Chapter 14

“So, you want me to be a company employee more or less, but you want to reset my stats to 0 and my level will be capped at 10. Are you insane? What is the average level for players now 200 to 300 plus all the gear and abilities they have earned? How the heck am I going to compete with that. Plus, you just told me that Piracy is out of hand, Ships have to travel in convoys with a Navy escort. We don’t have a deal, in fact, I am being honest when I say you are really pissing me off.” I interrupted her raised voice as I said, “I suspect that you need me more than I need you. So, cut the crap. Get real or get lost.”

I stood with my arms crossed looking at Chantia as she looked back at me with anger. After several seconds, she said, “Alright Duke, we won’t cap you, but in order to be fair to other players, you have a choice. You can advance your levels and get a couple of abilities every fourth level. You can forgo that and seek out all your abilities from the Martians or you can choose 5 basic abilities right now that will level with you, those will be the only ones you will receive however you will be able to find and assimilate both Martian and Earth Tech. Most of which is still out there waiting to be found. As a cyborg, this offers you a lot of options as you level.”

“You're right, it does if I can find and access it, but what happens if it is all out of my reach, I will be stuck with 5 basic abilities. As for having the Martians train me, there is no guarantee of that, I may never receive anything from them and as for leveling normally, by the time I hit max level I will only have half the abilities, and you know as well as I that several of the most powerful abilities have precursors, abilities that need to be maxed out before you can advance to the next tier. Really you are screwing with me here. It is a lose-lose situation for me.”

“What are you doing Chantia, if I thought it would be this rough I would have asked you to bring some lube before you set out to screw with me. What is the story here, why are you setting me up to fail?” As I looked at her I could tell that I was hitting home with my words. I decided to continue on, “You know what I think, I think that you folks are worried about me, I am not an NPC nor a player, and you want to make sure that you can control me. By limiting my ability to properly progress you will have me on a short lease. Anytime I have a problem I won't be able to deal with I will have to have the company bail me out. Good deal for you, bad deal for me.” I stopped talking as I observed my words hit home.

“Fine, you are smarter than our analysts thought, yes we are trying to limit your progression for several reasons, one, we want to study how you interact with the game world. Two, we do want you to feel you can turn to us for help, and you will need help. Three, we feel that with your current abilities and reputations with the different factions that you do have an unfair advantage over other players. We have worked hard, damn hard, in fact, to make sure that everyone is on an even playing field by the time they hit level 100. With you there is no way of knowing how far advanced you will be over other players by then, so sorry Duke, we will not change this, pick one of the three offers.”

I stared at her, the light hazel color of her eyes complimented her tanned skin, her hair was a brownish blond and she had the body that all females start with, full breasts, narrow waist, long legs with lots of muscle tone. A very attractive package, unfortunately, I was so pissed that all I could think of was this gal held more cards than I did. I would have to do something or else I would be royally screwed. Taking a moment, I decided to choose the 5 basic abilities, they would be a new start as I could forget about what I had now. I had chosen them thinking I would be leveling in a normal capacity. That would not be happening. Now I would need new abilities to help me solo grind. Thinking for a moment I decided on a healing ability, a charisma upgrade, an advanced tech ability, a tactics ability and finally a lucky charm ability. I was going to need all the luck I could get.

“Chantia, this is what I want, a heal, a charisma upgrade, advanced tech, a tactics ability and finally a lucky charm ability. I need the heal for obvious reasons, I will be doing a lot of solo leveling. The charisma upgrade will help me in dealing with NPCs, the advanced tech will help me to locate and use any future tech I can find. I need the tactics to help me plan my battles out and the luck, will that is self-explanatory. The other thing I want is a permanent buff. I and any equipment I have will receive a 10 percent increase in durability. Also, I will accept starting at level 10, and that is where I stand. Take it or leave it.”

We stared at each other for several seconds, the air filled with tension then Chantia nodded all right, “Give me a moment,” She said. Turning around she walked off several feet and faced the outer wall, it was clear she was in communication with someone. After a couple of minutes, she nodded and then turned back to me.

Reaching into her hip bag she pulled out five digital one use text screens. Think eBook but with a flexible screen that had one small button on the bottom of the screen. Small discreet and disposable. Handing them to me she said, “Read them and your abilities will activate. You must delete your current abilities first. Once you are done I will open a portal back to Mars. Let me know when you are ready.”

“You can open it now, I won’t be going with you, I have things to accomplish on this station still. Seeing her surprised face, I continued, “You didn’t think I was going to give up this prize did you, I am the Commander of this station and I have plans for it. So be a good girl and off you go.”

I ignored her commands, demands, and whatever the hell else she was saying. I knew it was somewhat patronizing but I pointed at the wall and said, buzz off, I will call you if I need you but now you are stopping me from playing my game, or I suppose, living my life. She looked at me with irritation but made a circular movement with her arm and muttered something, I was not paying attention but I did hear something about a pompous prick as she walked over to the portal.

