Walking into the apartment Julia was standing there with her hands on her hips looking quite upset with Andrei.
"Where have you been?" Julia bellowed.
"Ok mom" Andrei retorted.
"Seriously you've been holed up in your room for a week, you leave for the first time, then don't come back for hours! We were all worried about you!"
"You were worried!" chimed in Natalie from the couch her and Lauren were sitting on. Lauren was shaking her head in agreement.
"He just lost his best friend, let him grieve, let him do what he wants, we already know mom and dad are too busy to care" Lauren stated to her frazzled sister.
At that moment fire came shooting out all over from Julia's body. One thing about powers is that if you don't know how to control them, they can be dangerous to the individual and those around them. Not wanting to set the apartment on fire Andrei quickly lowered her hands and said "Chill". Which everyone knows never works when telling a woman to chill.
Next thing anyone knew Julia was getting soaked by Lauren spraying her with the faucet from the kitchen sink. The fire alarm had not gone off but it might as well have based on the amount of water Lauren sent at Julia.
"You really have to learn how to control your power Jules." Lauren chimed in happy with her skills to soak her sister before the apartment burned down.
Andrei chuckled at his sister's typical banter and left to go back to Jojo's Dojo. Stepping into the Dojo he noticed that it was empty. One thing that caught his eye was the symbol he saw yesterday was not there on the floor.
"Hello?" exclaimed Andrei to seemingly no one.
Guess I will just have to figure out something else to do to get better. Walking out to the Dojo Andrei wondered just who Jojo was as the one person he had met was Susan. Looking towards the market that he ran into the old man the previous day an advertisement caught his attention.
"Duel: Where you can increase your skills without the worry of dying! Play solo, team up with friends, make new friends as the Federations best selling VR Combat Simulation System"
Ha who would have thought I might actually enjoy something like that now that I have a reason to be a part of it, Andrei stewed in his brain. The game had been out since before Andrei was born and was one of the Galaxy's most complex, advanced, and popular ways for all those into combat.
The Galaxy was full of planets with so many different combat instances needed due to what most just commonly referred to as beasts. Beasts were classified as anything aggressive towards intelligent life, with only a few exceptions to the rule but all of them tend to have something that is helpful to be used in crafting equipment, as well as forms of decoration were commonplace.
What else was incredible was the amount of different forms of intelligent life, most being bi-pedal, there were still plenty of life forms that had multiple legs, arms, heads, etc. The best part of Duel was the fact that you could learn how to deal with all these different types of forms as they had both the classic player vs player, but they also had Beast Mode which could be both ran solo as well as a team of up to five.
Andrei throughout his life was never really into computers, it is what most people found to be strange about his and Sam's relationship as they only ever saw Sam with head down on some sort of computer. So naturally he had no idea how to play this game as he never got into any of it as he would usually read a book sitting next to his friend working on whatever it was he was working on.
[New Quest: Play Duel]
[Reward: Instant Level Up]
Well that decides that for Andrei, he didn't stand long but quickly noticed the gold arrow on the mini-map that was just ahead of him where multiple VR stations were set up. Each station was actually a glass tube about 10 yards in diameter that when no one was in the glass would be transparent. When someone would enter the pod, the glass would seemingly fog up providing privacy to the person inside. Inside was a chair that was angled to allow a person to lay comfortably upright with their entire body being at rest. The neural device attached to the chair would automatically retract when someone was to exit the game or think of their emergency exit word. These were truly state of the art devices that were better suited in a building dedicated to keeping them in top condition versus someone's personal use.
Andrei paid for an hour, which cost 10 GFC, and was told that since it was his first his time would start after he created his avatar. This was Andrei's first chance to not have freckles! Was his only thought at the time. Looking through all the options he decided he wanted to honor the Dojo by selecting a sun shirt and moon pants. There was an option to upload your personal gear but Andrei did not have any as he only just made the decision to get into combat.
"Please create your username that everyone will fear"
Andrei had never given himself a name before, he had only been called names thus far in his life mostly because of his last name. Andrei contemplated for probably what was too long of a time for such a trivial thing he thought. "The Answer" might not strike fear but it was the best he could come up with.
