Author’s Note: Sorry for the huge delay everyone. I got a new job! Hopefully, I’ll be able to pump these out a bit faster now that everything is settled in my life again.

I just want to point out in advance that all the big grey tables in this chapter (in the “spoiler” tags) are just background fluff for the network buffs out there to show what will be happening behind the scenes. These will not appear in this much detail in the future and the Cybernetic Interface Chip will be performing most of this work in the background. As such, these “grey blocks” will only show up as much smaller, easier to read versions going forward (mostly for my sanity).

The Pentagon – Southeast Wing, Washington D.C., the Game

Somehow—despite a headache and sensitivity to light—Bradley managed a quick shower, got dressed and made his way to the Lieutenant’s pre-Tutorial session ahead of schedule. As he made his way down the dusty Pentagon corridors, his headache began to disappear along with his light sensitivity. In fact, far from having any adverse side-effects, his mind felt sharper than before.

‘Could this be because of that Mind Survival ability?’ he thought to himself as he absent-mindedly walked towards the southern doors of the Pentagon’s Central Courtyard. ‘Whatever it is I wish I had it sooner; would have really helped with all those all-nighters in University… Then again, maybe those all-nighters were why my headaches were so bad in the first place…’

The soldiers were as busy as usual. Outside—past the sandbags and wood panelling barring the windows—he made out the shape and sound of trucks, Humvees and even helicopters moving around. Occasionally someone would order a group to go to a certain place and pick up supplies or to investigate a government facility to search and destroy possible sensitive intelligence. It reminded Bradley again of the importance the Game played… and that he possibly played a big role in all this as well.

Reaching his destination, he opened the door leading out to the courtyard and found that many of the others already arrived. Alex and Farida were sitting on a bench next to the door while Garry talked to them about something. Bradley found himself unable to determine the contents of the conversation as they stopped the moment he arrived.

“Hey, Bradley right?” Garry asked sarcastically, shaking his hand with plenty of ‘southern hospitality’. “I only ask because it feels like Ah haven’t seen ya in forever! Where were ya yesterday? Ah missed ya at the mess hall.”

“Just testing my implant,” Bradley replied, quickly taking back his hand.

“I hear that,” Garry nodded with a knowing smile, “took me the whole night to get these Cybernetic Optics workin’.” He gestured to his eyes which—like the Lieutenant’s—glowed and whirled artificially. “…and that was with the Lieutenant’s help,” he added.

“Speaking of which, what implants did everyone get?” Bradley inquired.

“Well ya already know about my eyes,” Garry continued, “but Ah also got two Biological Implants: ‘Nervous System [Rank D]’ and ‘Enhanced Reflexes’. Ya need the former for the latter. Basically it lets me react better if Ah focus real hard. The Lieutenant recommended it because it’d improve my ‘combat effectiveness’.”

“Combat effectiveness? Why would you need to do that? I thought you were a programmer?” Bradley asked.

“Well Ah am, or was… but it ain’t exactly my ‘passion’,” Garry explained. “What Ah really enjoy is Big Game Huntin’. Hunted deer in Northern Texas for 10 years while Ah worked at my ‘real job’. Ah considered joinin’ the army, but killin’ people just to shoot didn’t sit right with me. This Game though… well, ya can make a livin’ like that without fear of ever killin’ someone. With these implants, the Lieutenant said Ah’d be a shoe-in for the ‘Marksman Class’.”

“As for me,” Alex chimed in, “I got the ‘Cybernetic Optics’ and ‘Nervous System [Rank D]’ just like Garry, but I opted for the ‘Enhanced Perception’ implant instead. It gives me a ‘sixth sense’ about things apparently.”

“Yeah, he even told us somebody was behind the door before you even opened it,” Garry added.

“Wow, that’s sounds pretty good,” Bradley complimented, “but I have the same question. Why does a Psychologist like you need with a ‘sixth sense’?”

