Pretty sure stress makes me write more. I guess failing a test can be useful sometimes. Blasting Yuukyuu no Catharsis also helped.
Manicalharp747: Ngh…
TheGamingReader: Yeah, that was pretty lame. I'm not a big fan of Xianxia or Wuxia stories nor am I a veteran reader in that genre but I can definitely see the advantage of the Animus. Isn't there like a trope where the ancient techniques and stuff are always better than the newer ones?
So why wouldn't they look in their ancestor's memories to help their cultivation? Although that's probably because the author wanted to focus on the games themselves, which is fair, but then don't introduce a game that lets them do that.
But I was just referring to generally wanting to avoid games shown in BTICS in general, since they've already been done before.
Skeletalrepublic: Pyrrha's coming later, probably, I need to come up with a good reason for her appearance. As for the Arknights version of this, probably not. I fully scrapped that one, tried planning it while I was gone but I don't think I can do it justice. I do have two GFL works in progress though, one chapters already up for ym first project while the other is being planned. I'll just say the second project involves something celestial.
LaUgHiNgmaN: Pyrrha definitely needs a vacation in the future, they're all still pretty young at this point in time. Fame hasn't caught up to her yet. As for Jaune and Verte… well they might not stay for long but there's definitely going to be a reason to keep coming back, and they're currently just civillians. Not hunters-in-training like Nora and Ren are.
RedDemonEye: Well, they hopefully will. Been working on my pacing.
moose master5543: I write these smaller chapters because I want to, I don't wanna worry about hitting a certain word count and I feel like I'm gonna burn out on writing if I do that. I will be trying to increase my chapter size as I feel like you aren't the only one who doesn't like these small chapters, although if I start getting burned out then the chapter sizes will go back to what they were. As for lack of anything interesting… Well, can't really do anything about that, slow pacing is kinda my thing but I'll see if I can speed it up a bit.
Damn, maybe I should post this on SV or SB or something considering how long my responses are for the reviews here. I already have an account on there so it shouldn't be hard.
I switched out the review response format because entire paragraphs being entirely bolded probably is definitely annoying for people to read.
And for the, likely few, people wondering, I've been gone due to three…four reasons
1. Writer's block
2. Dungeons and Dragons
3. General everyday stress
4. Too many fanfic ideas
Can't promise I won't disappear again for a while, but I suppose that's why I said inconsistent updates in one of these ANs.
Wordcount for this chapter w/o AN: 3635 words
Forrest Spencer, or simply Taser, cursed his poor planning skills. T-Dolls of his skillset weren't commanders nor did they think about the bigger picture. Instead, they were sent to do a single job: capture and kill.
But maybe he should've requested more backup.
"Elite Taser get out of the way!" He yelled to the panicking caravan guard. He pushed past a shocked guard and jammed his CAR-4 against the beowolf's jaw, firing a burst of 5.56mm into the roaring monster's skeletal armor.
Forrest raised his right arm to prevent it from snapping his head off, its teeth barely able to penetrate his artificial skin. The beowolf attempted to bite down on the limb and for a regular human, they'd have lost it.
But T-Dolls were stronger than humans their size, even T-Dolls made for service jobs were at peak human strength. And for a combat model like him? There was no competition. For him? It was just a typical Tuesday, never mind the fact that he just popped into existence.
Forrest let out an annoyed grunt, he let his gun fall to the side, his left arm still gripping it, and instead punched the damn beast with a clean uppercut. A loud crack of bone and the Grimm began to quickly dissipate.
The Taser whipped his gun around, pulling out his taser with his other hand before flicking his fire selector switch and unloading a few shots into a charging boarbatusk's unarmored side.
Dust rounds were a curious thing. And despite preferring action to research, he could still do some information gathering on what any potential victims could use against him. A few videos and some light reading and he deduced a few differences between dust and gunpowder.
Dust rounds seemed to be more akin to hollow points, lacking penetrating power and instead relying on the raw destructive impacts of their elemental effects. Gunpowder had the advantage of penetrating power, but dust was still powerful enough that he'd bought some magazines with freezing properties. However, with slowly rising dust prices, gunpowder also had the advantage of cost.
