The road was quiet, the streets nearly empty. The radio was silent, Alan opting to turn it off so he could have time to think about the evening with his family. Alan had wanted to make a difference for the world. He’d considered putting something on the internet himself, but his sister had the social media savvy to actually make it popular. And besides, he didn’t have the time. Every single day he’d have to focus his time on making the game work for him, not telling the masses how to improve their game chances. Besides, being too busy, he was also worried about sharing knowledge in the first place. Too many insights could draw the wrong kind of attention. As Kara, the Cosmos Valkyrie made more clear the other day.

On the other hand, his family seemed really supportive, and when push came to shove Alan couldn’t really share the reasons behind his hesitancy. Ultimately, he just needed to support the idea and, when he could, contribute. He also swore them all to secrecy about the blog for now. Alice grimaced at not being able to brag to her friends.

Alan had also gone ahead and shared the other potential good news. He was working with Callisto Corporation as part of a broader plan to develop Kragga. As part of that plan, he would need a lot of players to eventually make their way to Kragga. He made sure to let both his brother James and his Father know that their skills would likely be needed on the planet. James’ medical and his Father’s mechanical skill sets respectively. Alice was very excited to come along, but Alan had to squash her enthusiasm. She needed to remain on her own planet. And she was definitely not to mention any hint of Kragga or Callisto Corporation in her blog.

Alan’s Mother, on the other hand, was very interested in the Callisto business deal. Especially about the price that Alan had made from selling his Earth-enabled Vervetic Energy. Her focus on the deal only seemed to break when she learned that Alan had personally made the deal with Shelley Cordata. It only took her a few moments to realize that Shelley was the Daughter of famed businessman and head of the Lit-Klar Conglomerate, Arthur Cordata. Needless to say, anything else about the deal was lost when his Mother, Sister, and even sister-in-law Audrey wanted to know everything about the young lady. Alan had to try in all his power to let them know it was just a business deal.

“What do you mean just a business deal?” His mother had chimed in, “I think my son is smart enough to do 2 things at once. What is wrong with getting to know her a little more, hmm? Especially if you take her to a nice spot, and make her a nice picnic lunch. Who knows what kind of opportunities can arise?”

“Mom, I am bringing Adrian and Nick along too. I think we’re going to leave it as just business for now.” Alan tried to counter.

“Why did you go and do a thing like that?!” Alice bawled, “Nick, especially, is going to ruin the whole thing!”

“It's fine. You can just uninvite them.” His mother offered as a matter of fact.

“Mom, I’m not going to uninvite them.” Alan tried again to plead.

“It’s going to be a pretty disappointing date with both of them there,” Mom retorted.

“Mom, it's not a date!” It was like talking to a brick wall.

She hadn’t been listening, but instead seemed to come up with another solution. “Audrey, Alice, you don’t happen to have any friends that could go with Adrian and Nick? A group date might not work out so bad, and it might make Alan more comfortable as he hasn’t been out with a new girl for a long time.”

Alan threw his hands in the air. He had given up at that point. When he had looked around, his brother James, seemed to be on the verge of laughing hysterically, having been put through their mother’s matchmaking machine already. When Alan looked at his father, he saw sympathy, and it was at that point that his father finally spoke up. “All right, that’s enough. It’s getting late and I don’t think it would be good to make any last minute plans. Alan has a lot to do before tomorrow and it’s time to send him off.”

The trio of ladies threw daggers with their eyes at Alan’s Father, as if he’d interrupted their hunt.

As Alan drove home, nearing the exit for the Cosmos pod hub, He smiled. His dad had decided to draw the ire of the trio in order to let Alan get away from the potential hazards they had in store. Just before he left, he gave his Mom some additional instructions for the store. She gave him a look that said, “This isn’t over.”

It was late when he finally pulled up to the hub, his brother texted him, ‘Good Luck ;)’

Was that for his meeting with Shelley, or with his Mother…

Oh well, he had other things he had to do tonight. It was late, well after dark when he entered the special entrance for pod owners. The area was quiet and the lights were dim due to the late hour. A female attendant sat behind a desk, looking a little bored. It was a quick exchange and he was back in the pod. When he entered, he was welcomed back with a stat screen. And a notification from his last battle.

Personal Modifier

Current

Skill points Available: 0

Description

Credit Balance:

-700 Credits

Strength

(3/10)

135 LBS Bench

Items:

Basic Tools

Electronic Tools

Food Ration

4-Wheeler x3

Energy Pistol

EV Exchange Generator

43 F Monster Nyamisium Core

1 F Monster Nyamisium Core

10 Doses of Nanoheal

Human Rifle

Human Handgun x2

Tent

Sleeping Cot

Sleeping Bag

Propane stove

...

