Chapter 2
When I first woke up here years ago, I didn't expect to find out anime had the closest representation to reality for high speed running. It may sound weird at first but the end result of the technique needed to run at the speed of sound looks suspiciously close to what's shown in anime.
After a certain speed, you can't run faster because the energy needed to push you forward is higher than the one needed to push you upwards. Without the right technique, you just do fast leaps forward which isn't really running. To solve that problem, you need to run in a specific way.
First step is learning how to throw your weight just the right way. If you do it right, you can use your arms to shift momentum downwards for more grip. Even doing that, you can only run at about a third of the speed of sound before the leaping problem comes back. To solve it completely, you need to dig your feet into the earth.
No literally, you have to plant your feet through at least a few inches of rock for each step you take. By doing that, each step can push more power backwards instead of against the ground. The end result looks partially like high speed running in anime, the ground rending bursts of speed part of it anyway.
I haven't found the speed limit of the the technique yet but then again, I haven't been trying to go faster than sound. Running just isn't as fun at high speeds, too much focus needed for it to be enjoyable. Two hundred meters per second is the sweet spot, it doesn't take too much focus and more importantly, it doesn't exhaust my stamina faster than I can regenerate it. Running any faster also makes for one hell of a faceplant if I miss a step, I learned my lesson after I pulped my whole body by tripping at Mach three.
All the running I've done over the years has done wonders to my agility stat, my body's never felt better in my life. Every movement is fast beyond reason and my body moves exactly how I want it to. Only thing I don't like about it is how much my was body changed by my increased stats. My muscles don't even look human anymore, they look more like tightly bundled cords of steel wrapped with form-fitting spandex than anything else.
Mind you, I'm not complaining about my body's increased power. That part is welcomed with open hands but my appearance is just disturbing to look at. Luckily for me, mirrors won't be invented for another four billion years so I won't have to look at myself for the foreseeable future.
Besides running, I've also been exploring the game interface. As far as I know, there's no tutorial so any functionality has to be discovered by myself. The game even rewards you for doing the research, I receive a perk point for every major discovery and for intelligent use of game functions. Most of what I've found so far is trivia at best but there's a few gem from time to time. My first major discovery was the exact mechanics of the inventory system. To put something in my inventory, I have to claim it first.
Claiming something is rather simple, you claim something as your property and the time needed varies based on the validity of the claim. What consists as validity is three things, size, availability and time. Something needs to be directly available to you for the claiming process to even begin. I can't just declare myself the owner of the nearest galaxy, it's not available and the size is way too large.
Let's say I want to claim a chunk of ground near me. A cubic meter of soil takes one hour to claim and depending on its weight, it can occupy multiple inventory spaces. One inventory space is determined by how much I can lift and anything I can lift can be stacked in one space. If something weighs two times what I can lift then it takes up two spaces.
I even got a free unique perk and an extra perk point from one of my clever uses of the inventory. I found out the claiming time gets lower or higher in proportion to the size of the target so I tried claiming large millimeter thick squares out of a rock to make cuts. Since the target is so small the claiming time is barely a second long and putting the claimed part in inventory leaves gaps on the target. Since I was the first to find out, the game rewarded me with a unique perk on top of the expected perk point.
Finding out about the bonus for being first to discover something encouraged me to look more. Unluckily for me, others were quicker than me and I only got one more first discovery bonus before all the major functions got explored by others.
The other major function I found is the gamer trade hub which is essentially a market where you can sell and buy just about anything. Only limitation is that the product has to come from another gamer. Other than that, you can buy raw materials, skill books, blueprints, information and inventoried objects.
My unique perk [inventory master] allowed me to become the main provider of multiple types of raw materials relatively quickly. I've mostly used my accumulated currency to buy a couple skill books and a few dozen pieces of alien literature.
Raw materials and blueprints are basically useless to me since I can't build anything in this wasteland. The average temperature is two hundred degrees and even a spaceship wouldn't help me much. I don't know how to navigate, I don't have star charts and I have no way to repair the thing if it breaks down. I don't need to breathe or sleep and I don't need to eat so all I can do is find ways to spend the time. Gamer's mind won't even allow me to go insane.
That being said, the first things I bought once I had currency were skill books for alien languages. With those learned, I was free to read any piece of literature being sold on the hub. I've accumulated my own little library over the years but the supply is slowly drying up. Even with a memory perk, there're only so many books a person can read in a lifetime.