I could not resist and muttered back, “I am sure that you have many assets, but the only one I can see that looks like it is worth anything is the one I see wiggling as you walk away.” I know she heard me as she turned around with a red face and yelled, “You son of a B……”

Her voice faded as the portal closed. Wow, that had been something else. Still, it was nice to see a pretty girl, it had been a long time. Now, however, I had to get busy, I had a ton of work that needed to be done, First I reset my abilities. It felt strange but once it was done, I noted that I was now at level 10 again. That sucked but at least I managed to avoid the long grind to 10. Anyway, It is what it is, I thought as I read each eBook and absorbed the knowledge. In the end, my avatar screen showed,

Level 10

Intelligence - 950/1100

Willpower - 1200/1200

Strength - 1200/1200

Agility - 700/850

Meds - 600/675

Charisma - 950/950

Engineering -1200/1200

Tactics - 800/800

Rabbit's foot charm - 500/500

Permanent buffs/skills

Anvil - 15 percent durability buff

Ak’amai, the ability to access the spirit realm

Song of Me’kima used to call a Spirit Dragon companion

The basics had remained the same with slight upgrades but the inclusion of my 5 choices made me happy. It was the best I could do and I was pleased as punch that I had retained my Martian skills. I had guessed I would, but I had been a little nervous about the reset, Fortunately, it had only reset my human abilities and skills, not my Martian ones. I had wanted to ask Chantia about the huge spirit Dragon I had seen out in space, but I had decided not to bother as our conversation had quickly degenerated. More things to learn about I thought as I accessed the Network. I pulled up all the stories about my death and was not surprised to learn that my home had been totally destroyed in a fire two days after My body was removed. Somehow, I was not surprised. The whole thing with my physical death was off, I remembered reading that at the first sign of a problem the capsule would automatically exit the player from the game while putting in a call to EMS.

My guess was that my capsule had been tampered with and the old capsule stolen all at the same time. When I would have logged out something would have happened, the fact that I was rendered unconscious for 8 years’ real time in the game had actually saved my life, sort of. I lifted up my hand and stared at it, it was as real as my physical body had been. Staring at it I suddenly felt a wave of emotion rise up within me. Sitting down with my back to the wall I thought of everything that I had just learned. Somehow, I could not stop the yell of anger and sorrow that came from deep within. After a minute the tears flowed. Tears of regret for what would never be, tears for what I had lost and finally tears of rage. Anger so hot that my combat computer activated and scanned for danger. Then finally a commitment to find out the truth and make someone pay. It was no longer a game to me it was now life or death.

I let my thoughts lose focus for a moment and began to breathe in and out, once I felt I had achieved a state of calmness I accessed my tactics ability and read,

Tactics, individual or group input?

I selected group input, being curious as to what that meant. A small panel opened on my screen with a list of everyone near me I could communicate with. I selected 2B and the combat beer cans, upon which I was asked to name the tactics group. Typing in 6pack, I watched as each little picture colored up, I was then asked to set the amount of processor power to be used by the group. Selecting 40 percent, I then was asked to determine what tactical opinion I wanted an answer to.

Thinking for a moment I began to type in my death and all the relevant information on Ong Bai as well as everything that had happened to me, I also allowed 2B to access the net to retrieve any info needed. Finally, I confirmed my decision and set the 6pack on its first tactical job, to determine with a high sense of probability who had killed me. Once the process had begun I interfaced with the control panel for the training sim and had it reset itself to a series of challenges, each one harder with the final being impossible for a single player to achieve. I had to know what I could do and how my body and combat computer would interact with me.

Walking over to the first challenge I observed the building three stories, I had to make it to the roof. Opening up the combat interface I selected martial arts and then scrolled down through the list. It was huge, mankind had developed over the centuries many deadly techniques to hurt and kill each other. Scanning the list, I began to read and select the techniques I wanted, finally choosing.

Judo

Karate

Kung Fu

Taekwondo

Isshin-ryū

Kickboxing

Aikido

Jiu-jitsu

Krav Maga

Muay Thai

Jeet Kun do

Combato

Shippalgi

Bokator

I selected the list and hit integrate, which flashed a green light informing me that all of the techniques had been loaded and were available to me with or without the help of the combat computer. Nodding to myself I walked into the open doorway, I was hoping to manage this level without resorting to my weapons. Anything I grabbed from the enemy would be fair game, I thought as I saw the first-person rush at me from near the stairwell.

He swung a blade at me in an overhand chop, I grabbed his right wrist in my left hand and then yanked down while turning into him and thrusting my right fist into his right armpit. Still pulling down on his arm I extended my arm and felt something give. He flew over my shoulder and hit the wall with a crack that signifies a broken bone, walking over to where the knife had dropped I picked it up and then turned to the stairs. The enemy was down and I could proceed, climbing up the stairs I saw a man running at me as soon as he saw me. I watched as he leaped into the air in the classic Kung Fu kick, one leg extended one pulled back, one fist forward, one help up in the air. It was beautiful and reminded me of the old pictures of Bruce Lee doing a kick.