Essentially, dust was good against most targets but against targets with no aura, gunpowder easily won out in terms of cost and efficiency.
That meant, against the unarmored hide of a boarbatusk with not even an ounce of aura, his 5.56 easily penetrated through the black, meaty flesh. The pig barely had time to let out a sound before it was silenced by a few more wrathful rounds.
A thankful guard looked up at him before being pushed to the ground as Forrest stood where he was before, firing his taser at the last boarbatusk.
The average civilian stun gun released fifty thousand volts into the body of its target. His taser, on the other hand, was custom-made for taking down some of the toughest clowns in the universe.
Fifty milliamps hit the boarbatusk in full force, causing the beast to begin having severe muscular contractions. It writhed around in rage as its body betrayed it, allowing Forrest to walk up to it and put a merciful bullet into its head.
"Ya'll aren't fun to fight." The Taser muttered to himself, holstering his taser before beginning to walk off into the distance. He hadn't expected to get into a fight after a day or two but it could've been better. Grimm didn't use tactics and the small packs could easily be taken down with his specs and tactics.
He only jumped in because it was clearly the first time these guards fought these pests.
What he presumed to be the caravan leader called out to him but Forrest ignored it. He had a mission to complete; the more dangerous Grimm might be more interesting to fight.
Adam nervously tapped his fingers on Springfield's counter. A cup of coffee sat beside his tapping fingers, still steaming. The reason why? Well it was simple, it was too quiet today, and it was causing the hairs on the back of his neck to tingle.
It was always the quiet days that resulted in the most chaos but if this superstition was true, he'd know the cause for today's chaos.
Namely, the fact that he released the trailer for Titanfall 2 to the public, both as a television advertisement and as a video on Remnant's version of Youtube called WeShoot. It was a frankly weird-sounding name until he realized that it was referencing people 'shooting' their videos, it's still dumb but at least it made some semblance of sense.
But he digressed, Springfield was currently using her free time to make some sweets for Nora, still trying to make up for the fact that Taser…well tased her. Despite the fact that Nora was perfectly fine and was actually actively looking forward to meeting Forrest again.
That girl…
Anyways! StG44 was calculating something on their tax returns and when he tried to help, she shooed him off, not wanting him to overwork himself. Which was definitely because she didn't want him getting another Payday 2 T-Doll. Well, at least not the specials. The regular cops and SWAT might be fine.
In any case, there wasn't a noticeable uptick in the amount of customers the cafe received but that was because he had just released the advertisements. So, it was still pretty slow. There were a few regulars and even some civilians playing Titanfall 2
Hopefully, he didn't make a mistake somewhere because that'd be ridiculous.
Moving on… Their funds were relatively stable still, even without that much business. At this point, Adam was wondering if he should just upgrade the cafe part instead of the internet part. But at the same time, the games weren't really games at this point, more like actual combat simulations.
This world wasn't the most grim out of any other potential world he probably could've been sent to, if he was sent to something like Cadia then he would've perished pretty quickly, but it was still pretty dangerous in his opinion. If the walls fell then it'd quickly lead to a domino effect of death.
Which meant that getting a game would genuinely be a hard decision as each one could improve his chances of survival if something went wrong. So far each game had a fairly decent reason for being bought. Titanfall 2 was the main source of combat experience, Girl's Frontline was a good source of personnel, and PAYDAY was an extension of that with all the cops he could now field.
If he ever got into any trouble, he could just snap his fingers and then BAM!
It'd be like a clown car with how many would appear from around the corner.
Heh.
Someone tapped Adam on the shoulder and he turned around to see StG44 holding two cups of coffee. She held out one of the cups and he gratefully took it with a small smile, despite already having a cup next to him.
"Thanks." He said softly, he took a small sip and had to fight down a grimace. It was too bitter, like drinking a blended-up bitter melon.
"How was it?" StG44 asked him with an unusually hopeful expression.
