Chapter 3

The next day I left my shitty little apartment dressed in some of my older and more worn-out clothing. I didn't see the point of wearing decent clothing when I was likely going to end up with blood all over everything. Besides, it wasn't like I had anything thick or good enough to qualify as armor in any sense of the word. And believe me, I checked. The most 'armor' offered by anything I owned, according to my inventory screen, was 1 point on my shoes. Everything else was less than one.

I'd also spent a little more time exploring the system I'd been given and trying to think of what the hell I would do. Anything in the Intelligence tree was still out, so I ignored that one. Body though? Body was cool as shit! The first category, Athletics, well it covered athletic stuff along with Regeneration! I could be fucking Wolverine! Well, maybe. I seemed to have a small regeneration factor already but it wouldn't fully heal me. I figured out why when I spotted a perk that boosted my regeneration caps. Currently, I could only regenerate outside of combat and only up to 60% of my max health. Still, nothing to scoff at. I'd max that shit out later. No way in hell was I risking dying in such a stupid way again!

Anyway. The next section was Annihilation which dealt with Shotguns and Machine Guns. Standard game stuff, less recoil, more damage, and so on and so forth. Eh, Never liked big guns myself but some Shotguns were nice up close and personal-like. Lastly, Street Brawler. Now, this was my kind of fun! It was all about hitting harder, using less stamina, and even cool shit like getting bursts of regeneration for punching stunned people. Hell, even broken shit like gaining stamina from punching! How the fuck does that work?! All I know is I definitely planned to sink a lot into Body.

Then there was Reflexes. The first bunch of stuff was Assault and dealt with Rifles and Submachine Guns. Standard stuff here, nothing super special. Handguns, obviously dealt with handguns. Also about the same as other trees based on guns, so nothing special there. Then there was Blades and it was definitely the reason I planned to invest in Reflexes in the future! Just like with Street Brawling, it was broken as all fuck. Cut a bitch to make them bleed, hit them again and gain health. 'Defeat' someone with a blade and get a full fucking 20% health and stamina back?! Yeah, definitely pumping up Blades.

Then there was Technical Ability. I both wanted it and wondered if it was worth it. Don't get me wrong, there was some seriously awesome stuff hidden in both the Crafting and Engineering trees. I mean fuck, immunity to my own grenade explosions?! The fuck kind of reality-warping bullshit was that?! Not to mention the equally bullshit ability to become immune to shock! Then there was the ability to make Tech weapons ignore armor outright. I mean... fuck that's just bullshit of the highest degree. No, my problem with Technical Ability wasn't the Engineering tree. It was the Crafting tree.

See. It didn't explain much. Like, what does Disassembling a weapon have to do with gaining 'components'? What is the difference between a Common and a Rare weapon? Cause, as far as I know, you can buy pretty much any weapon you want, as long as you got the eddies. So, yeah. Until I had more info, Crafting didn't make much sense to me.

Lastly was Cool, and it was fucking cool. Heh. First up was Ninjutsu which was all about being sneaky, killing people with knives, and poison. It also had two things that were preem as fuck. First, immunity to poison. I mean, fuck, that's awesome! Then another that made all knives poisonous. Combine that with buffs from the Blades tree? My various gods that would be deadly! They even had a backstab mechanic that doubled melee weapon damage and then guaranteed crit damage when attacking from stealth. Hilariously named Jeepers Creepers.

Then there was the Cold Blood tree. At first glance, it doesn't seem like much. The first skill just buffs movement speed after defeating someone. Kinda useful but, meh. Then you look at the other options and holy fuck! It's a veritable buffet of various buffs of ever-increasing power. Just looking at it gave me a raging hard-on. Just one example to explain why. By picking certain perks I could have up to five stacks of Cold Blood at once. One of the high-level perks says "Upon receiving lethal damage while Cold Blood is active, prevents death, consumes all stacks of Cold Blood, restoring 10% Health per stack and grants Damage Immunity for 5 sec. Cannot gain Cold Blood while perk is active. Cooldown 15 sec."

So... If I've got five stacks and get killed, not only do I not die, I come back with half my max health, become immune to all damage for five seconds, and I can do this every fifteen seconds. I just... I have no idea how to process that, really. It's almost like a form of immortality, with some limitations. As long as I can avoid fatal damage for ten seconds and kill a bitch in those ten seconds, I could avoid death once again. Between that and regeneration from punching, stabbing, and or slashing bitches to death...

