Upon waking in his bed in-game, Gray received a message that all players needed to report to the logistics facility to receive a new piece of equipment. Gray headed down to the facility and ran into a few of the other players receiving their new equipment. Showing his player identity badge to the clerk, Gray received a small data chip with the Alterra Online game logo and his player number etched on it.

He saw his number was '068 – D', which Gray assumed the D was for his Diamond Tier status. Gray was told that his unique neural profile would be stored on this chip as a backup. This allowed all Alterra Alliance mechs to quickly calibrate for him if they did not have his profile already stored.

"Weird, you'd think everyone could use a generic setup," said Gray to himself.

Suddenly Caleb Waldowski came up from behind him and stated, "A generic setup will never suffice for military applications. The neural paths may be used to communicate signals of the human brain, but the signal strength and the path through them are different for every person."

Gray got startled by Caleb's sudden response that came from out of his sight. He thought about hitting Caleb for scaring him, but he realized that he would've done the same thing to Caleb if given the chance.

"Yeah, that makes sense. A generic one might work if everyone was closely blood-related. Still, it's safer to just give everyone their own." said Gray nodding in agreement, pretending not to have nearly pissed himself from earlier.

"Indeed, for example, if someone has a very weak signal overall and the mech is tuned for someone with a stronger signal, they would find it impossible to get a full range of motion out of the mech and it would feel sluggish. On the contrary, someone with a very strong signal on a mech tuned for lower strength would find their moves jittery and exaggerated.""So, once again, why can't the game just use our VR bed's tuning?" asked Gray to Caleb.

"Realism is my guess… and also plot convenience…" said Caleb.

Gray didn't hear that last part fully and asked, "Plot what?"

"Not important, anyways, I imagine today will be the day we're finally turned loose upon the game world. A game is a game and if we aren't allowed to play in it, why would anyone want to even log in?"

Gray did agree again with Caleb. He admitted he was a little frustrated that he couldn't just go on a romp like normal in this game. Gray usually would get himself beat up to learn things the hard way and was looking forward to experimenting on his own sooner or later.

After a few more minutes, the rest of the players all received their new keys, and an announcement rang through their armlets that they needed to head to the classroom. Gray and the others wandered towards the classroom, found their seats, and chatted amongst themselves.

Major Valen did his usual burst through the door entrance and addressed everyone, "Good morning pilots! Today is the last day I will be holding your little baby hands, I will not be responsible for you even if you come crawling back crying like an infant begging for help. The last five systems for you players will be introduced and you baby birds can either fly or fall to your death."

Major Valen tapped on the holoboard, and a message was sent to all of the players in the room.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"System Message: Matchmaking, Forums, Market, Missions, and Mech Bay are now unlocked" was the message sent to all players in the room.Gray noticed 3 new icons in his HUD: "Forums," "Market," and "Missions" were now present.

"As players, the forums should be self-explanatory. Use them to recruit, trade, communicate, and whatever else you players do with them," said Major Valen. "As for the Market, this is also another standard for you players. You can use it to exchange your merits for equipment, resources, in-game credits, or even real-life credits!"

This got Gray very excited as he's always been poor, but most of the other Diamond-Tier players were from very wealthy families, so it didn't mean much to them.

"If the exchange rate is good enough, could I even quit my job?!?" Gray thought to himself excitedly.

"Missions will be posted by various NPCs like myself through the Mission applet in your HUD. Missions can be repeated, some are first come, first serve, and even fewer will be assigned to specific players depending upon certain conditions. I'm sure all of you are familiar with this already." Continued Major Valen.

Gray had learned in the previous class that the game would use ranks similar to the Army. Every Diamond-Tier player started at Private First Class, whereas every other player started at Private. The ranks were as follows: Private, Private First Class, Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, Sergeant First Class, Master Sergeant, and then Sergeant Major. After these ranks, one could become an officer. The officer ranks start from Second Lieutenant, then First Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, then General, with a General being one to 5 stars. According to Major Valen, only the lowest Officer Rank, Second Lieutenant, was available for players in the game.

"Matchmaking will be available to use from the simulators near the mech bay. We have a hundred simulators ready, this only covers about half of the maximum capacity of this base. Once the game fully launches in 5 more days, players with higher rank will be given priority over usage whereas equally ranked players will be in a queue. For matchmaking, we have several game modes available and you will be matched with players from around the game world, not just this camp. Once you reach the rank of Master Sergeant, you will be able to open up your own private room to create custom matches."

This is what most players were looking forward to. Walking around in their bodies felt like a game lobby to them, and they wanted to use their mechs even if it was only simulated.

"The mech bay you kids should all be familiar with, but just because we're giving you free reign of your mech doesn't mean it is a good idea to just go waltzing around in it. We will not cover any costs of supplies should you waste them wandering around aimlessly and think it necessary to waste ammunition on target practice. Missions will have supplies provided, if you use more than provided, you can cover the cost from the mission reward, if you use less, you will be given extra merit points in some cases."

"Well, so much for wandering around and grinding roaming enemies," said Gray to Geoff, who was sitting next to him.

Geoff just shrugged in reply. He and Gray were very similar, but Geoff was still a little more low-key and preferred to

do things according to established processes. Gray also didn't care about standing out too much or not at all and enjoyed winging it.

"Today is the last day I am obligated to answer your idiotic questions, starting tomorrow I will not respond to stupid questions!" said Major Valen while glaring at the same idiot that he had bashed over for asking if he could be an attack helicopter.

"Sir!" said Caleb while standing up. "You had originally said that you would train us and turn us from raw lumps of metal into fine swords. Is that no longer the plan?"

Major Valen shook his head. "That is still the plan, but there will be too many players for myself and the few other experts to be able to train effectively. Each one of you has been assigned an advanced AI designed for training you. If you choose to ignore it, that is up to you. You can still seek out my expert advice and any other officers delegated as trainers. We will most likely require merits as compensation. In the future, seminars and classes will be held for those that are interested. Attending is not mandatory, but getting expert advice directly is invaluable!"

Everyone started to get excited and talked among themselves, and Major Valen finally boomed over them all. "My last piece of free advice!" This caused everyone to pay attention to the major once again. "Form a team of people you trust, do not rush it. Playing solo won't work in this game. You are all dismissed!"

Gray looked at Geoff and said, "Teammates?"

"Of course, nobody else could put up with how badly you suck at this game anyways," said Geoff. "Now time to find some others."

"You suck just as much as I do!" retorted Gray.

"Since you admit it, I guess that is a step in the right direction," said Geoff.Gray and Geoff could take their time and get other teammates. No rush like Major Valen had said.