Chapter 3 Part 4

Seconds after connecting to the test server Cris found himself in what looked like a darken auditorium. He was sitting at a desk that was facing forward at a stage with a podium and spotlights on it. He looked around and saw what looked dozens of desks with people sitting all looking at the stage. A few seconds later someone appeared on the stage.

Cris could barely make out who it was since he was sitting close to back but it looked like a guy wearing dark sunglasses and in a black suit. The rest of the room was fixed on him as he ready himself to speak.

“Hello, applicants. My name is Mr. Jones, and I will be your proctor today.”

His voice did not echo through the hall but felt like he was talking right in front of you. He had a very stiff and sober voice while giving the impression he was a serious person.

Such an emotionless robotic voice.

“Today test is a survival test. The goal of the test is finish with 150 points.”

Survival? 150 points? In here?

“I will now explain the rules of the test. You start at zero points and have 24 hours to end with 150 points. You can get points by any means on this screen. You will be using the trial Terminal an upgrade from guest but not full resident. Any log outs now or during the test will considered as a fail.”

A screen pop up in front of everyone in the auditorium with a large one behind Mr. Jones. Cris was about to take a look at it but an additional screen pop up for him. The screen that pop up was a warning on elevated heart rate in body. Please calm down or forced log off will commence. Panicking a bit Cris just swapped away the screen in hopes it would not be a problem.

Shit, I can’t be forced logged now.

Mr. Jones continue to explain the instructions but Cris couldn’t focus on his words. He was trying to calm himself down, that warning still concern him, he did not want his test to end because of that he was missing out on what the proctor was saying. Finally, able to focus again he redirected his attention back on the stage.

“The production in the survival test is split into 3 tiers. Raw materials which are harvested are worth 1 point. Basic items which you craft using raw materials are worth 2 points. Advance products which you can assemble with basics items and or with raw materials are worth 5 points. These instructions will be label on your crafting panel.”

Formulating a strategy now, the possibility of him passing from only making stuff crossed his mind. The image of Monz popped in his head. The carebear crafter who did not fight but who liked to hide under tables. Is that how he passed by building and hiding? Not completely dismissing the idea as a viable strategy, he continued to listen to the proctor.

“The final rule is killing. Killing blows are worth 10 points per kill. If you die you will lose half of your current points and will not respawn. Your test will be finished.”

Fear gripped Cris’s heart when he heard that, he would only have one life during the test. He remembered his first time in Terminal where he got ravaged and torn apart by that wolf. What if there would be wild animals in there as well? Would he be able to defend himself from the beasts and other players? He felt anxious about how he would do in test now but the next screen that popped up made his stomach drop. The warning screen came back and this time it was a countdown due to further increased heartrate.

“Since this is a test, no talking is allowed. But I have a headache so I am disabling voice. Also, I will be adding other surprising in the exam? Any questions speak up.”

No one said a word or they could not even speak. Realizing he could not yell stop, he frantically waved his hand around in hope that the proctor will answer his question. He did have a few questions but more than the needed answers he wanted time to relax and make this screen go away. The proctor ignored him and the countdown had twenty seconds left.

“Good, you can start now.”

Cris closed his eyes and took deep breathes trying to calm himself down. Any second now he could have been forced logged. He felt a slight move around his body which indicated that he was no longer in the auditorium. Too scared to open his eyes to find himself back in reality he kept them shut. Then he felt a cool breeze across his face, the warmth of the sun on his body and the sound of grass moving. He open his eyes and found himself in the middle of a grassy field with some mountains in the distance.

Cris eyes widen as he gawk at the sight of so much untouched green. The grass went up to his waist, tickling him every time the wind blew. The sun felt more intense than in reality, almost like the sun was only focusing on him. The air tasted and smelled cleaner than any he had experienced. Was this the power of more features or was Terminal always this realistic. Trying to comment at the moment he noticed nothing came out not a sound. Did the proctor mute the sound in the test as well?

“…”

Is this real? Huh? I can’t say anything… that’s right everyone is muted. Well game time.

Cris open his panel to see if there was any additional information that could help him catch up what he missed. Once in the panel his eyes widen when he saw a ton more options than he saw in Terminal. Inside of just an inventory screen there was; the point structure, his total amount of points, his character screen and two clocks. He quickly clicked on the character screen and was denied for being on a trial, he frown as he thought just why. Looking at the clocks one had the current time and other was a timer counting down from just under twenty-four hours. The rest of the panel just had information which he heard from the proctor and the craft tab.

Nothing new. Not going to mess around and waste time. Well, the rules seem simple don’t die and get 150 points. Now for my starting equipment…WHAT?! There is none!

Cris double check his inventory it was empty. Usually in survival games they give you something like basic gear, easy to pick up equipment or a rock. There was nothing how was he supposed to progress now. Cris survey his surroundings one more time to see if he missed any care package or something when he spawn. He thought that even tests allowed you to bring pencils in here he had nothing.