Hmm, did she make it herself?
Adam forced himself to take another sip of the… dubious substance, "Ah, it could use some work." He awkwardly grinned and set the mug down on his desk.
"I see." There was a flash of disappointment on her face but as soon as she took a sip of her own cup of coffee, she grimaced. "Kommandant… You don't have to finish it."
Adam shook his head. "Nah, you made it, I better not waste it." He did his best to confidently smile but the memory of what he drank just a few seconds earlier made it a bit tough.
StG44 sighed and sat down next to him. "What are you thinking about, Kommandant?" She asked, trying to change the subject.
"It's quiet. Too quiet." Adam muttered in response as he took another sip of the dubious substance.
"That's a jinx!" Nora cheerfully yelled from within the kitchen, although her voice was muffled due to the cookies she stuffed into her mouth. Ren had a deadpan stare on his face.
"Chew your food before you speak, Nora," Ren said, carefully pulling a tray of tartlets out of the oven, and putting it onto the kitchen counter. Nora immediately tried to reach out for one of them before her hand was elegantly swatted away by a gently smiling Springfield.
"Now, now, at least wait for it to cool down." Springfield ruffled Nora's hair to which Nora happily leaned into.
Adam smiled as he took another sip of StG44's bitter brew. Even its horrible aftertaste was muted due to the familial sight before him. Springfield really was good with kids. He looked to the side to see StG44 also smiling softly.
A soft jingle came from the door. StG44 and he turned to see two blonde kids, a boy and a girl, no older than Nora and Ren. They were likely twins due to how similar they looked. Blonde, blue eyes, but what was different was their demeanor.
The boy was lanky and unconfident, awkwardly shuffling into the somewhat populated cafe… Was that a bunny on his hoodie?
No, it couldn't be. A teenage boy certainly wouldn't have the balls to wear something childish in front of their peers.
It couldn't be, but it was.
Damn, either he was clueless about teenage fashion sense or he was confident enough to not care. But judging from the way he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck? Yeah, it was the former.
At least the jeans were okay?
The girl, on the other hand, had a confident smile on her face. She wore a knee-length black skirt that complimented her simple white blouse.
"Hey! Is this where that new game is being sold?" The teen all but asked the entire cafe, making her maybe brother frantically gesture for her to quiet down.
Springfield chuckled softly, being able to overhear the loud question even Adam stood up.
"If you're talking about Titanfall, then yep." Adam smirked and gave them an over-the-top bow to the two, "Welcome to the Apex's Rest. May your worries be quenched and your requests fulfilled."
There was silence. Even the other patrons turned to blankly stare at Adam.
StG44 nearly spat out her 'coffee' and with an embarrassed blush, slapped Adam's back, not hard enough to hurt him, but enough to make him stumble forward slightly.
"K– Adam!" StG44 quickly switched to using his first name, "What are you doing?"
Adam groaned and sat back down, rubbing his back. "I was trying to think of a cool slogan. But judging from everyone's reaction. That didn't work." He'll keep trying. Maybe one day he'd find something that worked.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see Springfield and Ren sharing a look before sighing.
The blonde boy raised his hand.
"Yes?"
"I thought it was cool…" The blue-eyed teen said awkwardly.
The girl, who Adam presumed the be his sister, rolled her eyes, "You think a lot of things are cool, Jaune. They really aren't, like your hoodie."
"Verte… My hoodie is cool though…" The now-named Jaune attempted to weakly protest, but was ignored by the teen next to him, instead, she refocused her attention back onto Adam.
"Going back on topic, how much?"
"Titanfall 2? Fifty lien to activate, and twenty-five lien per hour to play. And, if you're wondering about the prices. Yes, it's essentially an arcade game." Adam's words easily anticipated the coming question and halted it right as it was about to leave the girl's lips. She didn't look pleased at the high cost though, so he kept on going.
