On the bus ride home I decided that I had no reason to wait in learning. I had seen channels devoted to lockpicking already, so put in my earbuds and started up a Yourtube video. “This is the Security Attorney, and what I have here…” the video started, and I ignored what was happening around me as, after every video, I got an XP message.
On my way home I swung by a convenience store to buy one each of the locks they had in stock, a couple of cheap padlocks, a cheap combination lock, and a bike lock, then went to my apartment. Once inside I sat down on the couch, pulled out the set of tools, and got to work practicing. The cheap padlocks were the easiest, followed by the bike lock. Once I had picked each of them a few times I opened the door to my apartment and started practicing on it. This got me some strange looks from my neighbors, but after telling them that I was thinking about becoming a locksmith, they seemed to lose interest.
I was able to consistently get four of the door’s six tumblers to lock properly, and could occasionally get a fifth to do so, but I could never get the sixth. I also noticed that my experience gain had slowed down significantly, so I decided to switch activities. Maybe I had learned most of what I could by simply picking locks.
After a few videos on how to bypass combination locks without trying every combination, which gave me a bit more experience, I started working on the cheap combination lock and after thirty minutes was able to reliably get into it in under a minute. But after an initial burst of XP, my gains seemed to be crawling. ‘Vera, what’s the deal with my experience? Ever since I hit level four, the XP gain has been much slower. I get that it would be faster at the lower levels, but this seems like too much of a change.’
‘That’s because Lockpicking is what your paradigm would call a “Tier 1 Skill”. In other words, it is a specialization which relies on at least one Tier 0 skill, in this case Mechanics. Your Mechanics skill is at just over four from fixing your bike, car, and playing with those fancy building blocks when you were a child, but since you joined the system your only experience has been from the bits of videos which covered how locks worked.’
‘I didn’t get an alert for that.’ I responded in surprise.
‘That’s because you have alerts from mundane skills turned off so that you don’t constantly get alerts every time you read something and your reading skill gains 3 XP.’
I shrugged. ‘Guess I did turn that off.’ I set down the lock. ‘So, do I have any more Tier 1 skills I should be aware of?’
‘Spells are actually Tier 1 skills. Align Nanites, for example, is based on the Tier 0 skill Nanite Manipulation.’
‘I guess that explains why Align Nanites hasn’t leveled up. I haven’t touched Nanite Manipulation yet. In that case, I’ll watch a few more videos on how locks work, and if that isn’t enough, some general stuff on other mechanical devices. Tell me when Mechanics levels up.’
The next few hours were spent watching people take apart locks of various types, at which point I learned about ‘security pins’, lock pins that were designed to complicate the picking process. I ordered a special lock with changeable security pins that was meant for lockpicking training, having it next day aired to my door, then went back to watching videos.
After a video on how mechanical pushbutton locks worked and one on steam engines I was just curious about, I got an alert that my mechanics skill had increased to level 5. With that I set down my phone and got to work on my front door once more. After an hour and a half, and my hands cramping up several times, I managed to pick it and got Lockpicking up to level 5.
“That’s enough for today.” I said, then went back inside and collapsed on the couch. While waiting for my hands to stop hurting I started wondering about the overall rate of experience gain. It seemed strange that a person could go from knowing nothing about a subject to being decent at it in a matter of hours or days.
‘That is because Earth is in an Information Age.’ said Vera. ‘Your people freely exchange knowledge, at least up to a certain point. That makes it easy to learn what you need to get up to level four or five in most areas purely through theoretical understanding. Past that point you tend to need to pay for an education, but hopefully that will change once the System gets popular enough.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
‘Well, the people who created the System didn't believe in hiding knowledge. To them, all knowledge, outside of some private things like your personal stats and thoughts, should be freely available to everyone, so that everyone can learn from it. That’s why the System is gathering all of the theoretical knowledge it can from Earth’s databanks, so that when the System awakens that information can be shared.’
‘Does that mean you can share it with me now?’
‘That’s...complicated. There is only so much I’m allowed to do to influence the people of a world without a fully operational System. If you do have a specific interest, however, I can lead you to places where you can gain most of that knowledge. There are places on the internet, including the dark web, where scientific papers and training manuals of all types are freely available.’
I nodded. ‘I’ll keep that in mind if I ever want to build a nuclear bomb or something.’
‘In that case...’
‘Not now,’ I stopped her. I wasn’t even comfortable knowing where to get that information at this point.
‘Very well. So, more training?’
I sighed. ‘Not with Lockpicking. My hands can’t take it.’
‘In that case, how about Electronics? It’s the Tier 0 skill the Tier 1 skill “Electronic Lockpicking” is based on.’
