For those of you who have been reading this fanfiction, I have updated the first three chapters. The first one (Prologue 0.0) has gone through some more major revisions, although the basics are the same; mostly the tone has shifted a good bit. The second and third chapter (The Tutorial 1.01 and The Tutorial 1.02) have much more subtle changes and there is a good chance that anyone reading will not even notice what I fixed. I hope you enjoy it!
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"Thanks for getting your pen, Daisy." I said, smiling internally at the scowl on Thiago's face. "DeLong left earlier with MadMerlin, so can you write him a note for when he gets back? Tell him that I took care of the thing between us and that we are even now, and sign my name."
She did but spoke up while writing. "Why don't you just message him?"
"I've learned that some people can listen in on messages unless you take certain precautions, which either take special equipment or credits. This should get the info back to him in plenty of time, so it will be fine."
She nodded and pushed the note forward on the table with a "uh-hu" sound.
"Are you and Ace ready to go? Last I heard he was almost done moving and re-burying the landmines."
"He said to start when we get a chance, but to keep the camp in sight. He will catch up with us in five minutes." She grabbed her purse and started out the door. I moved to follow her but stopped when Thiago grabbed my arm.
"I don't know what sort of game you are playing, but know that I'm watching you." He said in a clearly audible whisper. "I know IceWolf too well to believe any of this is as straightforward as it seems." He let go of my arm and straightened out his suit in all its gleaming white. I knew he was wearing some powered defensive getup under it, but it was designed to be completely impossible to see before it took a hit.
I glanced down at my arm then back up at him. "Look, don't blame me for anything he has done. I'm my own person. Besides, I thought you were friends or allies or something."
His eyes narrowed then he added a predatory smile. "Trust needs to be earned and some people are just too smart for their own good. Prove me wrong, boy, and then we'll talk."
I looked at him again but really didn't have anything more to say. So instead I just turned and walked away. The morning outside seemed far too warm for the fall season but that could have just been because of the humidity. Ahead I could see Ace making his way toward Daisy and I rushed to catch up.
The walk was mostly uneventful and a couple of us tried to make small talk as we went. It turned out that Ace was capable of keeping up a conversation so long as you never asked him questions about himself. He would answer most things, but the answers would be curt and there was a distinct lack of willingness to continue with what he had said. As soon as we started talking about someone or something else, however, he changed completely. The man never really became a chatterbox, but he did interact enough to not be rude and to keep things continuing.
Daisy, on the other hand, was a complete opposite. She would be part of a normal conversation one moment and then something would catch her interest and she would go off onto an explanation that would fill the air for minutes at a time. Honestly, though, I think she was mainly doing it out of an attempt to let off stress. One of us would bring up something about fights, or weapons, or winning a competition, or really almost any sort of struggle against the odds; and then suddenly she would glance down at our weapons before going off about nearly any sort of thing she could.
Despite all this, I did learn more about both of them. Ace had grown up as the youngest child in a family that had seen better times. He had first tried to keep up with his siblings and then live up to their level, despite the age difference; but eventually he decided to overtake them however he could. In many ways he seemed to have gotten a case of the "little man syndrome" where some smaller than average kids try to prove themselves excessively, or at least that was the picture of it that I got. "Life" was the only answer he would give for how he went from that to the completely unflappable person who stood before us.
Daisy, on the other hand, grew up in the lap of luxury but I got the feeling that her parents were always somewhat distant with somewhat unbearable expectations that they termed as "results befitting your background". Most of her friends were either people in similar study programs or kids with similarly demanding parents, so it hadn't been till college that she really let loose. And by "let loose" she seemed to mean wearing strappy sandals and something other than a business suit. She could keep up with my movie knowledge pretty well, but she joked that it was only because her parents had made her watch movies as a study in "popular culture". Despite all this she had enjoyed her life and, from the way she spoke, setting herself to a task really helped keep her life centered.