(see next page)

Speed

(3/10)

8 MPH Jog

Intelligence

(3/10)

(VE) Capacity

(8/8)

382 /800VEU

(VE) Production

(8/8)

8 Units Per Hour

Scenario 2 vs. 1 Position: Defender, Difficulty Moderate. 1 Ranged Kill. Loss

1 E Ranked Monster opponents killed. Progress toward the next award. 2/10.

***Notice: If you lose a combat scenario, kill progress is reduced by 50% rounded up.

Ouch. The first thing he noticed was his missing skill point. It was a foolish lesson he hoped to never experience again.

As he scanned the page he was surprised at his credit balance, -700? Wait, what? Didn’t Kara say they had misjudged me? So why the penalty. Looking through his messages, he found one:

Hi Alan, sorry about the credit penalty. That judgement goes above me. I hope you are doing well, and don’t forget to message me when you want help with any contract you want to sign. By the way, from what I heard, Shelley sounds like a really nice girl :).

Shoot! Kara heard everything, including that dumb conversation with his mom. What is with everyone? His shoulders slumped, defeated. Alan did a quick review of his log.

10:38 PM Local Time. 1 Kill

10:39 PM Local Time. Death.

10:40 PM Local Time. Log Out.

As he read through the log, he was surprised to discover that the time between his Death and Logging out was only a minute. That wasn’t right. He’d spent at least 5, maybe even 10 minutes with Kara afterwards. So why was there such a time discrepancy? He didn’t have an answer. He’d never even heard of this before. Of course many of those who had experienced it had their accounts terminated… Alan swallowed uncomfortably.

Well it looks like something I can ask Kara next time we exchange questions, Alan thought to himself.

A question was posed to Alan as he was about to enter Kragga.

Would you like to return to your last position?

Would you like to return to a random ‘safe’ location determined by Cosmos?

Alan was highly nervous about returning and selected the second option. His throat still itched, where the monster had bit him.

Please select the distance you would like away from your last position. Please be aware Cosmos will attempt to select a safe location within the radius of distance you select.

100 Meters/1 Kilometer/10 Kilometers/100 Kilometers.

Alan took the option of 100 Meters. He found himself about 50 yards away from ‘The Brick,’ the transport ship he’d found initially to act as a home base. Observing the area, it seemed to be as vacant as it had been the day before.

He approached the ship cautiously, carefully, and fully armed. Alert to even the slightest sound, Alan moved as stealthily through the still propped open hatch door. It was dark. Alan shone a light in the corridor. Empty. It took Alan 20 minutes to carefully make his way toward the area where he’d fought the monster before. The room was scarred with scorch marks along the floor and walls. Wires and conduits lay in heaps and tangles. The corpse was missing, and there was no sign of the other monster. Shining his light onto a large heap of debris, Alan was able to find the remains of 739, his droid.

Carefully, Alan removed all the pieces and made his way back to the maintenance room. There were still battery scraps all over the floor. Alan cleared a spot and looked over the droid. Looking at the time, he realized he needed to get some sleep before his meeting tomorrow. The droid would have to wait.

After sealing up the ship, Alan transferred off Kragga back to the Terran Market. Unlike the real world, building his shop had taken less than 24 hours in the Terran Market. Finding a booth in the restaurant Alan removed a sleeping bag from his ring, and quickly fell asleep.

****

His alarm woke him 30 minutes before his appointment. Much like the last night his sleep was disrupted by dreams of killer bugs, vengeful valkyries, and his secret suddenly being exposed on his sister’s blog. When morning finally came, he was covered in sweat and uncomfortable from sleeping on the restaurant furniture. He’d have to upgrade the building to include some sort of housing.

He logged out and arrived in the Cosmos pod hub. The facility itself had a lot of amenities geared toward the comfort of long term players. Everything from a lunchroom, gym, laundromat, and showers. For those who didn’t have a place to spend the night, there were even sleeping pods in little micro hotels. All Alan needed this morning was a hot shower.

After getting freshly dressed Alan made his way to the lunchroom to grab a quick bite. When he looked at the clock, it was nearly 8 am. Time for him to meet up with Nick and Adrian. As he approached the front desk he heard laughter. That was distinctively Nick, a baritone gafah.

He spotted Nick, Adrian and Corbin surrounding a desk chatting away like old friends. As they saw him, everyone, including Corbin, smiled at him fondly. After greeting each other with the customary hugs and hello’s, Alan asked Corbin for the 2 matter rings for his friends.

“Here they are sir.” Turning to Adrian and Nick, “You must have a great friend here for such an extravagant gift.”

Adrian nodded and accepted the gift graciously. Nick on the other hand lookee confused, leaned toward Adrian and whispered, “How much do these things cost? A few hundred bucks or something?” Adrian shushed him and said he would tell him later.

Corbin addressed Alan one final time, “Sir, I hope you have enough VE as those rings will not be usable without it.”

“I think I’ve got it covered for now, Corbin. Thank you.” Alan went ahead and discreetly passed him a large bill.