‘Sounds good. How about starting up a Yourtube video for me.’ I set up my phone on a stand on the coffee table so I wouldn’t have to hold it while my hands were recovering, and the video began.
After two level up alerts, which got my Electronics up to Level 5, I switched to watching videos on Electronic Locks specifically. By the time night got here I was at Level 4 in Electronic Lockpicking and realized that I should start getting practical experience if I wanted to keep advancing. I would have to go by the home improvement store tomorrow to see if they had any. For now, I would put on something non-educational, drink my smoothie, eat supper, and go to bed.
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The next morning I went on my morning run and did my normal exercise routine. When I hit one hundred squats I heard fireworks and looked around to see if some idiot in the neighborhood was firing them off. ‘Relax.’ Vera said. ‘That was just my way to congratulate you. You finally completed your Daily Quest.’
‘Does that mean I get a reward?’ When she gave me the ‘One Hit Guy Daily Quest’ she hadn’t offered any, but it didn’t hurt to ask.
‘I still haven’t figured out a way to do that.’
‘You mentioned an alien cryptocurrency. How about that? Even if I can’t spend it, the amount I have will let me track my progress better.’
‘Normally that is given out for doing things that benefit the system, but I guess I could consider you getting into shape a benefit if I stretch it.’ <5 Zerka acquired>
I was a bit surprised that worked. ‘So, Zerka is what the currency is called?’
‘Yeah, it mean’s something like ‘mark’ or ‘tally’ in the Zokthan language.’
‘Cool. So now I can track how useful I am to the system. Any other quests you can give me?’
An alert appeared.
I accepted the quest. ‘Well, I guess I was doing it anyway. I guess Hunting and Escort Quests aren’t really a thing at this point.
‘Not really. I’ll keep an eye out for them if you want, though.’
‘Might as well.’
There was a knock on my door and when I opened it I found the delivery driver was standing there with the package I ordered. After signing for it I went back inside and read the instructions. ‘Well, I guess my hands have recovered. Might as well practice some.’
I put a playlist of various mechanics videos on in the background, everything from sterling engines to internal combustion engines, and got to work. Three hours later, when my stomach growling notified me that it was after lunch time, I hit level six in both Lockpicking and Mechanics, so I took a break.
I swung by a diner I hadn’t had a chance to eat at recently, then headed to the home improvement store. Inside I found their collection of electronic door locks, but was surprised by how expensive they were. I would only be able to afford one of them right now, with as low as my back account was getting, so I came up with an alternate solution.
I went over a few aisles and grabbed a screwdriver and set of allen wrenches. I then headed back to the electronic locks aisle and started carefully opening the locks and bypassing them, using the screwdriver to bridge specific connections. My Electronic Lockpicking quickly got up to level 5 before an employee saw me and questioned me.
“Oh, I’m training to be a locksmith and was seeing how secure these were before I bought one.” I pointed to one of the mid-range ones. “That one seems to be the best so far. These three,” I pointed to three of the cheaper ones, “Are trash.”
“Uh,” the teenage boy said, unsure how to respond, “I can’t have you damaging company products. You’ll need to buy them first.”
“Oh, they aren’t broken.” I assured him, leveling up my Persuasion skill in the process, “I put them back together, they work, and there’s no indication that I even took them apart.” I put the cover plate back on the one I was working on and put in the screws holding it on. “See, good as new.”
“Uh,” he paused again, “I’m going to have to get my manager. I’m not sure how to handle this.” He left and I decided it was time to leave.
I took the screwdriver and wrenches to the checkout, as they were now used and therefore the store couldn’t sell them, and after paying for them left, seeing the teen and a man in a suit walk back towards the Locks aisle as I left. Thankfully there was another home improvement store in the city and several hardware stores, one of which my cousin worked at, so I was able to ‘try out’ several electronic locks and mechanical locks before buying one of the cheaper, but still decent security, ones at my cousin’s place of employment and heading home.
I spent the next day changing the code on my new electronic lock and bypassing it, as well as working with my special padlock, and by the time I arrived at Wan’s office on Sunday I was at level 7 in both Lockpicking and Electronic Lockpicking.
I buzzed myself in and, upon entering his office, I noticed another man sitting there in front of four tiny doors, each with a different lock. The man was wearing a nice suit and looked too formal. I ran Identify on him.
“Uh, hi. I didn’t realize you had a guest.” Poker Face helped me hide my surprise.
“He’ll be observing the test today, and deciding if you have what it takes to help with this investigation.”
“I thought it was your investigation, though.”
“I’m a private investigator. That means there is always a client. In this case, him. Now, if you don’t mind.” He motioned to the four doors. “You have fifteen minutes to open as many of these as you can.” Wan pulled out a stopwatch. “Tell me when you are ready.”
