Chapter 2:
PLANET: EKOS
(IMPERIAL CALENDAR YEAR 185.5):
Claire watched as Grant began dragging the bodies of her dead friends and family to the final wagon of their caravan. Glancing over to her mom she saw that she was consoling Annabelle over death of her parents.
Walking over towards Grant she could see that he was carefully laying each body into back of the wagon. "Major Grant, why are you placing each of the bodies into the wagon?
"Because, Claire, everyone deserves time to mourn even the people in the village. If they are buried on the side of people will forget about them and the sacrifice they made. We had a tradition back where I came from of burying people in a casket after they have passed and then placing a headstone above their grave. The reason we did this was because everyone has a story and they deserve to be remembered."
She nodded as he lifted her father placed him in the wagon atop everyone else before slamming the back of the wagon shut.
"Okay, lets go tell your mother that everything is ready and that we can leave anytime she want to."
As Grant began to walk with Claire over towards her mother, he could hear Gaius speaking to him.
[Congratulations, Major Grant, you single handedly destroyed a group of orcs that have been terrorizing Lakecrest for the last 6 months]
Grant sighed as he heard him continue.
[I guess it was a good thing that you didn't take my advice and go through the tutorial after all]
"Amelia, I just finished loading up wagons if we leave now we should make it to Lakecrest by nightfall."
"Thank you, Major Grant"
[The respect these people have for you is remarkable considering what they just went through]
"Everyone I know that we have faced an unbearable hardship, but we must pull together long enough to get back to Lakecrest. Today I lost my husband a man that I promised to love and cherish until the day I died, and I failed him. But we cannot let their sacrifice be in vain."
Grant watched as Amelia and the rest of the villagers get on their wagon. Walking towards last one he noticed that Claire had gotten up there and was waiting on him.
"Shouldn't you be with your mother little lady?" Grant asked as he got up into his seat.
"My mother, said that it was fine for me to sit with you." She said blushing
"Well, this is bound to be an interesting trip"
[Claire looks up to you, Major Grant, she feels safe around you just like the other villagers do]
Grant nodded because he did have that effect on people especially children. 'Well she does remind me Hailey when she was 13 aside from the language.'
The trip continued for the next 7 hours. When they passed the tree, he had woken up near, Claire leaned over and told him that it would be another hour before they reached the village.
"So, Major Grant, you said that you were part of an army. Was it always your intention to join the army?" Claire asked curiously
"Well not at first I originally wanted to be a businessman because my mom was the CEO of American Vorenium one of the largest construction material supplier in the US."
"What is a businessman and a CEO?" Claire asked
"A businessman is a person is similar to a merchant yet different. A merchant most deals in trade whereas a businessman can be in trade or provide resources such as gold and silver. Now a CEO is the head of a business basically man or woman who is in charge of a company."
"I think I get it now, so why didn't you become a businessman"
"Well I tried to apply to be a salesman, but my mother sent a letter telling me that she would not hire me because it would look like favoritism. So, I in a fit of anger I tried to apply at her competitor which turned me down because they thought I would steal company secrets."
"Wow, that seems harsh."
"That's not even worse of it. That letter was first time she contacted me since I was born. Not being able to work for my family's company I decided to join the military. I was debating with our family butler who pretty much raised me on which branch I should enter. When I got a letter in the mail from my father saying that if I joined the Navy that he would personally make my life a living hell. So, I decided to get as far away from the Navy as possible which led me to join the Army."
"Quick question what is a butler?" Claire asked again as they began to approach Lakecrest
"A butler is basically a servant that you pay to perform chores around a home such as cooking and cleaning."
[You do realize that she probably only got the gist of what you said]
Grant watched as the people in front of him began to get off their wagons as Amelia approached him with an older man.
"Greetings, Traveler, my granddaughter tells me that you were the one that rescued our people."
"That is true, sir, but I would not have found them if it wasn't for my own arrogance a voice in my head told me to head west but my gut told me to head east."
"Well aren't we lucky you decided to listen to your gut." Grant nodded as the elder continued "In accordance to our traditions we must offer you something in return for saving 12 of our villagers. I the only thing I could think of that could equal the lives of 12 of our villagers is the ownership of Claire Carver and Annabelle Porter."
"But I told your granddaughter I didn't require any payment I just needed to know how to get to the nearest town."
"Indeed, that may be the case, but we cannot take care of little Annabelle her father and mother died out there trying to protect her she has no one left to turn to. Whereas Claire is a different story due to the loss of her father she is of no value to us. The best I can do is hope that my granddaughter can have another child with the future elder.
"But sir, I can't just take ownership of two girls it goes against my beliefs and what I have fought to protect."
"Would you rather have them starve and die out in the wilderness?" The elder asked
"Well no, but…" Grant said before being interrupted by the elder "Well then it is settled you guys will leave at first light. Now if you follow me, I'll lead you to your sleeping quarters for the night."
Grant followed the village elder as he led him to small hut in the middle of the village.
"Here you go traveler; I hope you find everything comfortable. I'll have a small wagon and the girls ready for you by dawn"
Grant watched as he left through the door and walked over the house next to his.
