CHAPTER II: WELCOME TO NEW REALITY

 

 

 

Having looked around, I made sure I’m in relative safety in here. The next thing I did was check how my new body “works”. After the warm-up exercise, I was feeling excited. There’s no pain anymore, nothing hurts, and my new body obeys my orders perfectly. Of course, I’m a little awkward now but that can be explained since I still have to get used to my new body. A little time will pass and I fully adapt to this new body. Then, I think, everything will be perfect with movement, muscles and so forth and so on. Okay, this has been sorted out and now – let’s check out the surrounding world and whether I possess all the six senses in this virtual world and I wonder whether they can be distinguished from the real ones. I have to check it since I haven’t tasted anything eatable so far here and tactile sensations haven’t been experienced either. But this is a matter of time. It’s necessary to be consistent so as not to screw up, for I have to live in this body for quite a while. But if I fail, then there will be problems with further progress.

 

- CHARACTER STATUS

 

There’s no response from the system. I do not understand, but how can I view my information? Damn, okay, but what if we try this way:

 

- PROFESSIONS ... SKILLS ... INVENTORY ... CHARACTER INFO

 

No matter which request I would send, there was no reply. It resembles reality so much. Well, it remains only to look around - and I carefully started to do so. I had a light silver-coloured T-shirt with long sleeves on, pants of the same colour and some moccasins, or I would call them slippers with a thin sole of the same silvery colour. Pockets or bags were not found, as well as other devices for storing and carrying things. I started thinking about three possible solutions: firstly, I can be a dumbass, lagging behind and being not in the know of some elementary things; secondly: the starter kit should be somewhere near the place where I appeared, and thirdly: I will be given a starter kit later.

 

All three options looked plausible. I cannot check the extent of my being dumb right at the moment, but other parameters are subject to detailed verification. After inspecting the room one more time, but more carefully, I still could not find anything. I even walked along the walls and touched all the suspicious tiles, but this, unfortunately, did not work out as well. Finally, I checked even the capsule, but nothing was found: only the automatic cover and the bed of very soft material.

 

Having spent about twenty minutes checking my body and the room I was in, I finally headed for the door, which occupied almost the entire opposite side of the wall. On the right, there was a display with palm contours being mounted on the door. Now only a dumbass would be puzzled about what to do. I never considered myself too stupid, so I boldly put my right hand up to the display. In response to my action, the door softly opened to the left. The rumble of voices almost deafened me at once.

 

- Damn, hey people, what the f***?

- Let’s see: who is here at the party?

- HELLO?! WHERE CAN I SEE THE F***ING INFO???

- ...

- ...

- ...

- Where can I get quest tasks?

- Folks, what should I do here?

 

 

I could hear others asking many various questions, shouting or suggesting something. Some of them were making up complicated offensive and abusive word constructions and sentences, showing their discontent. All this noise began to irritate me a lot. I was happy with only one thing: if I'm a dumbass or just plain stupid, I’m not the only one here. All this noise was made by crowds of new players running around or standing in the corridor, dressed in the same clothes of the same silver colour, just like me. The corridor was four meters wide, painted the same dirty greenish colour as my room.

 

In contrast to the walls, the floor and the ceiling were of the same uniform material resembling coated concrete. There were dome lamp lights on the ceiling, mounted every three meters, giving soft eye-pleasing light. In the middle of the ceiling, there were small light-emitting diodes, along which a yellow light line was running from right to left. There were the same doors in the corridor, one after another, just like mine.

 

There was a sign with letters and numbers on the left-side jamb of each of those doors. The sign plates had only a few different symbols, apparently the numbers of the rooms. On the right jamb of each door, there was a panel, familiar to me, with the contours of the palm of the hand. Looking at my door, I immediately noticed the number, "B - 3/27". I should remember it.

 

Putting my palm onto the panel, I closed the door to my room just in case and followed those yellow lights-arrows. Those LEDs were similar to an alarm system showing where the exit was. Such lights are usually used at military bases. But these were not multi-coloured LEDs on the walls, which are used at the military bases to show the direction for individual military units to the right place, differing by colour. I walked fifty meters on and then I understood everything.

 

Although the corridor was long, there was a point in the ceiling where lights met from two opposite directions. At this point, there was a small arrow of LEDs pointing at the door, which was no different from all the others, but only the sign on it said, "Lift".

There was a crowd of players waiting for the lift, and they entered it only one by one. When the doors opened, I saw someplace like a tiny room, about two by two meters. When a player entered the lift, you could see an energy barrier line flickering in the doorway.

 

"Why on earth only one at a time?" There's enough space for three or even four people in there," - I asked the player who was standing next to me.

