun and into the [Orc], ending my [Chameleon Cloak].
Damage Dealt: 80 Piercing
The concussive force of the blast knocks the [Orc] back onto the ground while a massive spray of green blood flies into the air. I shout, "Overcharge Weapon!" and pull the trigger again firing off another loud and powerful burst of mana pellets into the gaping wound on the [Orcs] back.
Damage Dealt: 81 Piercing
Party Experience Gained: 1,350 Personal Experience Gained: 1,012 (675+50%)
Long Arm Proficiency +2 Shooting +2
The second massive blast sends up another burst of green blood and finishes off the [Orc] for good. Blood slowly pools around the body while Jerilda walks up to me and the corpse. She looks at me and arches an eyebrow, "Somehow I kind of feel a little sorry for him, Master." I turn to her and grin broadly, "If you''re not fighting smart you''re not fighting right."
You have cleared Vortrax''s Base! To the victor go the spoils! Party Experience Gained: 5,000 Personal Experience Gained: 3,750 (2,500+50%) Title Gained: Dungeon Conqueror Level up! Automatically updating Health Point and Mana Point Totals... Health Points: +14! Mana Points: +10! You have 1 Attribute Point to spend. You may select a new Magic Hack Ability! You may select a new Rank 2 spell!
I grin as I read the notification, Jerilda seems to be doing the same because she has a huge smile on her face too, "Master, I got a new title!" I nod, "So did I, I think it''s for being the first to complete the dungeon." She nods in agreement, while she continues to read I kneel down and go through the [Utility Belt] of the defeated [Orc]. In it I find a few nice items that I''m more than happy to take, starting with the two thousand three hundred and nine credits. I also find a spare micro-missile launcher and two cases of micro-missiles that I give to Jerilda, along with a weapon I''ve been hoping to get my hands on since I started playing this game! A mother fucking [Plasma Sword]! Disappointingly it has an item level of eight so it''s useless to me for the time being. But by the Gods when I got to level eight I was going to train my ass off to use this thing properly! We decide to leave the ruined [Power Armor] behind, it would take even more work to repair than the suit we had already collected. With the looting of the boss done it was time to head into the final chamber and see what the prize for being the first to finish the dungeon would be!
In the darkness, something eats... Chapter 5.1 - Learning 1 Chapter 5.1 - Learning 1 I have a lot to do, spending that attribute point, picking a new spell, and most excitingly picking a new magic hack! But before all of that, there was one final door to explore through. If what Nania had told me before we left the ship was true, this should be the treasure room for the dungeon and filled with tons of loot. Okay, tons is probably an exaggeration since this is a low-level dungeon after all. Jerilda and I approach the door and as we get close it automatically opens. Inside is a treasure trove of weapons, armor, and crates with who knows what inside. I turn to Jerilda and give her a smirk, "We''re taking everything, we can sort through it all on the ship." While she starts collecting some of the gear I do the same, storing some of the crates in my [Utility Belt], the weight reduction property on it is coming in really handy here, and I didn''t have much more than grenades and the grenade launcher in it to begin with so there was still plenty of space. While I''m storing things I take the time to look at some of the weapons, a couple catch my attention but one, in particular, is deserving of attention.
Supernova Plasma Sniper
Item Level: 5
Toughness: 15
Hit Points: 30/30
Damage: 3-18 Fire and Electrical
Range: 300 Feet
Magazine: 20 Charges, 20 Charges per Shot
Reload: 5 Seconds
Type: Sniper Rifle
Description: The Supernova line of Plasma Sniper Rifles are some of the most powerful and deadly in the galaxy. Unfortunately, they have one small flaw; their power consumption. The Supernova''s fire an intense bolt of plasma surrounded by a highly charged magnetic field. Creating the plasma and charging the magnetic field takes a full second and drains the entire battery when the trigger is pulled. All Supernova class weapons automatically come with the Burst Weapon Fusion installed, it cannot be removed.
Burst: The Burst Weapon Fusion can only be installed onto weapons that deal energy damage. The Burst fusion causes the projectile fired from the weapon to explode in a five-foot radius dealing the weapons damage to everything within range.
Not a weapon I was technically proficient with, but thanks to [Technomantic Proficiency] that wouldn''t even be a remote issue. I hadn''t been in any combat that a sniper weapon would have helped with, but it was always nice to have one just in case. I store it in the [Utility Belt] with the rest of the gear I''m collecting. It would definitely take some time to go through all of these crates and examine all of the weapons, but that''s what the black of the corridor was for. As we''re packing up the last of the gear I find two more interesting pieces.
Unknown Ancient Technology
Description: A completely unknown piece of Ancient Technology. No one knows exactly where Ancient technology came from, but everyone agrees it is millennia older than all known technology in the Pact systems.
Unknown Skill Crystal
Description: Skill Crystals are somewhat rare items that instantly grant a single rank in any skill when used.
I look over the item, it''s not exactly impressive it''s just a black cube about three inches on a side. I think Reginald mentioned something about needing to find a piece of [Ancient Technology] for me to make custom items. It must be pretty common to be finding a piece in such a low level dungeon. As for the [Skill Crystal], my best guess is that it has something to do with the black box. For both of them to be unknown and together makes it seem likely that they are linked to each other somehow. Aside from the cases, weapons, armor and the [Ancient Technology] we also find a few credit sticks totaling two thousand six hundred and twenty credits. With the room completely emptied out Jerilda and I head back through the dungeon and exit it.
Outside nothing has changed and the [Hover Bike] is still sitting where I left it. Thankfully there aren''t many thieves hanging around in the middle of nowhere. I walk over and disable the security on the bike then mount it. I turn to look at Jerilda and arch an eyebrow at her. With an overly dramatic sigh, she walks over and mounts the bike behind me. I start the bike up and take us on a flight back to theCR Spectrum, this time Jerilda willingly holds onto my waist and doesn''t try to crush me to death. It''s still not a pleasant feeling though. As we approach the ship I speak up, "Celeste, open the cargo hatch and let Nania know we''re coming in for a landing." Celeste chimes up in my earpiece, "Done, Captain." I bring the bike into the cargo hold of the ship and land it near the [Personal Racer]. After Jerilda and I get off I move it to its spot next to the racer. As I step out from behind it the door leading into the interior of the ship opens and Nania walks out. For once she''s actually smiling, "I take it youcompleted the dungeon?" Jerilda just nods and heads into the ship, hopefully, to deposit the stuff she''s brought out of the dungeon, I don''t know about her but my [Utility Belt] is uncomfortably heavy. While she does that I give Nania a rundown of our activities in the dungeon. When I finish Nania looks surprised, "Wait! You found a piece of ancient tech?" I nod and open my [Utility Belt] inventory and select the small cube to show it to her. She immediately snatches it out of my hand and examines it, "Holy shit!" She turns to look up at me and I swear I can see stars in her eyes, "Do you know what this means?" Obviously, I don''t since the description told me nothing about it, "No, what?" She holds up the cube and lets me take a look at it while she explains, "The locals believe that the ancients are the ones who invented the system that grants experience, class levels and so on. Ancient tech can circumvent some of the rules of the system. For example, I read a forum post from another player that found an ancient rifle. The rifle''s item level goes up, along with its stats, as he levels up. But it gets even better. When he ascended the item level of the weapon did go down but all the stats of the weapon stayed where they were at item level twenty and as he leveled up again the stats continued to grow as they had before. Right now it''s one of the most powerful known weapons." I whistles, "That is impressive. Alright, so how do we find out what this thing does?" She looks the cube over, probably reading the pointless description again, "From what I understand there are only a handful of NPC''s that can identify what Ancient items do. We''ll need to find out exactly who we should take this to." She looks up at the ceiling, "Hey Celeste?" An emitter lights up and the full-sized version of Celeste appears. She turns to look at Nania and smiles, "Yes, Nania?" Nania lifts her arm and types into her personal computer, "I''m giving you the access codes for the guild communications network. Use them when connecting to the FTL-CN to join the guilds private communication network. We can ask them if they know who we need to meet with to get this thing identified." Celeste hums a soft tune for a few seconds then stops to speak, "The connection has been established Nania. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Nania shakes her head, "That''s all. Thanks, Celeste." Celeste nods her head, "You''re welcome Nania." and then she vanishes. I look at Nania, "Looks like you two are getting along." Nania nods, "She''s really sophisticated for an Artificial Personality. She almost seems like an actual A.I." I shrug my shoulders, "Between the ships computer and my upgraded personal computer she has a lot more processing power than she did before. It''s probably making her emulation software more effective." I briefly contemplate turning Celeste into an actual artificial intelligence, but something like that will need to wait. Nania turns around and gestures for me to follow her. I clear my throat and hold out my hand to her when she turns to look at me. She chuckles and gives the Ancient item back to me so I can store it in my [Utility Belt]. On our way to the bridge, we stop near the armory so I can drop off all the excess items I have, aside from the sniper rifle I haven''t taken the time to do a full examination on what we got, and it could wait until we were in the corridor. With all of that dropped off we head into the bridge where Nania uses one of the communication computers to contact the guild. Because of the number of people communicating at the same time the guild channel is in text, though there is an option for video call if it''s needed. Nania spends a few minutes talking with members of the guild while I relax in the captain''s chair, it''s good to be the boss. When she finishes talking to the guild members Nania turns in the chair and addresses me, "Well, looks like one of the nearest NPC''s who can tell us about the artifact is back in the Valencia system on the VC-5A orbital. Seems he''s a research professor and has an office there." I can''t help but laugh, feels like we''re going in a galactic circle, but that''s okay. Last time I was in the Valencia system I was in a bit of a rush so I didn''t really get a chance to explore. Hell, I didn''t even leave my ship at the orbital. It would be nice to do a little exploration. I nod and speak to Nania, "Do we have contact info for him? Probably best to call someone like that and make an appointment instead of just showing up on his doorstep." Nania nods, "One of the guild members gave me his contact info." She does some typing, "Now Celeste has it." Celeste turns on one of the projectors at the mention of her name and sits in one of the seats on the bridge. I grin at Celeste, "I assume you''ve been listening?" She nods, "Of course, Captain." "Good, use the contact info Nania gave you and call the professor." After a few moments another holo emitter lights up and an old man appears on the bridge of the ship. He''s pudgy, hunched, with a balding head and glasses. He also appears to be a humanoid feline rice, a cat-person. The ears on his head are slightly wilted and he looks to be missing a few whiskers on his face. I climb to my feet and give him a polite smile, "Hello Professor..." FUCK! I forgot to ask his name! Nania leans close and whispers, "Professor Relix!" "Ah yes, Sorry. Hello Professor Relix, it''s an honor to meet you." He doesn''t look very happy that I didn''t know his name and just scoffs at me. He doesn''t seem to be in a pleasant mood as he glares at me from behind the lenses of his glasses, "What do you want?" His tone of voice definitely conveys his annoyance with me. I smile wryly, it was my fault after all. "I apologize for that Professor. I am Captain Darkrose of the CR Spectrum and a Traveler. On my latest travels, I found an item of interest that I was told you might be able to help me with." The professor huffs and waves a dismissive hand, "I have no time to waste helping rude Travelers." He reaches for something off screen, likely to end the call. I hurriedly pull the Ancient item out of my [Utility Belt], "I found a piece of Ancient tech and I was hoping you could tell me what it is!" His hand stops and he slowly turns to look at me, or more specifically the small cube in my hand. He studies it for a moment then looks at me, "Hoh. And where did you find that?" I take the time to explain about the dungeon. I don''t give the whole story though. I simply explain it was inside of a [Goblin] run research facility guarded by [Orcs]. After listening he nods slowly and I finish with, "I asked some friends and they told me you would be the best person to talk to about identifying what this piece of Ancient tech will do." The professor studies me in silence for a moment, then looks to the device and I can see the shift in his attitude. His curiosity is plainly overflowing in view of all three of us. He''s practically drooling as he looks at the small black cube. Finally, he turns to look back at me, "Very well. How long until you can arrive at the orbital?" "It will take us two and a half days in the corridor to get back to the Valencia system. We can meet anytime after that.", I reply. He nods, "Come to me as soon as you dock with the orbital. We''ll take a look at your little item then." I smile and give him a small nod of my head to show a little respect, "Thank you for your time Professor Relix." He says nothing and ends the call.
