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 settings are 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 to Varion the capital city of Gharstavh. 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 hallway is 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.

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 of bullets 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: 40 Rounds 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 for New 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 its whole body was less than a third the thickness of mine 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..."