“Well there are actually two reasons,” Alex justified with a sigh. “The first is practical. Let’s face it, Psychology is a soft science. It might not be ‘Anthropology’ but with less than four hundred people, I can’t exactly conduct Research Studies. That’s ignoring that the fate of the world is only five years away… or I guess 20 years in-Game? Anyway, this way I can actually be of some use. I’m fit and go to the gym regularly and with these implants I can be a get the ‘Scout Class’ and help do some reconnaissance for the soldiers.”

‘Wow,’ Bradley thought soberly, ‘it’s impressive he could be so optimistic. I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t work with computers anymore.’ With a sad expression, he asked, “What’s the second reason?”

“Well, if I can’t do any large studies, I can at least participate in my own study,” Alex replied with a soft smile. “There is nothing more relevant to my Major in Cognitive Psychology than someone with more cognizance to work with. Even if it will take decades to fully understand this new ability, it will be worth it. I might even advance Psychology in the process! Who knows?”

“That’s just like Alex, ta be honest,” Garry added, “Ah’ve never met a more upbeat guy.”

“So that just leaves Farida,” Bradley suggested.

“Mine are not as surprising as those two,” Farida replied. “I’m an architect that did some work for a large construction company in India before moving here so I chose the ‘Optical Material Analyzer’. It works with the ‘Cybernetic Optics’ implant to let me see the composition of something.” She stared intently at Bradley for a moment. “For example, that uniform is predominantly organic with 90% of its matter in Carbon and Oxygen by weight, with Hydrogen and some Nitrogen thrown in as well. It has a density of 1.431 grams per cubic inch and weighs 1.42 pounds overall.”

“You… you can get all that just from looking at it?” Bradley asked, quite surprised.

“I don’t think it would be as good without the ‘Perception Status Enhancer’ implant I have as well,” she explained, “and because of all those implants, I’m definitely no good in a fight. That being said, apparently these implants can get even better. There is even the possibility of finding out the chemical formulae of materials. I figured that if we find any alien things, those abilities would go a long way in terms of reverse engineering it for ourselves.”

‘That sounds really useful,’ Bradley noted.

“Well now that you know all about our implants,” Farida asserted, “then maybe you can tell us about yours.”

Bradley sat down on the bench next to them. “Well…”

Bradley explained to them the function of his implants and his “success” story in earning his newfound abilities.

“So wait, you can talk to electronics now?” Alex concluded with a hint of confusion.

“I wouldn’t call it ‘talking’, but I can communicate with some electronics,” Bradley clarified. “It isn’t as if I could somehow communicate with a toaster or anything, but things such as cell phones or laptops... probably.”

“You’re not sure?” Alex inquired further.

“I haven’t tried yet,” Bradley explained with a sigh, “after all, that first time didn’t turn out too well.”

“Then why don’t you test your theory?” Farida suggested, taking out a cell phone from her pocket. “I found this on a desk near my room. I turned it on and it works, but there are no apps or anything and without the internet or reception it’s pretty useless. Why don’t you take it?”

“Are you sure he should try it?” Alex inquired, worried about Bradley’s mental health. “Seizures are no joke.”

“It’s up to him, but if he isn’t going to use his implants, then he should change them,” Farida asserted, turning to Bradley. “No offence, but you might as well get a different implant if you’re worried what a phone could do to you.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Bradley agreed hesitantly. He may not have appreciated the way she said it, but that did not make her wrong. He slowly took the phone from her hand. The typical smartphone had a large touchscreen and only a few buttons on the front and sides.

‘Well, I might as well try it and see what happens,’ Bradley thought, turning the phone on. ‘If I can’t even connect to a phone, I’m not sure how useful this power will be. If it causes me pain all the time, I’m sure as hell not going to keep it.’