Diplomacy +2
With the call finished I turn to Celeste, "Begin the calculations for the trip back to Valencia." Celeste nods in reply. I turn to Nania, "Get us off this planet and on track for entering the corridor." I press a button on the armrest of my chair to turn on the internal comms network, "Jerilda, we''re taking off and heading back to Valencia." Celeste and Nania follow my orders. Celeste doesn''t need to move, but Nania stands up and walks over to the pilot''s seat. She starts to warm up the thrusters so we can take off. The larger the ship the longer the thrusters need to charge up. While they charge Jerilda joins us on the bridge wearing a simple grey jumpsuit with only a pistol as a visible weapon. She walks over and sits at one of the weapon control terminals, I think it''s the one for the forward arc.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Once the thrusters are warmed up Nania skillfully lifts us off of the planet and guides the ship through the atmosphere and into space. It only takes a few minutes but it''s a pleasant trip with only a few shakes here and there. Nothing like my death-defying attempts at piloting. Once we''re in space I turn to Celeste, "Are the calculations for entering the corridor done?" Celeste nods, "Yes, Captain. As soon as we are far enough away from the planet and aligned properly we can enter the corridor on your command." I nod and lean back in my chair to relax while I wait for that. Despite its size, this ship was still considered to be on the small side so it was pretty quick. It wouldn''t take too much longer before we were in the corridor. I grimace a bit at that, the corridor is still creepy as hell. Jerilda turns to look at me, "Master, there is a ship on the scanners." I shrug and wave a dismissive hand, so what? Then Celeste chime in, "Captain, we''re being hailed by the other ship." I let out a deep and annoyed sigh and turn to Celeste, "Wonder what they want. Go ahead and answer." One of the emitters lights up and a man appears before me. He''s human looking, maybe middle-aged, wearing a smart looking outfit with clearly visible armoring and weapons on his hips and back. He gives me a creepy smile, "Greetings. I am Captain Roger. Power down your engines, shut down your shields, and prepare to be boarded." I frown at him, what the fuck was this guy saying? I shake my head, "And why on gods green earth would I do that?" I''m not an idiot, it''s kind of obvious this guy is a pirate, I mean seriously what the hell kind of obvious name is ''Captain Roger'' for a pirate? I bet he''s a Traveler and thought it would be a fun name for a pirate character. True to my expectations he replies with, "Because if you do not we will destroy your ship, kill you, and take all of your cargo from space." I sigh dramatically and push a button on my armrest to end the call and look at the others. Nania turns to look at me and frowns, "Captain, we can''t beat them in a fight and we''re still too close to the planet to enter the corridor safely. This ship is extremely understaffed at the moment, if we get into a fight we''ll lose." The moment she stops talking something slams into the ship''s shields and shakes the whole ship violently. Jerilda speaks up, "Master! They hit us with a kinetic weapon of some kind, there was nothing on the sensors but our shields are down!" I click my tongue in annoyance and look at Nania, "What should we do?" Celeste chimes in, "They''re hailing us again, Captain." Nania follows Celeste, "I say we let them board and kill them person to person instead of fighting a losing battle in space. We can''t beat them without more people manning these stations." Grumbling I turn to Celeste, "Open communications back up." Captain Roger appears once again and I let out a dramatic sigh, "You''ve made your point Captain. We''ll power down our shields and wait to be boarded." I turn to Jerilda and give her a nod to power down the shields. As she does that I turn back to the captain of the pirate ship, "Our shields will be down in a moment." The pirate gives me a smug smile, "Wise decision." I cut the communications again and turn to my two crew members, "Nania, Jerilda, hurry up and get your gear. We''re going to kill every fucker that dares to set foot on our ship." They both nod and rush out of the bridge and into the interior of the ship. Nania was still wearing her armor but she would need her weapons. Jerilda looked like she needed both, but I guess her [Artillery Laser] could be inside of her [Utility Belt]. I hadn''t stripped myself of my weapons or armor so I was ready to shoot these mother fucking pirate''s to death right now. I climb out of my seat and head to the armory, I want to get an automatic gun. As I walk I speak out loud, "Celeste, lock down all of the ship''s systems under a random fifty character alpha-numeric password and keep a record of it. Once you do that lock the authorization to use that password to me and me alone." "Done. All systems have been locked down.", she chimes in through my earpiece. When I arrive at the armory I walk over to one of the lockers and open it. Inside is an array of different submachine guns. I pick up one of the ones near the top, I had ordered them by item level with the top being the lowest levels. I examine it to make sure it''s the one I want.
Submachine Gun (PDW)
Item Level: 4
Toughness: 13
Hit Points: 27/27
Damage: 1-6 Piercing, Ignores up to 5 Kinetic Armor Damage Reduction
Range: 60 Feet
Magazine: 40Rounds
Reload: 5 Seconds
Type: Small Arm
Description: Unlike Machine Guns, Submachine Guns are smaller and more compact. To reach these smaller sizes they use pistol ammunition giving them less overall power, but making them easier to use. This model is a personal defense weapon (PDW) utilizing small armor piercing rounds.
I smile as I look at the stats of the weapon. Using a kinetic weapon might not be the best idea, but the fully auto laser weapons were all extremely heavy and unwieldy. I wasn''t convinced I could even properly carry one to use it in combat. I store the [Submachine Gun] and a few spare magazines into my [Utility Belt]. As I finish loading up Jerilda comes stomping into the armory wearing the lowest level [Power Armor] we had on the ship. It''s not as extensive as some of the others I''ve seen. It''s really little more than an exoskeleton giving her enhanced strength and armoring. She gives me a cheeky grin as she easily pulls out and hefts one of the larger [Gatling Laser] weapons we have. I give her a grin in return, "I guess this means you got to level five in the dungeon?" She nods and plops the huge weapon on her shoulder like it weighs nothing, "Yeah. I got a new ability too that should help with this. It''s called Bulwark. When I use the ability it will generate an immobile wall of solid light to protect against weapons. It only lasts for a minute but it can take a solid beating in that time. If I put it down be sure to get behind it." I nod, "Thanks for the advice." Since we''ve got a moment I open my character sheet and quickly drop my attribute point into [Reason], it won''t have much of an effect until next level sadly. I need to get my [Reason] higher, the higher I get it the more spells I can cast. I also pull up my spell selection and grab the [Spider Climb] spell, I figure that combined with [Chameleon Cloak] will let me get into unexpected positions for ambushes. The ability to move on any surface, even the ceiling, would also make it awkward for people to target me. After selecting my new spell there is a jolt that lightly shakes the ship. Celeste appears, "Captain, the pirates have docked with the ship." She points to the hatch I used when I first boarded the ship. Nania comes rushing around a corner and we all head for the hatch. When we arrive I immediately open my [Utility Belt] inventory and pull out a little surprise for the pirates. It was something I packed for the dungeon but never got the chance to use. From the [Utility Belt] menu I select an item called a [Sticky Tripmine]. It''s a simple non-lethal device with a laser sensor. Once tripped it explodes and releases a glob of a super adhesive to lock anything down. While the pirates work on opening the door I set half a dozen of them along the very short corridor. It was going to become a mire once the mines were tripped. We all hide around the corners of the short corridor and wait for the pirates to finish opening the door. It doesn''t take them very long at all. Nania is on one side of the corridor alone, she''s the highest level among us so that''s fine. Jerilda and I are on the opposite corner, Jerilda is in front of me. As soon as the first group of pirates get about halfway down the corridor, it''s only about a dozen feet long. There''s a soft popping sound followed by a rather disturbing splattering sound. "What the fuck is this goop?!" "What the hell?" "It''s everywhere!" "I can''t move!" Various pirates let out various complaints as the [Sticky Tripmine] does its job by detonating and binding them in place with the adhesive. I tap Jerilda on the back and give a thumbs up to Nania at the same time. They both leap into the corridor and open fire with their various weapons. Jerilda''s [Gatling Laser] begins to spin while emitting popping sounds as the multiple capacitors expend their loads to fire the invisible laser beams into the pirates. Nania is using the small weapon she carries on her hip. It looks reminiscent of an old-fashioned revolver except blockier and larger. From the barrel, large bolts of red plasma are launched to slam into the pirates. For their parts, the pirates barely get a moment to react before a mass of lasers and plasma bolts slam into them repeatedly.
Party Experience Gained: 500 Personal Experience Gained: 249 (166+50%)
Party Experience Gained: 500 Personal Experience Gained: 249 (166+50%)
Party Experience Gained: 500 Personal Experience Gained: 249 (166+50%)
Party Experience Gained: 500 Personal Experience Gained: 249 (166+50%)
Just like that four pirates are put out of their misery. Jerilda and Nania keep aiming down the corridor at the hatch that now leads to the pirate ship. I step up behind them to take a look at their work. All four pirates are in a miserable state. They''re all covered in scorch marks and stuck in various positions because of the adhesive. Two of them are even stuck to the walls in slightly comical poses. I turn to look between to two women, "Good work." I touch Jerilda''s shoulder and whisper, "Spider Climb", I feel my mana drop and repeat the process with Nania. Lastly, I cast the spell on myself followed by [Chameleon Cloak]. Casting four rank two spells was not cheap, my mana dropped by a significant amount, but it was necessary "Alright, here''s the plan. It should take a moment for them to notice the boarding party got wiped out. I''m going to cross over into the ship and scout the entrance. You two follow behind after a minute, walk on the ceiling to avoid the mines. The ones that didn''t detonate should trap anyone who tries to board while we''re gone." I give the two of them their orders, they both nod. Invisible to them I walk over to the wall and place a foot on it. I don''t usually play a spellcaster and this was my first time walking on a surface that wasn''t ''down''. I quickly lift my other leg and plant my foot on the wall, instantly my perspective shifts and the wall is now the ''floor''. It''s a little disorienting at first but doesn''t present much of a problem. Quickly I walk up the wall and onto the ceiling. I look up at Jerilda and Nania and laugh a little, this was really weird. Not wanting to waste time I quickly move along the ceiling and pass from our ship and into the pirate''s ship. Unlike in a cheesy movie the pirate''s ship is just as well lit as our own. It would be monumentally stupid for anyone to fly around in a mostly dark ship. Inside the pirate''s ship, I don''t see anyone else right away. It looks like the four sent to board us weren''t expecting us to fight back since we gave up so easily. As softly as I can I whisper to Celeste, "Any signals?" In a soft voice, she replies via my earpiece, "Yes, Captain. I am detecting multiple weak signals. If I had to guess I would say they''re from personal computers and things like power armor. I can also detect an access point for the ship''s systems." I can''t help but grin, I''m starting to think that hacking is an extremely over-powered ability to have in this game. Still whispering I reply to Celeste, "Lock onto the ship''s systems and initiate a hack." I kneel down on the ceiling as a holographic display doesn''t appear, "Celeste?" She chuckles in my earpiece, "Captain, you''re invisible." I avoid the urge to facepalm. I dismiss the [Chameleon Cloak] spell and become visible. As I do the display appears and shows me the hacking minigame. As I initiate the hacking process Nania and Jerilda walk into the pirate''s ship on the ceiling like I had. They silently take up positions on either side of me while I do the hacking. "Jack, report." The voice comes from one of the dead pirates on our ship. I grimace, I was really hoping that would take longer. Both women hear the voice as well and become even more vigilant. They both aim their weapons down the corridor leading in both directions from the pirate ship''s hatch. I continue the hack until I''m into the ship''s systems. "Goddamn it Jack, quit fucking around with the girls over there and report!" Just as I finish the hack and gain access to the system a grumpy looking pirate walks around a corner at the end of the corridor. Nania wastes no time and pulls the trigger on her weapon. The red plasma bolt flies out and slams right into the pirate''s unprotected face before he can even notice the three of us crouched on the ceiling.
Party Experience Gained: 500 Personal Experience Gained: 249 (166+50%)
Hacking +2 Smarts +1
The pirate collapses to the ground with a large portion of his face missing and a stream of smoke rising from the cratered remains. Nania turns around and whispers, "More will be coming, be prepared." I smirk but don''t take the time to answer her. Instead, I address Celeste, "Celeste, lock down all the ships emergency bulkheads and put them all behind different passwords." "Roger that, Captain." Without a moment even passing we can hear loud clangs coming from the various corridors as the emergency bulkheads all come crashing closed blocking off the passages through the ship. Normally the bulkheads were there to prevent the atmosphere from venting out of the ship in case of damage to the hull. I''d just used them to turn the entire ship into a prison. "Celeste, lock onto any life signs you can locate on the ship." The screen on my [Personal Computer] changes to a schematic of the ship. Various dots begin to appear in the interior of the ship at various locations. The densest cluster is on the bridge of the ship. According to what I see this ship is about three hundred feet longer than theCR Spectrum. They had us outsized and outgunned, not that it would do them one bit of good with me inside now. "Celeste, lock them out of their weapon and propulsion systems. Borrow processing power from the CR Spectrum and build a firewall that their hackers will have a hell of a time getting through." I didn''t know if they actually had any hackers or system security experts. Their own systems were not that hard to get into so it didn''t seem likely. I just wanted to make sure that their systems well and truly belonged to me. Celeste chimes up a moment later, "The ship is yours, Captain." I grin wickedly and make my way from the ceiling to the floor, [Spider Climb] only lasts for a few minutes. I gesture for the two women to join me and explain the situation. There are another thirty-seven pirates on the ship and they''re all locked behind the safety seals on the ship. Nania whistles and Jerilda just smirks. Nania has never seen me in action before but Jerilda knows exactly what I did in the dungeon. I focus on my computer, "Celeste, activate the ships fire extinguisher systems, override all the safeties." "Sorry Captain, but the overrides are locked and I can''t access them." I nod, "Alright, initiate a hack, I''ll get through them." The holographic screen changes to the hacking minigame and I frown. The security around the overrides was pretty intense, even stronger than the security back in the dungeon. There are a massive number of bits I need to drop into the main code to make the hack, and the main code is scrolling fast. Grimacing I begin to drag and drop the bits of code into the holes as fast as I can. The screen flashes green repeatedly until I make a mistake and it flashes red. Nothing seems to happen though so I continue the hack until I finish it.
Hacking +2
The moment I complete the hack I speak to Celeste, "Okay initiate the fire suppression system everywhere but where we are." In the distance, we can hear the various shouts of pirates as they get really loud. It''s impossible to make out what they''re saying but I doubt it''s good things. Grinning I stand up and turn to look at Nania, "They''ll all be dead in a little while." Fire suppression systems in ships all used gas meant to remove the oxygen from the room to snuff out the fire, after all, spraying water all over electronics is just a fucking terrible idea. Plus water is a precious resource on a ship and shouldn''t be wasted on putting out a fire, period. So ships used gas. As I turn around to address Jerilda she shouts, "Pirates!" I have no time to react before something slams hard into my right arm. I don''t feel any pain but I see a damage notification.
Damage Taken: 33 (36-3) Fire
The impact of whatever dealt the damage sends me into a spin and throws me to the ground. Another notification window appears as intense pain rips up through my entire arm. Darkness creeps in on my vision as pain floods through my brain and paralyzes me. I can''t even read the last notification before my vision turns completely black and I pass out.
You are Unconcious.
Chapter 5.2 - Learning 2 Chapter 5.2 - Learning 2 "Logout!", I scream in my head. As soon as possible I sit up on my couch in reality and take off the headset. I reach over to check my right arm, I believe I can still feel the burning pain from whatever hit me. Intellectually I know that there''s no way for the damage I took in the game to harm me in reality, that doesn''t prevent me from thinking it had though. My arm is perfectly fine, just like it should be. But I can almost feel the pain I received still. Confirming everything is fine I take a deep breath and climb off of my couch to head to my bathroom and splash cold water on my face. "Fuck that hurt." I don''t know how long my character will be unconscious so I go about doing the real life things that need to be done such as food, shower, bathroom usage, all that wonderful stuff that makes you feel alive and annoyed at the same time. After a couple of hours getting myself into better condition after that experience. I sit back down on the couch and put the headset back on. "Log in."
You are no longer Unconscious.