I contributed where I could, but there wasn't really much to say. My parents were good people who loved me but never had any strong convictions or expectations. Most of my life had been driven by boredom or by finding cleaver ways to avoid or drive away things that annoyed me. I briefly mentioned Evaline, my one and only girlfriend, but only because she had convinced me to really apply myself to gaming. From there talking was easy and I brought up a number of amusing stories about my adventures in gaming. Ace rolled his eyes at one story commenting, "but what did you really do, not on a screen," but still managed a smile at the story of how I won a game for my team by spending so much time singlehandedly trolling the enemy that they failed to develop any defenses for my teammates. Those guys were jerks, though, and had literally told me to do my worst. I had finished the game with a 0/6 Kill/death ratio and a level of infamy that propelled my professional career into the big leagues.
By the time we arrived at the Metron outpost everyone seemed to be in a good mood, though all outward signs of it disappeared from Ace's face the moment we saw another person. Daisy had calmed down a bit and went off on far fewer mini-rants but glanced around at the many people in their many high-tech outfits as though it was a museum for which she would have a test. Even so, even Ace couldn't hide the slight spring in his step as they headed off in a separate direction. I had briefly entertained the idea of trying to track down MadMerlin and DeLong but chose instead to follow up with the Thought Emporium people. After all, they still owed me something for the information I had given them and, as information brokers, I might be able to get some real answers. Besides, the settlement wasn't exactly bursting the seams with people. It seemed to be the sort of place where people got what they wanted and then got out. Or maybe I just came at a slow time of day, I really had no way to tell.
The place itself seemed to cover a huge area of land but almost everything seemed to be on the ground level. Vendors were pointing to screens and holo-images advertising their wares rather than showing off the items themselves and only half of the buildings were permanent. When I asked Eve where they kept all the items themselves she told me "on a different level" but went silent when I asked if she meant underground or somewhere else. The other thing I did was to look at all the items for sale; their stats, costs, and ranking/rarity level. I quickly let Eve connect to every shop she could in order to collect and parse the data of everything they were selling. It took about half an hour before she had enough data to give me rough numbers about what was a bad deal, what was good equipment for the price and rarity, and what was just good equipment overall.
More than most anything else the ranking seemed to be one of the most important stats for just about everything as it determined what equipment was kept, lost, or damaged on death. The basics were that the ranks started at E and went all the way up to S. E ranked stuff was treated as junk and were cheep, but seemed otherwise the same as rank D stuff. I had no idea what the difference was between D and E, but my civilian clothes fell into the lowest category. D was treated as minimum passable quality and also had the advantage of being repaired when you died, which was very useful. C, which was the level of my new weapons and was far more powerful than the earlier rank, kept any damage on death; though I was assured that certain conditions, such as death in the tutorial, negated the damage. This became a very important level, and sometimes cost more than some B ranked equipment, because this was the highest level where you would still be able to keep the items on death. Death item loss, I was told, affected even those in the Tutorial.
B ranked equipment was where things really got interesting. It was the highest level of things that could be mass produced, if the description could be trusted, but still showed very significant improvements over the C ranked stuff. The cost of the better B ranked stuff, though, reached the astronomical. And by that I meant that it made my Ten Million dollar debt look like afternoon spending money. Using the simple 10:1 conversion for outside money to game credits meant that some things cost upwards of a hundred million dollars. There was no A ranked equipment for sale, and I was told that there pretty much never would be in this type of bazar. A ranked equipment was specifically created and absolutely unique; it was also powerful enough that entire planetary systems sometimes moved on the rumor of some good A ranked equipment, though that last part may have just been the words of an overzealous sales-man (sales-woman? sales-squid?). S ranked equipment was only rumored to exist, though they were good rumors, but it was believed to work under different rules from other equipment, such as not being dropped on death despite its strength.
With that information gathered I grabbed a couple of useful knickknacks including a water bottle that filled from the air, an auto-grooming kit, a collapsible sleeping bag that folded into a wad the size of my fist, and a motion-censor alarm so that I could sleep with less worry. Despite the high tech nature of it all, everything I bought cost less than a hundred credits. That left me with about 9,000 credits to spend on information, power armor and maybe a gun larger than a pistol. The Thought Emporium would have to be my first stop.