In his view in the top right started a countdown 59:59, so he figured time to get into it. He noticed he was in a room with the word "Lobby" in neon orange while the rest of the room was white. He also saw multiple empty shelves along the walls and when he thought about "Identify" it came up with an unexpected statement.
[Place various beast trophies on this shelf.]
[Place Versus trophies on this shelf]
What is this stuff going to do for me anyways, thought Andrei. He had already used a minute of time and hadn't fought anyone. So he saw the Menu screen on the one wall and selected a player vs player quick match just to see what happens.
"Opponent found! Hurricane41" has been matched with you. Andrei's vision went dark and then suddenly he was teleported into an open field of tall red and purple grass. The grass came to mid level on the avatars. Andrei looked out to see his opponent but he could not move anything other than his head. In the sky a countdown from 30 seconds had been displayed since the two entered and now Andrei noticed that his first opponent wasn't even bi-pedal.
The Manthra were a species of highly intelligent evolved quadrupeds that varied in size but all had a similar skin tone of a golden green. They also had wings which gave them many different combat specific tactics that Andrei had never encountered nor knew existed. The wings would vary in size but what made them the most dangerous was claws on the ends. They also have powerful curled up tails that look harmless.
Andrei also could see his opponent's record which was only 14-22 but that was a lot more matchups than he ever had. He also noticed his opponent had multiple pieces of armour, however no weapon. What Andrei didn't know is that the Manthra's weapons were their four legs and the appearance of armour was actually four intermediate weapons.
So far Andrei, not having any military experience or interest in combat until now had yet to learn about the 5 levels of gear that can be crafted. Standard, Intermediate, Advanced, Epic, and lastly Legendary tier. These 5 levels of gear corresponded with the type of minerals used as well as the what types of beast materials used.
"3,2,1 Fight!" An artificially excited voice shouted into the arena. "Hurricane41" decided to be the aggressor seeing his opponent had zero previous fights, he was hoping to get the first hit in before the new player could get into it. Leaping into the air and using its wings Hurricane41 came in like a torpedo, when he was about 10 yards away from Andrei his wings wrapped around his body and he started spinning giving off a golden green glow. Andrei was more impressed with what he was watching than realizing he was in danger.
[-10 HP]
[3/13 HP]
"Yo! That hurt!" exclaimed Andrei who was also knocked onto his ass. He quickly got to his feet and decided to put all his effort into winning now. "Adrenaline Rush" Andrei thought and closed the distance at an alarming speed to Hurricane41 who never saw the "Hurricane Kick" followed by two "Snap Dragon Kicks" that hit him but he felt the synaptic response and saw the "Game Over" and was standing in his own lobby confused on how he just lost. Hurricane41 walked over to his monitor and watched the replay and upon seeing the slow motion capture he was able to see how he lost in less than two seconds. "What the hell did that guy just do!"
Andrei was standing in his own lobby just as flabbergasted, did he just win in less than two seconds?
[Quest Complete: Rewards granted]
[Level 4 now achieved, +1 stat point allotted +1 HP +5 Spirit.]
Andrei decided to keep with his original thought and put his stat point into Agility totalling 8. He clicked on the monitor again and selected a quick match and found another opponent in a few seconds of waiting. Andrei's vision went black then came to a darker setting than before. The open area wasn't full of grass but was more like they were in a giant dungeon. Looking to the side there was lava and streams shot up behind him giving him the sensation of heat searing his back.
The next opponent appeared who had almost the identical outfit on as Andrei. He thought it was just a coincidence but unlike Hurricane41, Skin2Win laughed outloud and Andrei could hear him. That is when Andrei just said "Hello?" and Skin2Win laughed even louder than before.
"Oh this is a true noob, he didn't even know he could talk to others before the match started. "Please tell me, you guys have this recording?" Skin2Win looked up to what only Andrei could think was someone watching off to his left, but could not see the individual. Andrei knew nothing of the makings of the game and how teammates a lot of times will spectate each other to give pointers on how to fight. While none could interact with the fight nor be seen, the mere acknowledgement of their existence made Andrei a little conscience.
"3,2,1 Fight" As the battle began Skin2Win pulled out a long rapier sword that was hidden behind his back to start. Andrei noticed he hadn't read the players record and then he remembered learning "Skill Sap" which activated. He thought the time was going to slow down but it didn't, he was confused till he saw the message.