Before I can even open my eyes I can feel the dull throbbing pain still radiating from my arm where I was shot. It''s nowhere near as bad as when I was first shot, but it still hurts a bit. Taking a deep breath I open my eyes and see a flood of notifications from what happened after I passed out from the pain. The summation of which is:
Skill Gained
Pain Resistance 1/100 (+0 Toughness)
Pain Resistance +7 Toughness +1
Skill Gained
Fire Resistance 1/100 (+0 Toughness)
Fire Resistance +4 Toughness +1
Party Experience Gained: 42,000 Personal Experience Gained: 31,500 (21,000+50%) Level up! Level up! Automatically updating Health Point and Mana Point Totals... Health Points: +14! Mana Points: +350! You have 2 Attribute Points to spend. You may select 1 new Rank 1 Spell. You may select 1 new Rank 2 Spell. You may select 2 new Rank 3 Spells. You gain Spell Capacitor! You gain Counter Tech!
Title Gained
Merciless You don''t just clear dungeons and ships, you leave none alive. +10% of accumulated experience when you defeat all enemies in a dungeon or on an enemy ship.
[Pain Resistance] and [Fire Resistance] huh? Guess that made some sense considering the pain I suffered through. The [Merciless] title seemed a bit much though... Then again I had obliterated every living thing on two pirate ships and in the dungeon I cleared with Jerilda, so maybe I had earned it. Before I even get out of my bed, yes it''s my bed I recognize the ceiling, I decide it''s time to take care of everything I''ve gained. Before I get pulled into my next adventure or forget about it again, I still had a [Magic Hack] to select from level five after all. Let''s start with that. I pull up my list of available magic hacks, I ignore the ones I''ve already looked over in favor of looking at new ones that have unlocked. There are quite a few interesting one, like [Charging Jolt] which allows me to recharge any batteries by expending mana. There are even a few that let me modify the parameters of spells like damage they deal, their range, or even their radius. I admit all of those are tempting but I had yet to cast a real offensive spell, in fact, most of my spells were utility spells so far. The two that caught my interest the most are [Spell Grenade], which lets me turn a spell into a grenade and toss it to have the spell effect everyone in range, and [Fabricate Arms], which allows me to make any weapon or armor out of pure mana for a short while. In the end, I choose...
Fabricate Arms: You can expend mana to temporarily construct a technological weapon or armor out of raw magic. You can create one suit of armor or weapon with an Item Level equal to or lower than your level by expending mana equal to 10 times the Item Level. The item appears in your hands, on your body, or nearby at your discretion. The weapon or armor persists for a number of minutes equal to your level. At the end of this duration, the item disappears. You are proficient with all weapons and armor you create using this ability. You cannot create magic items, items made from special materials, or weapons that are expended with use such as grenades or missiles with this Magic Hack. If you make a new suit of armor or weapon with this ability then any previously existing item will cease to exist.
With my old level up duties taken care of, it was time to do my new ones. First I drop both of my [Attribute Points] into [Reason] to bring it up to thirty-three.Even though my MP regeneration had gone up significantly with the huge boost to my mana pool, it would still cost me twenty-nine point one mana each time I wanted to cast a rank 3 spell. Not to mention the mana expended if I wanted to bulk cast spells like [Chameleon Cloak], [Spider Climb], or [Overcharge Weapon]. The more often I could use [Overcharge Weapon] in combat the better. Up next I had four new spells to select. For my rank 1 spell, I decided to pick up [Atmo Sphere]. No, I didn''t spell that wrong, it really is [Atmo Sphere]. It was a simple spell that would encase one or more targets inside of a bubble of tolerable atmosphere. I figured it would be a good tool to have on hand in case of a hull or spacesuit breach. For my rank 2 spell, I went with [Repair]. It was a straightforward spell that would allow me to use my mana to repair HP damage to objects. I''m not sure if I could use it on the ship or not, but it would come in handy for repairing damaged weapons and armor in the field. Up next was the hardest part, choosing from a completely new spell list for my rank 3 spells.
Rank 3 Spells (29.1 MP)
  • Arcane Sight - Magic becomes visible to you.
  • Arcing Surge - Deal 10-60 Lightning damage in a 120-foot line.
  • Displacement - Make your entire body blur, reducing the accuracy of enemies.
  • Explosive Blast - Deal 10-60 Fire damage in a 20-foot radius.
  • Handy Junkbot - Create a temporary robot made of junk to perform computers, engineering or piloting tasks.
  • Haste - One creature per level moves at increased speeds.
  • Healing Junkbot - Create a temporary robot out of junk to perform medical tasks and drag unconscious party members to safety.
  • Instant Virus - Instantly create a computer virus that can affect technological constructs and computer systems.
  • Irradiate - Flood an area with deadly radiation.
  • Resistant Armor - Improve Kinetic or Energy damage reduction from armor by 5.
  • Slow - One creature per level moves at slower speeds.
Call it what you want but [Arcing Surge] was clearly the classic Lightning Bolt spell and [Explosive Blast] was the classic Fireball spell. Which I had absolutely no problem with. However, there were quite a few good spells to select at this level making my decision rather hard. I could go offensive and grab either [Arcing Surge] and [Explosive Blast] with a utility spell. The problem is, neither of those spells would be safe to use inside of anything but the larger spaceships or rooms, unless I was outside of course. After reading over the spells once more I make my decisions, [Explosive Blast] and [Haste]. While I couldn''t use [Explosive Blast] in every situation, it would be extremely effective in the situations I could use it in. As for [Haste], moving faster, reacting faster, thinking faster and shooting faster was just all gravy. Now I needed to look at my two newest abilities and see what they would give me. First up, [Spell Capacitor].
Spell Capacitor Your Mana Capacitor is now upgraded to a Spell Capacitor, it retains all previous functions and gains a new function. You may cast a single spell you know into the Spell Capacitor to have it affect you continuously for twenty-four hours. You must know a spell to store it in your Spell Capacitor. The spell must be a spell that can only target you and must be no higher than rank two. When you cast the spell you must make any decisions required by the spell, but the duration of the spell becomes twenty-four hours. If the spell is dispelled, dismissed, or otherwise interrupted before the duration expires you may spend five minutes focusing on the Spell Capacitor to re-initialize the spell for the remaining duration.
Wow. Just... wow. That was going to be amazing as hell. It sucked that I couldn''t use [Haste] with it, but that still left me with [Flight], [Atmo Sphere], [Chameleon Cloak], [Holographic Mirror], and [Spider Climb]. All of which could last me for a full twenty-four hours. Grinning excitedly I lift my right arm to cast the [Flight Spell] into my new [Spell Capacitor]. Or at least I tried to. I stared in abject horror at what was left of my right arm. Which was basically nothing from the middle of my upper arm and down. There was nothing but white bandages stained red with my blood. I stare in silent horror for a time at the stub of what''s left of my arm before I begin to scream at the top of my lungs. Hearts pounding away in my stomach I continue to scream over and over while I clutch at the stub of my missing arm. Nania and Jerilda come crashing into my room at the sounds of my screams and try to calm me down. I can''t hear anything they''re saying as I panic and freak out. My fucking arm was gone! All I had left was a misshapen stub! Nania grabs something from my nightstand and stabs me in the neck with it. As whatever she''s pumped into me makes its way through my bloodstream my body is forced to calm down. I collapse back on the bed and look up at the two women. I lick my suddenly dry lips and try to speak, but only end up coughing. Jerilda steps away for a bit then returns with a small metal cup filled with water and holds it carefully while I greedily drink the cool contents. When I finish drinking I speak in a hoarse voice, "What... happened?" Nania and Jerilda share a look with each other before focusing on me once again. Nania is the one to speak, "What do you remember?" Thinking back is a little difficult with the drugs pumping through my veins but I remember, "We boarded the pirate ship, I hacked their fire suppression system and suffocated them. Just as I finished Jerilda shouted about pirates. After that, there was only pain and unconsciousness." Nania nods and fills in the rest, "You were hit with a heavy plasma bolt. The bolt blew your arm clean off and the pain and blood loss knocked out you. There were three pirates, after they attacked you Jerilda used her Bulwark ability to provide cover for us. While she tended to you I took down the pirates. After that, we brought you and your arm back to the ship. We don''t have a proper medical bay, or doctor, so the best we could do was bandage your arm and give you some painkillers. We stored your arm in the fridge to preserve it and attempted to jump to a nearby system to get you medical help. We couldn''t do anything though because you locked down all of the ship''s systems. We''ve been stuck here for nearly a day docked with a ship full of dead pirates. At this point, there''s probably no chance your arm can be reattached." I take a deep breath and once more look at what''s left of my right arm. The pain was little more than a throb thanks to the drugs. I lower my arm and look at Nania, "How did they get out of the lockdown?" Nania shrugs her shoulders, "After we made sure you were stable I went to investigate but all I found was an open bulkhead. They hadn''t cut or blown through it, it was just open. Maybe it had a fault and just didn''t close?" I sigh and think about it. Maybe Celeste would know what happened, "My computer, do you have it?" She nods and walks out of my sight to fetch it. Jerilda looks down at me, "How are you feeling, Master?" She actually looks concerned, it''s a good look on her so maybe me losing my arm was worth it. Yeah right! I give her a weak smile, "I''ll be alright. I''m sure I can get a new arm when we get to Valencia." She nods and speaks in a cheerful voice, "Yup! You can have a new one grown and surgically attached, or even get a cybernetic limb!" You know, a cybernetic arm didn''t sound so bad, as long as I could modify it myself and make it do crazy things. Nania returns and holds out my [Personal Computer] to me. One section of it is scorched and partially melted, but a glance at its stats show it''s not completely broken. I carefully examine the broken section, fortunately, it''s the area where the wireless communications for the computer are located and not the data storage. If the data had been destroyed Celeste, and the passwords for the ship, would be gone. I set the computer down, "Take me to the Tech Workshop. I need to fix this thing so Celeste can unlock the ship and we can go to Valencia." I grip the edge of my blanket and throw it to the side so I can get out of bed. It''s only at this point that I realize I am completely naked. Nania and Jerilda both blush as I flash them. Nania''s cheeks turn a light red while Jerilda''s gray cheeks turn a few shades darker. Both women spin around to face away from me. I have no idea what their problem is, for me to be naked it means at least one of them had to have undressed me. Besides, it''s just nudity, it''s not that big of a deal. I look at their backs and sigh, "You know, one of you is going to have to help me out of the bed and get dressed."Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Nania immediately turns to look at Jerilda, "You do it!" Jerilda''s antennae stand up straight as she faces Nania, "Why do I have to do it?!" Nania puts on a look of superiority, "Because you''re his slave and I am the second in command on this ship so I completely outrank you!" I can''t help but grin as they bicker. But I quickly wipe the grin off of my face and take on a serious look. Or at least a mock-serious one, "Jerilda." Jerilda jumps when I say her name and makes a good show of looking in the complete opposite direction of where I am currently sitting, completely naked, "Jerilda, help me out of bed." Jerilda lets out a groan while Nania laughs and makes a quick exit of my room to leave just Jerilda and me. Jerilda turns around but does her absolute best to look anywhere but directly at me. She moves closer and holds her arms out to me. I reposition myself on the bed and awkwardly scoot to the edge by hopping and pushing with my left arm. With my legs finally over the edge I hold my good arm out to Jerilda, "You''re going to have to help me stand." Okay, the truth? I''m pretty sure I could have stood up on my own. It''s not like my bed was high off the ground, my feet could easily rest on the ground and I didn''t even need to use my arms to stand. However, I did feel off balance, after all my right side was now several pounds lighter than my left. So I dutifully hold my arm out for Jerilda to use to help me stand up. Blushing furiously Jerilda takes my left arm and carefully uses her much higher [Might] to carefully lift me to my feet. As soon as I am standing she turns around to look away from me once more. This next part was going to be fucking hilarious. I walk over to one of the places where clothing is stored and pull out one of the drawers to fetch an article of clothing. I walk back over to Jerilda and hold it out for her, "Help me with these." Without looking at me she holds out her hand, so I place the piece of cloth in her hand. Taking a deep breath she unfolds the cloth and yelps then turns even darker as she blushes even more. It''s a nice pair of boxers. She stammers incoherently as she looks at the clothing that I need her to help me put on. While she''s befuddled I grin and say, "The sooner we get those on me, the sooner I''m not completely naked anymore." Jerilda takes a deep breath, probably to calm her nerves and build up some courage. Slowly she turns around to face me, this time her eyes are focused completely on my face to help her avoid looking anywhere else. I can''t help but give her a goofy grin, the look she gives me in return lets me know she is not a happy camper. She spreads the boxers open so it will be easy for me to step into them, then gets down on her knees in front of me while holding the boxers out. Her head is tilted down as far as it can go so she doesn''t have to look at me. Chuckling at her antics I step one leg, then the other, into the boxers, "The way you''re acting, it''s like you''ve never seen a naked man before." Jerilda''s antennae twitch frantically, "O-of course I''ve seen a naked man before!" That stutter wasn''t very convincing Jerilda! I have to admit, this whole thing is hitting my sadist button pretty hard. I just wanted to spend even more time teasing her. "Jerilda, time to lift the boxers up. Don''t worry after they''re on I''ll no longer be naked. Sorry for being your first." I didn''t know if I actually was the first naked man she''d seen but judging from the way her antennae were spasming I think I hit the nail on the head. It made me wonder how old Jerilda was in reality for this to be her first time encountering nudity in a VRMMO. With jerky movements, Jerilda slowly stands back up and pulls the boxers up until I am covered. Of course the entire time she does her absolute best to look anywhere but at me. Now that I am dressed in a fresh set of boxers Jerilda seems to be calming down some. Too bad, she was a lot of fun to tease. The rest of my getting dressed was uneventful. I got on a pair of jeans and boots, though Jerilda insisted I should wear a shirt a few sizes too large to keep from aggravating my wounded arm. I agreed. With my dressing finished we exit my cabin and head to the Tech Workroom, Jerilda carrying my personal computer for me. I have Jerilda set the [Personal Computer] on the workbench and pull up the schematic I used to create it. Using the schematic I initiate the repair process. It''s pretty much just like making an item, except the areas highlighted green that I need to touch are contained only in the damaged area of the item. It takes three hundred and sixty-five of the MCU''s but the [Personal Computer] is restored to perfect condition.