- I haven’t the slightest idea! 

- “Most likely, it’s done to protect players from PCs,” - another player joined in our dialogue. – “Well, whether it’s possible to give someone else permission to come into the lift with you has not been figured out yet.”

- I see. Thanx for help.

- No problem.

 

After about three minutes, it was my turn to go into the lift. Inside, there was only the panel with digits showing floors with touch-sensitive buttons in two columns, and you could scroll up and down the list of the floors. The right column was inactive grey colour and marked "Hangar", the left column was numbered and active. At the very bottom, next to number one, was the sign "Hall." I realised I have nothing to do on the other floors, so I chose the “Hall” button.  The lift, a little twitching in the horizontal plane, went down.

         

It was a slightly different feeling in the hall. Directly in front of the lift, there was a wide glazed door, about twenty or twenty-five meters wide. There were several lines of players. In the middle of the exit, there stood a man in uniform and from time to time yelled at players:

 

- Before leaving the replication centre, I strongly recommend you consult with specialists of our centre. The green light above the door shows that the specialist is ready to see you.

 

 

Some of the players, who had already run to the exit, stopped abruptly and began to look for specialists. And the smartest was already running along the corridor to the right and left, looking for the doors that were highlighted with green colour. I went along one of the corridors, and at the same time noticed that there was not just one lift on the first floor, but around 15. Probably, each lift leads only to some floors. Although if you remember that my lift first moved horizontally, then, most likely, it is simply moved into an unoccupied, empty lift shaft, allowing the use of elevators much more effectively than if it was in the past – each lift moves in its shaft up and down.

 

Honestly, I cannot understand why you should rush along the corridors, as if you are an active-duty soldier in his first year, being taught by an experienced sergeant. In about twenty minutes, during which I tried to find a free consultant, I was nearly knocked off hundreds of times, being called "a noob", "a high school kid", "a player of low skill", and something like that. After my long wandering, I was finally lucky, right next to me the door opened and one of the players quickly left the room.

 

“Scram! You noobie!!!" - He shouted at me, pushing me aside, and rushed off in the direction of the exit.

"Well, well ... the sun will shine into our yard too," - I muttered to myself, going into the room from which this weirdo rushed. Just above the door, a green light was on.

 

I was quite surprised when I came into the room. Unlike the annoying, gloomy colours of the corridors, everything here was in white tones, casting an eye-pleasing blue light. Further away from me, near the wall, a young dark-haired girl with emerald eyes was sitting at the desk. She was wearing a white blouse, and a strict dark brown jacket, with a smile on her face and, looked at me with tiredness in her eyes, in which I could read "I’m fed up with all of you!" Game developers did their best, indeed. She looks like a real human being, though she is obviously a non-player character, or there’s a very good slang word that gamers often use - "NPC".

 

Emotions are seen in her face and eyes, small motor skills on the face, and a slight movement of her eyes from top to bottom and back – all this shows that she examines my physique and appearance very carefully. It’s very interesting! Let's see how the game developers included interactive and emotional components into the game. After all, they promised that it would be impossible to tell apart NPC from real human beings.

 

"Welcome to ..." - she began, but I interrupted her immediately.

- Good afternoon, dear Miss! Sorry, but I'm looking for a replication centre specialist.

"Err ... that’s me, actually ..."

- “It can’t be true!” - I interrupted her again, without giving her any chance to get her thoughts together. - "Such a charming miss spends time consulting us, ordinary people; I cannot believe it.”

- Well ...

- Right! It’s so kind of you to help us, common herd, learn about this world and give us the opportunity to enjoy your beauty...

 

                The girl was embarrassed and her cheeks flushed. This prompted me to realize that, although she was a little confused, the girl obviously enjoyed such words from me. I continued to express my admiration of her, with so many compliments, very carefully choosing words because according to the history of the game, I am in a distant future. And who knows what words or actions, manner of courtship, remained here in use. I was singing like a nightingale for another three minutes. All this time, the girl was flushing red and, smiling, and was probably embarrassed. She lowered her eyes, running fingers through her hair. When my courtship ritual was almost over, she jumped right off the chair.

 

- Oh, I should instruct you and activate the neuro interface!

- Well, really?

"It's very important!" - she came up to me and, grabbing my hand, dragged me to the table, in front of which there was a chair for visitors.

- Sit down, please; now I'll show you everything and tell you all about it!

 

Having sat on the chair, she ran around the table and was looking for something in the top drawer, without even realizing that in this position she exposed the lower half of her body to me. She’s got a knockout butt and her barely-there skirt revealed this to me, her beautiful slender legs and neat shoes on small sharp heels. All this peeping made me feel like a young soldier who beds any girl with a pulse. I was very surprised because I felt something that I had forgotten for a long time and I did not even expect to feel it again.

