***Post Arrival, PA Day 97 6:14 am, Time Remaining until transfer 10.14:46:00; transfer rank 3,459,834
Gin lay in bed, his thoughts a chaotic mess as he tried to ignore the feeling and smell of the piss and blood that soaked his bed sheets. The sound of Mrs. “Kranky” Kranston banging on the floor above broke through his groggy malaise as he finally acknowledged the blaring alarm clock. Fumbling around, he blearily tried to locate the off switch. According to the time, it had only been trying to wake him for the last 15 minutes.
Both annoyances ceased shortly after he managed to find the off switch, though he could still faintly hear an ongoing tirade about respect echoing through the vent.
With a regretful sigh, Gin rolled out of bed. The wet sheets hitting the floor with a cringy "schlep". His body was still covered in scars from the fight with the Orc Chieftain. The mad rush of the last week had drawn the zone boss's attention and the resulting fight had almost broken him, but he had finished the stupid plan and was ready to report to the embarkation point.
Still, He agonized over the decision even if it was logically the safer solution. There were five embarkation points in the United States now. The Chinese were the first to hypothesize the theory of location grouping. They also proved it on the sixth transfer when all forty-seven of their "Dreamers" appeared within fifty miles of each other in solid groups of nine. Not an ideal group size according to gamer logic, but then the "Nocturnals" had a weird fascination with the number 3.
Dreamers had 3 tries to complete the tutorial. They received 3 skills for completing the tutorial. Level 3 was the transfer cap, and transfers occurred every 9 days. There were other examples, but those were the ones that stuck in his head.
Unfortunately for China, their Dreamers made the mistake of talking about the theory as they compared notes. The "Nocturnals" often had an eclectic randomness to what they revealed in their nightly broadcasts. Gin had seen that episode and the resulting aftermath of their slip-up. “Ouch."
Other world governments were quick to capitalize on the mistake, and the seventh transfer saw mass groupings from multiple nations. Viewers also witnessed the Dreamers from China and Europe establishing the first two colonies during that same wave. Korea would have made it as well, but they missed the minimum colonist count by 5. Canada and the United States concentrated their efforts and succeeded in the very next wave.
Scientists postulated that population density and urban development were major advantages in the success of Dreamers. Larger population centers had a greater number of Dreamers who managed to complete the tutorial and larger groups of transfers stood a better chance of surviving. Those factors didn't guarantee success as evidenced by the almost 90% casualty rate, but they were confident their hypothesis would be proven as the statistical sample improved.
All of this was still rolling through his mind as he grabbed a garbage bag and started discarding the sheets. The mattress was ruined, but he couldn't do much about that. Especially in the limited time he had.
He needed to report to the police station by nine. Someone would then drive him to a pickup point just outside of Jackson.
[Assuming the cars still worked, and they had enough gas to make it.]
The whole country was in lockdown ever since the Alien vessel had entered orbit. That was somewhere around 3 months ago. State and Federal Troopers were coordinating with the Military to secure major roads and were cracking down on any unnecessary travel. The first couple of weeks had been difficult with multiple riots breaking out across the nation, but as gasoline became scarce the ability to travel did as well.
Gin languished in the shower just letting the water and steam remove the sticky mess coating his body. Several scars had reopened but there was nothing serious and they would heal before the end of the day. “Stats” were amazing, and he marveled at his leaner waist and the definition that was beginning to show.
[If only Emily could see me now.]
93 days had really transformed him from an undisciplined mess, bordering on couch potato. She had complained about his laziness and the time he spent playing computer games. Before the Nocturnal ship arrived, that was truly a waste of time. Since then, it seemed like an incredible investment in staying alive.
The world governments had tracked the vessel's approach but weren't able to stage a response before it established orbit. The inevitable lockdowns were swift, as were the attempts to communicate, but the Nocturnals bypassed the governments and went straight to the people.
They got their name because of the stationary orbit in relation to the Sun, basically hiding in Earth's shadow.
[Well, that and the nightly dreams.]