"Look, it's not my choice. I'm just the middle-man." Adam shrugged with his hands gesturing about as if saying 'What can you do?'. "But, I can do full refunds if you play less than two hours within a period of fourteen days." Not like they would refund it, VR games were unheard of in Remnant. So the sheer exotic nature of Titanfall 2 would ultimately prevail because right now, it was one of the only ones of its kind.
And yes, he did copy the Steam refund policy. It was a good enough standard to set here on Remnant.
Then Adam cleared his throat and raised his voice ever so slightly, so it could be more clearly heard by those in the kitchen.
"And considering you can team up and make networks, you can even have someone guide you."
Before Verte could say another word, Nora burst out of the kitchen with a bright smile on her face making both Verte and Jaune jump as she got right up in their faces, "Oooh! You're going to play Titanfall too? C'mon hop on! Me and Ren are super experienced! We can team up! We'll show you anything you two need to know on how to break people's legs!"
Jaune looked overwhelmed, his mouth gaping as his mind struggled to comprehend the ball of energy that was Nora. Verte, however, was much more casual about the whole thing.
"If I can refund it then that's fine by me." Verte drawled, trying to sound cool, but on the inside, she could only scream as her shoulders were shaken by the Valkyrie. "Boot up the game for us!" She threw a thumbs up at Adam as she tried to stop Nora from continuing to shake Jaune and her.
One quick payment later and…
Jaune ducked behind cover, that being a table in the map that was Angel City, desperately firing at any grunts who came past. His aim wasn't the best, he wasn't trained after all, but spraying and praying suited him just fine when the grunts recklessly came after him.
It wasn't every day they could potentially take down a pilot.
Jaune cursed his luck, having been separated from Ren and Verte soon after the match started. Nora, despite her claims of showing them the ropes, had immediately bolted toward the enemy team as soon as the match started.
But y'know, this was really cool.
Scratch that, this was really, really cool!
He felt like a huntsman… for about a minute until he maybe realized that he maybe wasn't all that cut out for combat.
But this was still very cool! And he was still somewhat useful! As a diversion…
It was a plan that Ren came up with, the quiet Mistralian teen being a decently adept tactician. Verte was a quick learner and while she couldn't keep up with an experienced pilot like Nora or any of the other players, she was still good enough to be enough of a fight that Ren could later intervene.
Jaune couldn't. So, he was to take a squad of Militia grunts and maybe ambush a few stray players on the opposing team. However, the plan quickly went FUBAR.
Nora got taken out by a pilot while they were talking and with a quick check of the leaderboard, she was killed by someone who was already level twenty-seven! A guy named Trench Cornetto.
Who then proceed to drop into the middle of their planning session and surprise the living daylights of everyone.
Jaune stopped to reload, nearly dropping his magazine but was able to finish just in time to shoot a single grunt in the face. The NPC fell to the floor with barely any time to cry his final words before Jaune grabbed his pulse blade and threw it with no real plan in mind.
Much to his dismay, it narrowly missed an IMC grunt by a hair's width, the grunt staring at the place where the pulse blade crashed into the wall. With a hint of surprisingly realistic disbelief, the grunt pulled the pulse blade out of the wall before charging in with the intent of getting into close-quarters combat.
Two more grunts supported him, their R-201s singing as they provided cover fire for their brave, and somewhat suicidal, comrade.
Jaune was clearly unprepared as the grunt tackled him, pinning the young teen to the floor.
"You killed my friends, militia scum. Now's my turn." The middle-aged grunt muttered darkly before attempting to violently stab Jaune in the gut, which was narrowly prevented by a quick-thinking Jaune who grabbed the grunt's hand.
The two were locked in a struggle, Jaune attempting to kick the grunt off of him while the grunt slowly inched the pulse blade closer to Jaune's body.
Then, the two other IMC grunts walked forward, aiming their guns directly at Jaune. Jaune grit his teeth together under his helmet, a burst of adrenaline hitting him, allowing him to do one last plan that his mind came up with.
A single clumsy punch. That was all Jaune managed to do.
But it was enough.
A pilot doesn't have to be augmented, but many do end up receiving cybernetic enhancements. However, even the worst pilot, or rather player, in Titanfall 2 knew one fact about combat. And that was melee instant kills most generic enemies.