Skill Gained
Computer Repair 1/100 (+0 Smarts)
Computer Repair +1
If you''re wondering why I didn''t use a spell to repair the computer, it''s simple. I forgot I could until I was nearly done with the repairs. With the repairs completed one of the holographic emitters in the Tech Workshop light up and Celeste appears before us, "Captain! I was so worried! Are you alright?" She really does look concerned for me. She notices my missing arm and her look becomes even more concerned, "Captain, you''ve been damaged!" I lift the stub of my right arm and wave it at her, "Only a little. We''ll get it repaired as soon as we get to Valencia. For the time being, I need you to remove all the locks on our computers so we can have access to the ship''s systems again." Celeste nods, "It''s done captain, full functionality has been restored to the ship." "Let Nania know. Do you still have access to the pirate ship Celeste?" She nods again, "Yes Captain, as soon as my communications were restored I reconnected with the ship." I nod, "Good, I need to know why the bulkhead that allowed the pirates to come an attack me was open. Run a diagnostic on it and let me know if there are any faults in the doors systems." Celeste is quiet for a moment before she speaks up again, "There is no fault in the door, Captain." I frown, "Then why was it open?" She looks like she doesn''t actually want to answer me, but she dutifully does, "It was your fault, Captain." "My fault?" Celeste nods, "I''m afraid so captain. During your hacking attempt of the fire suppression system, you made a mistake remember?" I do, vaguely, remember making a single mistake, but nothing had happened I thought. Celeste continues, "When you made that mistake it re-initiated the safety protocols for that bulkhead. When the gas began to pour in, the bulkhead automatically opened and allowed the pirates inside to leave." Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck! It was my damned fault that they got out and blew my goddam arm off. Because of a single mistake I made I got seriously injured. I couldn''t help but be pissed off at myself, but at the same time, this is a serious lesson that I learned. Despite hacking being a powerful tool in my belt, it was not all-powerful. I need to be more careful and not rely purely on hacking to save the day. "Close the pirate ships hatch as well as our own, then have the pirate ship disengage so we can move freely. Also, lock down the pirate ship''s systems with a single code and give it to Nania." Celeste does as I have asked while I walk over to a comm panel. At first I tried to push the button with my dominant right hand, but obviously, that didn''t work. While using my left to push the button I call Nania, "Nania, Celeste should have given you to codes to the pirate ship''s systems. I want you to contact the guild and let them know the ship is here. Make sure they know that anything of interest on the ship is ours. If they want to keep or sell the ship I want half of its value in credits transferred into my account." I glance over at Celeste, "Give Nania my bank account info." Nania replies over the comms, "Sure thing captain, but the guild pays seventy-five percent of a captured ships value." "Even better then. Once all that is done take us into the corridor and get us to Valencia. I want a new fucking arm."
Ah, the corridor. I fucking hate the corridor. Something about it was just unnerving on a primal level. We''ve been in the corridor for a day now and we still have another day and a half. I''m in constant pain and bored. It''s a weird combination. Right now Nania and I are on the bridge of the ship, I thought to ask for piloting lessons but right now I''m not in the mood to do much of anything. The silence is annoying though so I decided to pester Nania, "Hey Nania, do you know how the Arcane Corridor Core works?" She turns around in her seat and looks at me, "I don''t know the exact science, but I know a little bit." I gesture for her to continue so she does, "Are you familiar with the concept of mana gathering over time in places to crystallize and become crystals or stones that have magical power?" I nod, it was a staple in games with fantasy elements. Mana would seep into a place over time and slowly grow to become a crystal or stone that could then be used in crafting, spells, and other things. Nania continues, "Well here mana can slowly coalesce over time to become a crystal. If that crystal is left alone to condense and gather even more mana it becomes a stone. Mana stones are powerful sources of magic, but obviously, they''re nowhere near powerful enough for them to power a starship at faster than light speeds. Instead, scientists discovered that if you artificially compressed mana into a mana stone it would growmore and more powerful until it reached a third state. A mana singularity." I interrupt her, "What, like a black hole?" She nods, "Pretty much. Only it didn''t affect anything but mana. You could stand next to it without it having an effect on you... well aside from the massive amounts of magical power it puts out or having your mana completely drained out of you. Once a mana stone becomes a mana singularity it begins to gather ambient mana all on its own. Each FTL core has a mana singularity inside of it. When we are in normal space the singularity pulls in ambient mana, but there is no mana in the corridor so the core ends up expelling power without gaining any back. Until we return to normal space." I think about that for a moment, "So it''s kind of like a really complicated magical battery? While in the corridor we drain it, but as soon as we leave it begins to recharge?" She nods, "Exactly. So ships have a limit to how far they can travel before they need to exit the corridor to allow the mana singularity to regain some of it''s lost power. It''s possible to travel past that limit, but that would drain the singularity until it became a mana stone once more." "So we have to be careful with how much time we spend in the corridor and how much time we spend in normal space?" Nania nods, "It''s about a one to one ratio between time spent in normal space to time that can be spent in the corridor. This ship has plenty of power in reserve before that becomes anything close to an issue. The person originally using this ship left the guild so it''s just been sitting in the dock for about a month charging." "Are mana singularities used for anything else? Like weapons?", I ask. Nania nods, "Some of the capital ships have massive beam weapons that have their own mana singularity cores. They tend to drain the cores to critical levels and require days or weeks to get back to a full usable charge again. Someone even once made bombs out of the singularities. However, anywhere one of those bombs was set off it was a disaster. Not only for the beings living in the area but afterward too. Once a mana singularity explodes in that fashion it creates a mana dead zone. In a mana dead zone, you can''t recharge a mana singularity and your mana regen becomes zero." I feel the blood drain a little from my face, "What about if an ACC melts down?" I had to ask because of the ship I deliberately detonated. Granted it was in space so if it did create a dead zone it wouldn''t be very harmful and easy to get through. Nania shakes her head, "No, it has something to do with how the bombs were detonated, but a meltdown just causes a normal explosion." I let out a sigh and relax in my seat, thank god. If I had accidentally created a mana dead zone that would have sucked. I sit in silence and think over everything that Nania had told me. It was pretty interesting stuff.
The next day and a half of game time were boring as hell, I spent a large chunk of it out in the real world taking care of things. But when the time to leave the corridor approached I made sure to be logged in and sitting on the bridge of my ship. Nania and Jerilda were on the bridge with me, though Jerilda had trouble even looking at me without blushing. Over the last two and a half days I had made sure to properly change my clothing once a day and to take a proper shower. Naturally, I had Jerilda help me with these things, after all with only my left arm how was I going to properly scrub my back? She had tried to adamantly refuse to help me shower, but I just put on a bit of ''woe is me'' and she folded. The sight of her blushing furiously had only further fueled my belief that she was most definitely young, a virgin, and had no idea how to handle herself in such situations. Now, I''m not a fucking pervert who is into kids. To even log into StarPath you had to be at least eighteen years old and there was absolutely no way to get around the age verifications for VRMMO games with age restrictions. My guess is she''s newly turned eighteen and this is her first time playing a game like this. I don''t know anything about her real life, but for her to be like she is it must have been a pretty sheltered life. Nania turns around, "We''re exiting the corridor, Captain." As soon as she finishes speaking the absolute blackness of the corridor is replaced with the blackness and stars of normal space. I let out a sigh of satisfaction at the sight of the stars once more visible outside of the ships viewports. I turn to look at Nania, "Take us to the VC-5A Orbital. We''ve got an appointment and we''re extremely late for it." Nania nods, "Aye aye, Captain." She turns back around and expertly pilots the ship to the orbital and docks us on it. With her at the helm flying through space is a lot less stressful. After I got my new arm I was going to have to take the time to get more piloting lessons from her until she felt I could handle the ship properly. We leave the ship shortly after docking. Nania is wearing her usual stealth suit type armor with her large revolver looking gun on her hip. Jerilda is wearing the armor that looks like a weird mix of Kevlar and full plate mail with a [Laser Pistol] on her hip. I know for a fact that both of them are carrying an array of deadly weapons in their [Utility Belts]. As for me, I''m stuck in civilian clothing with my [Merciful Holy Mana Pistol] strapped to my left thigh. Turns out it''s a bit of a pain in the ass to wear armor when you''re missing limbs. Still, we weren''t expecting any trouble and if there was trouble Nania and Jerilda would be protecting me while we retreated. I was in no condition to fight. Once we disembark the ship I have Celeste access the local open network and get a map of the orbital. She displays it as a hologram above my left arm. It''s like a gigantic tin can, including the hollow center. The walls of the station are miles thick and in the open center is almost nothing but greenery. The trees and plants made a huge park that provided the oxygen for the station. It was thousands of square miles and well maintained since it was the lifeline of everyone on the orbital. Following the directions from Celeste, we head to one of the gyro lifts that traversed the station in every direction. It takes us almost half an hour on the lift before we finally make it to the professor''s laboratory. Stepping off of the lift we push the doorbell and wait. After a few minutes, we press it again and again until the professor finally storms over and throws the door open, "What the hell do you... Oh, it''s you. What the hell took you so long?" Still the same attitude as before. I''m starting to think it has nothing to do with me forgetting his name. In response to his question I lift my right arm and wave the stub around, which causes the empty sleeve of my jacket to wave in the air. "Sorry professor, we ran into some pirates and they didn''t want to just do their duty and die without fighting back." He looks at my arm and then looks at me, at least a small part of his perpetual anger seems to fade, "Fine, fine. At least you got here." He holds out his hand and makes a motion, "Give it to me." I sigh and operate my [Utility Belt] to retrieve the little black cube and hand it to him. His eyes practically sparkle as he looks at the little thing. Now, don''t get me wrong. I didn''t trust this guy as far as I could throw him, but we had enough weapons, explosives, and grit to blow up his entire lab and take my prize back from him if necessary. He, wisely, gestures for us to follow him into his lab. Chapter 5.3 - Learning 3 Chapter 5.3 - Learning 3 The interior of the professor''s lab is pretty much like you would expect. Tons and tons of various machines, tables, equipment and items that I couldn''t even begin to guess the purpose of. I look around while I walk between Nania and Jerilda, Nania is leading us with me in the center and Jerilda covering the rear. The professor leads us into one of the laboratories with a large piece of equipment that reminds me of a magnetic resonance imaging machine. He''s been rolling the cube around in his hands to look at it from every angle as we walked to this room. The professor walks up to the machine and set the cube inside of it on a small shelf surrounded by the machine. With the cube in place, he moves over to a computer terminal and begins to type commands into it. The machine comes to life and begins to make a bit of a racket. I can''t see anything visibly happening but one of the monitors in the room lights up and begins to display a stream of information as it begins to build a three-dimensional model of the cube. The professor focuses on the screen as he speaks to us, "This might take a while, you''re welcome to go enjoy the orbital while I do this." I smirk and look around the lab until I find a chair, I walk over to it and very carefully take a seat. My arm still throbbed, but it was tolerable unless I hit it against something. I had learned that the hard way. Once sitting comfortably I look at the professor to address him, "If you don''t mind we''ll sit right here and wait until your analysis is done." Like I said before, I don''t trust this guy and there was no way in hell I was letting that little black box out of my sight if it was even half as valuable as Nania seemed to think it was. I didn''t care if this was going to take days, I wasn''t leaving or letting that cube out of my sight. I had no reservations about killing the professor to take it back if necessary. That might seem dark, cruel or even evil. However, do you feel anything when you kill an NPC in a video game? Do you even feel anything when you kill another player in a PvP match of any sort? I didn''t think so. Now, don''t misunderstand me. I don''t want to kill the professor. In fact, I was hoping I could form a nice friendship with him in case I came across any more Ancient Tech during my adventures. That hope wouldn''t stop me from having Nania and Jerilda gun him down if he tried to steal my prize though. While the professor does his scan thing Celeste speaks into my earpiece, "Captain, a deposit has been made into your GalNet bank account." Oh? I wonder if it''s the first wave of payments from Grizmok for the sale of my [Artificial Personality] units. I lift my left arm, which is where my personal computer is for now, and a hologram of Celeste appears with a smile. I give her a smile in return, "Show me the deposit, Celeste." She nods and vanishes so a holographic screen showing my banking information appears. My jaw drops as I see my balance. My balance had exploded to over two and a half million credits! I stare at the number in shock for a few minutes before I regain my composure, "Celeste, show me the details of the deposit."
