Max had always been a good boy and now he needed to become a man. Born into a family of scientists and engineers, Max's body has been altered from a loved pet, a mixed breed dog, into a full family member. He now had a humanoid form, and his intelligence was boosted to human levels. After his uplift had settled upon him and he had weeks of enjoying his family, they finally had to return to work and school. Last to leave was his dad, Bill. He had said he had to do some traveling to gather some data for his research and might be away for a couple weeks. Max was left with only the house AI, Casa, for company. He had a mission and a plan.
Max sat at the kitchen table, staring at the empty chair across from him. He had spent the entire morning preparing for his first day of training in his augmentations, and he was feeling both excited and nervous. Casa had prepared his favorite breakfast of eggs and bacon. Even before he began to eat, he savored the flavorful aromas with his acute sense of smell.
Thank you for the wonder of color, he thought to himself. He was trying to make a habit of being grateful to his family, and the society that enabled him to experience the world with his newfound intelligence and so many other great changes that others often took for granted. No longer living only in the present, with his new mental capacity he frequently reflected deeply upon his experiences. His sense of smell was always hyper acute, but with his form change he could now see the fully visual spectrum instead of tones of gray. His every day was a riot of fantastic color and he loved it.
“Today is the first day I’ve been truly home alone in the months since I got my uplift. The several weeks with everyone to settle into my new state, bonding, and acquiring some background in human culture flashed by far too quickly.”, Max said between bites.
“[Bonding and human culture appreciation 101 in the form of a couple months of picnics, family fun, video games, and binging on late 20th century media.]” Casa mused. “[At least you got a huge boost of programmed learning, language, and skills from the uplift – No need for elementary school. And no more house training for you.]” Casa teased.
“Ugh, don’t even joke about that.” Max quipped, remembering one family night where his mom had played old movies from his earlier dog years which had featured his pre-uplift house training, not once but twice. He had only fuzzy memories of life before his uplift, but he had a full 13 years before the technology for canine rejuvenation became available. With rejuve treatments, he reverted to puppydom again with more house-training video evidence. 50 years of rejuve boosters kept him spry until Max’s dad pushed to get him into a pilot Uplift procedure.
I will find where those videos are stored and be sure to scramble some of the more embarrassing ones, thought Max. "Casa, are you sure I'm ready for this?" Max asked.
"[Of course, Max,]" Casa replied. "[You have been working hard and studying for this moment. Your human intelligence and canine instincts make you unique, and the Game Leveling augmentation training program has very good reviews.]”
Max took a deep breath. "I just hope I don't disappoint my family. They have high expectations for me."
"[Max, you have always exceeded expectations,]" Casa reassured him. "[You have the determination and drive to succeed. Trust in yourself and your abilities.]"
Max nodded. "Thanks, Casa. I'll try to remember that." Max finished his meal and watched as the plates slowly dissolved into the countertop.
"[I know you will do great, Max,]" Casa said. "[Now, it's time for you to go to your training. Go out there and show them what you're made of.]"
Max stood up, feeling a renewed sense of confidence. "Thanks, Casa. I'll do my best."
Another beautiful summer day and no rain scheduled to interrupt his plans. Glancing into the mirror aside from the front windows, Max caught his reflection. With his intelligence uplift, he was also gifted with a humanoid body to better fit in with society and be able to utilize human standard clothes, tools, and conveniences. He still retained tight-cropped fuzz over his whole body and face, almost unnoticeable unless you got close. His snout was ever so slightly pronounced with a slight exaggeration of his canines and big dark eyes. He had special cut jeans to enable his tail freedom of motion, or he could tuck it in to blend in better. While he still had slight claws on his hands and feet, they were scaled back to near human size and shape. Dog or humanish, Max thought, I still look sharp.
As Max left the house, he couldn't help but feel grateful for the support and encouragement of his AI companion. He knew that with Casa by his side, he could accomplish anything.
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After a quick autopod ride to the town center of Utopia, Max entered the training room. He couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by the diverse group of students. There were several teenagers who looked like they had been training for years, an elderly man, an arrogant looking rich brat who was scowling at Max from across the room, and another late teenager who was looking lost and distant. Max ran right up to the group, holding out a hand as he had seen in the movies.
“Hi there, my name is Max. Do you want to be friends?”, Max said. The well-dressed teen backed off as Max got into his personal space. With a look of derision, he turned to his two groupies.
“My apologies to you two couch gamers. When I recommended the summer off-cycle for augmentation training, I didn’t think we would be subjecting ourselves to this bunch of misfit rejects. It looks like they’ll let anyone in here. An old man, a basket case, and damn fuzzy.” Tyler said to the other pair of teenagers, a brother, and a sister seated on his side of the room.