As the sun began to set, anyone asleep would enter the "Dream" and receive the ship's transmission. That first message had spelled out Earth's demise.
[We were property! Entertainment for the ascended races!], Gin was still outraged over that revelation.
The response from Earth was so atypical as to be cliche. Our nukes, missiles, and what nots didn't even annoy them. They barely made it out of the atmosphere before disappearing. That was when the tutorial opened, and Earthlings everywhere were invited to "Audition" for their chance at galactic fame.
Gin was not a “First Mover”, having finished on the fourth day and ranking around 4.5 million on the ladder. Barely, a hundred thousand chumps/applicants rushed through the process that first day without stopping to consider the consequences. There probably would have been more but the risk of death was plainly spelled out and nearly three million people ignored that warning and died that first night.
The tutorial was brutal. You only had three chances to clear the tutorial and a single successful tutorial was required to secure your spot in line for the transfer. It wasn’t just the training fights to earn your skills, learning them was mentally exhausting as they overloaded your brain with foreign memories and knowledge. No one knew if the deaths had been from trauma or too many attempts.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
After exiting the tutorial, Dreamers were put into a starter zone to level. At least until their transfer time arrived. Based on the completion time, they had anywhere between 8 and 96 days to reach the level cap. That also gave at least half of the “first movers” 8 transfer waves to regret their decisions.
The first wave was three very lonely and unprepared individuals.
[Stupid rule of three.]
Two young Chinese men full of vigor and martial arts and a fire mage from Korea. Having also gone through the Fire attunement tutorial, Gin still wasn't sure how that guy had managed to complete it fast enough to be in the top three. He had been incredibly smart with good tactics and mana conservation, but he eventually ran out.
The second wave tripled the number of Dreamers to no better result. The third wave tripled the number of contestants again and the world finally saw its first two survivors, a Femme Fatale "Blade Dancer" from China, and a German "Barbarian" complete with face paint that was probably nowhere near historically accurate.
The first American to survive wasn't until wave five. The guy in wave four might have made it but he earned his Darwin award 8 days after transfer when he took a whiz on a "supposedly" dead goblin. That clip was replayed repeatedly overseas but not much at home.
The water had grown cold while Gin still mused over the situation.
It wasn't until the Group theory had been revealed in wave six that the U.S. Government finally stepped up.
Gin grabbed a slightly used towel hanging on the door and quickly dried off before bandaging a few of the more serious wounds and slipping into a pair of work boots and jeans. Having scrounged them two months ago, the clothes were now a little too big, but replacing them wasn’t an option as pretty much everything was closed except for the grocery store, and they only opened their doors twice a week. He had still been planning his build back then and was scrounging anything that might be useful later. A framing hammer and a rugged duffel bag, filled with his other essentials, sat next to the door.
Unfortunately, waves 7, 8, and 9 displayed the stupidity of humanity, or at least their governments. Just as the first colonies were established, everyone also witnessed the first assassination attempts, a disastrous first contact with a native city, and humanity's bigotry and prejudices both in and out of the dream.
[Assassins, Elves, and trolls, Oh My!]
Riots broke out again in almost every major city. People were beating, robbing, and killing over any perceived injustice. Basically, a typical day in your selfish modern world, only this time the government cracked down harder on any opposition. They still lost Portland and Seattle to anti-government protestors. Amazingly Texas stayed the course arguing cooperation for the sake of humanity.
Outside of the U.S., the Nocturnals stepped in to stop an invasion of Japan and a flight of missiles and planes from Russia. Several would-be dictators had tried to take advantage of the situation. Some succeeded and some failed miserably. The backstabbing, intrigue, and politics were the major contributing factors to his hesitation to place his safety in the hands of any government, including his own.
The American government had been broadcasting nearly non-stop encouraging participation. Dreamers were asked to monitor their departure times and report no later than 10 days before transfer. They would be relocated to the nearest embarkation point to coordinate the effort to save humanity and preserve the American way.
The patriotic appeal worked on some, but it wasn't a huge draw for a lot of America that was disenfranchised by the current state of affairs. He just didn't want to die a horrible death alone on some other world.