[New Ability Tab unlocked]
[New Ability learned: Element Wind]
[Combine Element Wind to all available skills? Y/N]
"YES!" exclaimed Andrei both confirming the question as well as exclaiming to no one in particular. Skin2Win who had only just started to move forward had no idea why the sudden outburst but his taunting only increased.
"Yes? You ok over there? You look like you just came in your pants!" launching to himself since there was no audience that he could hear laughing. Skin2Win moved at a lightning pace which caused Andrei to activate "Adrenaline Rush" which now made Skin2Win appear to be somewhat visible but Andrei saw Skin2Win throw out a punch from 10 yards away.
BANG! An invisible force just smashed into Andrei's chest and left him standing there confused. Time returned to normal and all Andrei could hear was a maniacal laugh from his opponent.
[-5 HP]
[9/14 HP]
Skin2Win was not done, he threw out multiple punches soon after his first one took half of Andrei's HP away however only one slightly connected and registered only taking off one HP.
"Hurrican Kick" Andrei shot off into the air but something different happened, his spin was significantly faster and he completely lost his balance upon landing. The attack was too slow of a lunge for Skin2Win to not move out of the way and with just a simple step back watching his opponent fall to the ground.
"Too easy" as threw out another punch directly for his opponent's head.
[-10 HP]
[0/14 HP]
"Game Over" screen popped up and Andrei was back in his own lobby. Wow apparently I need to figure out a better strategy that just kicks, he pondered as he walked over to the monitor to start up another game. That is when he realized there was number 1 next to his Ability tab. He opened it up and saw the Wind Ability with three options: "Wind Walk" "Wind Slash" and finally "Wind Hammer". All three options did not have a description currently next to it, so he decided to unlock "Wind Hammer".
[New Skill Unlocked: "Wind Hammer LVL 1"]
[Wind Hammer can be used up to 5 yards away from the player. With a wind infused fist, the Wind Hammer has a slight chance to stun opponents.]
[-2 Spirit per use]
Spirit? Well that line from my profile must have meant that, pondered Andrei. He was pumped and getting more and more excited thinking about the possibilities. What was that glitch that said I had a billion Spirit, could I unlock that one day? There were many questions on his mind but he still had another 30 minutes left and decided to take advantage of learning more new combat skills.
The next two battles he was able to use his "Skill Sap" and learned a new ability as well as a new skill.
[New Ability unlocked: Element Water]
Knowing there were new options he opened the tab in the middle of the fight to see what his Water options would be.
"Extinquisher" was the first option, "Ice Nova" was the second option, and "Ice Axe" was the third. Not having a weapon at this point Andrei decided on the "Ice Axe" skill.
[New Skill Unlocked: "Ice Axe LVL 1"]
[Ice Axe can be summoned. Will persist till cancelled or destroyed.]
[Ice Axe reserves 2 Spirit while summoned.]
Thinking about the "Ice Axe" and one appeared in his hands in the lobby. The Axe was solid ice with a sharp edge to it. Andrei slammed it on the floor of the game lobby and the axe shattered into small pieces of ice. Moments later the ice had completely disappeared. Andrei thought of another "Ice Axe" but concentrated on his right hand only when thinking about the axe and it appeared in right hand. He then tried to summon a second one in his left hand and the sound "duh duh" tuned into his head each time he thought "Ice Axe left hand".
[New Skill Unlocked: "Ice Lance" LVL 1"]
["Ice Lance" summons a lance of ice to be thrown at an opponent.]
[-10 Spirit per use]
The skill that he learned from his last encounter for the day was "Ice Lance" as both of his opponents appeared to be Water abilities the first unlocking the Water then unlocking something that wasn't even an option but then appeared in the Water ability tab. In the lobby he thought about the "Ice Lance" and similar to his opponent his had pulled back behind his head and then in a throwing motion ice formed in the shape of a lance that he threw out towards the empty wall. The impact shattered the lance into a million pieces just like the axe and quickly disappeared.
Andrei lost both matches but it seemed like it was more important just to get into a match so he could use his "Skill Sap" to learn new skills and abilities. He also started to realize the one thing he was missing compared to his opponents, and that was armour. Andrei's next stop was to the Armory Store which was only a couple blocks from his current location.