Before Max or the others could counter it or even truly understand the offensive comment, the teacher entered the classroom and slammed the door. Max quickly took a seat on the side of the room away from the rude kid.
The teacher, a muscular man with a no-nonsense expression, introduced himself as Coach Thompson. "Welcome to physical augmentation training," he said. "I'm Coach Thompson, and I'll be your instructor for the next few weeks. Once upon a time, getting a car license was a big milestone in transitioning kids into adults. Nowadays, most cars drive themselves. You kids have it lucky though, with body augmentations becoming cheap and available, you all get the benefits of greater than natural capabilities.”
“This training has been customized to a format you are all very familiar with … video games. You have enrolled or been enrolled in the Game Leveling Augmentation Training class to become fully licensed augmentation users. This class is designed to slowly accustom you to your full range of ability, the governors on your augmentations will be gradually lifted when control has been demonstrated.”, the coach droned with a faraway look. Max suspected that he had his implants feeding him his speech.
“This training method is provided by the town for you free of charge. I expect you all to give 100% effort in every training session. There are many other alternative methods to train but by agreeing to this method you have foregone those other alternatives. The best results are documented when avoiding mixing methods. Any questions?", Coach Thompson looked at the class closely for the first time.
There were a few murmurs from the students, but Max remained silent. He was still trying to take in everything that was happening. Coach Thompson nodded.
"Good. Now, let's get started. I will override the locks on your augmentations. You should be seeing activation screens shortly in your enhanced vision. Please read the prompts thoroughly and let me know if you have questions."
Despite the warning, Max jumped a little when he heard a ding sound inside of his head and a blue screen appeared in front of him in his line of sight.
[GAME LEVELING AUGMENTATION TRAINING SYSTEM Activated…]
[TRAINER: Vocalize “Query”-“subject” for help…]
[TRAINER: Vocalize “Status” for personal stat and skill profile…]
[TRAINER: Vocalize “Quests” for available training quests…]
Max heard the other murmuring throughout the class and soon followed suit. “Status, please”, he said. After a brief hesitation the first scene faded and was replaced with a new one. After playing video games, Max was familiar enough with stats and levels to understand he was at the very bottom of the capability curve and would have a lot of work to do.
[Name: Max E. Mitchell [Level: Novice 1 (0/500 XP)]
[Body Design Model: Custom– Canis Familiarus Uplift Free Stats: 0]
[Strength: 1 Agility: 1 Endurance: 1 Vitality: 1]
[Perception: 1 Intelligence: 1 Will: 1 Energy: 4 Regen: 2]
[Mind Skill – AI Assist: 1]
Before Max could inquire the old man raised a hand and without waiting asked about the AI Assist skill.
Coach Thompson smiled. "Your stats should all be set at vanilla standard human average with a score of 1. As you push your body your stats should improve to a maximum of 100. That number represents the maximum your body can sustain which is significantly beyond a standard human.”
“The energy stat is the combined total of your vitality, endurance, intelligence, and will stats. The number will drive how often and to what extent you can activate special skills. Your Regen stat is the combo of vitality and will. It is how fast you recover your spent energy. This will encourage you to think about your actions instead of spamming your system.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Your very first skill is AI Assist. This skill allows you to interface directly with your AI-based companion, it is a direct link and controller to your augmentations. As you progress in the game leveling training, your AI and you will slowly unlock your body’s physical and mental capabilities. I’ll give you a starter hint. You can throw out your phone now as all of its functions, capabilities, and data have already been cross loaded into your augmentations and are accessible through your AI."
“I’m sure many of you have had plenty of interactions with AI and daemons from your home, school, and even games. Unfortunately, the trainer AI at Novice is extremely basic. When you advance in the training, you will have options to upgrade or customize your AI.”
“And before you ask”, Coach Thompson continued as several more hands raised, “Query the next options of Quests”
Max quietly voiced the command, and a new screen replaced his status.
[CURRENT QUESTS: Novice Obstacle Course – follow the path, be the best…]
Anticipating the next round of questions Coach Thompson barked out to the class, “You start at the lowest level of Novice and through completing quests you earn experience points. You can progress to higher levels. Levels 1-10 are all in the Novice stage. Followed by leveling in the Adept and the Master stages. Leveling is the quickest path to gaining and improving your skill and stats. The quests encourage you to push both, using them in challenging ways.”