When it turned on, he did not notice any immediate response, so he went into the phone’s network settings and under “WiFi” had it search for networks. The moment he did, he felt a high-pitched buzzing in his inner-ears. Similarly to before, even when he closed his ears the sound remained. ‘This is it,’ he thought. Taking a deep breath, he slowly concentrated on the buzzing ‘sound’. As he did, a huge rush of information went straight to his head:

Spoiler : [table=grey]

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55BroadcastBEACON

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55BroadcastBEACON

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55BroadcastBEACON

802.11Apple_82:36:3aBroadcastPROBE_REQ

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aPROBE_RESP

802.11Apple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55AUTH

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aACK

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aAUTH

802.11Apple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55ACK

802.11Apple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55ASSOC_REQ

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aACK

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aASSOC_REQ

802.11Apple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55ACK

802.11Apple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55CTS

EAPBradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aKEY

802.11Apple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55ACK

EAPApple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55KEY

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aACK

EAPBradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aKEY

802.11Apple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55ACK

EAPApple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55KEY

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aACK

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aCTS

DHCP0.0.0.0255.255.255.255REQ

…

[/table]

‘Urgh, so much information,’ Bradley groaned internally, massaging his temples as he did, ‘still… this is a lot better than last time. While it’s still really hard to think through, at least it doesn’t hurt.’

‘It’s weird, though,’ he considered, ‘all that information should have happened within the span of a few milliseconds, yet I remember it completely. I could even manipulate a few things, but it seems as if it’s mostly on reflex. That shouldn’t be possible. Is this because of that ‘Cybernetic Interface Chip’? If I didn’t do an internship for a year managing an internal network at the University, I probably wouldn’t be able to keep up at all, so it can’t be only the implant. Just what are the limits of this ability?’

Shaking his head, he tried to focus again on the actual data. When he did, he noticed something wrong.

‘So ‘802.11’ means Wifi right…? Okay, so it acknowledged the phone, but why isn’t the interface returning any of the phone’s high-level requests and completing the connection?’ Bradley thought, ‘Without that, all this is completely useless. I mean, it’s so straightforward. All it would need to do is reply to the [DHCP Request] checks with an [DHCP ACK] and...’

As soon as he started thinking this way, a new round of information began to be exchanged:

Spoiler : [table=grey]

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aCTS

DHCP0.0.0.0255.255.255.255REQ

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aACK

802.11Apple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55CTS

DHCP192.168.0.1192.168.0.4ACK

802.11Apple_82:36:3aBradley_82:b2:55ACK

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aCTS

IPv6fe80::20d:93ff:fe82:363aff02::1:ff92:363aMULTI_LST_RPT

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aACK

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aCTS

DNS192.168.0.4192.168.0.1QUERY www.google.com

802.11Bradley_82:b2:55Apple_82:36:3aACK

DNS192.168.0.1192,168.0.4QUERY_RESP 8.8.8.8

…

[/table]

As the flow of information ceased, the phone’s network connections showed the following window:

[a]Choose a Network…

[table=white]

Bradley Cooper >

Other…>

[/table]

“Holy crap, it worked!” he exclaimed and a new window popped up:

By connecting to a device using the Wireless Perception and Regulatory Identification abilities, you have gained a new ability: Connect (Basic)

Connect (Basic)

Using Wireless Perception (Basic) and Regulatory Identification, you can now connect with devices using rudimentary communication such as integers values, letters and protocol tags.

‘Wait, did I always know all that about DHCP and-?’ he thought before Farida cut him off.

“What worked?” Farida encouraged, “Did you connect to it somehow?”

“Yeah! Look!” Bradley announced, eagerly showing his “network” to the three of them. He felt on top of the world.

“That’s… pretty cool I guess,” Farida replied, her more reserved tone bringing Bradley back down to earth. “What does that mean?”

“What does it-” Bradley began to assert before stopping himself. He realized the most people weren’t Computer Engineers and probably would need an explanation.

“Right, sorry. Um, how to explain… the easiest way is to imagine my brain as a phone. Just now, I set up something like a ‘mobile hotspot’ by pretending to be an internet ‘gateway’. Since the phone thinks I can connect to the internet, it shows up under the network connections.”

“Um, right… So what happens if I try to go into google?” Farida asked, taking the phone and opening the webpage. As she did so, a new set of messages flew by in Bradley’s head.