I pulled out the lockpick set, screwdriver, and allen wrenches, and nodded at him.
“Begin,” he said, hitting the button on the stopwatch, and I got to work. The key lock was the easiest, as I had practiced on so many of them, and I was through it in under a minute. Next came the mechanical push button one, which was susceptible to one of the common weaknesses of that type of lock and also opened in less than a minute. The combination lock was a variety I hadn’t dealt with before, but after two minutes of probing I figured out enough about it to bypass it.
The Electronic one was by far the hardest. It contained multiple safety measures meant to prevent tampering, which slowed me down significantly. I almost missed one of them which would have locked it closed, but caught myself just before tripping it. Eventually I was able to disable or bypass all of those systems and short out the circuit that opened the lock.
Wan hit the stop button and looked at the watch, a look of mild surprise on his face. He then showed it to me and the man in the seat. 13:08.
“Adequate” the man said, then offered me a hand. “Agent Jack Harkness, FBI. So you are the help Mr. Lee found for us. While your skills could use a bit of polish, they are good enough to bring you in on this investigation.”
I shook his hand and took a seat. “And what are you investigating?” I asked as Wan also took his seat.
“Cedar Park Pharmaceuticals.” the agent responded. “I can’t tell you much, but they are suspected of multiple accounts of kidnapping, murder, and medical experimentation on non-consenting people. We need someone to pull information from their server for us, which means getting into the building.”
“So, what, I’m supposed to get a job there?”
“Normally, that would be how we operate,” the agent responded, “but another, less risky, opportunity presented itself.” He handed me a folder from the desk in front of him. “This is a domestic terrorist group known as Animals Shall Be Free, or ASBF. If they were just sticking to their origins and protesting outside factory farms, we wouldn’t be investigating them, but recently several of their branches have taken to raiding farms and taking the animals. They’ve even kidnapped, tortured, and killed a few hostages who didn’t cooperate.” He pushed a button on his cell phone and a security video played of some people in animal masks and black outfits shooting security guards. “This happened two weeks ago in LA. And now we have learned that the local branch of ASBF plan on raiding Cedar Park and freeing the animals they use for medical testing. That’s where you come in. We need you to join up with them and gather information on both them and Cedar Park.”
“I appreciate the job offer, but why can’t Wan do it?”
Wan slid a photo across the desk. “Beverly Fredricks-Marsden. She is the leader of the local chapter of ASBF. Only problem is, I investigated her husband for her for the divorce proceedings, so she recognizes me, and doesn’t like me.”
“Couldn’t find anything?”
“No, the guy was definitely cheating on her, but she found out I eat meat, and is a militant Vegan. I almost lost the contract with her because I ate a cheeseburger in front of her without knowing that.”
“Fredricks...sounds familiar.” I thought for a second, then remembered something. “The Veterinarian at the zoo?”
“Yep, that’s her ex. A coincidence really. But that’s a bit off topic. Suffices to say, there is no way she would let me join them, knowing I’m not vegan. So I had to find someone else to do the job.”
I knew this would be dangerous, but I also knew we needed to get to the bottom of this disease outbreak. And if the FBI was sanctioning this, it was my best opportunity to break in a steal the data I needed. “Fine. I’m in. I assume it pays well?”
Agent Harkness smirked and tossed an envelope onto the table. “10k now, another 20 when we have the data. There’s a USB in the bag. Just plug it into any port in one of their computers and it will run a script one of our people wrote to pull the data. Once it is complete, pull it out and bring it to us. Assuming you can do that, we may have further work for you with ASBF.”
I nodded and took the bag. Wan also threw four stacks of twenty dollar bills on the table. “There’s the 2k I owe you for completing the test. As for the loose ends we need to tie up,” He handed me a post-it note with a woman’s name and address on it. “She can get you into ASBF, though she isn’t a full member. She’ll also be able to help you fit in with them a bit better.”
Agent Harkness stood up and walked towards the door. “I trust you can handle the rest, Mr. Lee?”
Wan nodded and the Agent left. After that I got up to leave as well, but Wan stopped me. “Something I couldn’t say in front of him, as he doesn’t know you have the System, but you should get the Surveillance skill. Not sure which paradigm you are using, so I can’t tell you how to get it, but it lets you record and transmit your senses to another person. In this case, I want you to send me your sight and hearing. I’ll transfer it to an MP4 in my computer and tell Agent Harkness that you were wearing a secret wire.”
“Won’t I have to stop running incognito to send it to you?”
Wan nodded, “Yeah, you would. The friend list and transmit features only work when you are logged in. In that case, make the files yourself and give them to me. I won’t be able to watch in real time, though, so you’ll be on your own in there.”