 

Well, I could say it was not a surprise, I was really shocked. After all, I again began to feel the desire to have sexual relations with all the ensuing consequences, I was horny. And this happens in my old age! Ok, breathe deeply, and exhale, and now, do it again. Phew! Now it’s better. I wanted to check how realistic the NPCs are in here, and in return, I got sexually excited. Although given the level of realism of the reaction, they are not just NPCs, but fully-developed artificial personalities. Well, then you should try to regard them as real people and treat them accordingly. Maybe, it will turn out good for me. While I was pondering, the girl took out some kind of device, reminiscent of a swimming cap with soldered-in microchips.

 

- Here you are! Put it on, please, and relax. Now I’m going to activate the neuro interface for you, and then I'll start instructing you.

 

Taking the small hat in my hand, I began to twist it, trying to figure out where the front and the back are. Smiling, the girl took back the hat and put it on my head, while almost burying her sexy breasts, incidentally, maybe size two, in my face. Damn it, you can’t get away like that. Having put on me her device, she stepped back from me and began to do strange manipulations with her hands in the air.

 

I was dazzled for a little while, but in just a second everything was alright again. Only now a lot of icons and panels appeared in front of my eyes. In the upper left corner, there were multicoloured stripes, in the left lower one, there were weapons available. Meanwhile, in the upper right corner, a small image of the map appeared, and the entire right part in the bottom was occupied by different icons. In the middle, overlapping half of the screen, a message popped up:

 

Congratulations! You completed the first task "Activating the neuro interface ". You activated your neural network from the official representative of the authority, and now you are identified in the government network.

Reward: You can now use the interface

 

               

 

Yes! Now I understand why I could not open the interface. My subconscious mind made me feel worried, and I could not identify the source of my anxiety. I barely started to search for the reasons why when the voice of the gorgeous specialist told me:

 

"Now, it’s ready! The neuro interface has been activated; now we'll proceed to the instructions."

 

She sat down on her chair and went on. "We are now in the building of the Replication Center, on the fifth level of the multi-level Alfaróme city." Taking into account the problems of the past several decades, the government decided to extract from the archives a lot of spare replication prototypes, which are not being used at present. Thus, the aim of the government is to increase the number of people and to plan with the help of these replicate copies to restore the infrastructure of the fifth level. If this project justifies itself, then in the future, in the same way, we will restore the other remaining lower levels. In this connection, it was decided to provide each replicant with a room in which they could be replicated for free for a period of seven days or for ten replicas. All the subsequent replicating procedures are to be paid according to the published tariffs. A thousand credits are also given to each replicant as an initial bonus. Now, you will receive a file in which all the main structures of our forward stronghold are marked. Be careful: the areas highlighted in red on the map are not patrolled by our Security Service; therefore there is a hazard to life in these areas. Phew! It seems to me I told you all the important information.

 

I wonder if she has learned all this by heart, and then she tells it to everyone or if there’s a service note in her neural network and she reads from it? I paid attention to the fact that the girl looked at me with a sad look, I was surprised, because before she was cheerful and chattered quite happily, and then such a dramatic change in her mood.

 

- Excuse me, but what is your name? I’m Vlad ... oh ... VolPer, and you?

- “Oh ...” - she opened her eyes wide and covered her mouth with her hand, - “I did not introduce myself, did I?”

- No.

- Litara, - you can call me Lita for short.

- What a beautiful name! Tell me, Lita, why are you so sad?

- Well, now you, just like all the other replicants, will run away, yelling weird words!

 

We keep on sitting, looking at each other, one second, two, five, ten; I cannot stand the silence and ask her:

 

- Well? Have I already run away or have I not?

- Apparently, not.

- It's strange, because you, Lita, said that I would run away.

- And why?

- What for? - I could barely contain my laughter.

"I do not know," Lita seems to have had a panic attack seeing the "wrong" me.

"Maybe while you're deciding why I should run away, will you answer a couple of my questions?"

- “I will answer them with pleasure!” She smiled at me. "If I know the answer, of course…"

 

 

"Tell me, Lita, what was the activation of this neural network for?"

 

- Well, how can you do without an active neuron network? After all, it fully tracks your body, providing an opportunity to know everything about your health status, what skills you have acquired and much more. Also, it’s necessary for convenience - it renders your actions into numerical values ​​and you can trace the progress of your body. And most importantly, the server processes all your actions, and the government immediately awards bonuses to you for the completion of tasks. Again, without a neural network, you will not receive a level of usefulness to the community, which directly depends on the tasks you performed and the amount of work you did which is useful to the city.