So, my main focuses, at this point, are definitely Body, Reflexes, and Cool. I might change my mind about Technical Ability in the future as I learn more. We'll see about that. Also, as far as I can see, the maximum for every attribute seems to be twenty. So, depending on if there's a maximum level and what that maximum is, I might be able to max out everything. Which would mean the only thing that matters is the order I do things. As it stands, Body is very much my main focus.

As much as I would love to focus on Cool and Immortality, that particular perk is pretty high level, like the highest at twenty. Meanwhile, Body has a bunch of lower-level buffs to regeneration and other things that appeal and doubles by giving me extra punching power. Ninja-stabbing stuff would be awesome, but it'd be even more awesome with a higher-level Blades skill to back it up. Of course, all of this is subject to change as I learn more about this system and how shit works.

But First, I need at least one level to figure out if this shit even works right. Though if it does, I am going to do whatever it takes to level up as much as I possibly can. With all of that in mind, along with my plans in Westbrook, I make my way toward the metro. I don't own a car so public transportation is the best I can do to get around. No way in hell am I walking several kilometers to get there.

As I make my way toward the station, I spot V from a distance walking next to someone much bigger than her. It takes me a moment to recognize Jackie Welles, Mama Welles' son. I never spent much time around the guy. Seeing as how Jackie was nearly ten years older than me, we didn't exactly spend time in the same circles. I'd only met him once or twice in the Coyote and that's it. But looking at the pair of them I feel a little vindication.

I can see that V has some dried blood beneath her nose and her black eye from last night looks even worse. Jackie had his own bruises and blood on his face as well. Looks to me like both of them caught a bit of a beating. Figures. Taking any kind of job from Kirk is just asking for trouble. I swear that gonk is pure toxic to anyone that takes his gigs.

I'm tempted to find out exactly what happened, but the pair of them look a bit tired and I got other shit to do. Finding out just how real this system is, is my top priority at the moment. I can catch up with V later. I'm also curious why she seems to be hanging out with Jackie. Far as I know those two haven't even met before. Then again, it's not like I follow either of them around all the time either. I'd just expect to know from talking to V so much before. It's how I knew she could get me an in with the Padre.

I walked into the metro station and hopped the first tram toward Westbrook. My plan was to head for Megabuilding H8 and then search around there while trying to catch a scanner job. Should be plenty of assaults getting reported in the area for me to intervene in.

I barely paid attention to the news as the tram moved through the city. I did hear something about a few people dying during the last ESC (European Space Council) meeting. Not that I cared. Aliens and their supporters could go to hell. I'm no socialist, or whatever the term is for someone who deals with societal needs, but even I know that if the money used for all that space shit was used here on Earth it would make things better.

When the tram finally pulled into the station south of Megabuilding H8 in Japantown, I got off. While in the station I used a few of my dwindling eddies to buy a Burrito XXL. You could tell it wasn't that great tasting just from the advertisements harping on about how big it was. Which was sort of why I grabbed one. It was a good amount of okay-tasting 'food' for the price. Once I shoved the last bit down my gullet, I paused and looked at the HUD for my system. There was something new.

I quickly checked it and was surprised by what I found. Apparently eating something gives me a Nourishment buff. It's not huge but it looks helpful. It gives me a buff of five percent to my max health and increases my out-of-combat regeneration by half a percent per second. The thing lasts for a few hours too, which is nice.

Curious, I spent a few more eddies on another nearby vending machine to buy a NiCola Classic. Hearing 'Taste the love!' from the machine repeatedly was annoying and the flavor wasn't all that great. Honestly, it tasted like cough syrup. Still, it was cheap and readily available. After downing the entire can I spotted a new buff right next to the Nourishment one, Hydration. The new buff increased my maximum Stamina by ten percent and boosted stamina regeneration by a whopping fifty percent! Though it did last only half as long as the Nourishment buff.

I guess that kinda makes sense. I do drink way more often than I eat. Just to be safe, I buy another can of NiCola Classic and pocket it. I hide my surprise when it vanishes from my pocket. Though a quick check of my inventory shows the can sitting pretty waiting for me. Just to be sure, I mentally select it and feel the can appear in my hand. With another thought, it once more disappears. So, just like the Slaught-O-Matic, sorta.

