There were a lot of things to be frustrated about, Erik acknowledged from where he lay in the dirt, pressed under a wide log that had fallen against a rock. The fact that this was the best they could manage for shelter was one such thing. The fact he hadn’t been able to find an edible plant was another. That the Kaprosuchus had hounded them so far as to steal their kills? Yep, that was frustrating. The fact that the first day was pretty much over, and they had nothing to show for it? No ability points, no biopoints, and yet Erik found he wasn’t that upset about it. In his mind, he went over their fight, again and again.
For a brief time, they had been a team again. He and his friends had fallen into sync with one another like nothing had ever happened. Like they hadn’t spent the last few years pretending they’d never been close. Erik had tried to bridge the gap between Marcus and Sarah, after she’d signed on with her team and in a way he felt like that had made it worse. Like by trying to hang on to both of them, he’d ended up with neither. At least until today.
It felt like they had barely snuck away from the Kaprosuchus, slinking off between the trees when the sky had shaded to orange and pink. The sun was setting for the first time. Erik knew that the game didn’t end when the sun went down, but whatever came next they weren’t ready for it. His strategy for the dark was simple. Hide as well as they could. So here they were crouched under a log, largely silent, listening to the jungle's nightlife. The chirp of crickets, and the soft hoot-hoot of something that sounded like owls, though Erik suspected they weren’t.
They had lain side by side like that for hours, Marcus on his left and Sarah on his right. Silently staring out into the darkness. They’d heard large animals moving through the trees, and once there had been a bassy thrumming sound that Erik hadn’t immediately recognized for what it was. A growl at such a low register, and with enough power that they felt it move through their bodies, and the log above their heads, and the loose dry soil underneath them. It hadn’t carried on long before fading away, and whatever animal had made the noise moved on, heavy footsteps fading into the distance.
At some point all sound stopped. Something Erik hadn’t noticed right away. The silenced slowly wormed its way into the edges of his awareness before rushing to the forefront all at once. He listened intently for a minute, and heard nothing.
Congratulations Player on surviving the first day of E.L.E Online! You will now be removed to The Hub for the next 8 hours, before being replaced in this location at sunrise. The game world has been paused for the duration of the break.
So intense had his focus been that the window blooming to life, and filling his vision had made him jump. Judging from the jerks he felt to his right and left, Marcus and Sarah had been similarly surprised. His sense of touch faded, followed by all the others, and for a moment he was just a brain with no body. Thoughts in darkness.
Then he was standing once more in his human avatar. Essentially his real life self, though not quite so sickly or pale as he was in real life, and with a heavy steampunk aesthetic. Sarah and Marcus were at his sides in their own avatars. They were standing in an open field with the night sky shining blue and purple above them. A tapestry of stars beyond anything you could’ve found on Earth twinkling above their heads.
Before Erik had a chance to do more than glance around, a new window popped up.
“Welcome to The Hub Little_Rik, congratulations on surviving your first day!”
“You can call me Primarch. I am an administrative AI for E.L.E Online. I have many roles within the game-world, including one that I think will be of interest to you. At the end of each game day, when players return to The Hub, I assign them rewards based on their game-play. The categories for consideration are as follows.”
Survival
Combat
Team Work
Objectives
“Each category is scored out of 10, with 40 being the highest possible baseline score. Let us begin. ”
The first window vanished, to be replaced by another.
Survival:
Successfully evaded Kaprosuchus on multiple occasions
Successfully located water
Utilized log for shelter
Failed to find any food; you did not eat for 16 hours.
Score: 6
Combat
Successfully ambushed a team of enemy players.
Eliminated an entire team of enemy players.
Score: 8
Team Work
Assisted your raptor teammate out of their shell
None of your teammates died
None off your teammates were severely injured
Score: 8
Objectives
You did not complete any game world objectives on Day 1
Score: 0
Final Score: 22
You now have 22 biopoints to allocate.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
You now have 11 ability points to allocate.
New Achievement!:
We Have Fun and Games
Eliminate an entire team from the Battle Royale on the same day before returning to the Hub.
