Chapter II
Scavenging the Desert Wreckage
Part 1
With heavy movements, Joshua lifted his body off the ground. Sand slid off from his back and through the crevices of his suit. It was a miracle that he had survived the crash.
As he stood up, he could see the remains of the seat hundreds of meters away. When the blast pushed him away, it had increased his horizontal velocity enough to reduce the impact of the fall. He was also spinning wildly and luckily landed with the seat first, breaking it apart. He then bounced and rolled over the sandy desert.
Running diagnostics… done.
Warning: Armor defense function level is below 20%!
Respiration system… 75% functional. Ok.
Motor systems… 30% functional. Ok.
Sensory systems… 60% functional. Ok.
Warning: No armaments equipped!
Registered armament signatures detected within 500 meter radius.
Recommended actions:
Repair armor suit.
Retrieve armaments.
New Mission Registered
Locate a Union City
Planetary signature have been detected before the crash. This is your destination, Union Planet U53.
Locate a Union city and report the crash incident.
Optional:
Investigate the crash site and search for clues.
“That was one hell of a ride.”
Joshua looked up to the sky. The distant sun was at the midpoint between the zenith and the horizon, and was slowly moving to the west as it set. It was also much smaller compared to the real world sun. Although he was currently in a desert-like place, there were no mirages in the distance. It was not hot enough.
He decided to search the nearby wreckage for the ‘armaments’. They should be weapons he could use to protect his self. Fortunately, a virtual radar function was available and hovered in a the upper right corner of his view, although it would buzz with static every now and then. There were two points on his radar, and it was labeled RA001 and RA002, with the first two letters probably standing for ‘Registered Armament’.
It didn’t take long for Joshua to gather them. One of the armaments was in one of the spots where he bounced and rolled after falling off the seat. It was a Short Heat Blade. The other one was just a few meters away from the point of impact and where most of the seat’s wreckage were. It was an Assault Heat Rifle.
When he placed the armaments on the slots on his back, they changed into a more compact shape and fitted snugly. Hearing the sounds they made as they stuck to his back sent a strange feeling through his spine. It was similar to the chills one got when they suddenly discovered something amazing.
“How do I check my stats? Hmm…”
Although Joshua had no experience in playing VR games, that didn’t mean he was ignorant to video games in general. He knew of RPGs and MMOs on consoles and conventional computer units and had played them, too.
After tinkering about, he finally found a PDA-like device attached on top of his left wrist armor with a sliding cover. When he opened it, a hologram appeared above it displaying an interface menu similar to most games.
Character Information
XByteJack of All Trades
+5 to all stats
Strength: 56Agility: 56Dexterity: 55Technique: 56Intelligence: 55Charisma: 56
Skills
Basic Weapons
Proficiency Level 1/10
Allows non-specialized armaments to be equipped.
+1 Strength per level.Basic Armors
Proficiency Level 1/10
Allows non-specialized armor suits to be equipped.
+1 Agility per level.Exploration
Proficiency Level 1/10
Allows the exploration of environment and gathering of common and uncommon materials.
+1 Intelligence per two levels.Research
Proficiency Level 1/10
Allows the study of materials, equipments, and other complex designs.
+1 Intelligence per two levels.Engineering
Proficiency Level 1/10
Allows the improvement, repair, and construction of armaments, armor suits, and other complex designs.
+1 Technique per level.Leadership
Proficiency Level 1/10
Allows the role of team leader and ship captain.
+1 Charisma per level.Basic Ship Navigation
Proficiency Level 1/10
Allows the piloting of a small ship and other similar vehicles.
+1 Dexterity per two levels.Basic Ship Combat
Proficiency Level 1/10
Allows the usage of installed combat weapons while in a small ship or other similar vehicles.
+1 Dexterity per two levels.
He first checked his character stats. The numbers were truly representative of his title, a jack of all trades. He also had a virtual inventory with nothing inside. As for his equipments, they were nothing to boast about.
Short Heat Blade
A simple bladed weapon. An energy cell was installed inside the handle to heat the blade during activation, increasing cutting power.
Energy: 100%
Assault Heat Rifle
An energy cell-powered assault rifle. It is lightweight, compact, and durable.
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Energy: 100%
Union Standard Armored Spacesuit
A mass-produced spacesuit provided to citizens sent on volunteer duties. It has all necessary functions installed.
Defense: 18%
Now that he had his weapons, he probably should search for the Union city while looking for clues regarding the crash along the way. He recalled the direction of where the ship was heading before it exploded, and luckily there were still smoke and vapor trails in the sky. Using that as his guide, he headed toward the assumed direction of the city and the crash remains of the ship.