Spoiler : [table=grey]DNS192.168.0.4192.168.0.1QUERY www.google.com

DNS192.168.0.1192.168.0.4QUERY_RESP 8.8.8.8

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8SYN

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SYN, ACK

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

HTTP192.168.0.48.8.8.8GET

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG []

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG []

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG []

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG [42]

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG []

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG []

HTTP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4OK

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

…

[/table]

‘Urgh…’ Bradley groaned. It disappointed him that even with his complete concentration there he could do so little.

“Huh?” Farida uttered, “It isn’t showing anything. It just says the number ‘42’.”

“Yes! It worked!” Bradley proudly shouted, pumping his fists in the air. ‘I’m on a roll,’ he thought.

“That… what did you do?” Farida asked.

“Right, let me explain,” Bradley added, “When you tried to get the google homepage, I replied with that. My ability is limited, so I could only make a webpage with the number 42 at the moment. I’m sure with enough practice I could get better.”

“So can ya make it whatever ya want?” Garry asked, now really intrigued. “Can ya change it to the number 12, fer example?”

“Sure,” Bradley replied, “Just refresh the page.”

Farida pressed the refresh button at the top of the page and, once again, a rush of information flowed in and out of Bradley’s mind:

Spoiler : [table=grey]

DNS192.168.0.4192.168.0.1QUERY www.google.com

DNS192.168.0.1192.168.0.4QUERY_RESP 8.8.8.8

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8SYN

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SYN, ACK

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

HTTP192.168.0.48.8.8.8GET

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG []

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG []

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG []

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG [12]

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG []

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

TCP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4SEG []

HTTP8.8.8.8192.168.0.4OK

TCP192.168.0.48.8.8.8ACK

…

[/table]

…and by responding to the data in that way, the number on the page changed from “42” to “12”.

‘Huh, this is getting a lot easier the more I try,’ Bradley thought, ‘maybe this world is more like a game then I thought. Is there something like linear progression? Can I just keep improving if I just keep trying?’

“Wow, that’s incredible!” Garry replied. He had worked on a web team once and appreciated some of the complexities going on behind the scenes. The other two weren’t nearly as impressed.

“I’m going to have to respectfully disagree on this one,” Farida criticized, “that doesn’t seem very practical. I mean, can’t we already communicate using radios or something?”

“I wouldn’t just discount it like-” Bradley started, but a shout from behind him cut him off.

“Good to see the rest of you made it!” the voice broadcasted to the group.

Bradley turned towards the source of the voice and found Lieutenant Winslow as well as the other two missing members followed close behind: Maria and Patricia. They walked up to them.

“Especially you, Bradley,” Lieutenant Winslow added, “I’m glad you were able to make it in one piece. I heard you had it rough.”

“You could say that,” Bradley muttered, “still, it all paid off in the end. My implant is finally working.” He quickly qualified the statement by grabbing the phone back from Farida and showed the Lieutenant the network connections screen with his name on it.

“That’s good to see,” the Lieutenant approved with a nod. “With that, I can confirm that all six of you are ready to begin your Pre-Tutorial Practice.”

Earth Coalition Quest – Completed!

You arrived at the Pentagon Center Courtyard – South Entrance on time!

Quest Reward:Pre-Tutorial Orientation and Practice

“Speaking of which,” Alex asked “why did Maria and Patricia take so long to get here? They were with us for most of yesterday so I thought they would have gotten here first thing this morning.”

“Actually—from what the Lieutenant told me—I had a similar problem as Bradley,” Maria admitted. “I’m using the ‘Cybernetic Interface Chip’ implant too, except mine is attached to the ‘Subdermal Memory Module’ implant instead.” She turned around and parted her short brown hair at the neck to show a small rectangle bulge. The sight disturbed Bradley more than he thought it would. It reminded him again that these implants really were supposed to be attached to his brain and he found himself unconsciously scratching the back of his neck. “Still, once I got it working the result was outstanding; already my memory feels substantially improved. It is—for all intents and purposes—photographic now. I don’t know how the Game does it, but it’s incredible.”

“Wait, there was something like that?” Bradley pondered, reconsidering his choice of the human-computer interface implant. ‘Better memory is always good, regardless of the situation,’ he admitted to himself.