Galactic Network Banks
Deposit From: Chaos Rig
Deposit Amount: 2,579,375
Note(s): Captain Darkrose''s share from the sale of one legally obtained pirate ship, pirate equipment, and bounties associated with the pirates. Breakdown:
  • Ship Sale: 2,250,000
  • Equipment Sale: 123,500
Bounties:
  • Captain: 100,000
  • First Officer: 59,000
  • Various Crew: 46,875
I can''t help but stare for a little longer, that was a ridiculous amount of money to gain just from getting highjacked by some pirates and kicking their asses! The ship was by far the most valuable item, but the equipment and the bounties were nothing to scoff at, they amounted to a little over three hundred thousand credits by themselves. Considering the money I had gotten only amounted to seventy-five percent of the total value of everything it means I made the guild at least a million, or more, credits by letting them handle everything. Jerilda walks over to see what I''m staring at and her jaw drops much like mine had when she sees the information on the display, "Holy fuck! Master, you''re rich!" Jerilda''s outburst attracts Nania''s attention, she looks over at us and asks, "What''s going on?" I look up at Nania, "I got the payment for the sale of the pirate ship, their gear and their bounties, it came out to a little over two and a half million credits. Isn''t that a little fast? How could they salvage, move, and sell the ship in a couple of days?" Nania doesn''t seem to be nearly as surprised as Jerilda and I am. She just nods, "That sounds about right. A ship that size and a crew that size. If I had to guess the ship probably cost about four to five million credits to get and outfit, and probably another half million credits or so to outfit all of them. The guild could probably sell the ship for about fifty to sixty percent of that since it''s used and we didn''t get to really see what condition it was in. So yeah, that amount sounds about right. As for why you got the money so quickly, that''s easy. They probably haven''t sold the ship yet. I''d guess they got it appraised and paid you out of the guild funds. Same for the gear and items, as for the bounties, those would be easy to turn in at the nearest station or planet. Considering Garbumont was right there..." I gawk at the sheer amount of money it took just to have a ship that was still considered to be on the small side. Thinking about it I ask a question, scared of what the answer might be, "Nania, how much did my ship cost?" Nania tilts her head as she thinks, "If I recall, Reginald said it cost somewhere around two million credits originally, plus he spent another two hundred and fifty thousand credits to modify it specifically for you. That doesn''t include the one hundred thousand credits worth of MCU''s he stored for you." She refocuses on me and smiles, "Chaos Rig has invested a serious amount of money into you, try not to let us all down alright?" Shit, I thought I had a lot of money, but relatively speaking I barely had enough to even afford the ship I was currently flying around in. Getting something bigger and better was going to take a small fortune. I couldn''t even imagine how many credits capital ships must cost to produce. Tens of millions? Hundreds of millions? Billions? It was unimaginable how much money was flying around out in space just an accident away from being lost. I dismiss the screen and lean back in the chair to think for a moment, "Well, the money came at a good time. We need to upgrade the CR Spectrum anyways. I want to install a full medical bay and either buy or hire a medical professional to work in it. We also need to buy or recruit additional crew to fill out the ranks on the ship and get it up to at least the minimum crew needed so we can have all the necessary stations manned. The next time we run into pirates I would like to at least be able to fight back." Jerilda listens in silence as I casually mention buying more slaves to fill out the crew of the ship. Nania nods and offers her opinion, "If we recruit I suggest asking if any guild members want to join us first, and then fill out any remaining positions with slaves for the time being." I tilt my head questioningly so she continues, "Slaves have the benefit of having no choice but to be loyal. While there are some people we could recruit easily, there''s no telling how loyal they may be. There''s also the issue of plants, people who get recruited onto a ship then sabotage it for pirates to take it. The plants don''t do anything blatantly illegal so they never get criminal records or bounties placed on them." The more Nania talked the more I disliked the idea of hiring people I didn''t know onto my ship. I sit in silence for a while as I think about what I need. First and foremost we needed a medical professional on the ship and to have a fully stocked medical bay for the person to work in. Buying, installing and stocking something like that would probably take a large chunk out of my funds. Not to mention the price of the slave if that''s what I ended up doing. I should also buy another large stock of MCU''s to replenish what I had used as well as having more on hand for making higher level items. My level was growing even faster than I had expected it to. I also wanted to see about increasing the shields power on the ship, they had been taken down far too easily in our encounter with the pirates and if we were going to run into more in the future I wanted to be able to last a while before either giving up or winning the fight. I could feel the credits I had just gotten already flooding out of my account. I slump in my chair and sigh, this was going to be expensive. I glance over at the professor and check on his progress. He''s been mumbling to himself the entire time while completely ignoring us and our conversation, his entire focus is on the scanner and the information he''s getting about the cube. I look at the screens and try to figure out anything I can from them, but it all looks like gibberish to me. I do recognize some of it as mathematical calculations, but they make calculus look like child''s play. My vision grows blurry as I deliberately unfocus my eyes and let myself sink back into my thoughts. I needed a new plan of action. My main goals, for now, are getting my levels and my skills up. To do that I needed different activities. For my level killing things and blowing shit up seemed to be the most efficient course of action. Killing without blowing things up could potentially earn me a fuck ton of credits. I could use those credits to buy the materials I need to raise my skills. I sigh and close my eyes while letting my head roll back. I couldn''t really plan until the cube was finished being analyzed and I could see how much a medical lab and slave doctor will cost me.
Eight hours. The professor has been scanning, mumbling, and in general being less than helpful for eight hours. At one point I''d sent Jerilda out to get the three of us something to eat, and now I had her sitting at the ship waiting for deliveries. Since we were wasting so much time in this laboratory I did what anyone with millions of credits would do when bored. I shopped. Thanks to the power of the in-game internet and bank transfers I have ordered two-hundred and fifty thousand MCU''s, that''s twenty-five cases. A [Medical Bay] for eighty thousand credits. Medical supplies for another twenty thousand credits. And finished it off with twenty-five thousand credits worth of schematics for cybernetic implants, cybernetic limbs, and various other bits and pieces. I made sure that all the cybernetics were of Suverian design so that they would be compatible with Nania and my physiology. All in all, I spent three hundred and seventy-five thousand credits. Between Jerilda and the port security, there shouldn''t be any problems with getting the items brought to the ship and having the medical bay installed. Unfortunately the medical bay as going to take up one-third of my available cargo space. Then again when compared to losing a limb permanently, I was more than happy to give up a little cargo so the doctor I planned to buy would have a place to work. Speaking of buying a doctor, I browse through an online catalog of slaves for sale here on the station, but the online catalogs only display a small fraction of the slaves available for sale. It seemed like the slave shops wanted to get you inside so they could try and upsell you on more slaves. I actually needed more slaves. According to Nania, the minimum crew my ship should have to run properly is six people. She recommends that I have a crew of at least ten so people can rotate around. I''m inclined to agree, which means I need at least seven more people on board. As I ponder what kind of roles I want to look for, aside from a doctor, the professor lets out a scream and backs away from his console. He''s been quietly mumbling for hours so the sudden scream is jarring on the nerves. I hop to my feet and rush over to the professor, "What''s wrong?!" The professor completely ignores me as he rushes over to the scanner that the Ancient tech has been sitting in all long. He talks to himself while he stares at it, "Impossible! Impossible! There''s no way something like this can exist!" I grab the professors shoulder with my good hand, erm my only hand, and spin him around to face me, "What are you talking about?" The professor stares up at me with wide eyes, he''s breathing heavily and sweating profusely. He almost looks... scared. He clears his throat and swallows a few times before he speaks in a hoarse voice, "It... it''s called ''The Backdoor''." He clears his throat again as he tries to think of a way to put what he needs to say into words. I wait, not so patiently, for him to continue. He does after a few moments, "When this thing is attached to a scanner of some sort it can scan an appropriate item and then modify it.", he shakes his head and continues, "No no, it''s scarier than that! If you put this thing in a medical scanner and then scanned a living being you could use this thing to make a single change to that being on a fundamental level! You could change something as simple as their skin color, or as drastic as their very race!"Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. He looks at the small black cube again and then turns to face me once more, "It breaks all known laws and rules of the universe! Itmust be destroyed!" I don''t really get it, what''s so bad about being able to make changes to things? It sounded kind of like the thing that Reggi was looking for, for me, except it wasn''t limited to just making changes to schematics. This thing actually sounded even better than what Reggi had spoken about before. I keep my grip on the professor so he can''t get away and try something with my cube, "It doesn''t sound that bad professor, so it can change things, big deal." For a moment he forgets his fear of the object and glares at me with pure contempt, "It''s not my fault you lack the mental facilities to realize what a danger this thing presents to the universe!" He points at the cube, "If thatthing was attached to the scanners of a science vessel and used to scan a star it could make a fundamental change to the core of that star causing any number of disasters! You could change stars into black holes, cause them to go supernova, turn them into neutron stars, or any other of a dozen disasters that could destroy whole solar systems!" Okay, that does sound pretty bad, "So this thing can just rewrite the universe at will and change whatever it scans?" The professor shakes his head, "Thankfully the device can only make a single change to any item it scans." He looks at my severed arm, "For example, if placed with a medical scanner it could scan you and restore your missing arm by rewriting reality." I smile, that''s actually pretty awesome, "So it''s not all bad, it could be used to remove injuries and diseases and stuff right?" "W-well... yes, but it could only be used once per person. Going back to you, once you select to change your arm all you could ever change about yourself from then on is your arm. After the first scan you can change it anytime you want! Imagine the horror of someone else getting it and changing your arm to whatever they wanted! They could remove it again, turn it into a cybernetic arm, turn it into a horrible mass of mutated genetics covered in puss and gaping wounds to torture you!", his whole body shudders with revulsion as he speaks. The professor takes a deep breath and then glares at me, "It must be destroyed! In the wrong hands, this thing could be used to hold the whole of the Pact systems hostage!" I nod in understanding, of course, I have no intention of destroying this thing. I had no plans to do anything nearly as bad as he was suggesting, but it was giving me a few interesting ideas, "Just to make sure I understand professor. If I was to scan a laser pistol, I could modify something about that pistol correct?" The professor nods, though he looks a little confused by my line of questioning, "So, I scan a laser pistol, I could do something impossible like turn the laser from a hot blast of light into a freezing blast of light? But if I make that change then I can''t change anything else at all about the laser pistol?" Still looking a little confused the professor nods, "Y-yes you could make a change like that." He grows a little more forceful as he continues, "But even a small change like that breaks the laws of physics! A device that can so easily modify the living world cannot be allowed to exist!" Alright, this puts me in a bit of a bind. If I refuse to let him destroy it he might tell the Pact Military what this thing can do and I will become the number one most wanted man in the universe. If I kill the professor to cover up what the device can do I''ll probably end up as a wanted man still but to a lesser degree. I need to buy some time to think of a way to deal with this issue, "Professor, are you one hundred percent sure it''s as bad as you''re making it out to be? Are all the scans and everything completed?" He stops and looks at the displays still spewing out information on the cube and frown, "No, it''s only about fifty percent complete." I can''t help but grin, if there''s one thing a scientist needs before coming to a conclusion is as many facts as possible, "Maybe it''s not nearly as bad as you think it is? Why don''t you finish the scanning process and come to a conclusion when you have all of the facts instead of jumping the gun and possibly coming to a faulty conclusion?" He frowns, the device still clearly terrified him, but I had pointed out a fundamental truth of science, facts. He takes a breath to calm his nerves and nods, "You''re right. Coming to a conclusion with only half of the evidence is improper. I apologize for that."
Diplomacy +2 Charisma +1
He shakes himself loose from my grip and goes back to his screens to continue to observe the information. I return to my seat and pull up the holographic screen to buy items off of the orbitals internet. I needed to get my hands on something as a backup plan. I couldn''t leave here with the professor knowing about the device. I also couldn''t kill the professor, but if he was right about what the device could do then I think the device would provide me with an option I could use to solve the problem. I browse through the digital market until I find what I am looking for, a handheld medical scanner. If what the professor said was correct then I just needed to connect the device to the scanner and scan him. Once I did that I could modify one thing about the professor, I wanted to modify his memory. If I can erase every bit of his memory involving the device then I shouldn''t have any more problems with him. I also wouldn''t have to worry about anyone hunting me down for committing a murder. Like I said before, I really don''t want to kill the professor. It''s a last resort if necessary. The scanner costs me five-hundred credits, I have it sent to the ship. With the order made I call Jerilda, the professor is once again completely absorbed in his work and isn''t likely to pay any attention to what I say, still, I try not to sound obvious about anything as I talk to Jerilda, "Jerilda, I just ordered a small package for the ship. When it arrives unpack it and bring it to me alright?" "Yes, Master. The medical bay is still being installed and will be a few hours longer. Luckily Androids are installing it so the work is going extremely fast. We''ve also received all the other shipments. I had the MCU crates stored in the Tech Workshop, and the medical supplies are currently in the cargo bay." I can''t help but smile. Despite technically being my slave Jerilda has been rather helpful and hasn''t really done anything to lash out at me for owning her or even demanded her freedom. I''d never really had a slave before so I kind of expected her to lash out or rebel against me in any way she could. I suppose treating her like a human being instead of a piece of property has helped with that, "Good job Jerilda. When the Medical Bay is done being installed and you''ve received my package rejoin us at the professor''s lab." "Yes, Master. It shouldn''t be more than a couple of hours."
Another six hours pass in silence, about an hour ago Jerilda returned and gave me the [Medical Scanner] I ordered and I now have it stored in my [Utility Belt]. The professor has continued his observations and mumbling as the scanning has progressed, though it seems something has changed. He turns to look at me and smiles, "It seems like I was somewhat mistaken about how powerful this device is." He gestures to a section on the screen, I can''t make heads or tails of it but it seems to be important. He continues, "According to the scan, the device only has enough built-in memory to store about fifty square feet of information. My hypothesis that you could change a sun completely is dead wrong." He lets out a relieved sigh before he continues, "Still, everything else I said was correct. This device could be used to do terrible things and can easily break the laws of physics! It can rewrite the rules of the universe, even if only in small sections of it." He looks back at the screen as he continues to speak, "It could cause unimaginable harm even with such a small range. Just imagine if someone used it to turn fifty square feet of this orbitals flooring into explosives! The damage from a detonation like that could be devastating!" The more this guy talks, the more I like the device and the more ideas I have for it, "Professor, could the same fifty square foot area be turned into something else? Like, say MCU''s?" The professor frowns as he thinks about it and then shrugs, "I don''t see why not. You''re only changing one property of the material." He goes silent again as he continues his examination. It''s been fourteen hours so far to scan this thing and find out what we have, and I''m committed to keeping it. It doesn''t seem like it''s the device that Reginald wanted to find for me since it doesn''t modify schematics but modifies the item directly. But it would still allow me to make changes and customizations to weapons, armor, and other things that no one else could do. It was an extremely powerful item and I was looking forward to abusing the fuck out of it. The scans finish a little while later and the professor lets out a sigh, "This device is unbelievable. It can change the very laws of physics, metaphysics, and reality, just to name a few things." He turns and looks at me, "It may not be as dangerous as I initially thought, but it is still extremely dangerous. Despite it being a piece of Ancient Technology I still believe it should be destroyed. The potential power of this device is limitless and it must never fall into the wrong hands." I look at the little black cube and then back to the professor, "Professor, can you use the device?" You might be wondering what I am thinking, and I''m happy to tell you. When I found the device I found another item with it, a [Skill Crystal] that was also unidentified. Except, when Jerilda brought me the medical scanner I noticed I could now read the name of the [Skill Crystal]. Like I originally thought, the skill inside of the [Skill Crystal] is directly related to the device, without the skill you cannot use the device. Well, at least I don''t think you can. If I am right, then the professor cannot use the device. The professor walks over and picks up the cube, a small smile on his face, "No, I can''t." His smile grows, "No one can use this device without the proper skill!" He laughs lightly and turns to show me the device, "Without the skill this piece of Ancient Technology is worthless!" I can''t help but grin in return. Jerilda looks at me questioningly but says nothing, only she knows about the [Skill Crystal] because she was with me in the dungeon. I''d completely forgotten to tell Nania about it. I continue to push the professor down this line of thinking, "So, what are the odds of someone finding a way to use this device?" The professor taps his chin, "The odds of finding a skill crystal containing a skill specifically for a complicated piece of Ancient Technology? I''d say the odds are infinitesimal. As a scientist, I can''t say the odds of finding such a skill crystal are zero, but they''re so close to zero that it might as well be zero." He looks rather relieved, time for a final push, "So in reality, that little cube is nothing more than a paperweight right?" The professor nods, "Yes, that sounds about right."