As I thought this I was diving over the last two steps while rolling onto my back which hit the floor just as my attacker's feet flew over me about 20 centimeters above my head. I had time to reverse grip the knife so the blade was pointing back at me at a 35-degree angle. Lifting my arm, I held the blade on the level with his crotch and felt the impact as he flew over me, the knife cutting deep as it cleaved through his body only stopping and coming out of his flesh when the blade hit the Coccyx.

Releasing the blade, I kicked the body down the stairs and spinning around jumped to my feet as I saw three women running at me. One held a chain, the next a sword and the last attacker had a polearm. The first to get into range was the chain wielding woman, I let her swing the chain and blocked it with my arm, then grabbing the loose end I began wrapping the chain around my arm as I ran towards her. Once within range I went into a sliding spin while dropping down, this allowed me to get close enough to her to punch out with my fist wrapped in the iron of the chain. I caught her right between the legs, and let me say if you think it only hurts a man because of the family jewels being down there, then you don’t know jack and should take a basic biology course.

As she dropped to the ground while grabbing at herself I flicked the chain at the woman with the sword and she parried it I kicked her in the side of her leg right at the kneecap. I could hear the noise of tearing cartilage and snapping tendons, and as she dropped her sword to grab her knee I punched her in the throat, and as she flew backward I dropped the chain and grabbed the sword.

The last attacker had slowed down and was spinning her weapon in her hands. She clearly had not liked seeing two of her compatriots taken out in less than a minute and had no intention of running in and blindly attacking me. This gave me time to study the sword I had picked up, it was a Dadao sword, tapered near the hilt and wide near the point to give it weight when chopping downwards. The balance was terrible, all it was designed for was hacking, but in the hands of an expert, it was a deadly tool. I walked towards the last attacker, her face looking grim and her pole arm spinning rapidly, it was a Ji a dagger-axe with a spear. It looked like a traditional spear but with the blade of a dagger attached to the wood. It could be used for thrusting or chopping, in the hands of a competent weapon master it was an incredibly dangerous weapon.

I flicked the sword at her, but her response was instantaneous, the metal of the spear tip blocking my sword and then with a roll of her hands the blade of the dagger hitting the sword with enough force to flip it to the side, while her pole arm began to thrust straight at my chest. I rolled with the sword, leaving my back exposed for a second, I could almost feel the dagger blade as it hit my back but somehow, I made it to my feet, right where I wanted to be. I thrust out the sword to push her attacking polearm to my right, and then kicked up the chain that had been left on the ground, it flew at her face, and as she raised to polearm to block it, I bent down and thrust upwards, the sharp point of the sword entering her chest and then emerging out her back. I stood up and watched as the polearm fell from her arms, as she staggered into me. Grasping her arms, I lowered her to the floor allowing her to lean against a wall.

Looking at me she coughed out some blood and then said, “Duke, you are above our level I suggest that you continue your training at the fifth building to receive any benefit.” Closing her eyes, she shimmered and vanished. The training technology was far above anything I had heard of before. The avatars I was fighting were real until they vanished, you could touch them, smell the spilled blood, feel the sweat and watch them die. I stood for a moment and thought, perhaps she was right, I could feel the fighting knowledge integration within my body. I knew that the combat computer could have easily taken over my body and defeated the enemies, but I had a funny feeling I should not rely on secondary combat systems built into my cyborg body my main CPU needed to have this software knowledge built into its common database of learned responses

Turning I walked down the stairs and out the door, heading over to 2B I sat down and began to meditate. After a moment 2B interrupted and said, “Commander the 6pack have arrived at solutions to your query. Our analysis of all the data available suggests that 1) You were murdered in the realm of Earth. 2) we have reached an accuracy of 89 percent that Ong Bai is involved with your murder. Also, we suggest that the Company, is somehow involved, this analysis is at 69 percent accuracy. We do not believe that Chantai was totally forthcoming with you and that a detailed look at all the changes within the EULA as well as an update on the current news both within the solar system and the Earth realm be done before we proceed any farther. The fact is we just do not have enough current information the really know what is happening and to proceed without having that information will lead to failure with an accurate 89 percent projection.”

I nodded he was right, I needed to know what was happening out there. “How long to assimilate all the data? I need to continue to level and we have to finish clearing these spheres to get to command central.”

2B replied, “We need 12 hours to peruse the data and then 12 hours to analyze it, If you continue your training for 24 hours we will be able to develop a long-term plan that will activate once the station is out of this time warp.”

I nodded, it was the best I could do, turning I began to walk towards building 5, “Call me when you are ready to go over the info.” Entering the doorway, I observed as 5 men began to rush at me. Crap.