“I wouldn’t recommend changing your implants now,” the Lieutenant warned with a grimace, “especially not to that one. It took Maria several hours in the medical center just to get over the headaches. In addition, she cannot improve hers in any way, so it doesn’t have the same long-term prospects as most of you do. You will find that everything in this Game that sounds too-good-to-be-true usually is.”

“Still, I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Maria nodded. “Most of my troubles with learning and research was with my poor memory… relatively speaking.”

‘Does Maria ever smile?’ Bradley thought. ‘It makes it sound like this is the best day in her life, but she doesn’t emote at all!’

“Well that explains Maria, but what about Patricia?” Alex inquired further.

“I got a Psionic powers!” Patricia exclaimed, practically jumping for joy that she could make such a statement in complete contrast to Maria.

““What?”” several of the group asked in surprise.

“But I thought that Lieutenant Winslow said he would force you to change it if you chose one of those!” Alex accused, pointing at the man in question. “What’s the deal?”

‘Why is he so upset? Were those implants Alex got were not his first choice,’ Bradley assumed.

“I did force her to change her decision to something else,” the officer groaned, “however she changed it behind my back and did some personal training-”

“-which worked,” Patricia added.

“Yes, it worked,” the Lieutenant begrudgingly admitted. “When I found out about it, I decided to give her a free pass this time because she didn’t know, but she was lucky. One aspect I didn’t mention is that Psionics can cause physical harm and should always be used under supervision.”

“Yeah, yeah, but check this out!” Patricia yelled out. When she had everyone’s attention, she appeared to conjure a ball of energy out of thin air in her hand. The ball sparked with electrical energy and emitted bright, blueish-white light.

“Hmm, that appears to violate Thermodynamics?” Maria pondered. “Where is the energy coming from? It can’t be from the body… Can you control it? Is there some kind of electromagnetic force involved? What is-?”

“Now that is an incredible ability!” Farida nodded, looking very impressed. “Why do we not have everyone using Psionics?!”

“I told you before about things that are too-good-to-be-true. Well the main reason is that not everyone can do it,” Lieutenant Winslow explained, staring at Patricia until she eventually got the message and extinguished her “thunder ball”.

“To achieve ‘elemental’ Psionic powers such as Patricia’s ‘lightning’,” the Lieutenant continued, “requires at least two biological implants: ‘Psionic Resonance (Rank D)’ and ‘Psionic Fulcrum (Rank C).’ That requirement pretty much eliminates most people right there. In short, only people like you specifically chosen by the Administrators can even use them for now. The rest of us can only focus on the more limited Psionics you can achieve with the ‘Psionic Generator (Rank D)’ biological implant such as creating small amounts of light or—with a lot of practice—sensing life energy.

He looked to each of them. “With that being the case, unless all of you are perfectly happy with your choices, I will be testing each of you after your Tutorial to see if any of you have a similar gift for Psionics as Patricia here. The plan right now is just to ignore them until we have more people and understanding. Right now, we have no idea how useful they are.”

“Why didn’t you just tell us all that yesterday?” Alex asked with a slight pout, “It would have been really awesome to be able to do something like that! Doesn’t this go directly against what you had been saying about how bad Psionics are?”

“Because it will take more than just a day to completely test all the possible combinations,” Winslow defended. “There are too many different kinds of implants, so testing all of them before your Tutorial to see which ones work and which don’t is pretty counter-productive. Besides, even if one of them worked, it usually takes far longer to become proficient enough for it to be useful. Since you can change your implants at no cost right now, it’s better to have a solid practical set of implants you have practiced with before your Tutorial than to chance some unknown and unpredictable Psionic abilities.”

“Okay, I think we all understand that now,” Farida relented, “but I’m getting really tired of skirting around the main issue here. Just exactly what is this Tutorial?!”

“I’m glad you asked,” Winslow grinned, briefly checking his watch. “Looks like we only have a little over an hour before the Tutorial starts so please try to keep your questions short. We still need to do a little practice before you leave.”