Deception +6 Diplomacy +4 Charisma +2
I get to my feet and walk over to the professor to pluck the cube out of his hand and hold it up in the light. I let out a dramatic sigh, "Such a shame. All this potential power and it''s going to be nothing but a desk ornament."
Deception +2
The professor looks at me and sighs, "Does this mean you won''t destroy it?" I look back at him and shrug, "Would it make any difference one way or the other? Without the proper skill, this thing is worthless. Without this thing the skill is worthless. As you said, the odds of finding both are near zero and become even closer to zero if no one but us knows about this thing. Don''t you agree?"
Diplomacy +2
The more I lied to this guy, the easier it got to lie and the higher my [Charisma] got to make him believe my lies. This was excellent. Time to put the icing on the cake, "I''ll make you a deal professor. If you hear about anyone asking about a skill crystal related to this device you let me know. I''ll immediately come back here and we will destroy this thing together okay? I promise you I don''t want this device to fall into the hands of someone unscrupulous any more than you do." The professor thinks for a moment and then lets out a sigh while nodding, "You have a deal. I should know better than to fear something just because I don''t fully understand it. Civilizations have made such mistakes throughout history, destroying knowledge just because they didn''t agree with it or didn''t understand it. To think I was about to make such a mistake out of baseless fear." He smiles warmly at me, "Thank you for stopping me." His smile fades and he returns to being his old stern self, "But I expect you to keep your word. If I hear about someone with the skill and contact you I expect you to get your smooth talking ass here as fast as you can so we can destroy that thing together!"
Deception +2 Diplomacy +2 Negotiation +2 Charisma +1
I smile, and after storing the cube in my [Utility Belt], hold out my one good hand for him to shake. He initially holds out his right hand, but realizing his mistake quickly changes it to his left so we can shake on our deal. With the deal made the professor shoos us out of his lab, he''s got some amazing scan data to go over and can''t be bothered with us anymore. Meanwhile, it''s been nearly twenty hours since the crew and I had any sleep so we head back to the ship to get some rest. Jerilda waits until we''re on board and turns to face me with a somewhat stern look, "Master, why did you lie to and manipulate that man like that?" Nania stops and looks at me curiously, "What does she mean?" I make sure the ships cargo bay is closed before I answer either of them. For Nania''s benefit, I pull out the [Skill Crystal]. Her eyes widen when she see''s it, "No... you had that the entire time?" I grin and nod, "Yes. So the professor will never hear about anyone else finding this, because I already have it. It was in the dungeon along with the device." I turn to look at Jerilda, "I only had a few options, and none of them was destroying the cube. I didn''t want to kill the professor so I lied to him an manipulated him so that we wouldn''t have to worry about the entire Pact Military coming after us to get it. With this device, we can do the impossible. Even just simple things like modifying weapons and armor will give us a huge advantage against any enemies we come across." I turn to look directly at Nania, "This thing is exactly the kind of thing Reginald wanted to find for me to use to make the guild stronger. With it, we''ll be able to make the entire guild stronger. Just imagine the confusion a single laser dealing Cold damage would cause. Or any of the other modifications we can make that I can''t even imagine!" I open my [Utility Belt] and pull out the cube, "This thing is the philosopher''s stone, capable of causing transmutation in anything we want."
Diplomacy +3 Charisma +1
The girls think about what I''ve said for a bit and smiles slowly begin to spread on their faces. I grin in return and gesture deeper into the ship, "Alright. It''s time for us to get some rest. When we wake up we need to go get a doctor, and find me a new arm." I store the device back in my [Utility Belt] and head to my room to get some sleep. Just a little longer and I would decide how to replace my missing limb.
In the darkness, something grows... Interlude 1 Maria sat on the bridge of the NewHorizonstaring out at the specks of light from stars in the distance. The New Horizonis currently over one hundred thousand light years from the closest Pact system. Maria stared calmly into the blackness of deep space while sipping a steaming cup of coffee. She''d been on this ship for almost a month flying further and further out in the hopes of finding a new civilization. The New Horizonwasn''t the only ship seeking a new civilization, but it was most definitely the furthest out. Why was theNew Horizon out so far looking for a new civilized system? Fame and money of course! It had been four months since the launch of StarPath and no one had discovered a new species in the galaxy so far. The goldmine would be to not only find a new sentient species but to also find one with an adequatetechnological level. Maria mused over it with a smile, it had taken them months of effort to get to this point. Her mind wandered through her memories. Three months ago she and her then best friend Zenna had decided they wanted to do something unique and new together. After talking they decided they wanted to be the first ones to not just discover a new sentient species, but one with a high technological level that could be introduced to the pact system. It would not only make them famous celebrities but it would also make them filthy rich. The biggest problem was getting a ship, deep space explorationmeans needing a large ship and the bigger a ship gets the more expensive everything becomes from the armor plating to the power systems and beyond. There were methods to gain money, but to get a truly worthwhile ship that could store the supplies they would need and have enough defensive and offensive power to survive a battle with not only pirates but anything else they could run into. There was also no guarantee that any sapient species they discovered would be friendly. Missions, bounty hunting, and capturing then selling pirate ships were all good ways to make some credits. It just would take months or longer to earn enough money to get a large enough ship for their needs. So together they had come up with a plan. They decided the best option would be to approach a corporation and try to make a deal. Normally that wouldn''t work but they had something to offer that most people didn''t. They were travelers. If the absolute worst should happen, they would respawn and be able to tell the story of what happened. A distinct advantage an NPC couldn''t provide. Naturally, it didn''t go smoothly. It took several weeks and over a hundred meetings with different large corporations until they finally found one that was interested in making a deal. It took a week ofnegotiations until they came to a mutual understanding. In exchange for the Valtek Corporation providing all the funding they would need, Maria and Zenna would get a twenty-five percent commissionfrom sales of all technology related to their discovery as well as being recorded as the discoverers. According to Pact law whenever a new sapient species with advanced technology is discovered the discoverer gets a full monopoly on the sale of the new technology. Provided they could negotiate a contract with said sapients. The contract negotiation would be up to the Valtek Corporation, it was Maria and Zenna''s job to find the sapients for them to negotiate with. It took another month for their ship to be modified and made ready for deep space exploration. Maria had never been told how much the ship cost, but she guessed several hundred million at least. Everything was top of the line packed into a heavily modified carrier hull. They had thick armor, heavy weapons, and even a few small fighters to run point if needed. Then there were all the systems inside of the ship to keep them alive during the long haul into deep space such as the hydroponics bay and storage space for ridiculous amounts of non-perishable food. As for the crew it was comprised mostly of slave NPC''s, people who could stay on the ship twenty-four seven. Some of the crew, the main command structure, was made up entirely of players that needed to log out for their real lives. Still, they had gotten lucky and managed to get the crew set up so that there were usually two or more players online and on the ship at all times. Currently, there are seven player characters on board theNew Horizon. Maria sips her coffee and then looks up as her new wife, Zenna, walks onto the bridge and gives her a smile. They''d gotten married, in the game, a couple of weeks ago by one of the players playing a priest. Zenna walks up to Maria and gives her a playful salute, "Good evening captain." Maria grins and even blushes a little while she salutes back to Zenna, "Good evening to you too captain." Maria and Zenna had both chosen to play as beast people. Maria is a leopard-kin with short black-spotted golden ears and a matching tail. Otherwise, she looked like a slim Hispanic woman. Zenna, on the other hand, had chosen to play a dragon-kin. Particularly a gold dragon. She was slim like Maria but she had soft golden scales on the backs of her hands and going up to her shoulders. From there the scales connected and slide down her spine until they met her long slender lizard-like tail. Maria scoots over as far as she can to one side of the oversized captain''s seat she''s sitting in and pats the newly vacated space. Zenna giggles and moves over to sit down next to Maria. It had only been a couple of weeks since their shipboard wedding and they were still very firmly in the honeymoon phase. Both women blush lightly as their bodies are smooshed together in the chair. Maria offers her cup of coffee to Zenna, who gladly accepts it and takes a sip. If anyone saw them together they would probably vomit rainbows. After handing back the cup of coffee to Maria, Zenna speaks up while looking out into the endless expanse, "Just another couple of hours and we can leave this abyss and move further into space." She turns back to face Maria, "One of the remote scout vessels sent back data on a possible contact. It picked up unnatural radio waves." The remote scout vessels were a necessity when traversing unmapped space. They were essentially compact spacecraft that only consisted of a power core, an A.C.C., a navigational computer, and a sensor suite. Their job was to jump ahead of the ship in multiple directions scan the systems for signs of life, and then jump back to theNew Horizon. They also served the purpose of gathering astrogation data that could be sold when they returned to the pact systems. Maria perks up at the mention of unnatural radio signals, it was a potential sign of a civilized world. They''d chased a few signals before but they''d led to nothing. Still, every signal was a chance at finding a new civilization and it gave Maria a rush every time. Maria grins at Zenna, "I assume you have the data already?" Zenna nods and pulls out a small datapad handing it to Maria. Maria eagerly accepts the pad and reads through the data. It wasn''t much, just an unnatural pattern in some radio waves that appeared like it could possibly be from some sort of civilization. They would need to go where the radio waves have been detected and then trace them back to their source to know for sure if there was a civilization there or not. But that was the entire reason they were out here! As Maria continued to read the data one of the smaller consoles off to the side of the bridge beeped. Leaving Maria to continue her reading Zenna climbed to her feet and walked over to the console. It was a proximity alert, there were a couple of small objects on a collision course with the ship. After seeing the alert Zenna turned it off. TheNew Horizon had the most powerful shields available for its class, objects that size would just bounce off with no real damage done so they could easily be ignored. With that done she walks back over and sits down with Maria once again. The two talk about their plans for when they get to the location of the signal when a loud alarm goes off throughout the entire a ship. Maria and Zenna both leap to their feet and run over to the console that displays information about the integrity of the ship. One of the sections of the ship was flashing red, Maria immediately turned on the internal communications, "Captain Vasquez to all crew, hull breach in section ten, repeat hull breach in section ten. Repair crew get down there and see what the hell happened!" After issuing her orders she moves over to another console and checks the proximity sensors. Her eyes immediately widen, there were hundreds of readings, but all of them were tiny when compared to the ship. Each reading couldn''t be more than four to five feet and were moving slow enough that they should easily bounce off of the shields of the ship. But as she watched one of the objects easily passed right through the shields as if they weren''t even there. Running over to another console she double checks and the shields are up and operating at full capacity, there are no readouts on damage taken or anything even happening. It didn''t make sense. If something hit the shields there should be a readout, even if it was something that small and no damage had been done there would still be feedback of some sort. One of the machines had to be lying, either there were no objects or the shields were malfunctioning, she was leaning towards the shields malfunctioning given the hull breach. "This is repair crew seven. We''re at the hull breach.", there''s a pause before the male voice continues, "Captain, it looks like something melted through the hull with something extremely corrosive. There are no signs of whatever caused the damage, we''ll begin repairs right away." At that moment another hull breach alert went off, then two more. Whatever was floating out there in the dark was dangerous. Maria immediately runs over to the pilot''s station and pushes the thrusters to the maximum while using the controls to make the ship dive down. She needed to avoid hitting any more of the things outside ripping holes in her ship. Their repair supplies were limited, they couldn''t afford to sit still and get hit by whatever the hell was out there. In the time it took for the hunk of mass that is theNew Horizon to get its fat ass moving in a different direction there were three more hull breaches. Maria grimaces as Zenna informs her of the damage and calls for additional repair crews. Fortunately the affected areas, for the most part, were spaces without much in the way of supplies or personnel inside of them. One had been a very devastating loss though, one of their MCU storage areas had breached and about three million credits worth of MCU''s had been dumped into the vacuum of space. That loss represented about a fifth of their materials for repairs and replacement parts. Leaving the pilots seat to let the ship just continue on its current course Maria runs over to another console and helps Zenna guide the other repair crews to the damaged areas of the ships. The emergency bulkheads had done their job so not much atmosphere had been lost to the damage. As the other repair crews got to work Maria called the first repair crew to respond, "Repair crew seven, status report." "This is repair crew seven we''ve almost got a basic patch on the hole. It will take longer for a full GUH!", the crew leaders words were cut off by a sudden exhale of air followed by the sound of something gurgling.