Upon walking in Andrei's eyes went completely bug eyed, mouth to the floor, stood still for five seconds thinking "YO! I am in love!". His excitement quickly went away when he saw the prices for the equipment in front of him. He had been saving knowing he was going to either have to pick between University or Military but even the Intermediate gear was 4x what he currently had.
"Identify" Andrei thought as he examined piece after piece. He started to finally get a good idea of why the tiers of equipment existed. He remembered something from school about the 5 tiers but now he was seeing it first hand. The section he was currently in was the axes, he wanted to see what they were compared to his "Ice Axe". Looking at the different types of axes in terms of their size and shape, he found a group that was similar to his "Ice Axe". They had a couple Intermediate and a couple Standard axes. The Standard axes seemed to only have one property to them which would be a +Strength. The Intermediate had all +Strength but then each had a different second property.
Andrei was thinking there might be a pattern glanced around to find an axe around him that was Advanced and sure enough that had three properties. That is when he saw that there was an "Interact" at the computer kiosk by the front door. Not sure if he should use his abilities in a shop or not, Andrei decided to wait for a bit in hopes there were less people in the store.
Andrei was really more intrigued by the armor and just decided there were so many options on weapons that he should focus on his defense for now. Andrei walked to the Chest armor and browsed the Standard equipment. These pieces varied on what the one property was unlike the axes that all gave a different amount of strength, the Chest armor gave options for all the major properties; Strength, Agility, Stamina, Spirit.
He kept with his earlier theme and also with the money he currently had which was only 500 GFCs he bought himself a 100 GFC Chest Armor that gave him a +2 in agility. He walked over to the Leg Armor and saw that there was an almost matching +2 agility Standard to the Chest armor and it was only 50 GFCs.
The Boot section gave him lots of options and there was a Standard item that was a bit more costly but it was a +2 Agility and had a +1 Wind Skills. These Boots were 200 GFC's and not really sure how much anything else would cost but way too intrigued to find out what the +1 Wind Skills would equal so he splurged on the pair of boots.
Andrei walked to the changing rooms that these types of stores would always have so that the gear could be tried on. The more advanced stores even had combat simulation rooms for you to test the gear before purchasing. This was one of those stores but Andrei knew it also cost money to test the products as the simulation rooms would always be full. He promptly put on the gear that he had been holding awkwardly carrying to the changing room.
That is when a new message popped up upon finishing up the last strap to his chest armor.
[New Skill Unlocked: "Activate Armor" LVL 1]
[Activate Armor allows you to hide or wear instantly. Unlock more sets…conditions not currently met]
[Set Chest Armor to Activate Armor?]
The first profile screen he had ever popped up did so again and this time his body had the chest armor attached to him. He could see the stats on his gear and a new stats appeared, [Defense 10]
[Skill Leveled Up! "Identify" LVL 2]
So doing the action of putting on the armor activated a new level to his skill which gave him the ability to now see the defense of all the equipment around him. He had actually selected good pieces compared to the others even when it came to defense. He chuckled to himself thinking he had a good eye!
Putting on the Leg armor he was asked again if he wanted to set the legs to "Activate Armor". That is when Andrei thought let me check this out "Activate Armor" he thought and his chest piece disappeared and his regular grey shirt and black shorts he usually wore was now showing. "Activate Armor" and instantly his chest and legs were covered.
Lastly the boots he put on and added to his "Activate Armor" he had the Wind Ability tab already open and that is when saw his "Wind Hammer" from before becoming a LVL 2.
Shoulder Armor was the next section that Andrei visited and with only 100 GFCs he was starting to wonder if he was going about this the right way. He had to figure out how to make some money but had never needed a job since he never even used his credits in the first place.
Shoulder Armor gave him all of the options on the properties but thought the agility options did not fit his current look so he decided to change up his thought pattern of just going for agility and made himself as balanced as possible. The Shoulder Armor he selected gave him a +2 Spirit and only cost him 50 GFCs
Moving along the store, Andrei stopped and stared with an almost glazed over look in his eyes, he saw his new target but did not have the money. He decided to make a mental note. What had caught his attention was an arm guard that had a special ability to it, the expansion of a shield. Sam had given him what he only can refer to now as the startup process to what he is experiencing, an experience where he was the God of War and Kratos had something similar and Andrei always thought it was the coolest part of that experience.