The Lieutenant cleared his throat and waited for everybody to be quiet and listen before he began. “Simply put, the ‘Tutorial’ in the Game is both a way to understand how the Game works as well as a means for the Game to gauge how capable each of you are. As I mentioned briefly before, all of your stats are determined at the end of your Tutorial, so doing well grants you a head start. These stats directly tie into your abilities. The higher your stats, the more likely you are to gain better abilities, the better your abilities become, and the more likely you are to gain more stats and abilities. During the Tutorial, you are even given the opportunity to achieve a particular “class” and additional abilities, if you are lucky. In short, a good showing at the Tutorial can save months or even years of development any other way.

“Unfortunately, as you’ve already noticed, you aren’t given a lot of time before the Tutorial begins. This brings me to why I’ve decided against giving you this information until now. We’ve found that the more prepared you are, the worse you perform and the less abilities, experience and stats you gain.”

“How does that work?” Garry asked, mirroring the confused expression on the faces of the other Players.

“Before I can answer that, I need to tell you how the Tutorial is set up,” Lieutenant Winslow explained. “It is split into two sections: a mental examination and a physical one.

“The mental exam is just a simple test. It asks you questions and you answer them to the best of your ability. From what we can tell, the test adapts to you and any preparation for it is a waste of time. Heck, if anything, it feels more like it is teaching you things. Time is better spent learning how your implants work like you have been doing.

“The second part is the physical exam which appears to take the form of a combat and survival exercise. It is split into multiple parts. In each part, you need to defeat an enemy. This is where any preparedness backfires. The more experienced you are, the tougher the enemies become. The more prepared you are, the more difficult the environment is.

“Out of the twenty military combat teams we sent in before we figured all this out, none of them—including mine—made it past the first round. Most of us ended up against an alien foe with superior arms and we were defeated handily.” The lieutenant sighed. “My group found ourselves in the middle of a dense jungle. Luckily, with our training, we were able to lure the enemy into an ambush and take a few of them out with high-explosives, but with their stupidly overpowered magic-bullshit-shields and beam cannons we were annihilated.”

His face turned stern. “If that encounter was really representative of what the aliens are capable of, then we can only thank God they aren’t trying to take us over. At least in terms of equipment, the aliens have proven to be far superior.”

He let that sink in for a moment before changing topics.

“However, when we sent inexperienced and unprepared groups through—which we found out mostly on accident when we forgot about informing the team beforehand—they made it to the second and even third rounds! Apparently, the Game will give you small advantages that can sometimes completely turn the tides if it feels that you won’t put up a decent fight. The Game often will underestimate you and give things like convenient terrain, weapon caches, easier opponents, or even virtual ‘money’ in order to purchase supplies out of thin air from the Game itself. Needless to say this is the method we use.”

“I think I understand,” Farida replied after a moment, “but when you say fight-”

“I mean kill,” the Lieutenant replied, “thoroughly slaughter and eliminate the enemy. The game doesn’t even allow you to leave until you or your enemies are dead.”

Everyone became suddenly quiet. The Lieutenant realized—remembering his audience—quickly clarified, “Still, this is a game, and the Game kicks you out of the Tutorial the moment you are ‘finished’. Don’t take this the wrong way, but the Tutorial will kill you. That’s a one-hundred percent guarantee. That being said, the actual death part won’t hurt one bit. There won’t be any negative repercussions except failing to do your best.”

When he says that, he found that the six people in front of him were still anxious. Noting the reaction, he added, “Remember that its goal isn’t to kill you. Rather it’s probably because the Game needs to know our upper limits tests that it puts you in this life-or-death situation. Even if you beat the third or even further rounds, the Game would most likely keep adding more and more enemies until you failed. As I said, this serves as Tutorial for this world. It’s harsh, but fair.”

Again, the six remained silent.

“Well, I think that’s enough somber talk,” the Lieutenant concluded, deciding to change the topic, “let’s get to practicing!”

“Wait, didn’t you say being prepared was a bad idea?” Maria noted.