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. "Repair crew seven?", Maria asks in concern for the odd noise. Maria calls out to the repair crew several more times but there is no response. Growling she hits the button for ship-wide communications, "All hands report to your stations. Main bridge crew to the bridge, NOW GODDAMNIT!" After shouting the last part she runs over to the security station for the ship. The bridge really was too large for just two people to be running. While Zenna was guiding and working with the repair crews it left just about everything else to Maria. Finally making it over to the security console Maria quickly scrolls through the different areas of the ship until she gets to the section repair crew seven had been working on. Selecting that section she flicks through the video feeds to see what is happening. The images on the video feed cause Maria to immediately turn her head to the side and vomit out the coffee she just drank and her breakfast. On the screen is a scene of pure, unadulterated, carnage. Repair crew seven was scattered everywhere, literally. Pieces of them were thrown all over the room, arms, legs, torsos, pieces of torsos, heads, organs, offal, and blood. So much blood that it was like the whole room they had been working on had been repainted in crimson red. The shock of seeing the glistening masses of meat chunks that had once been human, or humanoid at least, had been too much for Maria. Seeing her wife distressed Zenna runs over to check on and comfort her. When she sees the carnage on the video screen she stops and turns deathly pale, "What the hell?" As she stares at the horror on the screen someone arrives on the bridge, a large Rexaurian male with deep red scales. He rushes over to the still sick Maria and pale Zenna, "What''s the situation?" Saying nothing Zenna points to the security screen, when he looks he lets out a deep bass rumble. A sign of deep displeasure. The Rexaurian is Velos, the head of security for the entire ship. After getting over the shock on the screen he immediately gets to work. He skips backward on the records of the video feed in five-minute intervals until he sees the crew alive and well while working on the breach. Then he speeds up the playback. He watches intently for the moment of their deaths to figure out what the hell of happening. As he watches there''s intermittent static on the video, which causes him to frown, nothing should be able to interfere with the video. The static gets worse and worse until it complete obstructs the whole screen blocking any sight. He sets the video to normal playback and hears the conversation between Maria and the crew leader. A few seconds after the abrupt cut off from the crew leader the static on the video clears up and the scene of carnage is once again on the screen. Letting out another deep bass growl of frustration Velos pushes the intercom button himself, "This is security chief Velos to all crew. We have an intruder on board. All crew arm yourselves, all security crew get into armor and secure your weapons, DOUBLE TIME!" As soon as he lets go of the button a voice comes over the channel, "This is repair crew three there''s something down here! We need secur....", the sentence is cut short and replaced with static. Pandemonium breaks out on the ship. Calls begin to come in from several sections at once, all of the calls end up getting cut off before the speaker can give any indication of what is attacking the crew. Every time Velos checks the video records static blocks him from seeing whatever is attacking the crew. One moment they are alive, static appears, and a scene of bloody carnage is left behind when the static clears. Whatever it is clearly had a way to manipulate their security, and there was more than one. Fights begin to break out on the ship as the security crew, in full battle gear, meets the enemy. As they report while fighting it becomes clear to Velos that the enemy isn''t just manipulating the video feeds, but also the very lighting of the ship. What kind of B grade horror movie were they in? According to the reports whenever a security crew met one of the enemies the lights would go out and the enemy would attack from the dark. It cost the lives of thirty-two of his security officers to get just that little bit of information. The crew on the ship was dropping like flies as the main command crew tried to reorganize and rally the ship''s crew from the bridge. There were a dozen people on the bridge now, all at their assigned stations and performing their assigned tasks. The pilot, an elven man, was doing his best to avoid the things floating in space that caused the breaches, but every maneuver he made was countered, and even at full speed the things on the sensors were catching them and causing more and more hull breaches. Even with the sensors saying there were now hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the things out there they couldn''t see a single one in the darkness of space. There was absolutely no visual confirmation of a single one of the things ripping their ship and crew to shreds. Maria gives the order to spin up the ACC and get the ship out of there, they could deal with the borders while in the corridor and avoid getting any more. Following her orders to procedure commences, but it will still take about five minutes for the calculations to complete. Those five minutes are hell. Several more of the things manage to breach and board the ship and over a third of their three hundred and fifty man crew has been slaughtered. But eventually, the star-studded blackness of space is replaced with the sheer blackness of the corridor as they make the jump. Once in the corridor, Velos began to give orders to the crew, having them split up and meet at various rally points with the security personnel. The situation was not good, there were at least a dozen of the enemies on board and no one had been able to confirm if one had even been hurt, let alone killed, during all the fighting so far. As the crew moved through the ship to get into their positions Velos opened up the weapon locker on the bridge and began to pass out various weapons to the bridge crew. After that was done he got one of the other officers to help him into the suit of power armor that he kept on the bridge for emergencies. For the next hour Maria, Zenna, and Velos coordinated the security crew and ships personnel in an effort to beat back and defeat the enemy that hard boarded them. Despite their efforts, they still had no indication of the way the enemy looked, all they knew for certain was the enemy was brutal and anytime they met with the enemy it was their side losing. By the time the full hour had passed the ship was down to less than fifty crew members. Pieces of the crew were liberally covering sections of the ship while blood of various colors flowed like a river. As they continued to try to coordinate the members of the crew there was a loud bang as something hard slammed into the sealed door of the bridge. Everyone went silent at the noise and stared at the door. The lights closest to the door began to flicker on and off as another loud bang echoed on the bridge. Everyone looking at the door could see a small dome had appeared on their side of the door from being dented in. Being the first to break from the shock Velos began to shout orders out to the crew on the bridge having everyone ready their weapons. As the bridge crew moved loud bangs kept repeating over and over as something strong hammered away at the sealed door. Given how thick the door was and the materials it was made from, whatever was slamming against the door had an insane amount of power. Usually, it would be easier to just cut the door open with a plasma torch or something instead of brute forcing through. For the next few minutes everyone on the bridge sweat bullets as whatever was outside hammered away at the door, there were dozens upon dozens of dents in the metal of the door. They all watch in horror as the next blow to the door pierced through. They could all just barely see a sharply pointed scythe-like appendage before the lights on the bridge completely cut out and plunged them into darkness. Everyone turned on flashlights and trained them at the door, but even the flashlights began to flicker and eventually died. Whatever this thing was it had the ability to interfere with the lights of the ship and their flashlights. Velos couldn''t help thinking that maybe it was some sort of EMP like interference? If that was the case... He quickly stored the massive gatling plasma cannon he had and swapped it out for a good old-fashioned lead spitting gatling weapon. He also pulled out a massive box of ammo and quickly fed the chain of ammo into the weapon readying it for the fight. There was a horrendous screech as the door to the bridge was torn by whatever was out there. No one on the bridge could see in the dark, none of their races had darkvision. An oversight Velos would be sure to rectify in the future. They all watched and listened as the metal screeched in protest at being forced to bend and tear out of the invader''s way. The sudden silence was all the more staggering after those loud sounds. The entire crew strained their eyes to see in the glow of the few working panels on the bridge. As they stared they all saw several small glowing green somethings coming from the direction of the door. No one hesitated. Everyone opened fire. The noise wasn''t quite as loud as you would expect, in fact, Velos'' gatling gun was making the most noise out of all of the weapons. The multiple barrels of his weapon fired out lead projectiles at a prodigious rate. Every explosion of gunpowder provided a burst of light, and there were so may burst that the barrel of his gun almost provided consistent light on the bridge. In the light of Velos'' gatling gunfire, everyone trained their eyes on the black shape near the door and fired their weapons. Lasers and plasma bolts flew through the air while they all aimed at the creature. The creature let out a toe-curling scream and seemed to vanish from sight. As it vanished everyone''s gunfire stopped. They all looked around for signs of that green glow they spotted when the creature first entered the bridge. There''s the sound of the beginning of a scream followed shortly after by the sound of something wet thunking onto the ground and rolling. Maria looks down at her feet as something round bumps into her. Maria lets out a shriek as she realizes the round object is someone''s head. She stumbles backward until she''s pressed up against the bulkhead of the ship. Velos swings his weapon around looking for any signs of something moving in the glow of the working panels on the bridge. As a shadow passes in front of one of the panels everyone that see''s it suddenly opens fire in that direction. The room lights up once again as plasma bolts, lasers, and good old-fashioned lead fly through the air. There''s no sound as the shadow vanishes into the darkness once more. Maria crouches down on the floor and covers her head with her hands. This wasn''t supposed to be happening. They were in the middle of nowhere, not in any space with known entities that would attack! She just wanted to explore. As Maria closed her eyes and cried while trying to deny the reality before her screams of pain and the flashes of light from weapons fire were all ignored. Velos stood back to back with one of the other crew members, they''d gotten into this formation to watch each others back. As Velos'' sight moved all over trying to find the monster attacking them a sharp pain erupted from his back and traveled through his entire body. As he looked down at his chest he could see the sharply pointed scythe-like limb sticking out and covered in blood. The last thing he sees is the scythe limb sliding rapidly up towards his face. Velos''s body collapses to the ground bisected from the bottom of his chest and up. Even his power armor had been cleanly sliced in two by the limb. Seeing their security officer dead other members of the crew begin to panic and run towards the ripped open door to try and flee somewhere else inside the ship. Zenna runs over to Maria and crouches down in front of her, "Maria! We have to run!" Maria looks up at her new wife, tears streaking her face. She gets a grip on herself and nods. Zenna nods in return and starts to stand up. There''s a soft whoosh as a light breeze caresses Maria''s face. Something hot and wet splashes onto her cheek. Confused she reaches up to touch the sticky wet substance. Pulling her finger away she can see the red gleam of blood in the dim light of the panel nearby. Confused she looks to Zenna as Zenna falls to the side, her head rolling a few feet away from the rest of her body. Maria inhales suddenly and is about to scream when something lands right in front of her. All she can do is stare into multiple sets of glowing green eyes that stare at her. She swallows her scream and horror as she slowly tries to lift the gun in her shaking hand. This was the thing that killed her crew. This was the monster that had killed her wife. She desperately wanted to shoot it dead. As her shaking hand rises the thing stares at her, a couple of its eyes flick to the side to assess the weapon in her hand. All Maria can see are those soulless glowing green eyes. They are the last thing she sees before...
You have died! Time until respawn: 11:59:59.
Maria, or rather Angela the woman playing Maria, sits up in her bed and pulls off her headset to slam it onto the soft comforter, "FUCK! Goddamn mother fucking FUCK!" She screams obscenities for a few minutes as she calms down from the adrenaline rush of the encounter with the monster in space. Her frustration vented she climbs out of bed and heads for her desk, she needed to report what had happened and talk with the other players who were members of their crew. She tried not to think about how financially fucked she was in the game for losing that ship and the entire crew.
In the darkness, something feasts... Chapter 6.1 - Upgrade When I wake up I stay in my bed to relax for a while. I had a decision to make, and it was important. The two main ways to replace my arm were to either get a cybernetic limb or to have a lab grow a new one in a vat and attach it. I was partial to having a flesh and blood hand, after all, that''s what I was entirely used to. However, the idea of attaching a cybernetic limb wasn''t without its charms. I could think of quite a few ways that it could come in handy, though I especially liked the idea of a potentially hot-swappable limb. The only downside I could imagine is I''d have to start using my left hand to masturbate. No way a cold metallic hand would be enjoyable, plus just one glitch and I''d rip it off! Laughing to myself at that absurd thought I sit up in my bed and carefully scoot over to the edge to sit. I look at the nightstand where my computer rests and call out to it, "Hey Celeste, wake up Jerilda and tell her I''m ready to get dressed." "Will do, Captain." It had become something of a fun ritual for me to wake up Jerilda and make her come dress me for the day. I was honestly going to miss seeing her blushing face every time she had to help me change my underwear. I''d completely and utterly abused my condition to get her to help me in as many ways as I could think of from dressing to helping me scrub down in the shower. Normally I''m not that much of a sadist, but her cute blushes and reactions just made me want to keep doing it to her. Just having one more day of teasing her is why I decided to get the cube examined before getting myself a new arm. Sure, missing my dominant arm was extremely inconvenient, but teasing Jerilda totally made up for it. It took about twenty minutes for Jerilda to finally arrive in my room, she''d taken her sweet time waking up and getting dressed. Since today was the last day I would be able to tease her I decided to take full advantage of it. First I had her help me shower. Her complaints and blushing while I made her scrub my naked body were just plain adorable. After that I had her help me get dressed, while it was true that I didn''t need huge amounts of help showering I definitely needed help getting dressed. Given more time I''m sure I could have adapted to the situation and done everything myself like many who lost their limbs in reality could. I just had a wonderfully shy slave to tease and chose not to adapt. Once I was finished teasing Jerilda and feeling a little melancholyabout having to find a new excuse to tease her with in the future it was time to head out shopping. I essentiallyhad two choices I could make when it comes to replacing my arm. I could get a vat-grownclone arm that was basically an exact duplicate of the one I lost, or I could get a cybernetic arm. I''m repeating myself here I know, but in the end, I''ve decided that I want to go for the upgrade and get myself something awesome. So with Jerilda and Nania in tow, we head into the orbital.