 

- It supposes, I won’t see the level of any creatures or mutants?

- You will see, for sure. In this case, the level of potential danger is displayed.

 

 

- I see, Lita. You mentioned that it is necessary to restore the infrastructure of the fifth level. So, do we need to do some construction work?

 

- Well ... it is possible to do some construction work, but first, you need to clear the territory of the threats - the fifth level became uninhabited about three hundred years ago. During all this time, various mutated creatures and gangster gangs settled in there; in some places, Security Systems are still operating in an aggressive mode. Periodically you can come across droids of different classes with busted settings, "you-stranger", or else you can bump into mutated people who are hiding from the authorities. So, it turns out that in order to begin the reconstruction works you’ll need to clear up the territory, fortify your position there and only then start improving the infrastructure.

 

"…And what about militia groups?"

 

“Unfortunately, they all are involved in stopping the mutant breach," Lita answered, sighing sadly.

- It turns out that we are just “meat shields” to clear up the territory.

- No, you are not! A lot of replication centres have been built on the entire fifth level on purpose. The authorities provided expensive equipment for human replication, and all replication procedures are carried out at the net cost of biological material so that you all shouldn’t worry about your possible death.

- Then, why can’t the government replicate the military officers?

- Unfortunately, the technology of creating a fully-operational replicated copy was lost a very long time, and now we can only make changes to the existing members. Also, replicating several times at a time isn’t allowed by the Server. What’s the reason for that, nobody knows.

- Got it! So, you can earn money now only by killing dangerous creatures?

- Not only. Almost everything that you will get beyond the walls of our outpost, you can hand over to different departments. For example, the bodies of little-studied mutants are gratefully purchased by laboratories in the scientific centre; also engineers gather various tools and instruments there, information about which is partially or completely lost. If you get hold of armour or weapons, you can carry them to the store and sell them. There you are sure to be offered a good price for them. Well, if you’re tight on money, you can pick up all the trash around the perimeter and take it to the administrative building, where they buy it cheaply and send it for processing. So, there are a lot of options to earn money without even having professional skills.

 

- Thank you, Lita, for such detailed information.

- Not at all. I’m doing my job here, although very few people are interested in something more than just basic information.

 

Given that I had a pitifully small amount of information, I did not even know what else to ask about, but you also need to understand the interface. Also, to tell you the truth, I'm very stressed out by this total control of the Server. But here, probably, the game developers revealed a logical idea of the characters being revived. So, I had to say goodbye to Litara, promising to come to her, should I have any questions. Having left the room and walked for about ten meters along the corridor, I stopped and began to study the interface layout. The map displayed a small space around me; perhaps, it is limited to my field of view. By sending a request mentally, the map is maximized, showing everything in fine detail.

 

Almost all of it was covered with the so-called "Fog of War", which is usually used in the gaming industry to hide the part of the map where the player was not before. The only things that were unexpected for me were level and floor switches, although it was logical from the point of view of the gaming world, in which you need to be guided not only in the horizontal but also in the vertical plane. Minimizing the map, I looked at the icons. Here, too, everything was expectable: character status, mailbox, friend list, and system menu. By opening the status of the character menu, I immediately went deep into studying the basic parameters, because some points from time to time give a clue about the possible evolution of the game in the future.

 

Character Status:

Name: VolPer

Current level: 0

Experience: 0/250

Armour (on average): 1

Lives left: 50/50

Hunger: 12/100

Thirst: 17/100

Fatigue: 3/50

Endurable weight: 0.9 / 50

Characteristics:

Strength - 5

Agility - 9

Endurance - 5

Perception - 9

Intelligence - 6

Reasoning power - 1

Luck - 8

Charisma - 5

Skills: --

Professions: --

Personal account: 1,000 credits

               

 

          When I focused on the "Armor" item, I could see a detailed description of all parts of the body. Now everywhere, except for the hands and the head, there was a value of “1”, which apparently was given to me by my starter kit. The rest of the statistics, no matter how hard I tried to open those items, were inactive at this time. The lines in the upper left corner stood for changing parameters, for example, the red line referred to life, the grey one for hunger, the blue one for thirst and the orange one, surely, for fatigue level. Of all the parameters only life was already filled up, the rest of them were in the process.

 

I got very excited about the two parameters: skills and professions. The problem was there were hardly any descriptions of them, as well as empty lines. Why? Although, as I see it, they are most likely to have great importance in the evolution of the character, so it is not for nothing that they were included in the main statistics data. Okay, the information is good, but you need to level up, and oh my, I'm still falling behind the swiftest players. Well, firstly I have to find a store, get some shopping done (if I have enough money) and then I’ll try strength in action.