Reward: Title: Contender
Contender: You have proven you belong in the game. At the end of each day, your final score will receive a 0.5x multiplier.
New Achievement!:
Dawn of Dominance
Eliminate an entire enemy team before returning to The Hub on Day 1 of the tournament.
Reward: Title: First-Blood
First-Blood: You hit the ground running. At the end of each day, your final score will receive a 1.5x multiplier.
“Please note: Title bonuses don’t go into effect until the 1st day after they’re earned. Upon being returned to the game world at the start of Day 2, all future evaluations will add your bonuses to the final score.”
Day 1 Ending Growth Stage: Hatchling
Growth Multiplier: 0x
“Your team is off to an excellent start! You will find the control station in your team's headquarters, feel free to spend your points there. I will be on hand to assist should you have any questions.”
Erik read the message over twice, making sure he took it all in before dismissing it, and minimizing his HUD. Around him the field had filled up with the chaos that was the eclectic mix of peoples avatars. A 7 foot tall man made of rocks, bending down to talk to a girl who looked like one her parents had been a sheep, but in a good way.
“I thought it was only Sarah who liked the animal girls.” Marcus said with a snort. He’d dismissed his own message, and followed Erik’s line of sight. Sarah waved away her own HUD as Marcus spoke, but didn’t deign to respond. Instead letting her attention be drawn to the sheep girl, whom she eye’d critically.
“If you’re gonna do that whole song and dance,” Sarah said. “I find putting a carnivore with an herbivore sets the right tone. If you have two herbivores together it’s just…” She trailed off, raising one of her furred hands, palm downward and wobbling from side to side in the universal gesture of ‘eh’. Marcus shook his head.
“Damn, I was kidding. I don’t need to know what you get up to.”
“I wasn’t thinking that anyway.” Erik said, before Sarah could endeavor to make Marcus feel even more uncomfortable, not that he hadn’t asked for it. “It’s the avatars. It’s always so… messy.”
“This again?” Marcus asked. “You gotta let it go man. People are gonna dress stupid if they’re allowed to make their own outfits.” Sarah turned to stare pointedly at the bulky, muscle shirt clad stereotype that was Marcus’s avatar, and he shrugged. “Just sayin’.” He said, putting his hands up. “If he’s gonna go off about the avatars not being color coordinated again, I’d rather talk about the sheep girl.”
“Lets not.” Erik said. “What did you guys score?” He asked, changing the topic to something more relevant.
“20,” Marcus said, pulling the cigar from his mouth to dangle between his fingers.
“25” Sarah said, the hint of a smirk around her lips.
“Oh like hell.” Marcus snapped, glaring at her.
“So 25 biopoints, and… 12 ability points?” He guessed, and she nodded. “So it rounds down the odd numbers.”
“How the hell did you get 25?”
“I got a 10 in combat.”
“A 10!? The hell did you get a 10!?” He demanded, but it was Erik who answered.
“Context, Marcus. She’s a baby raptor. Even though we’re all Hatchlings, she’s a 3rd our size and she jumped right into the middle of that fight. Got away without a scratch.” He pulled his bronze button festooned cap off his head and ran a hand through his hair. “It scored her on the risk. On the margin for error and how well she handled it.” Marcus crossed his thick arms under his chest and grumbled for a minute before Sarah said.
“Headquarters is there on the map.” She pointed with one hand, while with the other she made a slow flexing motion with her fingers. Erik’s HUD pinged a notification, and he opened it to see that there was indeed a marker on a small map.
The field in which they stood was surrounded on all sides by a single story structure, made from pale adobe. It wrapped all the way around, and all along the walls of the building were doors. This part of the space had clearly been dedicated to player housing. He could see more paths that lead out of the enclosed space, winding their way towards a larger expanse, but for the moment he wasn’t interested.
“Yeah, let's go see what…” he trailed off, his eyes focusing on a pair of people that were bickering as they walked by. “Is that… Rick Astley?” he asked, horrified.
“Oh hell.” Marcus and Sarah said at the same time.