“What I meant by that was in terms of weapons or equipment,” Winslow explained, “a little teambuilding and shooting on the practice range never hurt anybody. In fact, we found almost half of the civilians we sent completely unprepared didn’t make it past the first round because they refused to work together under pressure or shot themselves. Please don’t be like them. It’s really counterproductive and everyone will laugh at you.”

“But what about our uniforms?” Bradley asked, “Isn’t that being prepared?”

“Well they won’t help you much, to be honest,” the Lieutenant shrugged, “but it’s better than what you had. We found that many of the participants weren’t anywhere that they could find a change clothes and they ended up tearing through what they wore running through some underbrush. It isn’t fun to run half-naked though forests no matter what romance novels might have you believe.”

A few of them blushed while the others looked in dread. “Yeah, so having more durable clothes is a pretty good idea,” he concluded.

“But firearms practice?!” Patricia cried out, “I have my psionic abilities! Why would I need that?”

“You’re right, you should practice that too,” Lieutenant Winslow nodded, he then stared at her intently, adding “but in all seriousness, you absolutely must be at least competent with a gun.”

The Lieutenant gestured around him. “Look at where you are. We have aliens that could possibly invade at any time and just to be in this Game, we have to go through a Tutorial that is certain to kill us. This is the Wild West. In less than an hour, you will be fighting for your life. Can you honestly say that your Psionic powers will be enough?”

“Well…” Patricia trailed off.

“Our previous tests have shown this level of practice gives the best results. That’s really all there is to it,” the Lieutenant replied unsympathetically.

He saw everyone standing around and gawking despite having finished talking, so he yelled, “Stop questioning it and start doing it; you less than an hour left!”

Recruit Firing Range, The Pentagon Center Courtyard – Western Wall, Washington D.C., the Game

By repeatedly firing a pistol at a target, you have gained a new ability: Pistol Shooting

Pistol Shooting

This ability maps the progress of firing a pistol. A higher rank indicates a greater lethality for a given shot given by the shooter’s: marksmanship, familiarity with the weapon used, and overall flexibility in working through a variety of combat situations.

‘There is something about a military officer yelling at you to get things done that makes you think you can do anything,’ Bradley thought with a smirk.

Bradley fired a Berretta M9 at a makeshift firing range on the Pentagon’s Western Wall. Several crudely-made circles were spray-painted onto the wall and hundreds of bullet holes were peppered all about its entire length. Bradley noticed that many of the holes were all over the place and concluded that—just like him—most of the people that used this range did not know how to shoot. Trained army personnel would at least be able to hit a target less than 30 feet away.

Lieutenant Wilson confirmed this, pointing to the other side of the Courtyard where several US Army and Marine Rifleman fired at similar targets. He told Bradley that a part of ‘The Game Experiment’ initially had been to see if any skills learned in the Game could be carried over into the real world. It could, and so most of the soldiers spent plenty of time honing their skills with the virtual resources they collected.

Bradley and the rest of the ‘recruits’ were interspaced behind simple wooden tables that had been overturned to provide a ‘firing line’. Similar to Bradley, most of them were using the “light” military pistol to begin with; except for Garry who fired the M16 assault rifle. Having some experience with pistols and rifles, training with the pistol would not be worthwhile. For Garry, this practice allowed him to acclimate himself to shooting with the bionic eye implant and to get acclimated with the military firearms on the base.

For the rest of them, the Lieutenant had to spend most of his time drilling the importance of weapon safety and the proper way to hold the firearm, so most of them really only had fifteen-or-so minutes to actually use the pistols before time ran out. Patricia spent even less time, using most of her remaining allotment throwing balls of lightning at the targets, creating scorch marks on the grey walls.

‘Until an hour ago, I hadn’t even known what an “M9” even was,’ Bradley thought confidently, ‘but now I can competently shoot it using both hands at the target just under 30 feet away… Not exactly something to write home about, but not bad for a complete novice.’

“Alright, that’s enough for today,” the Lieutenant said, concluding the practice and taking back the firearms. He placed the guns and additional ammo into a crate and called over a solider to take it away. “Now you may be a little physically exhausted,” he added, “but the first part of the Tutorial will be a mental one, so it shouldn’t affect your performance.”