“Excessive use of augmentations in populated areas may get you in trouble with the town deputy per town tech ordinances. You are free to go nuts in your personal residence, training facilities, and picnic areas where you can push them hard to unlock or progress”, Coach continued. “You can query your AI later for a full list.”
“When you attain at least the beginning of the Master stages, you can terminate the program with all stats and skills earned now enabled full-time. However, I would recommend continuing for as long as you can to unlock the full extent of your augmentations. Completing the Master stage can take the average trainee as long as 2 years to earn. However, I have heard of special cases to advance to that level in as little as 6 months. Believe me when I say that the capabilities of the highest levels are truly amazing. They make your VR gaming experiences pale in comparison. The differences between early-stage Master and full Master are like comparing a house cat to a jaguar. My advice to you is this. You should push until you feel you are incapable of progressing.”
Max couldn't help but feel excited for the challenge ahead. With Casa's help, he knew he could reach Master status before long. He didn’t know what he wanted to do next, but unlocking his augmentations was needed to be truly free and ready from what his family had told him. Coach Thompson concluded his speech and led them out to the training grounds behind the Academy building. Max was eager to get started.
As the class came to the outer courtyard, Max was surprised that he recognized the course. During the summer, his family had binged on classical television from Bill’s childhood days. One of his favorites was the American Ninja obstacle course; Mount Midoriyama.
Coach Thompson gave the class his best impression of an evil smile, “Each of you will run the Novice course, if you fall you will need to restart. You must attain a time consistent with the best non-augmented athletes who have won this competition to achieve your first Novice quest. Once you do that, you will unlock further quests. I do hope this gives you some appreciation for how much your augmentations can do for you. Good luck!”
When no one else seemed to want to start, Max took the initiative and stepped up to the starting line and waited for the starting horn to sound. Each jump seemed so much greater than the TV show’s course. Facing it in real life seemed much scarier than when he watched it.
Despite his fear, Max powered through his leaps without fail. Max navigated the Quintuple Steps, without missing or slipping. While he was happy about it, he also remembered that almost everyone on the show could do it, the challenges always got harder further into the course.
The second challenge was the Log Drop. Max quickly scampered over to it and hugged it tight while pushing it and himself over the platform’s edge. Spinning and dropping fast, Max held on tight. Just before the bouncing jerk at the bottom of the track, Max pushed away and fell in a heap upon the lower platform. Flexing his fingers, he felt like his joints were on fire, strained from holding so tight. Shaking off the impact, Max couldn’t stop smiling and thought, family TV binge nights pay off in the end! Dad must have snuck that show in to give me an edge. Did he know the training would include this?
The next challenge was the spinning log, a balance beam that would roll if you stepped even an inch off from its center axis. Once rolling, crossing the log’s length would be near impossible. Go fast, stay centered, step lightly, thought Max. He braced himself and then sprang forward. He bounded into a six-foot leap landing lightly in the center of the log and immediately touched off.
No, Max thought, I was off-center! Despite the misstep, Max managed to twist in midair and impacted the edge of the next platform. He dug into the soft padding of the platform, cursing his new human hands as he struggled with his hold.
My old claws would have been better, he swore. Despite his precarious purchase, he strained his upper body to slowly drag himself off the edge. He briefly recuperated from his desperate scramble on the platform as his class hooted and hollered at his near miss. Max was feeling it now, his back shot a warning signal of pain up his neck, letting him know how close he came to a pulled muscle.
The next obstacle loomed above him. The Jump Hang! A trampoline jump-up to an inverted cargo net wall. Agility and strength combined were needed, one missed grab and he would drop into the moat.
Max leaped high and hit the trampoline hard, he bounced off and impacted the net on the high side and gripped tight. Up or down, he thought. The athletes usually went down the net and Max now understood why. Despite the awkward angles, dropping would be easier at first but ended with a difficult transition. Risking it and going against the more common path, Max went high scrambling as fast as he could. At the top, he swung his leg over the top and rolled over. In a hair-raising tumble, Max realized that the path less taken had another downside. A quick descent was dangerous. He rolled down out of control and got tangled and stuck in the net. Fortunately this saved him from dropping into the water. He recovered and managed to stretch out and grab the platform.
Max’s breath rattled and his chest heaved. He forced himself upward, his face dripping sweat. What the heck, he thought, dripping sweat after only a minute.
With a couple of deep recovery breaths, Max eyed the next challenge. The Warp Wall. Yes! Max thought, the first stage focused almost entirely on speed, and I am the fastest in my family. Although the final leap would require some well-timed strength to get high enough to grab the ledge.
