Okay Eve, I get it. I’m not going to replace you. Moving on, do the shield energy and regeneration imply that I should have a shield of some sort?
Affirmative. The first item that should be purchased next is power armor of some sort. It could increase your chance of surviving an encounter up to tenfold. Almost every player wears power armor which has a built in force field whose energy depletes with each blow it takes. Your earlier supposition about the general uselessness of melee weapons is false, as a melee weapon is capable of dealing much greater damage to shields than most ranged weapons, and the shields greatly help melee weapon users get in range before they are injured.
All right, now what’s with the question marks?
Your resistances and skill proficiencies have been undetermined. At the end of the tutorial a number of your proficiencies and resistances should be calculated by the Administrators, and thus displayed in your ability window.
Um, right, what were the skill proficiencies again?
Alan could almost hear a mental sigh from Eve.
As the Game manual explains, your skill proficiency will range from around two billion to one. Once you improve your skill and it has a proficiency of one, the skill will rank up. As you have most likely noted, some skills are basic skills, which may evolve into intermediate, advanced, and master level skills once various requirements have been met. Other skills may also evolve or combine in various ways. Skill rarity denotes how rare the skill is within the Game, while Skill Rank is simply the rank of the skill. I now also have a much stronger grasp on various skill trees and talent combinations. The first combination I suggest you finish is buying the Talented ability that was unlocked once you purchased Gifted and Skilled.
Abilities and skills are the same thing, right?
Yes. The words are interchangeable in the Game.
Alan’s next thought was interrupted by Daisy, who tapped him on the shoulder. Apparently he’d been talking to Eve for so long it had been noticeable.
“Are you okay?” Daisy asked.
“Yes, I’m fine, just a lot of information to take in.” Alan noticed the cyborg, apparently a level 73 Techno-spy, glance sideways at him.
“Um, let’s grab something to eat and we can talk about it. I mean, who knows where else we can find Earth fast food.”
Actually, a number of Earth chain restaurants have recently opened up on Khersath, serving such galactic delicacies as Big Macs and Ho Hos, Eve sent.
"Sure,” Daisy said.
Alan and Daisy walked over to the food court. Alan decided to splurge a bit, given the 80% discount. It would probably be the last affordable Earth food he’d eat at the very least. He got a fast food feast consisting of a burger, a basket of fries, a slice of pizza, a chocolate milkshake and a glass of Coke. Every bite was delicious, better than most meals Alan had eaten in real life.
A few TVs set up about the trading hub showed Game news. A rumor was circulating that the Legion of Man, the terrorists that had attacked the airbase, were located on Mars. Also some group called the Revenants had been sighted in the Milky Way Galaxy, while the Empire was preparing for war. At this point, Alan could care less about intergalactic politics. It wasn’t like he was going to influence anything anytime soon.
“All right, so you spaced out a bit earlier, what was that about?” Daisy asked while demolishing two double cheeseburgers. Alan had a feeling she only ate so much because this was virtual reality.
“Well, a lot of my interface changed, like I can see a lot more health bars and people’s usernames and classes.”
“Oh, the information you got from that broker included that as well?”
“Yeah, according to my AI there are a bunch of lucrative public events that happen every so often, and the information like levels and classes of the participants are data mined. When users participate in a war such information is made public too. Thus, while the info might not be the most up to date it gives you a pretty good guideline.”
“Interesting, could you transfer me this information as well? I’ll pay you, of course.”
Hmm, actually, could you update everyone’s interface? Alan asked Eve.
I could. However, as a full update would take days, I will only update the interface with the more relevant information, such as the standard HP and damage conversions, as well as levels and classes of people they’re likely to encounter. The information will grow outdated though.
It should still help, so do it.
Everyone in the group received a message asking if it was okay for Eve to update their interface again. Alan let everyone know it was okay, and would probably help them.
A few minutes later, Daisy was glancing about everywhere, turning her head left and right. “Huh, that is quite interesting, and definitely a lot more game-like," she said. "Anyways, we should probably find what we came here for.”
With Eve’s help they quickly found a repair shop that had the part they needed. Ace found them in the store, not saying anything about wherever it was he went. Ace wanted to return immediately to the base, needing to speak with Thiago or something, but Alan still needed to figure out what armor and weapon he’d buy. Ace couldn’t care less what Alan did, but insisted that Daisy return with him. Shrugging, Alan let them head back without him. He was fine by himself, possibly even better off.
He sold off the various items he'd gathered so far, including the DNA the boss dropped. Sure, it may have been able to create a really powerful implant, but such a procedure would take hours, hours he didn’t have while he was undergoing the Tutorial. Once everything he’d gathered had been sold, Alan had a little over 9000 credits, far more money than he’d ever had in his life. More than enough to pay off his student loans.
Alan wandered about the various equipment shops, examining prices. An average set of armor would cost around 2000 credits, while a proper, alien-tech laser or plasma sniper rifle would cost about 2500 credits, including the discount. Except as Alan wandered into a shop named Ancient Armour a particular piece of equipment caught his eye.
It was a sleek, black set of power armor that was much more lightweight than all the other sets of power armor he’d seen. Smooth black cloth interweaved with metal instead of large clunky plates. Alan had no idea what metal it was made out of, but it seemed to absorb the light that touched it, creating a sort of dark aura in the otherwise brightly lit store. It was the type of armor Alan imagined futuristic special forces wore, with tactical holsters and pockets in addition to a small shield generator on the back of the suit. Quite simply put, it was the most badass piece of equipment Alan had seen since he began playing the Game.
Trying to appear nonchalant, Alan walked over to the shopkeeper, a balding middle-aged man that looked more like a high school teacher than an armor salesman.
“So, that power armor, it looks pretty nice, does it have any special abilities?” Alan asked.
“Ah, young sir, you have quite the eye. That is a set of Revenant recon armor, capable of turning the user invisible to almost all forms of detection.”
Revenants?
A group that worships the technology left behind by an ancient race said to have lived long before even the Predecessors and Lords of Life. They are considered hostile by most factions in the Game.
Huh, interesting.
“Ah. Isn’t there, well, a certain negative stigma that is attached to the armor then?”
"Well, if you’re going to be like that, I certainly won’t sell it to you,” the shopkeeper harrumphed.