[Wow, not even 2 days on Ekos and you already own slaves]
"Oh, shut up, Gaius, it's not like I even wanted to take ownership of them in the first place. The village elder just wouldn't take no for an answer. Plus, it's not like I'm going to treat them like slaves."
[Would you like to go over the tutorial, Major Grant?]
Grant began to furrowing eyebrows before ultimately sighing "Sure whatever"
[Excellent]
Grant sat down in the chair as Gaius began to explain.
[So first go through your stats to do this you say "access personal stats"]
"Access personal stats"
Grant watched as a screen appeared in front of him in bold lettering and started displaying his stats
Augustus Grant
Level 18
HP: 1800/1800
MP: 2000/2000
Perks: Founding Father
Military Commander
Explorer
?
Skills: Multilingual, Martial Arts Expert, Expert Swordsman, Firearms Expert, Eidetic Memory
Population: 3/0
Military: 0/0
Heroes: Locked until Level 20
[For further information state the following "Gaius, access information on..."]
"Gaius, access information on Founding Father perk"
[The Founding Father perk places you at the center of your country's development. For you alone have the power control the fate of those that live in your country. Through level progression you can buy more structures that can help you create a more prosperous nation]
"Interesting, this deal I made with you already seems to be paying off." Looking though the list of perks he found the one labeled military commander piquing his interest. "Gaius, access information on Military Commander perk"
[The Military Commander perk inspires the soldiers under your command to fight more valiantly than their counterparts. Through level progression you can buy more advanced military hardware to be mass produced as well as increase your power projection capability]
"Gaius access information on Explorer perk"
[The Explorer perk increase the amount of XP you can earn by a factor of 2 for 1 hour when exploring and fighting in a previously undiscovered area]
"I guess that's neat and could help in the long run"
[Now that we have gone through your personal stats let's examine your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats. Currently you have 8 points in strength, 8 points in perception, 9 points in endurance, 10 points in charisma, 10 points in intelligence, 9 points in agility, and 0 points in luck. Though it should be noted that your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats will not change due to leveling because they are heavily based on the capabilities you had in your past life]
"Wait a second, if my charisma has a point value of 10 why didn't it work on the village elder?"
[One possible explanation is that Elder's charisma points were maxed out as well because you can only persuade people with a charisma value lower than yours]
Lying on the back down on the bed Grant began to grow tired. "So how much more is there to this tutorial?"
[Well, we still have 3 more items to explore this includes world currency, your inventory, as well as the system menu which allows you to construct buildings and purchase vehicles and items]
"Okay let's move along"
[Gladly, so there are three types of currency the first is Prarapia which are coins minted by the Kingdom of Prigka. The next is USD which will be the currency of your country when you begin building. The last currency is Genesis Coins which are coins you gain each level or from building GC mines, these can be used to purchase items from the system menu]
"So how many Genesis Coins do I start off with?"
[Approximately 1.7 billion]
"Jesus that's a lot"
[Just wait until you see the cost of some items in the system menu. Moving on the inventory menu allows you to access anything you put into it but do remember it does have a weight limit 310 pounds]
"That sounds oddly specific but none the less very useful."
[The last thing to go over is the system menu which is by far my greatest achievement. After opening the system menu state which category, you would like to take a closer look by saying "list subsections under weapons category" but now it is time for you to discover that the purchase menu has to offer]
"Gaius, access purchase menu"
Purchase Menu:
- Weapons
- Vehicles
- Armor
- Clothing
- Miscellaneous
"Gaius, list subsections under Weapons category"
Purchase Menu:
- Weapons
- Sci-fi
- Guns
- Swords
- Knives
Grant sat up as the different subsections began to appear in his menu "Wait a second there a sci-fi section too"
[Yes, there is, Major Grant while looking through your mind, I compiled a list of sci-fi weapons I thought you would like]
"How intriguing. Gaius bring up items under the Sci-fi subsection"
Purchase Menu:
- Weapons
- Sci-fi
- Lightsaber 156965 GC
- Phaser (DIS) 121722 GC
- Phaser Rifle (DIS) 1437950 GC
- Laser Rifle (FO4) 5200 GC
- Laser Pistol (FO4) 5100 GC
- Laser Minigun (FO4) 7500 GC
- Plasma Rifle (FO4) 6200 GC
- Plasma Pistol (FO4) 6100 GC
- Guns
- Swords
- Knives
Looking over the items Grant was impressed by the different universes that Gaius had managed pull weapons from. "Gaius, I would like to buy a blue lightsaber as well as both a phaser and phaser rifle"
[Excellent choices, Major Grant, they will appear in your inventory momentarily. Though I should inform you that now that you have purchased items you can them reproduced at a weapons factory or you can continue buying from the menu as need be]
"Thanks, Gaius, but quick question what if I want to see if something is available in the purchase menu but I don't want to browse for it?"
[All you have to do is open the purchase menu and ask me to search for it and when your done using the menu or looking at your stats you say "Gaius, close screen"]
"Okay then I think I'm ready for what lies ahead. Gaius, close screen" As the screen closed Grant lied back down on the bed and started to fall asleep.