Gin gave the room one last look before slinging the duffel over his shoulder. With one final sigh, he slipped a pair of batting gloves on, picked up the hammer, and walked away from the life he had known. In two days, the 11th wave would depart, and he would be in the final stretch for his own departure with the 12th wave.
*** Post Arrival, PA Day 4 3:27 am, Estimated Time until transfer 103.17:33:00; estimated rank 4,431,564
Breathing heavily, Gin stumbled up the stairs and crumpled into a bleeding heap in the middle of the landing. He could barely focus and was struggling to pull enough mana for one final heal. He was past the threshold and would take mental strain from channeling mana. He would pass out from the strain if he wasn’t careful, and he wasn’t sure it was safe yet, but if he didn’t cast it then he would bleed out so close to finishing.
His control was still sloppy, and he barely managed the two-mana needed for the spell. Thankfully the wounds closed enough to stop the bleeding before he passed out.
“Ahem. . .”
The sound of a throat clearing caused Gin to nearly have a heart attack. Looking up he saw a tall lanky figure standing at the far end of the landing and indicating a ribbon stretched between two poles. Gin stared for a solid minute, fascinated by the sharply pointed ears . . . fins . . .fish ears, before breaking the tape and crawling across the line.
His heart really did stop for a solid second when the fish-eared man produced a massive copper cowbell and began swinging it wildly. ClankaClankaClankaClankaClanka!!!
“Congratulations, Young Dreamer, on completing your first tutorial. You have secured spot 4,442,214 on the transfer leaderboard your time remaining until transfer is 103 days 17 hours and 14 minutes. I have been assigned as your tutorial guide for this period of integration. You may call me, Nevem.”
It was just too much. Gin wasn’t sure if this was real or another part of the living nightmare that the last couple of days had become.
Nevem began to fidget in the uncomfortable silence.
“Was that not enough Cowbell? Your scans indicated that you can never have enough Cowbell.”
“Plenty!” Gin quickly raised his hands to stop Nevem before he could swing the dang metal monster again.
Nevem’s smile was chilling. His sharp pointed teeth made Gin think of a piranha but that could have been because of the ears too.
“Amazing. Such a wonderful device. Heavy enough to club an opponent over the head and loud enough to wake a sleeping dragon. Hmm….” Nevem’s eyebrow had raised as if in question, but Gin decided it was more statement than question and just nodded in agreement.
“Just so, Dreamer Gin. Excellent name by the way. One should always hide their true name when possible. I do recommend removing it from your profile page as soon as possible. As I was saying, you have secured your spot in the transfer according to your current rank, should your rank change significantly your transfer date may at the Triumvirate’s discretion be moved up according to the established entertainment schedule. Do you understand?”
Gin’s hand wobbled back and forth, “Sort of.”
“Ah, what do you not understand, Young Dreamer?”
“Who are the Triumvirate?”
“Apologies, your scientists have named them the Nocturnals. Though I do believe that name is not in common usage yet.”
“Ok, I should have gotten that from the context, but my head is still a little fuzzy from overcasting.”
“Very understandable young man, and I am sorry to rush but you have a decision to make before this session concludes. Having completed the first tutorial, you must now decide whether to sample additional opportunities or proceed into the starter zone to gain experience.” Nevem had waved at a staircase leading down and then indicated a hazy barrier that probably led out of the cave.
“As a reward for securing your spot, you have unlocked three tier zero skill slots. Should you choose to proceed into the starter zone you will receive a starter kit consisting of a bag, single weapon, and single armor piece of your choice. You will also be able to assign any previously learned skills to those slots.” Nevem paused to verify Gin’s understanding.
“Excellent, should you choose to avail yourself of the opportunities below again then please proceed down the stairs to the left. You will not however be able to start another tutorial with the time remaining in today’s session. There are accommodations below for you to rest and the tutorials will be available when you return on the morrow.”
“What do you recommend?”
Nevem’s smile was brilliant. “I am honored by your trust, Young Dreamer. Opportunities such as this should always be explored, so I recommend you earn just a few more skills.”