Gloves were the last piece of armor that Andrei decided to buy with his last 50 GFC. These also had a +2 the agility and had a similar but not quite similar look to his other agility gear. Without understanding the process to make the gear Andrei had no idea the gear came from different types of beasts with standard minerals to create a piece.
He placed the gloves on his hands and instead of walking to the fitting room he simply added them to his "Activate Armor" and they were then hidden as he had it off recently. Andrei could help but wonder how powerful he might be able to become if this system keeps helping him as much as it has already.
The overview of what he just purchased when it was all added to his "Activate Armor" and now that is his "Identify" showed the Defense that was a new line in his Profile tab.
[Shoulder: Standard Shoulder Armor +2 Spirit +4 Defense]
[Chest: Standard Chest Armor +2 Agility +10 Defense]
[Gloves: Standard Gloves +2 Agility +2 Defense]
[Legs: Standard Leg Armor +2 Agility +5 Defense]
[Boots: +Standard Boot Armor +2 Agility +1 Wind +2 Defense]
Having that thought and now out of money he decided to go over to the previous area he had seen the "Interact". The computer that was there was similar to the one he interacted with previously and wondered if that meant if he saw a computer like this he could always interact with it.
His hand once again instinctively moved to the computer and hovered over it.
[New Ability Tab Unlocked]
[New Ability Unlocked: Galaxy Trade Network]
[Galaxy Trade Network allows for quick and convenient trade across the known Galaxy.]
Opening up the new tab in his interface he saw how complex it all looked and did not want to look like an idiot standing there with his hand hovering over a computer terminal. Deciding he had nothing else to do in the area and now out of credits Andrei headed back to his apartment.
That night Andrei barely slept, in fact he started to get less and less sleep in general as he spent more time exploring the GTN Tab. His first regret was figuring out that if he had done that in the first place he could have gotten his entire set of gear for far cheaper. Andrei did not understand that he was in an affluent area and the marketplace always took advantage of that.
He had not realized it but his 10 day 100 GFC allowance showed up the next day so he decided he was going to spend it much wiser but also felt he had a good base to get him more competitive at Duel.
Andrei had his mind set on making sure that had a daily routine of physical exertion since he was 4 and John had shown him the work out room. Without access to their apartment anymore Andrei had changed it up to whatever he could do within his own apartment. He now added Duel to that list.
Day one was a success in Andrei's eyes even though he only won one of his fights. He had a determined look to get as many matches as possible in and then check out what he learned later. This strategy gave him 10 matches with 9 new abilities and one just gave EXP.
The feeling he had was incredible, he wasn't sure if this was possible for a being to know this many abilities and skills but his determination paid off as "Skill Sap" was easily the best thing he could have ever imagined having.
[New Ability Tab unlocked]
[New Ability learned: Transmorphication]
[New Skill Learned: Adapt LVL 1]
[Adapt allows the user to change their physical appearance.]
[Adapt reserves 3 Spirit while in use]
This sounded like he could maybe use it to escape situations. He thought about "Adapt" skin color and his freckles disappeared. That is when he noticed one was still there and glowing slightly. What could that be? Is his freckle glowing? When he stopped the "Adapt" skill the glowing stopped as well. Also where were the options?
[New Ability learned: Element Lightning]
Checking to see there would be three options Andrei read to himself and struggled with which to pick as he believed he was defeated by all three options. "Storm Bolt" "Shock" and "Shock Armor" were the three options.
[New Skill learned: "Shock Armor" LVL 1]
[Shock Armor encases the user in electricity. Any physical attacks and the opponent is guaranteed to be stunned for 2 seconds. Charges 1/1. 30 minute cooldown]
[New Ability learned: Element Fire]
Once again he was offered three options, all three gave him great pause as none were wrong. "Dragon's Breath" "Fireblast" and finally "Meteor" were staring him in the face and he wanted all three of them there and now. He was getting greedy in all reality. No one could learn what he just learned as quickly as he learned it to anyone's knowledge ever.
[New Skill learned: "Meteor" LVL 1]
[Meteor can be used on any location within 30 yards. 10 yard radius for impact crater, area will stay on fire for 5 seconds]
[-50 Spirit per use]
DOH! Andrei thought, well one day he will be able to see what that skill does.