While looking for any equipment that could or could not be there he spotted something in the distance. A silhouette of a person standing in the field standing, a pop up appeared over on top of the shadowy figure.

[UNKNOWN: DISTANCE 130m: STATUS: UNKNOWN]

Cris hit the ground and hide himself among the grass. He froze for a brief moment, wondering if the unknown had saw him. Slowly peaking his head up he saw the figure run towards him.

Crap have I been spotted? Am I finished before I started?

He duck back down and lie waiting, it was a good chance that he doesn’t know his exact location. He heard the rustling of the grass as the person came closer. Cris’s heart and mind were racing as the sound got closer. If that person got any closer he would have to strike first and try to end it in one swift blow. If he failed he was not sure how a drawn out fist fight would go for him. The figure finally came in sight he wore a purple hoodie with his face covered and was moving away from Cris. Cris breathed a sigh of relief when the purple hoodie figure was far enough to not notice him. Watching go off in some random direction, Cris got an idea on how to pass.

Maybe, I should watch this person and get a better idea on what to do. Hehe, it’s not cheating. Don’t think you can cheat in this. And if he runs into any trouble who knows, just maybe I will step in.

Cris had a devious grin on his face as he knew what he had to do now. Keeping low and his distance, Cris followed the mysterious figure observing all of their actions.

Tailing his mysterious purple hoodie friend for some time Cris managed to go undetected. Out of all his skills he took pride in was his ability to sneak while observing and get around unnoticed. Before coming to Axis, in almost every game he played online or offline he would always pick the class with the highest skill level, which was always the rogue or thief. He hated warrior classes where they would rely on their brawn and toughness to brute force their way through every challenge. Same could be said about any caster or mage, they just relied on their magic to do everything giving them a weaker body which forced them to be mentally superior to everyone, and to Cris they both were equally bad. The final class the rogue who needed a combination of stamina, wit and dexterity in order to excel, to him was the peak of using skill to win. If becoming a resident of Axis allowed him to pick a class he definitely knew which one he would pick. In preparations to his arrival in Axis, Cris study and replayed all of his favorite rogue games to sharpen his skills and they were paying off now.

It has been over thirty minutes now, he was watching his clueless prey like a hawk learning what he was doing to pass. Most people would consider this cheating but to Cris this was fair game. Even though he was an elite and honor student the proctor did not say any specific about stalking people during the test. From what he gathered anyone can interact with the environment by picking up some random stuff on the ground. Cris was not sure how or where he was finding these raw materials but he was moving from place to place picking them up, was it by luck or something else? Finally, understanding what he needed to do to pass, he was about to ditch this person but Cris wanted to be sure he got everything.

Alright I get it now, is there anything else buddy? C’mon now tell me…huh what’s that?

The purple hoodie figure was nearing the edge of the forest. At the top of one of the trees look like shadowy silhouette of a person standing up and jumping through the trees. The figure was holding something in their right hand. Focusing a little bit on the figure a health bar popped up near saying the same unknown thing as the purple hoodie character. Cris could barely make it out but it look like a shape of a hatchet. The shadowy figure landed near the tree where his target would pass by and crouched down. Before he could blink the shadowy figure jump down landing on top of the purple hoodie character. They both made contact, resulting in them tumbling around, wrestling for control.

Cris remained hidden watching as all of this unfolded, a part of him wanted to join but he had no weapon and the distance was too far. All he could do now was watch and maybe wait for an opportunity to strike. The person with the hatchet overpower purple hoodie by getting the upper hand. Raising the hatchet to deliver the killing blow, the purple hoodie reached out and grab onto something and impaled the hatchet guy on the side of his neck. Blood squirted out covering the purple and changing it to slightly red. The HP bar of the hatchet user drop down to zero as a red cross went over his body while he fell over to the side. The other one remaining took his time getting up while taking the liberty to loot the body.

Grabbing the hatchet the purple hoodie hack away at the person face for the next few seconds. Blood spurted out causing the hoodie changing the color to more red than purple. Cris gulped and decided now was the best time to leave.

Best not risk anything now.

After witnessing the gruesome slaughter of another applicant Cris retreated back to where he spawn. Using what he learned he knew that there was stuff around him all he had to do was find it. He stood there expecting something to happen but nothing did.

Waiting for a few minutes for something, he gave and decided to do this the manual way of looking around. Sticks, rocks and vines all of these items were littering the ground with a status screen saying [Raw Material].

Following the endless trail of materials Cris did not pay attention to where he was going. He was in gathering mode where he was oblivious to everything around him. Collecting each material gave a small little satisfaction as he was one small step closer to passing. Being focused on what was on the ground he did not notice the sole tree in front of him causing to collide head first into it. He let out a silent cry of pain as he looked up at the tree and his flashing HP bar.