“Wait, you forgot to tell us something,” Bradley noted, “how are these ‘Administrators’ going to start the-”

Before he could finish the sentence, he vanished. All six of the recruits had simple vanished as if they were never there at all. No sudden gust of wind from the displacement of air, not a sound or even a flash of light marked the disappearance. If one had blinked, they would have missed it.

“Well, my job’s done,” Lieutenant Winslow concluded with a sigh. ‘It’s all up to them now,’ he thought.

‘Let’s hope they at least make it to the second round…’

----Status Window----

Spoiler :

Status Window

Name:Bradley CooperSpecies:Human (Earth)

Level:4Experience:0/1000

Class:UndeterminedAlignment:Neutral[/tr]

Age:26Gender:Male

Renown:0Notoriety:0

----Regenerative Attributes----

Health:94/95Health Regen:21.55/hr

Psionic Energy:1/1Psionic Regen:0.82/hr

Shield Energy:N/AShield Regen:N/A

Stamina:65/85Stamina Regen:812.09/hr

----Attributes----

Strength:??+20Agility:??+20

Intelligence:??+20Willpower:??+20

Charisma:??+20Perception:??+20

Endurance:??+20Luck:??+20

----Resistances----

Physical:??Mental:??

Psionic:??

----Career----

Titles:None

Occupation:Earth Coalition – Civilian Employee – Recruit

Current Quest:None

----Currency----

Currently Held:0 CreditsCurrently Owed:0 Credits

Marks:0P, 0D, 0GAbility Points:0

----Faction Standings----

Earth Coalition:Employee

Haxlards:Neutral*Administrators:Privileged*

----General Ability Window----

Spoiler :

General Ability Window

Ability Name:Ability Rank:Ability Proficiency:Ability Rarity:

Connect (Basic)GG-1,597,482,116D

Allows communication of single integer numbers, characters and regulatory tags to devices. Does so using the Cybernetic Interface Chip’s Regulatory Identification and Human-Computer Interface’s Wireless Perception abilities.

Ability Name:Ability Rank:Ability Proficiency:Ability Rarity:

Mind SurvivalGF-2,046,862,349G

The ability of the mind to persist through overwhelming mental trauma. Necessary for resistance against abilities which damage the mind or to use such abilities on oneself.

Ability Name:Ability Rank:Ability Proficiency:Ability Rarity:

Pistol ShootingGG-1,921,784,212G

This ability maps the progress of firing a pistol. A higher rank indicates a greater lethality.

Ability Name:Ability Rank:Ability Proficiency:Ability Rarity:

Regulatory IdentificationGG-229,687,536E

The Cybernetic Interface Chip’s ability to identify the regulatory standards, encoding, decoding and commands used by a device to communicate.

Ability Name:Ability Rank:Ability Proficiency:Ability Rarity:

Wireless Perception (Basic)GG-1,854,949,413D

The ability to perceive wireless communications actively searching for connection. To avoid oversaturation, the Human-Computer Interface does not transmit secure communication or ordinary electromagnetic waves to the Cybernetic Interface Chip.

----Implant List Window----

Spoiler :

Implant List

----Biological Implants----

Implant Name:Implant Rank:Implant Proficiency:

General Status EnhancerDN/A

Provides a boost of 20 points to all attributes.

----Mechanical Implants----

Implant Name:Implant Rank:Implant Proficiency:

Cybernetic Interface ChipDG-221,849,651

Connected directly to the brain, when interfaced directly with a computer, implant, or memory module, this chip converts thought into the intended electromagnetic input expected by the device. Higher ranks improve the data rate, allowable frequency range, and provide higher levels of security.

Implant Name:Implant Rank:Implant Proficiency:

Human-Computer InterfaceDG-1,648,518,697

Allows direct cognitive access to a computer system via wireless communication, allowing the brain to issue commands directly to the device. Can only guarantee a proper interface with devices of equal or lower rank.

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