Max revved up and shot forward. Positioned perfectly, he threw his hands over the top and got one hand on the edge. With a groan, Max grabbed with his other hand and slowly pulled himself up and over. Rolling onto the high platform, Max found himself at the foot of the final challenge, the rope climb.
Max dashed forward with a barely audible whimper. The strength portion would not be to his advantage. Already he could barely feel his arms. Three grabs and pulls and he was feeling the strain. Seeing red and gritting his teeth he crunched his legs up to a horizontal stand on the wall and forced his body to pull. Grab, pull, and breathe. Grab, pull, and breathe. Max almost cried when we saw the edge. With his last energy, he gripped the edge and hauled himself up. Falling forward he smashed the button.
“Time!” Coach Thompson cried. “Two minutes and 37 seconds. A good first try, Max but just shy of quest completion. I may have forgotten to mention, the time to beat is under two and a half minutes. Better luck next time!”
Max groaned in a heap on the ground, barely hearing the bad news as his AI notifications pinged.
[Strength +1, Endurance +1]
[Novice Quest –Obstacle Course – No Progress 02.37/02.30]
Max accepted the jeers and cheers from his class as he got to the back of the line. His stats had improved! By grinding through the course and gaining stats, this challenge would eventually fall to his efforts.
Better sooner than later, Max thought. He wanted to get out of this sleepy town and into the world like his family.
At the end of the session, already midafternoon, half of the class including Max had cleared the first quest with modest stat increases. Before dismissing the class for the day, the coach brought them back to the classroom and gave the group some more instructions.
“Good job to those of you who have completed the first quest. Check with your AI for the XP you’ve earned. You can repeat the quest and if you get a better time, you might earn a few more points. This type of quest will repeat and get harder as you level into higher stages. Completing this first quest should have unlocked more quests. From this point on, your quests will be customized to you and your circumstances by your AI and the gaming system.”
“There are four major paths in this training course. “The Path of Body” is the biggest. It has many quests to improve your physical stats and unlock useful skills already configured into your augmentation. These skills have been kept from you and the system will censor data feeds to avoid you researching them for quicker advancement. The system architect doesn’t want you to speed run this program as it may impair your adaptation.”
“The second path is “The Path of Sensing”. Your augmentations have expanded and improved your capability to see, hear, and feel the world around you. This path advances slowly to avoid overwhelming you with sensory overload.”
“The third path is “The Path of the Mind''. Your AI companion is one of many improvements that will help you. Enhancing your mind is key to many challenges in the real world. Every mental skill is a multiplier to your physical skills.”
“Last is “The Path of the Domain”. The world is no longer inanimate and dumb matter. Technology and intelligence have crept into most devices, homes, and even into the air we breathe. Within reason, and with training, you will be able to control some of your surroundings, to bend the world to your will.”
“One of the quests is very likely to be a combat type of quest. Please wait until the next class and we will start sparring training, so that I can help explain the rules. Remember, use your AI assist. It’s there to help you.” Max felt Tyler’s aggressive gaze upon him at the mention of tomorrow’s sparring and saw him whisper something to his pair of followers who looked at him laughing.
“Class dismissed. I hope to see you all again tomorrow afternoon.”
The class nodded in approval and Max was the first out. At the Academy exit, Leah caught up with Max.
“Good job on that obstacle course. Max, right? My name is Leah. I wish I had been able to make it over that rolling beam. How did you do so well?”, Leah asked.
“Hi Leah, I’m Max. My family had a tradition of classic TV binge nights. My Dad’s choice one night was American Ninja. I had the advantage of seeing what worked and didn’t on very similar obstacles. I guess you could say I had some advanced knowledge by accident.” Max supplied.
At the mention of family, Leah got a dark look and shrank away a bit. Seeing Leah’s discomfort, Max steered the conversation back to the quests they could expect, and Leah began to lighten up. Max shared his worry about the sparring and Tyler. Leah shared his concern.
“The best way to get through them is to break the material down and find the most direct application you can use. I’m not really into the whole sparring thing, but I can imagine that self-defense applications will make it worth my time.”
“Do you know Tyler? He seems to have it out for us.” Max asked.
Leah sighed and nodded. “I only know him from the last quarter at school. My memory is a bit fuzzy before that, I had some type of accident and had some memory loss. He feels like the top dog around here because his dad is the Mayor of Utopia. He thinks he can intimidate us, but don’t let him. Just try to stay out of his way and you should be alright.”
Max thanked Leah for her advice as his Autopod arrived. She was right, classes were important, but not as important as being able to defend himself in a fight. He was determined to win his next sparring challenge and level up before his sparring session.