Recognizing the tip, Corbin placed his hands in his pocket and offered, “Thank you sir. I hope your adventures go well today.” He then waved over two attendants towards Nick and Adrian to help them to their pods. Alan walked with them.

“So have you figured out how you guys are going to spec-out?” Alan asked casually.

Nick boasted. “I am going to be a living tank. I want to be able to carry the largest weapons, fire the biggest guns, you know a bad-a”

Adrian gave Alan a secretive smirk, before sharing his idea. “I’d like to gain a lot of skills toward being a space pilot.”

Alan nodded. In his past life Adrian had been training to be a pilot. He’d already gained enough flight hours to be an amateur pilot, and in high school had joined the JROTC Air Force. He was planning on joining the military after college.

“That makes sense. Did you guys get plenty of info on what kind of knowledge and genetics you should be looking for?

“I’ve sifted through all the blogs and videos. I think I’ll go for strength and some sort of natural armor, along with some combat knowledge of large weapons and melee.” Nick replied and then added. “Nothing that will ruin my already good looking appearance of course.”

Alan laughed, Nick in his past life hadn’t been wise in his decision making, he’d opted for a mishmash of genetic mutations emphasizing certain ‘enhancements’ which seemed purely for vanity's sake.

“I’m not really sure. I don’t know what I should be looking for exactly. I mean I want to be an ace pilot. But there is nothing on the web on what kind of genetic traits work better for future spacecraft.” Adrian shared worriedly.

Alan understood his predicament, something as specialised as a pilot needed to be very cautious about how to move forward. Alan knew of a few traits that would definitely be beneficial, but wasn’t sure he wanted to give him too much advice. Pondering at the problem he had remembered a trick that had worked in his last life. “You both know that you are typically offered genetic mutations first before knowledge sets, but I don’t think you HAVE to pick in that order. You might try finding advanced piloting knowledge and exploring that first to see what would be best. I bet there are some really good unlockable personal modifiers which could be really useful.”

Adrian brightened at hearing the idea. “That is a great idea. I didn't even know you could pick your order.”

Alan nodded. “Yeah you can even not choose to pick something and go and pick up another knowledge later, I still have a few points left on my Mental Manipulation Threshold available.”

Nick nodded “Dang, that is a great idea. I am totally going to send a message about that to the TravelsInWonderland blog.”

Alan only gave him a half hearted smile. For the sake of anonymity, he decided not to tell his friends about his sister's blog. No reason to let the secret out even with people he trusted.

They soon departed. Alan had given them his exact coordinates for planet transfer. Alan made his way back to his own pod in preparation for their transfer.

He waited patiently for approximately 40 minutes for the first signs of his friends. First 1 appeared falling out of space, and then a minute later the second appeared. This was unique to beginning players only. Having the sensation of going from space to land. For some it was terrifying, but most enjoyed the experience. For his friends, they each had different reactions. Nick hooted and hollered, yelling excitedly at Alan when he landed. Adrian, on the other hand, was content and calm while he enjoyed the experience.

Alan stood next to a pile of gear he had prepared for his friends. Some basic medical supplies, food, water, and most prominently the AR-15 and ammo.

Unsurprisingly, Nick, who had stood over 6 feet tall before, now loomed closer to 7 feet. It was clear that he had selected mutations to enhance his musculature, giving him the look of a greek gladiator, Also his skin was more taut and firm.

“Wow, you look good Nick.” Alan commented.

“I should! I went with a genetic mutation that is meant for hyper gravitational environments. Though it’s pretty basic for now. I can increase the personal modifier of ‘density resistance’ to basically improve my whole body to withstand greater and greater forces.”

“Dang, that sounds like a pretty impressive mutation.”

“It should. It cost me 40 GMU's for the whole thing. But I figured why not. It’s labeled as pretty rare and exotic.”

Alan’s mouth dropped. 40 GMU, naturally! Either his friend had hit the genetic lottery or his friend had a lot of ‘improvements’ that could be made. It was stupid ridiculous. Alan knew he was a little below average, but Nick had never mentioned he had such a high GMU in the past. Now that he thought about it though, it made sense. Nick had chosen some pretty stupid and poor choices in the past, no wonder he didn’t want to advertise it. Shifting to Adrian he asked, “How about you?”

He smiled, “Your advice was invaluable. I would have totally picked the wrong traits. I focused mostly on enhancing my brain's neural network and nervous system. I got a personal modifier called ‘reflexes’ supposedly to help my synaptic functions improve. I spent 22 GMU on it. I saved my other 2. I am hoping to get a gland that can help with my spatial awareness later, but I need a few more GMUs to get it.”

“Hey, that’s great! I think you both spent wisely. Now that you're both here though, I think I’d like to get in some practice if that is ok with you.” Alan smiled and gestured to the guns.