The only one still selling books is the volus, that lucky asshole had the chance of having a hospitable homeworld which means his belongings weren't instantly destroyed when he appeared there. He had some type of personal computer on him at the time so he has access to a lot of books of many different origins.
Besides him, the vorcha, the quarian and the hanar, almost everybody else is in a similar position to me. Despite how bad our situation is, we're still living like kings compared to the turians. Those poor guys keep getting killed by asteroid impacts and every time one of them dies, another spawns only to suffer the same fate not long after. Their homeworld is suffering from heavy asteroid bombardment.
The last thing I found was the stat ranking page. It lists our position in different stats. Currently, I'm at the top of the agility section by a large margin and I'm near the middle in a few other categories.
I'm not too focused on augmenting my stats but gaining stat points is always satisfying, like going back to the gym after a few months and discovering you can bench more than last time. I should probably look at them, it's been a few days since I last checked.
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Level: 84(695/850)
Age: 38
Class: none
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HP(health points): 2400/2400
MP(mana points): 12,160(364,800)/12,160(364,800)
SP(stamina points): 16,580/16,580
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DEX: 5380
AGI: 24,660
STR: 310(3100)
END: 4090(8290)
VIT: 1200
INT: 125
WIS: 3040
Internal clock ( 6:1 )
Maximum movement speed: 2466 meters per second
Average movement speed: 200 meters per second
Points: 420
Perk points: 84(from discovery bonus)
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Skills
[stamina regeneration (passive) Lv1796]
(endurance type)
[rank 2]
This skill defines your body's ability to regenerate stamina.
You regenerate 179 stamina point every second.
[efficient running (passive) Lv1700]
(perception/endurance type)
[rank 2]
This skill defines your ability to run with a minimal waste in stamina.
Running requires 17% less stamina.
[total points granted by the skill to the agility stat: 19,500]
[momentum manipulation (passive) Lv750] (perception/dexterity type)
This skill defines your ability to manipulate the direction of momentum.
[total points granted by the skill to the dexterity stat: 3200]
[rock piercer (passive) Lv600]
(Perception/dexterity/endurance type)
This skill defines your ability to perceive the best way to pierce rock.
Extremities have 6% more endurance than the rest of the body.(extremities are hands, feet, knees and elbows)
[total points granted by the skill to the dexterity stat: 2100]
[high speed running (passive) Lv600]
(Composite skill of rock piercer and momentum manipulation)
This skill defines your ability to run at high speeds.
User can 6% faster than gamers without rock piercer and momentum manipulation.
[total points granted by the skill to the agility stat: 2100]
[linguistics (passive) Lv500]
(Intelligence type)
This skill defines your ability to learn new languages.
Can learn new languages 5% quicker than your intelligence normally allows.
Languages learned: high thesian, quarian, turian, volus trading dialect, ancient krogan dialect.
[mana quality (passive) Lv6]
(mind type)
This skill defines the amount of energy that each unit of mana contains.
Each of your mana points now have 6 times the energy of a regular mana unit.
This skill gains 1 level for every 50 points you have in the intelligence stat.
[levels gained from INT stat: 2]
[bone conditioning (passive) Lv1]
(vitality/endurance type)
This skill represents the inherent human ability to strengthen damaged bones.
This skill grants a plus 1 multiplier to the hard bones talent for every 100 levels gained.
This is one of the ten specie-locked perks/skills of the human race.
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Perks
[runner's legs]
Your legs are made to run.
Running requires 5% less stamina.
This perk grants an endurance multiplier for the legs.
Your legs will have a hardness corresponding to an endurance stat 2 times higher that your current endurance stat.
[heightened stamina regeneration]
[rank 1]
Your stamina regeneration skill is 10 times more powerful than what is normal.
This is an acquired perk gained from intense regeneration training, this skill will rank up after 10 years of constant, uninterrupted stamina regeneration.
[inventory master]
(Unique perk)
You are the master of your inventory.
Things stored in your inventory can be disassembled down to their constituant elements.
Claiming speed is 50% faster and claims last 50% longer.
Inventory perks cost 50% less perk points.
[raw materials salesman]
(Unique perk)
You are the best salesman for raw materials.
Get 15% more revenue from raw materials sales.
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Racial perk
[persistance hunter]
This is a perk that defines the human species extremely high stamina.
The title holder gets a 50 point bonus to the endurance stat per level.
Points given by the title don't contribute to exp.
Points given by the title: 4200
I think a good way to spend my time would be exploring the landscape and trying to draw some maps. Even just drawing in general would be a good way to spend the time. Hell, anything's a good way to spend the time when you've got nothing to do.