Connecting to the establishment's computer was, by far, easier than finding the building itself. People went there because they wanted to be there, and not because they just stumbled on the place. When I walked in the place was fairly underwhelming. One medium sized room with a few holographic advertisements and a single man who's only distinguishing feature was a growing bald-spot and odd looking bifocals. Eve caught my interest and determined that they weren't used for eyesight correction. The elder looking guy just stood there to the side and watched me without a word.
"Hey," I said in my most eloquent tone. "I'm AdamPWNZ, I was told to come here for store credit."
He raised a single eyebrow. "And how do I know you are who you say you are?"
"Do you recognize this?" I asked as I pulled out my sword from its place on my pack.
A smile came to his eyes with a sudden flash of recognition and the man looked noticeably calmer. "Well I'll be. I had thought that too much of a tall tale to be true. A newbie like you probably wants an info package, right?"
"I do. And I heard that you have some advanced packages that might be nice."
"We do, I could use your credit to give you a delux package. This includes all the information from the basic package, knowledge brought together from publically available sources in an easy to parse format, but also includes less available information on notable and infamous individuals. Those would be the people you need to recognize or avoid." He gave me the 'merchant's eye', looking me over with a sidelong glance to see my reaction to his pitch.
"Actually I was looking for more on abilities, classes, and other such things, primarily. The basic package along with that shouldn't be too expensive."
"Well now, that's a bit more expensive for anything other than the basic information, but if you are asking this now I assume you've already talked with the tin man for the simple stuff." He reached up and rubbed the back of his head as he spoke, just below his massive bald spot. "I can make that trade instead if you like."
It wasn't great but it would get me the info that I absolutely needed. "Sure, if that is all I can afford."
A pop up appeared. Trade Store Credit for the Thought Emperium: Basic Info Package and Advanced Ability Listings? Agree/Disagree
I had been expecting another two part deal again, since my 'tutorial bonus' would multiply any credits I touched by five. The fact that a businessman like him would ignore that bonus was beyond suspicious. Really, I could only think of one reason he would do that; only one way that he would come out ahead by making the trade straight rather than going back and forth. "Exactly how much credit do I have?" I asked.
He mumbled something unfriendly under his breath but finally answered. "About seventy thousand."
It took a moment for me to process what he had said and then only half that time to realize what it meant. If my cut was seventy thousand, after the cost of the weapons, that would mean the Thought Emporium expected to make between one and two million credits, or between ten and twenty million dollars, from it. Unless there was a big name player who somehow cared, the only way it would be worth that much is if they sold it to the government. And I can't think of a government anywhere that wouldn't take issue with their ally 'accidentally' destroying some of their facilities.
And here I was thinking that being able to trade that information was a good thing. "Well," I spoke out loud, "at least I made sure that my name wasn't connected with the information."
"Don't worry. We protect our informants. Any good broker does or they stop getting information very quickly." He assured me with one of the least assuring smiles I have ever seen. "When the issue of source came up we just said it was an eyewitness from among the new players. Apparently they overreacted because of some others irregularities and have decided to go on a major witch hunt for god only knows what among the new players. Things went wrong in a major way and they are looking for someone to blame. They said something about players or a player going missing?" He looked over at me appraisingly, "you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "If I had a way to know something like that, would I have any need to deal with you?" Hopefully he would buy my bluff.
"Right." He conceded, not pushing things. "I assume that it was your AI that looked at our prices, so I'm sure that you have some idea by now of what you would like to get with your credit."
"Actually," I said, nodding toward one of the displays around the room, "I'd like to spend some of that credit on some armor." The actual armor I was looking at was an unassuming black on grey with powerful but understated lines and a full facemask. More importantly, it had the ability to go invisible and silent while still having recommended and minimum use requirements that I could handle. It was apparently listed as 'salvaged' technology from a hated faction that worshiped a long-gone civilization. The faction had managed to remain independent, despite their somewhat central position within the galaxy, in part due to their unusual technology.
