Deep Dive Ch. 04 - Boss Rush

- Yeah, don't remind me - I sighed - How long was I out?

- Around a minute? Maybe two. I didn't count but it was close for sure. Oh, that's right - she walked towards the nearby console - guys left something for you. It's from the loot pile.

She handed me a metal disc, around the size of my open palm, with a long, stretchy belt attached to it. As I inspected it closer I noticed that the central part of the disc was hollowed out, and filled with small coils and other weird pieces that I couldn't even describe, all of which were covered with a glass top.

- It's a shield - Veronica helped me understand what I was looking at - I was wondering earlier if you had one since you aren't wearing any. This one is a Scout Shield. Fitting, huh? The capacity should be around the same as yours, but it will make you harder to detect with scanners and whatnot.

- Yeah, I have one - I was still inspecting the miniature electronics hidden under the protective glass - I think it's built into the suit. So how do I use it?

- Just put it on - she showed me her belt, with a similar-looking device attached to it - I wear it like this. I think it's the most common style and the most practical one. But for you? I don't know.

- Why is that?

- You have those plating things on the outer side of your hips. I mean, it frames your ass perfectly, but adding a belt would ruin the effect.

- So it's more important for me to be an eye candy than to remain in one piece. Thanks, I will remember that.

- Come on, you know what I meant. Here, give me that.

She took the shield from me and kneeled, pressing the disc against different parts of my body, testing what looked good and what didn't. After a moment of pondering she pressed it against my outer left thigh, and wrapped the belt twice around, securing it in place.

- Yeah, this will work great. Two steps back, give me a pose.

- What now?

- You know, leaning against the wall, crossed ankles, sideways with a knee up, any of those would work. You can even use that battery we were on if you want to do a sitting one. Or lay down and we can do bending the back one, it would work better if we had a window to work with, but with a single light point directly up it could work as well.

- Are you by any chance into photography? - I crossed my arms, getting some idea of what was going on - You seem to know a lot about that.

She swiped open her menu and pressed a few buttons taking a few steps sideways, to get a better angle.

- And we are done! - she scrolled through the images - that one is the best, see for yourself. And yeah, as a hobby, thanks for asking.

I got another notification on my status bar. I opened my HUD.

[Message received: 1 video]

[Message received: 1 photo]

[Lasting injury: Left forearm]

What now?

[Level Up!]

[Open the character screen to select your advancement path]

[Quirk discovered: Reinforced learning]

[Path selected: Charmer (1)]

- Wait, what was that? - I scrolled through the menu, dismissing other messages - what the hell are quirks?

- What happened? - Veronica came closer and looked over my shoulder - what quirk?

- I got the message that I leveled up, but instead of being able to choose the path, it just gave me a new one. And there was a message about discovering a quirk, whatever that is.

- Oh, those are fun! - her face lit up - it's like perks, when you create a character you just pick if you want a quirk or not, but you don't get to choose what quirk. You have to discover it by playing. To balance it, they in general give you more benefits than downsides. What was yours called again?

- Reinforced learning or something like that. Fun mechanic my ass, let me just level up on my terms!

- Didn't you level up just a while back? - Vera wondered - that seems much too fast. I am like halfway through the next milestone, and you already tipped over it twice. More like quick learning than reinforced one.

- Yeah, that's kinda weird - maybe it wasn't so bad after all - but wouldn't that make me super overpowered?

- Levels here don't work quite like that - she explained - when you have let's say five points in one path, and just one in another, then your total level is not six. If it was like five and three, maybe that would be closer to six overall. It's not linear. If you have ten levels in demolition and another ten in brawling and fight a guy in the ring who has twelve or thirteen in just brawling you will most likely lose. On the other side, if you are skilled and have a bit of luck you can take on someone who is way over your level, even on the same path. All in all, just be happy that the numbers go up but don't think about it too much, levels aren't everything. If you are good, you can make anything work.

- Whatever, if I need to read the wiki to understand it then it's a bad game design. By the way what bullshit path is the Charmer? What does it even do?

- I don't know - she whispered into my ear, placing her hands on my waist - but it certainly works on me.

Of course, that made sense.

- It's you! - I slipped through her grasp and pointed my finger at her - It's all because of you!

- What me? What are you talking about?

- My first level up! I got to choose between the sharpshooter and the scout because I was using skills from both. You made me use them! I was taking down whoever you pointed me at, that's the marksman, and I was finding a path for us when we were going through the upper route, that's the scout. I got experience in both, so I could choose. And another thing you, well, we both kinda did... you get it! And I must have gotten the message while we were busy just now!

- Yeah, busy - she gave me a knowing grin - with stuff. And we just, kinda, did stuff back then. For sure.

- Oh shut up! - for once I felt like I understood something that was going on and she had to ruin it - you are just jealous because soon I will be higher level than you!

- I bet, just put a few more levels in that charm of yours and you will sweep me off my feet. I may just let you if you behave yourself.

My arms dropped. She just smiled.