Part 2
The crash site was a ghastly sea of charred debris and corpses. For a moment, Joshua actually forgot that he was inside a game and rushed madly to see if there were any survivors. When he came to himself, he felt embarrassed and glad that there was nobody who had seen his shameful display.
None had survived the crash except for him. At the least, he had not seen another living person on his way here. Since that was the case, it was likely that the crash was a scripted event, and all the other passengers that had been in the ship with him and were now corpses, were NPCs.
He remembered the optional part of the quest. It was to search for hints about the cause of the crash. He remembered that it was announced over the speakers that they were being ambushed. By who, he does not know.
“There should be some sort of black box, or else their spaceplane is not up to standards.”
Having finally acclimated into the game, he had the leisure to make jokes about the current turn of events. This was just a game after all.
For almost an hour, he was scouring the wreckage for any sort of hint that could comply with the optional part of the quest. Not a single piece was left unturned on the site.
Skill Level Up!
Exploration
Proficiency Level
1 —> 2
Unexpectedly, one of his skills leveled up. While he was inspecting the scattered debris earlier, notification windows containing information regarding the objects he picked up would appear. This may have been a part of the Exploration Skill, and since he had been using it non-stop for an hour, he had unconsciously increased its proficiency level.
Aside from that, he had also found what he was searching for. Inside one of the console-like wreckage, there was still an intact hard drive.
VDR Hard Drive
VDR stands for Voyage Data Recorder. This contains information logs about the controls, sensors, status of equipments, as well as voice recordings of the pilots’ conversations and video recordings of the events within the vessel.
If an accident happens, investigators can use this to assist in the investigation.
He stored the VDR Hard Drive in his virtual inventory along with the other junks he had picked up. As why he had picked those up, it was because in the information window brought up by the Exploration skill, those objects were labeled as ‘Recyclable Material’. Furthermore, he only had 500 Union Credits in his inventory. He was still unsure if that can be considered as a huge amount, but considering the trend in most games, the starting money would most of the time be only enough to buy one or two new equipment with only slight improvements compared to the beginner equipments. Having a stock of materials that could possibly be traded was not a bad idea.
“It’s more like being a scavenger than an explorer.”
Joshua had even inspected the corpses if they had materials he could take, and true to his expectations, the corpses indeed have salvageable materials, although some of them were things he had not expected.
Deceased Human Flesh Sample
A sample taken from a corpse. The source was a victim of the Dragonfly vessel crash on planet U53. Storage of this material must be handled properly as its reaction to the planet’s atmosphere is still yet unknown.
It seemed like not much was known about this planet. The words of the announcer back in the ship was indeed true. This was a frontier planet. Research and development here was still in its early stages. Hopefully, the crash was not part of an experiment to see how deceased human flesh would interact with the atmosphere. It was a long shot of a conspiracy theory, but not implausible. Joshua shook the thoughts away from his head as he stored the sample in his inventory.
Despite having a load limit for equipments, there was none for his inventory space. So far, it did not seem like he was close to reaching its full capacity.
Weightless and seamless technology.
“My thoughts are easily getting sidetracked.”
Joshua had a habit of talking to himself both loudly and mentally, especially when he was alone, and most of the time he was alone. He smiled wryly as he remembered the first night after his employment.
He was replacing the cables on one of the NightWalkers computer units on the main building’s second floor. It was just before the time when students attending cram school were dismissed. There were only few customers, and the unit he was working on was at an isolated corner. He was talking loudly to himself while he was cleaning up the dust that had accumulated on the system unit and motherboard. It would have been okay if it was just simple babble, but he was also talking to the computer unit as if it was a living person. Before he had noticed, a group of female students had settled on nearby units and were giggling among themselves while sending him amused glances. It was an embarrassing incident for him.
While he was thinking of that past event, the ground started to shake. It was so strong that he immediately lost his balance. Even the sand were being thrown inches into the air.
“An earthquake?”
Before he could recover his wits, a deep rumbling sound seemed to come from below. The shaking grew stronger and stronger. Finally, the biggest remain of the ship was thrown high into the air.
No, it wasn’t thrown. It was lifted by a giant worm-like creature with its teeth-filled mouth. Its body were lined with wriggling spikes that formed layers around its circumference, from near its head to the rest of its body that was still underground.
“What the hell!?”
Unfortunate incidents after incidents, Joshua felt that all his luck had been used up when he finally got his job. Hoping that this was just another scripted event, he turned tail and ran in a random direction. He didn’t care where he was headed as long as he could get away as fast as he could.