He glanced at where I had indicated. "Basic Revenant Scout Armor. A good choice, especially if you don't have the skills or the money to use some of the other types. It is also has some unique properties that would be hard to find somewhere else. I'm even running a bit of a discount on it. I'm sure I can work something out with you. Unfortunately that is technically a different shop from the Thought Emporium so the credit won't transfer."
"Why can't I cash out the credit to buy something else from you?"
"Rules of the original contract," he said in an unconvincing but uncompromising manner. "All I can do is follow them."
I made a noise of acknowledgement but spoke to Eve instead. You know what I need so figure out a good combination of packages to buy. Send me a list when you have figured it out.
There was half a moment's delay and I had a list in front of me. Wow, she is fast. It included the Delux Info Package, Advanced Ability Listings, an Advanced Maps Set, Advanced Equipment Listings, and basic version of the Hardware and Vehicle listings. It even included a few years of updates. Considering that the basic package that most people bought cost 100 credits, this was excessive to an extreme degree, but it wasn't as though I could spend it anywhere else. After glancing it over I sent it to the Thought Emporium's computer and, after the extra transaction of store credits to galactic credit and galactic credit to buy, I was informed that the information was being transferred.
Can you give me anything to get started? I asked Eve.
She took a few seconds to respond. The data is quite comprehensive and will need to be categorized before I can efficiently utilize it. The volume itself is such that I need to use offline storage to properly access it. Great, so my AI was going to be busy for a while fiddling with her new data.
Have fun with your new toy, but don't disappear completely if I need something.
Affirmative.
"Is everything to your approval?" The shopkeeper, who's name I had forgotten get, asked.
"Yeah. It's just a lot of information."
"You get what you pay for!" he said in a positively jolly tone. "Now how can I get you into that suit of armor you were looking at?"
I glanced at it again, having Eve pull up the listed abilities with half a thought. "It is a very nice item, but I don't quite have the credits to cover it and I still need to get a long-range weapon, if possible." He gave me a look, and I was reminded of the stereotypical shopkeeper in every game ever. You know, the miserly dealer who's only two vices were greed and spitting rage against anyone who was seen as a threat to his greed. I wonder, how much were video games true to real life, or whatever this was, anyway? "Actually, I was wondering if you would like to make a deal. I've got 9,000 credits to spend and I was thinking you might have some sort of quiet job for me to do that would cover the rest?"
This couldn't work, it just couldn't. Real life is not some RPG where every townsfolk has some task for you to do. At least, that is what I kept telling myself. And then the man turned my entire world on the side with a single tight-lipped smile. "Actually, I do believe that something can be arranged. It would be a bit light on the 'law and order', but that wouldn't be a problem for you?" Then he actually brought his hands together, fingertip to fingertip, like he was some sort of Bond villain.
I reflexively rolled my eyes and answered. "I'm wanting to buy a suit of armor that makes me invisible, built by one of the most hated factions in the galaxy. 'Law and order' are not major concerns, so long as you don't try to stick them on me."
He looked me over again. "Go to a place called the Iron Wall and make them hurt. Deal them 5,000 credits of damage and the armor is yours, along with the transfer of those credits of yours, of course. Hurt them a bit more and I'll see about getting you a weapon, equil value to the extra damage you do. To give you some help I'll even transfer you a schematic of their building, including the location of the reactor that keeps it running. Good luck."
An agreement has been proposed between ShopDealer4271 and AdamPWNZ: Adam PWNZ will deal 5,000 credits of damage to the business known as the Iron Wall, and in return ShopDealer4271 will pay him 5,000 credits, which will then be added to AdamPWNZ 9,000 credits to buy Basic Revenant Scout Armor. Any extra damage done will result in an equal transfer of funds to be used to buy a suitable weapon. Agree/Disagree
My first thought was to wonder at how he would be transferring me 5,000 credits to cover the cost I didn't have, not 1,000 with the Tutorial multiplier. After the multiplier he would be making 20,000 credits above the asking price, which was basically multiplying his investment by five and getting me to do some illegal work for him. Damn, that was a lucrative investment. Actually, if all the shopkeepers had figured out the same loophole, than it explained how this place could be so empty but still have so many shops. I'm sure there was some sort of rule that would prevent outright abuse, but the possibilities were still a bit crazy. With that thought done I selected 'agree' and was notified that I had received the Iron Wall building schematic.