Owwwwwww. I lost some HP for that?!

The impact generated a large thud causing Cris hugged his head in pain and notice a huge tree in front of him. Slowly looking up he notice that the tree was hurt as well. The tree status was showing [9/10 HP] and in front of was a chunk of wood which read with the raw material label. The collision gave Cris an idea.

This can be my money tree.

However, he did not want to bash his head into the tree. Cris open up his panel and looked at his inventory. He saw that he had thirty-nine points and roughly 2 hours has passed since the test started. He collected a lot of raw materials and thought maybe he could make something to cut the tree. He dump all of his material on the ground and looked at it. He needed something that could cut the tree or hurt it. The memory of the hatchet hacking away at the person face came to mind.

Maybe he could make something similar to the hatchet. Cris closed his eyes and try to remember how it looked passed all the blood. He was now deep in thought as he tried to remember every aspect and detail of the hatchet. After a few minutes he open his eyes wanting to try to make one and found what looked like a hatchet in his hands.

Cris freaked out discarding the hatchet and quickly backing up away from it. He turn and looked around to see if there was anyone around him, he was alone. Taking a better look at it a screen popped up.

[Basic Hatchet: Crafted Item: Level 1: Damage 5-7: Duration 100/100: Description: A basic tool with multiple uses. Crafted by Cris Philips]

How the… did I do that?

Cris stare at the hatchet for a few seconds, this was the first time he saw the plain text so detailed. Was this because of the test, did it give him information to craft things by thought? Letting it go for now, he decided he does not have time to waste he needs to get going. Picking it up the hatchet he started swinging at the tree each hit created a loud thud noise. He learn that three hits equal to one HP and one point but also took away one duration point for each swing. Doing this for twenty-seven times he managed to cut down the tree and it disappeared in thin air.

Picking up all the chunks of wood and his stuff that came out, Cris collapsed on to the ground. He was panting heaving and now was staring at the cloudy sky.

Who…knew…cutting a tree took so much work. Why am I so tired? Didn’t think you could get tired in here.

As Cris caught his breath, he open up his panel looking for something that he might have missed. Under one the options he found the crafting tab. He click on it and dozens of screens were popping up. The sudden burst of information caused his brain to overload for a moment as it was flooded with information, causing him to fall back from the excess of recipes of what he could craft. When the screens stop appearing he slowly lifted his hand and started to browse through them.

Are they for real? I can make a tank, jet, skyscraper… skyscraper? O yeah, I should make a base, or a tank if I can.

Quickly narrowing down the recipes, he found one for a basic 4x4 shack. Quickly looking at the materials and what he had in his inventory. Cris did not have enough for the shack or the tank so he limited his search down to what he had. After searching for a few minutes, Cris barely had enough to craft what was similar to a shack called [Panic Shelter].

Let us try this out. Ok and go.

Pressing the button to queue up his crafting orders his body started to move on its own. At first Cris was startled of how some invisible force was controlling his body. He resisted at first which felt like two magnets repealing each other. After taking a second to prepare himself he let the invisible hand guide him with his crafting.

Unlike the other games Cris played where crafting was more realistic this felt very simple. A screen was in front of him with a timer while his hands were moving on their own. When the timer stop he got an item and it reset to the next order in the queue. This went on for an hour until everything was made.

The next step was deciding where to build. The set up part was almost the exact same in the other games. Place the objects where you want green meant ok and red was cannot build there. Cris picked a spot to lay the foundation and his body moved accordingly. Summoning a wooden slab out of thin air from his panel, he lay down the foundation. He did the same for the walls and the roof and before Cris knew his base was done. He took a few steps back to admire what he had built.

Not bad, sometimes I even impress myself, can definitely use this. Now let’s check the inside…huh? This can’t be right?

Cris quickly circle his base multiple times as if something was off or missing.

No… no no no, it has to be here. Where is the freaking DOOOOOOOOOR!

He was now running laps around it to see if he could have missed. He even took out his hatchet and hit a wall trying to get in. However, the HP on the wall was a hundred and three swings was equal to one HP.

Not ready to give up Cris open his panel to look for an answer. He found the recipe he was using panic room it a small note on the side, [One way in and no way out].

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS? IT’S A WOODEN BOX.

Taking a few moment to calm down on how much he screwed up. He was staring aimlessly at the wooden box and his panel. He was trying to decide what his next move would be and what should he do with the box.

Over 4 hours spent. 67 points total. No resources left. Area is picked clean. Wooden Box. Can’t get inside.

All these thoughts were going over and over in his head. Then he clutch his head a let out a soundless scream and then turned around and was going in some random direction.

Meh, whatever got some points, I am almost half way there. Can’t sit around and do nothing. Gotta stay focused. Eyes on the prize.