Now that I understand my inventory even more, I can't help but grin broadly. See, the Slaught-O-Matic increases the amount of weight I'm carrying while I have it. If I put it down somewhere that weight amount vanishes from my inventory. Whether I hold it or store it the weight doesn't change. However, when I put the NiCola in my inventory, the total weight I was carrying didn't change! Even the clothing I was wearing changed the amount of weight I was carrying! If drinks, and probably food, didn't weigh anything in my inventory, what else wouldn't? I can't wait to find out!

I also really want to look into crafting more soon. I have no idea where I'm supposed to get components yet, but I will find out!

I leave the station and start to wander around the area. I have no specific place to look since I can't predict exactly where a crime will pop up. However, this area has a few assaults daily so I should be able to run into one. I don't have a vehicle to get anywhere quickly, but I have a temporary plan for that I should be able to use.

It wasn't until I'd been wandering around for three fucking hours that my holo pinged and I was alerted to a nearby assault in progress. As soon as I got the deets, I took off at a dead sprint. As soon as I began running I noticed something amazing. I was running noticeably faster than the last time I did so. It also felt smoother and more fluid than I remember. At the same time, I noticed a new bar on my HUD that was yellow and slowly going down as I ran at full tilt. It's gotta be my stamina bar. Judging by how slowly it's draining, I could run for a fair distance at full speed without much issue. Nice!

As I got close to the reported scene, I opened my light jacket and reached inside as if I was drawing a weapon from a shoulder holster. I felt I had to at least make it look like I was doing something reasonable in the view of bystanders instead of just having the Slaught-O-Matic simply appear from nowhere.

As I arrived at the entrance of the alley the crime was reported to be in, I came to a stop at the corner of a building. There was no way in fuck I was just going to blindly run into the area. I peeked around the corner while crouching down so my head wasn't where anyone would expect it to be.

Down the alley, a short distance from me, I saw two guys standing over a third. One guy was yelling at and kicking the downed one while the third kept a lookout. Just going by the clothing on the muggers, probably, I could tell they weren't gangers. Probably bums given how dirty their clothing was. I'm not one to judge, I'm only a few days away from being homeless myself.

I looked them over and didn't spot any guns in sight. The lookout was holding a length of pipe in his hand while I couldn't spot a weapon on the other guy doing the beating. No long-range weapons are visible, no visible armor, no visible signs of heavy chrome, and a scan shows both have bounties for assault. Perfect.

I waited just a moment and was rewarded for my patience when the lookout turned to talk to the other guy. I couldn't make out more than mumbling sounds from where I was but that didn't matter. As soon as he wasn't looking in my direction, I aimed the Slaught-O-Matic around the corner and pulled the trigger.

I'd never before really had a reason to fire a gun. Hard to believe right? But I swear it's true. Despite living in this hell hole I hadn't really had a bad life. So you can imagine my surprise when the Slaught-O-Magic bucked violently in my hand combined with the deafening sound of the gunshot. I was so shocked the gun actually managed to buck out of my hand and clatter to the ground.

At the same time, I could barely hear surprised shouting from the alley ahead of me. When I looked up from my dropped gun I saw two things. First, the guy I shot was gripping his bleeding right shoulder with his left hand, his pipe sitting on the ground since he could no longer hold it. The second was his buddy whipping out a large machete and running at me while screaming.

I'm man enough to admit I panicked a little. Unless you've had a crazed homeless man charging at you with a huge bladed weapon, you don't get to judge me. As he ran at me, I dropped to my knees and scrambled to pick up my fallen Slaught-O-Matic. He was barely five feet from me when I brought it up in both hands and pulled the trigger as fast as I could. Half a dozen gunshots exploded from the barrel of the gun and slammed into the guy. He was so close I would have had to actively aim away from him to miss. The world seemed to slow down as I watched his body buck and jerk with every bullet that slammed into him.

As he collapsed to the ground, dead, I turned and fired off more shots at his stunned friend. The guy had just stared in shock as I shot the guy charging at me. He didn't even get to say anything as a bunch of bullets ripped into him and put him down for good. I might have kept firing in my own shock, except the shitty piece of plastic in my hand shattered into pieces.