"I'll see you back again soon." He said with a low nod that caught the light on his bald spot.
"Can I take the armor?" I asked, not really expecting much.
"You get it when you pay for it." He answered with a dismissive huff.
I nodded and left.
The walk was uneventful other than that Eve managed to find the player information among everything she had been sent. Suddenly every person had a label above their head and many had a level and classes listed as well. There were a few with an odd symbol near their name and when I focused on them Eve sent me even more information. I tried looking at some people without that symbol and, while I got more information, it wasn't near as much or as useful. Eve wasn't very talkative, though, and was more focused on going through all the new information.
The Iron Wall was not iron at all, it was concrete, but at least it was a solidly permanent building. I circled it once, and saw what was the generator (it looked a lot like one of those square AC units), but Eve pointed out a number of security systems and a shield that meant trying to go after the obvious weak point would pretty certainly fail. With no other obvious ideas I decided to try going inside.
The interior was a lot nicer than the Thought Emporium's tech on concrete motif; it had actual carpet and a drywall interior. Other than that it could have been the same place with a few different labels. The only meaningful difference was that, instead of having an incredibly nondescript salesman, this one had a vaguely humanoid robot. Honestly, it reminded me of Jonny Five from that old movie except that it had a head that just barely missed the uncanny valley by mere inches. Why would you even give a robot a nose in the first place? Aliens are weird.
"And make sure it has an extra helping of freedom," the one and only patron said to the robot as I came in. The man's name was listed as 'Iron Eagle' and a level of 103, but he had no other useful information. That level was pretty low for someone in the actual game, so I figured he must be little more than a courier. Mr. Eagle checked the contents of the box in an extremely suspicious display before shuffling quickly out the door. My first thought for him was either 'spy' or 'gangster', but he didn't fit either of the stereotypes, so I just settled on 'incompetent with a job' and decided go on with my life.
"Hello, sir. How may I help you?" the robot asked neutrally.
"This place seems pretty barren, where is everything you are selling?"
"We keep it in a secondary dimension until it is called forth." It answered. "This allows quick delivery with virtually no risk of theft or damage before sale."
Damn, there goes that plan. "What about those displays, are they worth anything?"
"The displays are not usually for sale, but an arrangement could be made for enough credits to cover their replacement and a small convenience fee."
"And how much would that cost?"
"130 credits per unit, a fair price when you consider that you could be taking them home today." I wasn't sure if the neutrality was bad or good. It didn't really get me excited to buy anything, but it also left me feeling too apathetic to be very upset about the loss of another plan. There was literally nothing in the building that was worth anything and that I could get at.
Actually… "and what about the robot unit I am speaking to at the moment, what would you be worth?"
"This unit is not for sale, but would be worth 20,000 credits as a manufacturer's suggested retail price." Jackpot.
"That is very good. Your job seems to be to help in any way that you can, is that right?"
"That is correct, so long as I don't violate my rules of my job. These rules include returning to the desk when not otherwise occupied, cleaning and upkeep of the premises, not going beyond the front door, assisting in any legal way to someone who may be interested in making a purchase, and only giving people items they have paid for. Other rules govern my behavior, but those are the main ones governing my job."
I wasn't sure what to say. Whoever programmed this robot was an idiot. It shouldn't be so easy to get it to describe its programming. Still, someone's foolishness is my gain. "So would I need to worry if, say, a giant Revenant Scout dog-monster attacked from outside? Would you be ok? What type of defenses do you have against that sort of thing?"
