Surprisingly, despite the grievous wound that had been inflicted upon him, Alan felt fine. He ran his hand against his chest and instead of finding any bandages like he expected, he found the beginning of… muscles? That was surprising. As Alan stepped off the cot he felt soreness spread throughout his body. Did the Game really need to be that lifelike? Whatever.
Alan glanced at his HP bar as he stretched, it was full. He was now level 27.
Hey, Eve, do you know what happened after I passed out?
Kitana bandaged you up and brought you back to base, where Daisy healed you completely.
So, you were still active even though I was unconscious?
Yes, as long as you are alive I should retain awareness.
Interesting.
These messages appeared while you were unconscious.
A slew of messages appeared before Alan:
x2 Level up!
As you have been knocked unconscious, your loot has been transferred to the Administrator in Underground Bunker 11. Contact them to receive your items.
Congratulations for surviving the first round of the Survival Test!
x3 Bonus for all members of your group surviving and helping to defeat the boss!
+7500 XP +3000 credits
x5 Level up!
The next round begins in 24 hours, prepare as best you can! Explore! Fight! Build! Plot! Experiment! (Rank: ???)
Nearby settlement found! Investigate the City of San Francisco at your own risk. (Rank: G – C)
Enemies abound. Numerous sightings of various races and factions in the vicinity of Underground Bunker 11. Scout out possible enemies and discover what it is they want. Defend your base against scavengers. (Rank: F)
Huh, so I guess these last three messages are quests of some sort?
Affirmative.
All right, well, I guess I should go spend my ability points.
Alan walked over to the Administrator in the corner of the bunker. It handed over another vial of blood, apparently the only loot from the boss, which was rather disappointing. The Administrator brought up the ability point purchase menu when asked.
Alan had 78 points to spend, the additional 3 coming from his Skilled ability. He was fairly certain he wanted to get the Gifted ability as well, as it gave him an additional ability point to spend on stats every five levels it was best to get it as early as possible. That left him with 28 points to spend.
Hmm, Eve, any ideas on what might be a good ability to spend the points on?
What is your definition of good?
That was actually a rather pertinent question. Before he began playing it, Alan had thought the Game would be more like a sort of fantasy game, and had decided upon playing some sort of Rogue or Warrior character. Instead it was a sort of military sci-fi shooter, based upon what he’d seen so far. None of the marines he'd seen wielded melee weapons, though Kitana seemed to be doing fine. He had to ask her why her sword had been glowing, though.
Additionally, everything was so lifelike, sometimes to a frightening level. Alan had been genuinely afraid of dying in the last moments before he collapsed. The level of pain was unbelievable as well, the creators of the Game hadn’t mitigated that much at all. If he ended up getting hurt that much every time he went into battle, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to handle it…
That meant he should probably try a ranged character of some sort. A standard assault class might be best, but fighting in the front lines would probably result in Alan getting shot, or worse. So, that left becoming a sniper. That probably made the most sense; with Eve’s abilities to calculate everything, she’d be able to make all the calculations a spotter would ordinarily do. Her ability to recognize nearby enemies would be quite helpful too. Of course, a sniper would only be useful in an open field of battle, and was rather vulnerable in enclosed spaces. Maybe he could get Kitana to teach him more swordplay, or better yet be his bodyguard.
Okay, so I think I want to purchase the sniper ability, do you believe that sort of ability would be useful? Alan asked.
Affirmative. Based upon your low tolerance for pain, such a choice suits us.
Alan rolled his eyes, then purchased the Gifted and Sniper ability for 75 points. Like before, he didn’t feel any different, but once he actually used a sniper rifle he’d probably know how to use it; the sneak ability hadn’t come into effect until he began to try to sneak about. He probably should have made sure that the aliens had sniper rifles, but whatever, too late now. Human weapons seemed fairly effective too, at least at this level.
The last three points were put into improving Alan's perception, at Eve’s request. To his surprise, the range at which Eve could detect things extended a few inches as a result. He’d never bothered with such a stat in most of the games he’d played, instead deciding to invest in more important things like strength or agility or intelligence. It might be useful to have expanded senses as a sniper though, especially with Eve.
Silently, Alan pondered what to do next. He should try to prepare for the next round, which meant spending some of the 3000 credits he’d earned. If Alan recalled correctly though, the exchange rate between credits and dollars was something around $10 for every credit, which meant that he had literally made $30,000 from surviving one round in this Tutorial!
Alan could see why if this was an enhanced Tutorial, Thiago and the others had paid Pharaoh to participate in it. It did bring up the question though of why the ship’s AI had allowed him on, but he supposed that was probably an issue for another time.
Now that Alan was more awake he began feeling hungry. Alan walked back to his cot, opening up his bag and eating a grey block of food as he wandered around the edge of the bunker, examining the tables lined with items. The grey block tasted like mush, but was filling.
Alan noticed he could buy flavoring for 5 credits, but considering that was actually $50 and he was better off spending his credits on things that would improve his combat capability, it seemed a bit extravagant. Alan made sure to step lightly as the others were still asleep.
The cheapest sniper rifle was 2500 credits, which was more than Alan wanted to spend, especially since that didn’t even include ammo costs. Thiago had said the cheapest gun was 300 credits, which, now that Alan was thinking about it, was $3000. These items sold by the Administrators seemed rather overpriced. Alan recalled that there was some sort of trading hub downtown. That also aligned with the quest of investigating San Francisco rather nicely.
Alan grabbed his bag and proceeded to the exit of the bunker. At the foot of the stairs before the exit, he found Thiago, bleary eyed, leaning against a concrete wall. Thiago stood up straight, looking over at Alan. He grinned, clapping Alan on the shoulder.
“Hey, man, nice job with that flying beast, I heard from Kitana you helped her kill it.”
“Oh, um, thanks,” Alan said hesitatingly.
“Look, I know I may have been a bit harsh last time I spoke with you, but I thought you had gotten Kitana killed. I know that you’re unfamiliar with our group, but I was nominated the leader for the expedition, and to lead effectively. To make smart, informed decisions, I need to know what’s going on, and for people to follow directions, you get me?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Okay, so is there anything else you think I should know, like the possibly exploding shield generator? Anything your AI has told you?”
Alan recalled the… abnormalities Eve had detected.
“Actually, it’s probably nothing, but, well, Eve did say something about some of our group members having non-standard human behavior.”