The punch knocked the grunt off of him, his body crashing into a nearby chair and rolling on the floor, dead.
The sudden movement Jaune made was enough to catch the other two by surprise. They flinched for a singular moment before they resumed fire. Jaune tried to run out the window but took a single bullet in the knee making him collapse with a loud cry.
"Ah damn…" Jaune cursed, closing his eyes, "That went better than I expected at least. Maybe that'll be enough to get to level two."
But as if someone heard his cry of pain, a flash of white and pink crashed through the door of the bar they were in. The grunts turned to fire upon the new target but a ninja star hit one of them in the chest.
A small vortex hovered in the air, pulling the two, now screaming, grunts close together. Their limbs flailed about as they tried to get back onto the ground.
Their efforts were rewarded by a single softball grenade landing between the two and detonating. Their screams, and remains, faded into blue sparks.
"Heya Jauney!" Nora playfully saluted him. "Feeling okay?"
"My everything hurts," Jaune replied, using a nearby counter to help himself get back onto his feet. He clumsily pulled out a needle, turning away from his wound, before stabbing his knee with it. Despite his childish fear of needles, the feeling of relief he got as his HP replenished was astronomical, "But I can manage."
"Good! Now, let's keep going, we have more legs to break!" Nora crowed, striking a pose with her hand in the air. Her grapple armor seemed to proudly glimmer in the dimly lit room.
Jaune let out a soft whimper but shook his head and gently picked up a fallen R-201, he couldn't tell which one was his so he just picked up a random one. He tried to smile confidently to match Nora's energy but this game was so realistic that he could feel himself getting exhausted. Although, it wasn't to the extent that he expected, just the same amount of exhaustion you'd get from running a few laps in PE.
"Where's Ren and Verte?" He asked, setting up behind a window, staring at the chaotic fight in the main courtyard of Angel City.
Two of their fellow players fought in a vicious melee against three pilots of the opposing team. Bursts of fire came from around several different corners and allies as grunts did their best to support the experienced pilots.
Jaune's finger hovered right at the R-201's trigger, aiming right at an enemy pilot before deciding against it. With his accuracy, it'd only get him and Nora exposed. And while the map was big, they all had minimaps for a reason.
"Ren deployed his ronin near the harbor," Nora quickly answered. She was no longer posing, instead tapping her chin as if in deep thought. "I don't know where Verte is, but with her cloak armor, she should be okay."
Oh yeah. Jaune had to thank Ren and Nora for giving them some credits, letting him and Verte splurge on getting gear. Verte spent her borrowed credits on a titan while Jaune spent it on upgrading his armor.
And thank the gods for that. Without it, he'd have died several more times this match.
Jaune bit his lip nervously, "Where's the guy?"
Nora looked confused for a moment before she realized, "Oh, the guy. He's somewhere, but he still hasn't deployed his titan yet. Why?"
"We need to take him out," Jaune replied, seeing the two friendly pilots in the courtyard slowly get overwhelmed. The IMC grunts providing sustaining cover fire while their pilots pushed forward, with one stabbing a friendly pilot with their data knife. The Militia grunts, on the other hand, were in a state of chaos due to their rapidly decreasing numbers. "They're too organized. And I bet he's responsible for it. He's the highest level person in this lobby."
Nora nodded in understanding, "Like cutting the head off a King Taijitu!" She clapped her hands together, "You're a genius, Jauney!"
He nervously laughed, "Ren came up with the same idea, I'm just the one who told you." It was true too, before they all got separated by the sudden appearance of the pubstomper, Ren was prepared to organize a team to take him out.
But there was also another problem.
"Ren couldn't take him out, even with grunt support." Jaune tentatively mentioned, "I can't see how we can take him out."
"Well if we can't take him out…" Nora trailed off with a cheeky grin underneath her helmet, "Then maybe Ren's titan can!"
Been a while since I wrote this, so if there's any inconsistencies let me know and I'll fix it later. Till next time, later.