"It would be extremely unlikely for that to happen, as we are marked as neutral for any Tutorial engagement. Any new players who attempt to use this place as cover would mark themselves as hostile, allowing the town's soldiers and anyone else associated with or hired by the town to attack that player. Also this unit is designed to survive any attacks by teleporting itself and only itself back to the shop's storage dimension any time shield damage has been done. Any direct attack will also send an automated alert to the town guards."
Well, so much for attacking the robot. It probably had pretty tough shields too. I really didn't trust my ability to one shot the thing. So there goes that idea.
Actually… "But if nobody attacks you than nothing bad will happen, right?"
"That is correct."
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I was greeted with a questioning look from ShopKeeper4271 as I entered and held open the door to his shop. "Robot, can you help me with something over here?".
The shopkeeper immediately came to attention as the Iron Wall's robot followed me into the building. "How might I be of assistance today?" it asked.
"What is the meaning of this?" the shopkeeper asked with a weapon suddenly on his hand. It was another one of those squid rifles, like the Haxlord guards had been using.
"One second." I took a step to the right. "Robot can you help me with something." It made the six inch long trek before again asking how it might help. I turned back to the shopkeeper. "I'm not sure if it counts as stealing or what, but I brought you the Iron Wall's robot. I'm sure you can find something creative to do with it."
His eyes went wide as he stared at me. Suddenly his composure completely fell apart and he broke a smile. Turning, he took two steps to an empty portion of wall as a glowing door shaped light appeared and faded into showing another room. Reaching in he grabbed something I didn't see while yelling. "Hey Bram, you have got to see this. You won't believe what this one new player just brought us."
"I'm busy, Honsor. This had better be good." This one sounded much more country than the first but when he appeared he looked like a dark skinned human with elf ears and two slits where a nose would be. Can aliens be southerners? How can they have accents at all? I am so confused right now.
"Oh, it most certainly is," the shopkeeper said, squinting at the robot very deliberately for a number of seconds. The robot responded by powering down.
"Holy shit! Did you steal the Iron Wall's till-keeper?" He looked at me appreciatively. His eyes were weird with slits rather than a round pupal, but the openings seemed to turn freely and both eyes moved independently. It was honestly a bit distracting.
"Steal is such a strong word," I said, "I convinced it to take a little walk with me till you folks took custody of it."
"Well no shit." He answered back with a laugh. "I gotta take some pics, nobody back at branch is going to believe me otherwise."
"I have to ask," the shopkeeper spoke up, "How did you do it?"
I smiled. "The thing had some bad programming, and when I asked it even told me how the programming was set up. After I knew that it was easy. I tricked it into going outside by putting some mud on the outside of the door for it to clean, and then asked for its help every few feet to get it to follow me all the way back here." Neither of them reacted in that moment so I continued. "And how did you shut the robot down by just looking at it?"
The shopkeeper had an unnerving smile as he looked at the robot. "I hacked it. Something about The Game or reality itself means that you can hack just about anything, though there is a lot less you can do with a wall or a chair. Most people need special equipment, but some of it is a lot less obvious." He said with a wink.
"So, this should count as finishing your quest, along with that special bonus beyond the base 5,000. So what do you have for me?"
"Hm, I'm sure I can find you a suitable long-ranged weapon. I've got just the thing." He said, typing something in to a computer station next to the door.
"Honsor, don't stiff the kid." The other alien said. I took that as a bit of an insult, though for all I knew these guys were a hundred years old a peace. There had been something about the anti-aging effects of going into The Game that I had been told, so I couldn't be sure.