I have to say the outside of the orbital doesn''t do the interior any justice. From outside in space, an orbital just looked like a giant tin can floating in space. Giant meaning several miles wide and several miles longer. Orbitals are the biggest things in space, with the exception of colony ships. It''s the interior of the orbital that''s truly impressive. The whole inside is hollowed out and filled with greenery and water. It''s almost like an inside-out world. Jerilda and I, as the resident newbies, stare in awe at the scenery while Nania just smiles at us from the side. After taking in the breathtaking view of the inside of the orbital we take a taxi to a section of the oribital dedicated to the sale of cybernetic parts. The area is almost like a cluster of multiple small hospitals, each selling a variety of augmentations, cybernetics, and replacement parts. In my case there''s a special catch for getting a replacement part, namely, it has to be of Suverian design in order for it to not kick my ass. Lucky for me with Celeste''s help finding a place that carries Suverian replacements isn''t an issue. The store slash hospital we''ve come to looks like a cross between a car dealership and a clinic. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all pure white, but sitting in stands all over the main room are various models of replacement limbs. Some look slim and simple, others look like hulking masses of metal designed for death. There are also several variations in between those two extremes. As we''re browsing a salesman in a lab coat approaches us with a friendly smile, "Welcome to Valtek Cybernetics, I''m Dorren. How can I help you today?" I turn to face Dorren and give him my best smile while I lift what remains of my right arm and wave it around, "Oh, just in need of a few parts here and there." Dorren gives a slight chuckle at my really bad joke and nods, "Well you''ve definitely come to the right place. Do you know what you''re looking for or do you require assistance?" "I definitely need some assistance. Couple of things to note though. First, I''m Suverian so anything you recommend for me has to be of Suverian design. Second, I''m a traveler and tend to get into rough situations so whatever I get has to be durable.", I reply. Dorren nods, "You came to the right place then. We have an exclusive contract with one of the predominant cybernetics firms on Suvas so we''ll be able to get you exactly what you need. Since you get into rough situations I''d suggest a military model. They''re slightly more expensive but they''re tough as can be and pack quite a punch. If you don''t mind we should start with an examination of the damaged area so I can offer further advice." I nod and he leads me over to a scanner. It reminds me of the one Grizmok used to scan me for the Artificial Personality setup. It only takes a couple of minutes for Dorren to do a detailed scan of my stump and shoulder. As he looks over the scans he rubs his chin and thinks. After a bit, he speaks up, "From the looks of it your shoulder is okay, however, I would recommend a full arm and shoulder socket replacement. Military grade cybernetics weigh a fair amount and it might cause some discomfort, or even pain if we just graft it onto what''s left of your arm." I think about it for a minute and then nod, if I was going to do this I might as well go for broke. I speak up about some of the thoughts I had, "I had some thoughts on possible options and I hope you will tell me if they''re available or not. First, I was thinking I would like a replacement limb that I can easily hot swap. That way I could carry a variety of models for different situations." The technician, salesman, doctor, whatever he is nods, "Oh yes, that''s quite easy. Many models offer that. After all, it would be quite a bit of trouble to have to go into surgery every time a cybernetic limb was damaged no? Are there any other requirements?" I think for a moment and shake my head, "I may come up with something else after seeing a few of your recommended models." Dorren leads me over to a holographic display and types in the information I''ve given him to filter out all undesirable limbs. When he finishes a large collection of thumbnail images appear on the display, each showing a different model of a cybernetic arm. To me, a lot of them look the same, but I''m sure there are slight differences between them that can''t be perceived by the naked eye. As I look Dorren begins to explain what those differences are. Some are minute, like the metal they''re made from. Since they''re all shiny and chrome looking seeing the difference in metal with the naked eye would be impossible. I turn to Dorren and ask, "Is it possible to get an arm that looks like a real arm? You know, all fleshy and such." Dorren nods, "Certainly. If you want it to have a synthetic skin coating with nerve replication and conduction while maintaining a matching look we''ll have to go with some of the slimmer models." He uses the filter again and the number of options drops. We spend the next hour discussing the various merits and demerits of different models before I select a couple of different limbs. In the end, I select four different arms. The first arm is what you might call a basic model, at least as far as extra functions go. It had enhanced strength, was made with a titanium structure surrounded by adamantine plating and uses carbon nanotubes for electrical conduction. The second arm was basically the same but had a small compartment built into it where I could store a small weapon that could be released on a spring loaded bar so it would pop right into my hand. The third arm couldn''t be coated in the fake flesh to match my usual appearance but the hand could split into multiple smaller digits that would allow me to work on constructing and repairing items faster. The final arm was a full on military monstrosity. It was thicker, bulkier and larger than any of the other arms. Just having it attached would be plain as day. However, it offered the absolute best in physical protection. The entire arm was made of reinforced adamantine, supported a mount for anything but the absolute biggest guns, and included an expandable shield made of adamantine. The shield could be deployed out to six feet, providing full body cover. It even came with a slit that could be peered through the sight enemies. And the mount could be swiveled so the mounted gun could be aimed at said enemies. It was like having a deployable pill pox with only a single wall. The first bland arm was actually at the suggestion of Dorren. Originally I just wanted the one with the hidden compartment, but Dorren advised I get the bland one just in case I had to go somewhere with stringent security scans that would be suspicious of me having an arm with a hidden compartment. While not illegal by any means of the word, it was still considered by high-security places to be suspicious. The multidigit arm was for crafting, ship repairs, and ship maintenance of course. And the last arm... well that arm was just for fucking shit up plain and simple. All told the four arms, two with synthetic flesh and two without as well as the shoulder socket replacement, came to a little over one point one million credits. It was fucking expensive as hell, but they were all military grade models. The most expensive was the shield arm, clocking in at over four hundred thousand credits. But I wasn''t going to complain about the price. After all the assholes who blew off my arm were paying for the replacements. I decided against having the store do the surgery, I didn''t want to spend more credits on them. Instead, I was going to take what I had left and buy a slave with medical training. After the payment was processed I had them set to deliver the packages to theCR Spectrum.
The slave markets on the orbital are far better organized than the last market I visited where I bought Jerilda. Celeste was able to search through their public records showing up the various slaves they had for sale. Unfortunately, a slave with excellent medical credentials is hard to come by. There are basically only two ways to become a slave, debt or crime. Since doctors tend to make a fair amount of money only a degenerate gambler like Jerilda might be turned into a slave. As for committing a crime, who better to make a murder look like an accidental or natural death than a doctor? Still, there were about a dozen possible slaves for us to select from... okay I lied. There are seven possible slaves to select from, I excluded all the males. Call me a chauvinist or misogynist or any other term that ends with "ist" you want. But you tell me who would look better in a nurses outfit, a man or a woman? Now doctor aside I also needed to get additional crew for the ship. I needed at least three more people, after the doctor, to man the weapons stations and the defensive station. Our previous run-in with the pirates made it abundantly clear that we were woefully understaffed.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. First though had to be the doctor, she would likely be the most expensive and the most difficult to obtain so I wanted to get her while I still had a fair amount of credits. The store we stopped at first was an extremely high class looking place. It was really more like a high-class hotel than a place you would think slaves were for sale. I guess there''s still a class system even with slaves. Once inside we are greeted by one of the employee''s who gives us a look that clearly says we don''t belong. I straight up ignore it and proceed to explain what I am looking for and why I am here. Our first stop, this place, had three female doctors all with extensive experience. At least according to their advertisements. Since every other place only had one we came here first. The employee leads us to the first doctor. She''s a human, an actual human and not just humanoid. She''s a bit older, probably in her fifties or so, and has a little over twenty-five years of experience in a couple of medical fields. She''s an excellent candidate and priced to sell at two-hundred and fifty thousand credits. The second doctor is a bit younger, in her thirties, and only has a few years of experience. However, the experience she does have includes working on a battlefield and cybernetics. Both of those make her extremely qualified to be helpful on the ship. The third doctor is the oldest, in her seventies, and is immediately passed over. Her main area of expertise is pediatrics and since we have no children on board, and never will, she''s useless. We return to the first two to get to know them a bit better. I interview the older one first. Her experience really is vast and in several fields. However, none of those fields include cybernetics which is what I need right now. The doctor in her thirties doesn''t have nearly as much experience but does have the skills I need so I''m in a quandary. Do I gowith the older more experienced doctor that doesn''t have experience in the field I need or the younger less experienced who does? Fuck it. I buy both of them for six-hundred and fifty thousand credits. Yeah, its crazy expensive. However, I got two excellent doctors that can cover pretty much every situation we could run into. Miriam is fifty-two years old, human, with black hair, and wise looking green eyes. I''m pretty sure that back in the day she was a knockout. The second is Jastina, she''s Aatvarian. According to Justina, Aatvarians used to be humans. But about a millenium ago they broke from the human race in the search for perfection. They used gene therapy to weed out all the negative genes in the human genome. Things such as medical conditions and birth defects have been completely wiped out from their society. Along with rooting out the weaknesses of the race they meddled with other things to make themselves faster, stronger, and smarter than a regular human. Along with all that genetic screwing around it ended up that Aatvarians were inherently better looking than humans. Even at the age of thirty-two Jastina still looked like she was a teenager no older than eighteen or nineteen. She had long light blue hair and dark blue eyes that matched her pale skin perfectly. I''m not even going to go into detail about her figure, let''s just say ''goddam'' and leave it at that. Neither of them were slaves because of violent crimes. Miriam was enslaved because of a malpractice suit that she lost. The damages were extreme and her insurance refused to pony up. So since she couldn''t pay she was sold as a debt slave. Jastina opened a clinic after she graduated and it ran well for a few years. But for reasons she doesn''t know her clients all stopped coming. She couldn''t keep up with the bills and debt from the purchases and was forced into slavery to pay off those debts. While I had some concerns with Miriam''s malpractice, the fact is if she did kill me on accident I would just be back a little while later. Also, in case it isn''t obvious at this point, both of them were NPC''s. I specifically avoided Traveller doctors because I need one that will always be in the game so they''re there when I need them. After finalizing the purchases and taking control of both of my new doctors. The salesman has become rather polite since I dropped more than half a million credits in the store and informs me that there will be an auction tomorrow to sell off slaves that haven''t sold for extended periods of time if I''m looking to make more purchases. Since my funds have mostly dried up after my shopping spree the last two days I decide to wait until tomorrow before I go and purchase more crew members.
After we make out way back to the ship I bring everyone to the cargo bay and turn to address Miriam and Jastina, "Okay ladies listen up. First things first, Nania, Jerilda and I are Travellers. Keep that in mind if you get any funny ideas about me having any ''accidents'' during any surgeries you have to perform. Second, Miriam you are the head doctor. The exception to that though is if we are in an emergency combat situation or when it''s something outside of your experience, in which case Jastina becomes the head doctor." Both women remain silent, as they have since I bought them, but nod in response to my commands. So I continue, "We have a fully stocked medical bay that the two of you will be sharing. We also have a lot of empty quarters so feel free to pick one for yourself. If there are any supplies we need that I did not order already then please kindly inform me. I look forward to working with the two of you." Both women continue to remain silent but nod in acceptance. I let out a slightly disappointed sigh. After that, I lift my stub and wave it in the air while pointing at the crates of delivered cybernetic arms, "First order of business for you two. Jastina you will be attaching my new arm. Miriam, you will be helping as her assistant. Also, you two will refer to me as either ''Master'' or ''Sir''. I expect you to answer when I ask you a question. Understood?" "Yes, Master.", Jastina''s low sultry voice. "Yes, Sir.", Miriam''s slightly dry British accented voice. Nodding at their replies I walk over to the delivery crates and select one of the cybernetic arms, the flesh coated one with the hidden compartment that will allow me to carry a concealed weapon. I turn to look at Jerilda, "Jerilda, carry this one to the lab, also make sure you carry the shoulder socket in the other crate." As part of the packages, I got the shoulder socket included in the price of the four arms. My shoulder and shoulder socket will be completely removed and replaced with the cybernetic socket. With the new cybernetic socket, I can have the arm detached and replaced with relative ease. I won''t be switching my arm in the middle of combat, but any mechanic could remove my current arm and replace it in about twenty minutes. Jerilda does as I said and grabs both crates to store them in her [Utility Belt] to take to the medical bay. After we arrive and Jerilda unloads her cargo she leaves me alone with the two doctors. I gesture to the crates, "Jastina you will be in the lead for this. I need you both to work together and replace my entire right arm and install my new shoulder socket. They both nod and give proper replies. Jastina moves over to the crates and examines them. After reading the labels she lets out a low whistle, "Master, when you go for something you go all out don''t you?" I grin at her, "I bought you didn''t I?" She chuckles and gives me a grin back, "I get the feeling things will never be dull with you around, Master." I walk over and sit on the operating table before giving her a smirk, "You have no idea." After examining what they will be replacing my limb with the two of them expertly explore the entire medical bay and catalog the items it contains. I bought the full suite and at least some of all the available supplies necessary for the races I had on board at the time. I''ll need to pick up more for the two new additions and additional crew later. The only problem with having so many different races, they all need different kinds of medical treatment and react to chemicals differently. One races pain reliever was another races poison. Well, not quite that severe, but even just my own race would react very badly to the medical nanites of another race. When they finish looking over the medical supplies Miriam addresses me, "Do you have any medical conditions we should be aware of, Sir?" I shake my head, "Only that I am Suverian. Just used the appropriate items for me and I''ll be fine. Just remember, even though I am a traveler and you can''t kill me for more than a few days, I''ll still get righteously pissed if you do kill me. Even if it''s an actual accident.." They both nod so I continue, "Alright, let''s get on with this. Tell me what you need me to do." Since she''s the lead Jastina answers, "First you need to strip off at least the upper half of your clothing. After that, we can turn on the clean room protocols and kill all the bacteria and viruses in the room and render it and everything inside sterile. Once we have you have two choices. We can either apply local anesthetic or put you completely under. I advise we place you completely under. While it''s not common, jolts along the nervous system can happen and will cause intense pain. Master." I wave my severed stump in the air, "One of you will have to help me get undressed." Miriam starts to walk over to me when I remember a certain grey alien girl I loved to tease. I hold up my left hand to stop Miriam, "Better idea." I grin wickedly and address the air, "Celeste. Let Jerilda know I require her assistance in the medical bay." "Right away, Captain.", Celeste''s voice replies from a speaker in the room. Jastina tilts her head to the side, "You have an AI?" I shake my head, "No, Celeste is only an Artifical Personality, but the ship''s computer is exceedingly powerful for this size of ship so she''s a bit smarter than one installed in just a portable computer." Jastina nods and a few moments later Jerilda enters the medical bay. I grin broadly at her, "Jerilda, I need you to help me get undressed." Jerilda gawks at me and then gestures to the two doctors, "You have two perfectly good slaves in here with you! Why did you need to call me all the way back over here for this, Master?" I give her a complete shit-eating grin, "Because you know how to do it best." Jerilda sputters and mutters but really doesn''t have much choice. Just to make things a little harder for her I remain sitting on the operating table so she''s forced to get closer to me to do what I''ve asked. Grinning evilly at her I spread my legs so she has to move between them to unbutton my shirt and strip off my clothing. Jerilda blushes furiously the entire time, even more than when she dressed me this morning. I think the audience watching quietly in the background is making it, even more, embarrassing for her. Still, she''s dressed and undressed me a few times now so she''s an expert at it and it only takes her a few brief moments to get me stripped from the waist up. When she starts to unbuckle my belt I tap her hand to stop her, "Sadly there''s no need for that this time." Jerilda lets out a long sigh of relief and steps away from me while gathering the clothing up, "Well, if there''s nothing else Master." I swear if looks could kill the daggers she''s staring at me right now would kill me dead. When she''s free I amso going to pay for this. Worth it. With the stripping done Jerilda once again leaves. I turn to face Jastina. As interested as I am to watch the two of them slice off what''s left of my arm and cut out my shoulder socket I''ve decided to go completely under. After relaying that to them I ask, "How long will I need to be under?" Jastina thinks for a minute and then shrugs her shoulders, "Between six to eight hours. We''ll keep you under as long as necessary to complete the procedure. After which you will require some physical therapy to get used to the new limb." I nod and address the air once more, "Celeste, inform Nania that I am going under for my replacement limb surgery and that she is in charge while I am out." After that, I lay down on the table and look over at the two doctors, "Alright let''s get this over with." With that command, the two of them go into action. First, both of them get the necessary garments on for surgery, which amounts to aprons, gloves, and masks. After that Jastina activates the clean room protocol. The door to the medical bay gives a hiss as it hermetically seals, then in a flash green light floods the room constantly. The light kills everything that could possibly cause an infection and sterilizes everything on the fly. As long as that light is on you could be in this room with the deadliest airborne disease and never catch it. Miriam walks over to one of the cabinets and pulls out a dermal patch. It''s loaded with drugs that will knock me out. After she places it on my arm she speaks in her dry voice, "Count backward from ten, Sir." I close my eyes and begin to count as I feel the drugs already entering my system and fogging up my brain, "Ten... Nine...Eight..."
You are Unconcious.