- How could anyone last more than five minutes with you?

- You certainly didn't last five - she teased, pressing two fingers against her lips and sticking out her tongue between them.

- That's it, I'm out of here.

------------|V|------------

We all met in the first room, where the boss battle started. There was a new opening in the floor, that was leading into an underground chamber. We divided the ammo and supplies collected from the loot and descended to the lower levels.

We had a short conversation about the fight, the tutorial stage in general, the constant updates, how it was getting harder and harder as we moved on, and the unfair battle at the end. But that was about it, we mentioned the topics, agreed that something was wrong, and moved on.

They had more experience with the game and just said that we need to reach the hub, preferably a major one, and get more info. If something weird was happening other players would also notice, and maybe know more about it.

There was also told me that there was some sort of local web here. You could use it just like the Internet in real life, with the exception, that you could only get access to it at special stations. There were message boards, online stores, marketplaces, chatrooms, and, most importantly, forums, one of which should have patch notes, according to James.

There was also a video-based platform, where you could upload recordings of the game, to show off your best moments. I was worried about one particular video ending up there but dismissed it after a while. There must be some kind of moderation in place to prevent things like that, or the whole thing would turn into a porn site overnight.

- So, the plan is simple, we go through the portal here - James pointed at the wide, silver platform occupying most of the room - we get out of the tutorial level, go to the hub, learn everything we can about those stupid updates and decide what to do next from there. Any questions?

- Where are we going? - I noticed that there were no controls of any sort - Shouldn't we be able to choose the destination?

- In general, yes - James nodded - but after the tutorial, you go straight to the Shattered Hills. It's an open-world low-level area with a single hub. There are enemies of course, and everything else found in a typical MMO, namely timed events, radiant quests, annoying NPCs, and all that stuff. But we will just fast-travel to the hub, no point in going through the entire map on foot and getting shot at by patrols. Got any more questions?

I shook my head, and we moved onto the platform. After a few seconds, it lighted up in several spots, generating a low hum. No one was panicking, so I assumed that it was working as intended.

The whole platform suddenly moved down by a foot, but we all dropped by just an inch or two and were now hanging in the air. I wanted to comment on that, but I felt my body fold inwards and with a flash, we were gone.

------------|V|------------

I was leaning against the first boulder I saw, trying to figure out why wasn't I vomiting despite feeling like spitting out my whole stomach.

- What the fuck was that?! - I took deep breaths, still feeling nauseous.

- Yeah, it's not great - Veronica was leaning back against the same rock, slowly getting over the effects of the jump - We should have warned you. God, I forgot how bad that feels.

- Don't worry you won't throw up - James walked past us on wobbly legs - it's literally impossible here.

- Is it? - I doubted - My body begs to differ.

- No, he is right - Veronica stood up, clearly feeling better by now - just like you can't get sick, or get food poisoning. Well, you can be poisoned, but it will just be a status effect.

- And you don't need to eat or sleep or take a dump - James added - most people notice it only after a few days, if at all. Weird, huh? Like, it's something that you do constantly in real life, but once you don't have to do it, you just stop and don't even think about it. Hey, big man, the exit is the other way buddy.

Lazar, who somehow wasn't experiencing any negative effects after the jump, walked back toward the teleport at the rear of the cave without saying anything and started messing with the control panel.

- You good man? - James asked again.

- We have a problem - Lazar ignored the question.

- What problem?

- Go out, look west.

The three of us looked at each other, checking if the others knew what was going on, but we were all equally surprised. James shrugged and walked up the incline out of the cave, looking in the direction he was told when he got all the way up.

- Yeah. Fuck - he gave us a signal to join him - A problem is an understatement. What the hell happened here?

I and Veronica joined him at the entrance, looking the same way. Just below us, under the hill stretched the forest, with occasional ravines and steep rock ledges that were big enough to be seen between the trees, even from this distance.

Even further started what looked like a mountainside, but quickly turned into a crater, one big enough to be created by an asteroid impact. When I focused on its edge I could see small buildings and other constructions sparsely located along its length.

- What am I looking at? - I asked - I mean, I don't know what I should be watching out for. What's the problem?

- You see the point where the forest ends and the hill starts?

- You mean the crater? Not a lot of hill left to be honest.

- So on top of that hill was a hub.

- Damn - The devs were not playing around with seasonal events it seems. Just drop a nuke and call it a day - so what do we do?

- We are fucked - James stated - unless... Hey, Lazar, can we teleport out of here?

- Checked it just now - came the voice from inside the cave - only to the locations we already unlocked, but yes, we can.

- So we are not fucked - he grinned - that's the single good news today.

- But Valerie doesn't have anything else unlocked - Veronica cut in - she can't travel anywhere, and back to the tutorial is not an option. I don't even think that the game would let her.

- So we are fucked - I summarized - Great.

- No, no, no, we aren't fucked, we are getting out of here right now, the teleport is ready and waiting - James pointed at me with a forced smile - it's just you who are fucked.