Chapter 3: Captain Kortef is back.

“Okay, I’ll go online. We will stick with the basics and the old strategies.” I say while reclining in the chair of the VRD.

“Sure, go ahead, I already customized the Carrier Orb.” Replies Ana with a confident tone.

“Welcome to Shooting Range Guest159621, select your server.” A classic female system voice speak to me.

“Connect to Amateur Tournament Server, token No. 1438 and password 858523.” I reply to the system voice hurriedly, I have just enough time to create a new avatar.

“Establishing connection…”

“…”

“…”

“Connection successful. Account verified. Welcome to the Amateur Tournament Marcus Trevor, do you wish to load a premade character?”

“No. Skip to character customization screen.”

“Select your race.”

“System Race selection: Battle Droid. Sub Race: Silver Droid. Class: Berserker. Subclass: Sprinter.”

“Sprinter is not available as a Subclass, do you wish to use Sprinter as your Class?”

“What? Ana, why the hell you didn't tell me that Sprinter was promoted to a main class!” I shout angrily at Ana. In my conversation with her just 20 minutes ago I came up with the idea of using this old combo, but now the idea was utterly crushed by the system just because Ana neglected to say that Sprinter is no longer a Subclass.

“Woops, I forgot hehe…” Ana answers me with an innocent tone.

‘God damn…’ I ponder for a moment. I can’t blame her, after all, I was the one who hasn’t played for a lot time.

‘I need a fast subclass to compensate for the Berserker’s speed penalty. The other one that I remember using that has a good bonus to the speed is that one, but they have a penalty when they carry heavy weapons which is the way I played with the Berserker… guess I have to improvise.’ “System class selection: Class Berserker, sub class Pacifist.”

“Main attributes selected, do you wish to customize your character appearance?”

“No time for that, skip to weapon selection screen.”

“Marcus 1 minute left.” Ana speaks to me through the system notification screen.

“I got it, I got it.” I answer her.

“Select your gear. Weight restrictions applied depending on your main attributes.”

‘I need very light gear, this will be troublesome. Guess I have to test middle and short range!’ “System weapon selection: Main weapon: Light Plasma Carbine. Secondary weapon: Advanced Piercing Plasma Saber. Tertiary weapon: Small Titanium Shield. Armor augmentation: Battle Boots Boosters.”

“Gear selected, do you wish to customize your weapons?”

“No, all the gear default.”

“Select your game tag.”

“Kortef.”

“Character creation successful, do you wish to proceed to the lobby?”

“Yes, please hurry up.”

“Processing…”

“…”

“…”

“Welcome to the lobby No. 37. Battle starts in 25 seconds.”

The lobby No. 37 has a total of 13 participants, I am the last one to enter. It is a simple virtual room in which the players have to wait until the timer finishes the countdown and then we will be teleported to the battle map.

In this room I make a quick overview of the other participants, and just as I do, I feel quite confident and grin maliciously. Of the other 12 participants, 9 were Mutants, 2 were Humans and the last one was a Specter. Except for the Specter, my quick judgement tells me that, since everybody was using similar gear, they are just trying to copy the specs of some high ranked professional players. ‘This is truly an Amateur tournament.’ I think.

“Battle starts in 10 seconds, the map will be Central Ruins.”

“Great, at least is a classic map that I remember, get ready Ana.” I start to get excited.

“I’m always ready for you Captain Kortef!” Ana says happily with a sarcastic tone.

“Battle starts in 3… 2… 1…”

And just as the countdown reach 0, all the participants are enveloped in a brilliant flash of light and are teleported to the Central Ruins. This map consists basically of lots of collapsed buildings and tons of rubbish, perfect for giving you some cover. The highest place are a bunch of 4 story buildings located towards the east, but because the game was “Tag hunt”, I am sure that most of the fighting in this map will take place in some of the open areas.

"Tag hunt" is a free for all death match where you have to collect the tags of the people you kill by drawing near them, making it almost useless trying to be a sniper in this map. The difference between Tag hunt and a normal free for all death match is that when you die you drop a quarter of the tags you have collected so far and a quarter more disappear from the battlefield, meaning that people will always try to group to hunt those that have lots of tags. The game finishes when a player has collected 50 tags or when the 30 minutes timer reaches 0.

“Ohoho, this feeling is great, it brings me a lot of memories. Ana, I’ll start with a balanced set up, distribute the energy now. Let’s go!” I am quite overjoyed.

“Roger, balanced set up ready.” Ana replies.

Kortef was a Silver Battle Droid while Ana was operating a Tech-type Carrier Orb. Of the 6 different races, Battle Droids, Humans, Mutants, Specters, Spartans and Hybrids, the Battle Droids are the only ones that doesn't have hit points and rely exclusively in the energy shields. When the shields reach a critical point they immediately shut down becoming mere shooting targets. The Silver sub class has 150% more energy shields but the critical point is much higher than the rest, meaning that you are above average when you are at full energy but just as they receive some shots their performance declines faster and faster.