"I wasn't," but made the fast consecutive taps followed by more chaotic taps that I had come to associate with someone deleting something and typing something else in. Moments later a weapon appeared beside him made of the same grey and matte black as my soon to be new suit. "This is a Beginner's Revenant Sniper Rifle. It is basically designed for two things: First, it has design features to train snipers with good habits. A long recharge with a two second delay between shots and a maximum of only three shots before the energy is depleted means that you are better off taking a couple shots and then moving. The recharge is several times as long if the weapon isn't powered down and put away, so get used to switching weapons as you move. Firing a laser payload means that it will blow past the threshold of shields pretty easily, but it lacks the ability to deplete the total power of shields very well and any shot that misses a vital will be easily fixable. I would recommend getting used to making head shots. The aiming rectile is within the barrel, which gives it extreme accuracy but also means that it is useless unless you are invisible. Finally the weapon is extremely sensitive to movement, and won't fire if it isn't steady enough. All of these could be seen as downsides, but could also be seen as intentional design decisions. The second thing it is designed for is to pack as much power into C ranking as possible. You can blow through the mobile shields on anything the size of a personnel carrier or below, but unless you hit a vital spot the only effect will be an easily fixable hole. Use it well and it will outperform almost any B ranked weapon you can find, Revnant examples excluded. In addition I'll also give you this Bronze Thought Emporium Mark. You can always turn it in for character points or credits, but the main use of the thing is to find and identify people within our network if you decide to join. And, to be clear, an offer is on the table for after you finish The Tutorial. Like any faction there is a give and take, but I'm sure you will find the rewards are well worth it." He sounded like a Revnant fanboy as he went on and on. Although, to be fair, it was a very impressive weapon. The faction invite wasn't bad either, especially considering that they were some of the biggest information gathering networks in the galaxy.
"Um, isn't this a bit much? I looked at how much the robot was worth and it shouldn't hurt them nearly that much to loose it; and certainly not enough for such a high end weapon, a mark, and an invitation to your guild." Honestly I wasn't sure how much the mark was worth, but it even if I ignored it what I was getting was a crazy amount.
"I didn't tell you?" he asked with a sharp smile, "I'm going to reprogram this robot to sell everything for a single credit each. If you have some time you might want to head back over for a sale you will never forget. Anything you buy will serve you well for the tutorial, though you won't have enough credits to keep them from just taking it back later. Meanwhile the costs to fix it will be too high to count."
As though on cue I got a message:
[A deal has been completed between AdamPWNZ and ShopKeeper4271: In exchange for damaging the Iron Wall AdamPWNZ will receive 1,000,000 credits and then trade those 1,009,000 credits for Basic Revenant Scout Armor, Beginner's Revenant Sniper Rifle, 1 Bronze Thought Emporium Mark, and a provisional invitation to the Thought Emporium faction (cannot be redeemed until after The Tutorial). Agree/Disagree]
I hadn't actually intended to do anywhere near that much damage to the Iron Wall. Since we were still on Earth I knew they would be under Earth's laws, which included suing for 'wrongful losses' to let them get back their stuff; so I knew it wouldn't ruin them or anything. It would just cost a lot to fix. Somewhere in the area of ten million real world dollars, assuming that million credit reward was a fair estimate and wasn't simply the limit of what they could reward as part of a double trade. I rubbed my eyes, not sure of what I should do. A few moments passed without me actually accepting the deal.
The damage has already been done, therefore there is no reason why not to accept the rewards of it. Eve reminded me. Furthermore, since The Tutorial generally ends in death, any equipment you gain from them will be returned with a minimum of difficulty. At this stage in your advancement you need every advantage possible to overcome the difficulties inherent in your current situation.
I thought about it for a second. I had a group that mostly treated me as dead weight despite the fact that their cheating was what actually made things harder, I was going to go up against some section of one of the most powerful armies in the galaxy in a complete unknown, and that same army probably had it out for me because of all that business with the Titan AI. I wasn't exactly in the best position ever. On the other hand I was about to get a great new weapon, sweet armor, and the possibility of getting some even better stuff from the Iron Wall. Stealing in real-life had never been something I did, but it was a common part of a lot of games. Even knowing that this was a game seemed different when I felt like I was physically here rather than just looking onto a screen.
What finally made my decision was remembering what Icewolf had said. Play to win. Factions can be paid off later if you upset them, and I remembered how much of a point he had made about doing well on The Tutorial. With a thought I hit Agree.
Hey, for all I know my luck might finally be looking up!