“All right, thanks," Alan said. "Good luck with the guild.” Alan started to exit the room, then glanced back at Aphrodite, who Thiago was staring daggers at. “By the way, in case you were going to try something like this again, I didn’t notice anything until Eve said something. Even then, I’m still not quite sure how you were affecting me or even if you’ve stopped doing whatever it was you were doing. Players from other races will probably pick up on it right away too, but I’m not sure about most other humans. See ya.”
“Bye,” Aphrodite murmured, looking frighteningly at Thiago, who muttered a goodbye as well. Whatever, it wasn’t Alan’s business.
It isn’t. She’s acting for your benefit as well.
Oh. What was it that you detected, anyway?
Certain emotions and parts of your brain were somehow heightened. I’m not even sure this was the intended result of her ability, nor what ability it was. There are various enchantress or mentalist classes recorded, but as most of their abilities are generally considered illegal, they are seldom revealed.
Huh, interesting. I guess that’s another thing you should teach me about, the common and uncommon classes.
Yes, that is in the 17th lesson of 34,281 currently planned lessons.
Alan groaned inwardly as he headed back to his room. Maybe asking Eve to teach him information that would be helpful was a bad idea… no, it was better if he knew this stuff himself, not just Eve. Still, as the number of lessons showed, there simply wasn’t enough time. There were so many things Alan could be researching, or learning about, new abilities that he could be practicing. Alan wanted to check out the Market and Arcade he'd gained access to, and he’d barely explored the Titan. But Eve thought his time was best spent continuing to study the Game and its inhabitants, so he went to do that. Then, he’d get in a few hours of sleep before they landed on Khersath.
By the way, did you notice I was talking fast?
Compared to the speed at which Thiago was speaking, yes, you were speaking abnormally fast.
So, what, should I try to speak slowly consciously, do you think that would work?
I’m uncertain… due to the amount of speaking and importance of speech, I am now prioritizing this as the number one lesson.
All right, hopefully it won’t take too long.
***
A few hours later, Alan got a reply from Icewolf. He’d tried to talk in a slower way, but after hearing himself speak through Eve’s recorded playbacks, he found he still sounded funny. In the end, Alan had decided that when he was talking Eve would deactivate the time-perception enhancing parts of his augments, but then immediately reactivate them once he was done speaking, or if there was some sort of danger. Alan read Icewolf’s reply... then read it a second time.
Icewolf: Again, congratulations on the completion of the Tutorial, I’m impressed. Remember, if you want answers get to Mars, and go to a nightclub called Red Dust. Ask for me.
Don’t reply to this message or send any further messages. I’m not sure if such things can be used to track your location, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they could.
Two new messages appeared:
Find Icewolf!:
Visit the Red Dust nightclub on Mars to get a clue about Icewolf’s location. He may even be there when you visit.
Reward: Additional information, ???
Time Limit: Around 3 Months
New Update:
Icewolf is your Rogue class mentor. Find him if you wish to delve deeper into the mysteries of the class.
Alan blinked after reading the second message.
Huh, I guess that makes sense, the whole, “closer than you think” clue and all. He’s literally right next to me.
Yes, I put together the pieces after examining his message and decrypting the secret message.
Wait, secret message?
Yes, it was encoded in his message and is as follows: danger. dont leave omnitech building irl. get stronger.
Wait, what?
I assume it means do not leave the Omnitech building in real life, and that you are possibly in danger. There is a 0.0004% chance that it also means—
No, I know that just… why, from what?
I am… unsure. I advise you simply follow his advice, and strive to become stronger.
All right.
Alan proceeded to fall into a fitful sleep, both nervous about new developments but also excited to finally set foot on Khersath, the capital of the humanoid universe. Tomorrow was a new day.
Chapter 13
Alan awoke in darkness, breathing rapidly, jolted awake. His mind felt like it had been jump started, as the events of the previous few days raced through his head in rapid succession.
The Game. The battles. The tests. The warning. The debt. Alan blinked, shaking his head. That was… quite the way to wake up. Feeling fully alert, Alan glanced at the clock on his display. There were still a few hours left until the Titan approached the planet, so after performing a series of morning exercises Eve had planned out to strengthen his body, Alan decided to continue studying.
It was funny, in a way, that he was so excited to learn more about the Game. If Alan had spent half the time, half the effort he was putting into trying to become better at this game, he probably could have become a straight-A student or star athlete. Except, he’d never really felt… the need, the motivation, the desire to do anything much in real life. It all seemed rather pointless. Yet, here he was in a virtual universe, more motivated than ever before. Of course, this virtual space affected the real world a great deal, but there was still this nagging doubt in the back of his mind...
All of this wasn’t real, after all. It might all simply be an elaborate hoax; maybe he went into the capsule and had never actually emerged, his mind simply creating this entire Game. Maybe it was all a lie, something to placate human-kind. Maybe— No, this never ending question of what ifs would get him nowhere. This world, this universe, was very much real, even if it was only a series of 1s and 0s stored somewhere somehow. Alan stood up, turning on the lights in the room, intent on absorbing as much knowledge as he could.
***
A few hours later, Alan was aboard a dropship, headed towards the planet of Khersath. He’d said a brief farewell to Thiago and the rest of the group. Things were still a bit tense, but at least they weren’t outright hostile. Alan didn’t think he’d see too much of Thiago any time soon. Kitana, on the other hand, had agreed to try out for the Black Rose guild along with Alan.
Once the Titan was orbiting Khersath, Pharaoh sent Alan a message, letting Alan know that he was free to take the dropship wherever he wanted to go, and that he’d be in touch. Pharaoh was definitely involved in human politics, somehow. The Titan was an ambassador ship, after all, and Pharaoh was the captain. All these details and conversations seemed to blur in Alan’s mind though; he was now focused on one thing, and one thing only: Khersath.
Alan opened up a screen; it showed the shuttle’s descent, and Alan got his first look at the planet. It was distinctly portioned, each quadrant appearing remarkably different, even from space. Half the planet was muted grey, the color of endless buildings that spanned the planet, a single landmass divided into the living and merchant quadrants. The private quadrant was a familiar green and blue, small to medium continents as well as a smattering of islands. It looked beautiful, like Earth. The military quadrant was hidden, blocked by a massive blue shield of energy. A long queue of specks were lined up outside the quadrant, waiting for clearance to enter.