On the other hand, there are 7 types of Carrier Orbs: Pocket, Support, Shielding, Tech, Healing, Deploying, and Scout. The last 2 are banned in tournament modes.

“Equip Light Plasma Carbine.” I shout.

Just as I command, Ana materialized a blue Carbine in front of me which I pick. I start jogging towards the north plaza. The map has a circumference of at least 800 meters so, with only 13 persons and a lot of obstacles, this map is pretty huge.

“Thud, thud, thud, thud.” Each step I took carry a lot of weight, typical of the Battle Droids. I stop in each intersection and aim both left and right to watch out for ambushes. I tell Ana to not use the Pulsar Radar, one of the 2 special features of the Tech-type Carrier Orb, the first 20 minutes and only rely in the proximity radar so I have to be extra careful.

“Captain Kortef, the north plaza is 50 meters to the right.” Ana uses a system message to annoy me.

“Don’t call me Captain Kortef.” I shout angrily, I really dislike that nickname!

“But Captain Kortef sounds cute. *chuckle*” This time Ana uses her sweet voice instead of a system message window.

“…” I regret not using an AI.

Just as I get near the plaza I see from a safe spot at least 4 mutants taking cover and shooting at each other. ‘Ok, here we go.’ I prepare to aim with my Carbine but just before I have my first target on the aim...

“You have received a fatal ambush, energy shield depleted by 83%”

“What the…”

“You have received a body shot, energy shield depleted by 21%, critical level exceeded, shooting systems down.”

“You have received a body shot, energy shield depleted by 19%”

“You have received a head shot, you are dead. Respawning in 5 seconds.”

“Ana, did you see what happened?” I ask while being a bit mad.

“Yup, it seems the Specter laid an ambush for you.” Ana answers frankly.

“That guy is going to be bothersome.” I say helplessly.

The racial feature of the specters is the Ambush Shot. When they shoot from behind or while stealthed after being idle for 3 seconds, the first shot will deal quadruple damage to energy shields. That’s the worst type of enemy that a Battle Droid could have since we rely exclusively in the energy shields.

I start to test and try to adapt again to the game with a calm mind. I died 7 more times and killed some people without collecting a single tag. While dying I discovered that there was a sniper in a 2 story building in the west of the north plaza, which means that the sniper is working in a team with someone else or he is a complete idiot for not knowing the rules of Tag Hunt. Almost all the battles are in the north plaza with some occasional exchange of fire in some corridors.

I pay close attention to the attack pattern of the Specter, it was a tricky one, but not a brilliant one. Soon it will be payback time.

Ana knowing my style of play is not worried at all. Although 17 minutes has passed and I hasn't collected a single tag she knows that the beginning of the game held little importance compared with the last minutes, because if you was first during all the game and you don’t know how to defend yourself at the last moments, you could lose all the tags that you accumulated pretty quickly.

“Display Tag hunt Status Window.” I command and a window pop ups in my field of vision.

“How the fuck does someone has minus one tag?” I ask flabbergasted seeing the last player.

“Don’t ask me, it’s the first time I have seen it *chuckle*” Ana replies with a sweet laugh.

“Get ready, the party is starting, let’s use the advanced propulsion mode and be ready to change to assault mode when in midair.” I say with determination.

“Roger.” Ana replies.

Advanced propulsion mode allows the player to use up to 75% of the energy from energy shields to boost leg power, boosting greatly the speed and jump height. Since only you have 25% of energy left, it means that you have to sacrifice accuracy and aiming speed, but since I have the Silver sub class, the extra 50% energy let me ignore this drawback.

I order Ana to deploy the pulsar radar. This is the first unique feature of the Tech-type Carrier Orbs that let them use a huge wave to scan the area to know the exact position of all the enemies while revealing the position of the one who used it in all the radars. Since I have 0 tags I am not worried and I am confident that I will be going to be ignored.

Ana uses the pulsar radar twice while I am running at top speed towards the north plaza. I purposely take some detours to arrive in the path where the Specter is hiding.

‘It’s all or nothing!’ I see a glimpse of the optic camouflage of that Specter and after two more steps towards the north plaza of the Central Ruins I toss my Advanced Plasma Piercing Saber to the air and make a leap towards it. Just as the Specter see my silhouette passing by, he deactivates his optic camouflage and starts to aim at my back.

However, in the moment that he is about to shoot, he discovers that in midair I turned towards him and he is already in the aim of my Carbine.

*Pew, pew.*

“Headshot. Headshot. You have killed player Silent Warrior. Berserker State Lv. 1 activated for 5 seconds.”

The moment a Specter deactivates his optic camouflage his shields become inactive for 3 seconds becoming extremely vulnerable. Those 3 seconds is enough time for anyone with average accuracy to shot twice, but I was a bit greedy and aimed to the head for and instant kill.