[New Ability learned: Constitution]
[New Skill learned: Skin Hardening LVL 1]
["Skin Hardening" allows for the user to block and defend themselves. The higher the skill the more dense the skin will become as well as the desired area will react faster.]
[-10 Stamina per use]
Wow another skill Andrei could not use due to not being strong enough. This just added a new resolve to Andrei that if Sam meant what he said, he knew needed to grow everything and quickly. The one thing that Andrei and all of the Galaxy knew was that people with 5 or more powers are considered to be incredibly rare and have a huge target on their backs.
[New Ability tab unlocked: Galaxy Portal Network]
[New Skill learned: "Portal Home"]
["Portal Home" allows the user to travel to their home instantly.]
Andrei checked out the new tab that was just unlocked and the entire Galaxy was in his view. He started to look at it more closely and noticed there was an indicator of a soft blue green light on his homeworld of Hathin.
There were white circles on each of the known safe portal planets that were a part of the GF. Then he noticed that there were yellow circles that seemed to be on the edge of solar systems. Andrei was never into maps but this was starting to intrigue him because there was a yellow circle just outside of his solar system.
Red circles were dotted across the galaxy map and the first one he looked closely at said it was currently off for 210 cycles. The next one he looked at said 1003 cycles, another at 24 cycles. Then there were orange circles that Andrei knew only a little about. These were planets that had portals but did not want to join the GF. Most were friendly with the GF but kept to themselves, only a few of those planets had actual resources valuable enough for the GF to really care.
Lastly there was a black circle that caught Andrei's attention that made him wonder what it meant. "P415 Do Not Enter Ever Under Any Circumstances" He also noticed that there was a cluster of red circles around the black circle and all of them did not have a time that they went off.
He was wondering how this map worked or if it was just for information purposes only. Andrei then thought about using "Portal Home" and he appeared in his bedroom. "YES!" shouted Andrei who startled his three sisters who were in various parts of the apartment.
[New Skilled learned: Portal: Select Destination]
[Portal: Select Destination, use a personal portal to the destination user has selected from the Galaxy Map.]
Woah did I just unlock a skill from doing another skill, Andrei kept thinking to himself how many things am I going to have to keep track of, but first. "Sorry, sorry, I will shut up." Andrei shouted out and plopped onto his bed so that he could go back to focusing on all his new abilities and then had to figure out his next steps.
[New Ability tab unlocked]
[New Ability unlocked: Biotics]
There were three Skill options and all three made sense; "Barrier" "Mirror Image" and "Dominate". Andrei was pretty sure he could figure out what they each meant and based on what he had so far he figured if anything the other Skills eventually would be available and he would find use of them later.
[New Skill learned: "Dominate" LVL 1]
[Dominate will allow the user to dominate the mind of its opponent causing them to be controlled for a large period of time. Multiple uses on the same opponent will have quicker results and can be held longer.]
[-1,000 Spirit - 1,000 Stamina per use]
[New Ability tab unlocked]
[New Ability unlocked: Beast Taming]
[New Skill learned: "Tame Beast" LVL 1]
["Tame Beast" will drain 1 Spirit a second while channeling. The harder the beast the longer the channeling process. Tame a standard beast to be your loyal pet to help you.]
[Tamed Beast Slot 0/1]
Going to have my own pet beast. The possibilities are endless, well for standard beasts, but what if I can level it up to where I can get a Legendary pet, Andrei pondered.
[New Ability unlocked: Element Nature]
This gave three options that seemed to make sense by their name so Andrei quickly decided. "Sledgehammer" "Stone Wall" and "Golem Fist".
[New Skill learned: "Golem Fist" LVL 1]
[Golem Fist encased the users fist with the surrounding environment increasing the damage output significantly.]
[-10 Spirit per use]
[New Ability tab unlocked]
[New Ability unlocked: Presence]
This one threw him for a loop as he had not realized that this was going to be something he could accomplish. Andrei spent the most time trying to decide which one made the most sense to take. He still had never attempted anything and he felt like he was in over his head. "Field General" "Field Tactician" and "Overlord" were the three Skills to choose from.
[New Skill learned: "Overlord" LVL 1]
[Overlord will increase the stamina of the user and those in user's group by 25% for one hour]
[-1,000 Spirit per use]