That brought me out of my own shock and I began to breathe once again, I hadn't even realized I was holding my breath. I climbed to my feet and looked over the situation. Currently, there were three bodies on the ground, two dead and one pretty beaten up but alive. I shook my head to clear it and dropped what was left of the Slaught-O-Matic.

As I did I saw a few notifications pop up that brought a smile to my face. I gained experience in multiple ways from this brief fight. Ninjutsu and Handguns got some experience while I got some towards leveling up as well. I even got a little Street Cred. That's fucking awesome! It also totally distracted me from the fact that I just flatlined two people.

I quickly moved to the nearest body and started searching him for anything of value. Rolling a corpse for its pocket change might seem a bit macabre but I need every little bit I can get my hands on. I didn't find much, though he did have a credchip. I'd have to scan it to find out if it needed to be cracked or not. I could only do that at home. I dropped it into my pocket and when it vanished I was shocked to see a notification saying that I'd gained seventy-two eddies. When I opened my inventory I couldn't find the credchip, but a quick check of my account confirmed I was seventy-two eddies richer. Fuck yeah!

The only other thing I took from him was his machete. It was in rather good condition and would help me out up close and personal-like.

I made my way over to the second guy and searched his pockets as well. He didn't have anything but the pipe he'd dropped. I grabbed that, just in case. If it was completely useless I'd just toss it. However, it could come in handy for some skull cracking. Lastly, I rolled the beaten guy. Look, I know that's a dick move. Poor fuck is already having a shit day with the mugging and beating and here I am acting like a goddamn vulture. It sucks for him but I'm pretty sure that someone else would do the same thing to me. This is a fucked up city and I will do what I have to not to sleep on the street.

Frankly, I'm glad I chose to search him. He's completely out cold with a hell of a nasty bleeding wound on his head. Best guess? Dude with the pipe brained him out of nowhere. Why do I think that? Because this guy is packing a serious piece of iron! I don't know a ton about guns but I can recognize this one. It's a decent-looking Militech M10-AF Lexington. It's a favorite among cops but is also heavily used as a concealed weapon due to its size. It's reliable, durable, and fully automatic with a twenty-one-round magazine. The only downside? It's only a nine millimeter so it's not huge on stopping power.

It was a good start and something he could use. I'd need more ammo though. A single full magazine held even less ammo than a Slaught-O-Matic did. I stored the gun inside my inventory and stepped away. I used my holo to report the situation taken care of. The moment I did I gained a small amount of experience toward my next level. As I was leaving the alley I heard the distinct sirens of a Trauma Team AV coming closer. I didn't even bother looking and quickly took off at a sprint.

If you had Trauma Team coverage they'd get to you inside seven minutes to save your ass from whatever the hell happened to you. If you weren't a member then you wanted to be far away or Trauma would mow you down without remorse. A heavily armored AV with high-powered machine guns, a team of guys in full body armor wielding machine guns, and a guarantee of death if you stood between them and their customer. Yeah, no way in fuck was I sticking around for that!

I look around and see no sign of their green uniform so I think I'm good. Now, I just need to find more jobs, earn more cash, and get more experience. Time to hunt.

AN

Alien – A derogatory term for someone who lives in space.

It really begins... Kinda sorta. It's going to be a while before Alexander is a real badass. I'm making some tweaks and modifications to the game system from the Video Game since they make more sense in a real-world setting. Weapons aren't going to have DPS numbers, people on the street aren't going to have health bars, food and drink buffs will last longer, vendors won't sell components for crafting, and stuff like that. When the whole world is part of the game certain elements make sense, but since Alex is the only one living a game, he's the only one really affected by it. So those of you who know how awesome crafting is in the game *cough*infinite money*cough* shouldn't expect it to be quite like that in this story.

One guest reviewer even correctly guessed the basic build idea that Xander has 'thought of for himself' a Body/Reflexes/Cool build with a focus on melee. Pistols, swords, and his own fists will be his weapons of choice. Of course, a build like that takes time and effort.

Now please pardon me for getting a little Corpo for a bit. I've had a Pat-reon for a while and decided to post my unfinished/unedited/incomplete/not ready chapters for this story and Highschool DxD: Fabricator on it. If you'd like to support me and even read ahead a little, please feel free to join it. All chapters on it will eventually make their way here, regardless. I'm only up to chapter 4 for this fic, but Fabricator is up to chapter 15 if you like that story as well. pat-reon slash thomasdarkrose if you're interested.