The Berserker State is the main feature of the Berserker class. It regenerates 1% of the energy shields per second per level of the Berserker State, up to level 3. Additionally, level 1 increases damage by 20%, level 2 increases defense by 20%, and level 3 decreases accuracy penalties by 30%.

In the air, I let the inertia of my midair spin guide me and once again I am facing the front of the plaza, just this time I am 10 meters above it, a perfect practice target for the sniper that is in the west.

Some players below me notice me and start to aim at me while the sniper almost has me locked. Knowing that the situation is not good but within my expectations, I quickly pick in midair the saber that I tossed previously.

“Activate seismic strike module now!”

*Bang.*

*Pew, pew, pew, pew.*

*CRASH.*

The loud noise of the Sniper Rifle and the various plasma shots are suddenly appeased by a thunderous crash sound with a lot of rubble and dust flying everywhere.

“Critical body blow. Double kill. You have killed player Kerosene. You collected 6 tags. Berserker State Lv. 2 activated for 7 seconds.”

The seismic strike module overloads the energy shields by up to 30% in exchange of raising the gravity by 20 times; when in midair, the result is a huge downwards pull. With this borrowed strength I stabbed with my Advanced Piercing Plasma Saber some unlucky player that was just below me.

“Carbine quad burst mode.” I send a system message to Ana.

“Already done, two players at 2 o’clock.” Ana replies instantly to me.

Without letting the dust dissipate and following Ana’s instruction, I aim and release 3 bursts killing both players.

“Triple kill. Berserker State Lv. 3 (max.) activated for 9 seconds.”

“Quad kill. Berserker State Lv. 3 (max.) activated for 9 seconds.”

I rush to collect 8 tags and take cover to watch and study the movements of the rest of the players. I find and enter a small building exchanging from there some shots, killing another player. I wait 15 more seconds for the overload penalty of the Seismic Strike to disappear and to allow the Berserker State to heal almost all of my shields.

“Activate advanced propulsion mode and be ready to assume standard mode.” I say.

“Understood Captain Kortef.” Ana replies.

“Let’s farm that Specter!” I say enthusiastically. ‘Payback time!’

I equip the Advanced Piercing Plasma Saber and rush at top speed towards the other side of the plaza where I killed Silent Warrior previously. Running across the plaza results in me being caught in a crossfire. I receive 2 shots in the arm reducing my shields to 120%.

Just as I return to the corridor where I killed the Specter I nimbly pick up the 7 tags that lay on the floor, luckily no one noticed them. I search for a cover and duck to watch towards the other end of the long corridor.

60 meters away from me there is an exchange of fire and I could see a silhouette which I am almost certain that is from the Specter, trying to return to his favorite ambush spot. ‘This is the power of a 3rd generation ultra-high definition optic nerve link!’ I thought and praise inwardly. The quality of the images transmitted to me via this optic link are top notch!

I decide to enter a small building and exit through a back door to a corridor that Is parallel with the one in which I was just moments ago. Although Battle Droids are far from being sneaky, I try my best to muffle the sound of my steps.

I hide in a corner and wait there patiently. Soon, the sounds of the exchange of fire finish. I count to three and reveal myself, running with all my might towards the end of the corridor. There I see the Specter trying to loot the second corpse. He feels that something is amiss and turns towards me. He tries to shoot but it is too late for him.

*Swish.*

“Critical hit. Headshot. Decapitated player Silent Warrior. You collected 5 tags. Berserker State Lv. 1 activated for 5 seconds.”

The special ability of the Advanced Piecing Plasma Saber is to ignore completely the shields of the opponent during a charge attack. I collect another 5 tags from the corpse that the Specter was trying to loot, reaching a total of 31 tags in less than 2 minutes!

“Hell yeah, Kortef is back!” I let out a victorious roar with my robotic voice.

“No, Captain Kortef is back!” Ana replied coquettishly.

I start to move from corridor to corridor avoiding the north plaza. Some players try to pursue me but with the help and guidance of Ana the only thing they achieve is helping me to replenish my shields thanks to the Berserker State buff.

After a while I kill the Specter once more in his ambush spot and collect another 4 tags fleeing quickly from 2 players that are pursuing me.

“Display Tag hunt Status Window.”

“It’s time to finish this.” I say with confidence. ‘I have to ask an attendant how to get negative tag counts.’

“What are you planning to do?” Asks Ana with curiosity.

“Going sniper mode.” I reply while shooting and killing a player.

“Are you going to hunt the player Sniper Powah?” Ana’s curiosity was growing.

“No, the true sniper is Blue Hawk, look at his death count he is probably teaming with someone. He kills, let the other one collect the tags, and then that person let Blue Hawk kill him and collect the spoils.” I explain with a carefree tone.

END OF CHAPTER 3