The battle was now over. It took around thirty minutes from the downing of the leader to clear out his forces, including the rabbits that had scattered but still stuck around. The results were better than they had any right to be, but still not super great. Us Cosplayers had lost seven out of our three dozen or so people, and half of those had been killed by the General himself. His side had only lost two but they started with only around twenty people total. The vast majority of the deaths were on the side of the primitive aliens. They had lost around 30% of their total, and they had a couple hundred people. It was better than it could have been, better than it should have been even, but the way it happened had been the worst part of it.

Also, the guns had gone back to their rightful owners not long after the mercenaries woke back up. I can't tell you how annoying it was to see that happen when I was just getting used to having a meaningful weapon. Also, rifles are way easier to control and aim than handguns; it was something to think on while I remained annoyed about not having it.

The failure of our defenses ended up not being due to bad planning, but rather things that we hadn't even known to need to plan around. The first problem came up because the rabbits could apparently climb. The bunker, which had been to the back of the alien's group where they put the weak and the infirm, was suddenly overrun. The old folks acquitted themselves fairly well, fighting back until things lightened, but it still got bad. The second failure was from the south and somewhat east, where the scout leader had attacked us before sending off his horde to scatter. It got really bad when the animals made contact with the larger group because they were able to seemingly call in their animal allies to converge on the civilians. Furthermore while the big dogs were bad enough, powerful and armored from the front, killing them was only a temporary relief. If you didn't have someone with a flamethrower or other method of disposing the body than it would just divide up into four or five big cats, depending on the damage the dog had taken. Those would then split between half a dozen and close to a full dozen bunnies. And the bunnies liked to swarm.

After cleaning up the enemies in our area what was left of our group went to help clear out the leftover attackers in the alien camp. The results were not encouraging. Fully half the nonlethal casualties were friendly fire incidents and there was no way to tell how many of the deaths were the same. The bodies had already disappeared. The old man, the Chief, and most of the warriors had survived but there were noticeably fewer children in their camp.

I tried to approach Mack and let him know what I had figured out about why the encounter's difficulty had jumped so drastically. He simply put his hand on my shoulder with a dark look coming over his features. It struck me then how his suit was dirtied and bloodied with tears marring its once immaculate appearance. In that moment he didn't look like a hero, he looked like a villain on the day they turned to evil. He simply stared toward the General's camp and answered my concerns. "I already know."

Later on the leaders of the three groups had some angry words with each other, but one of them was backed by military weapons and the other two were not. All that resulted from that confrontation was that we would be leaving in a few hours with the bunker becoming the sole base of the trench coat arseholes, who were quickly becoming relabeled as the 'Cheaters'. When someone complained about the move Mack simply asked if they could survive being shot with a machine gun, then explained that they had a couple dozen of the weapons. Complaining continued, but not toward Mack's decision to move the group.

I was more interested in the voices inside my head that were talking to me. They said strange things to me like "New entrant to 'The Testing' has been detected, initiating the current class based system." and "Experience received: +1 Level, +1 Level, +1 Level, +1 Level." I was pretty sure that this was supposed to be happening and wasn't just the result of me having taken a few knocks to the head during that last battle. This was not at all how things had gone before. The first time I had to directly ask the robot if I had gotten anything from my class and had to let it give me the options and then select them for me. This was better, to a point? At least I wasn't having to stand in front of the robot and wait for it to explain everything to me. I would much prefer it to give me the information in a visual form rather than reading everything to me. Suddenly a bunch of words popped up in front of me, complete with drop down menus and explanations. It was honestly a bit trippy.

Name: Johnny Maximilian Riker

Aliases/callsigns: None

Body: 38-40

Speed: 40-40

Mind: 40-40

Recovery: 40-40

Path: Technology

Level: 4

Classes: Computer Operator

Credits: 42,861

Soulbound: 1/20

1pt Computer

A memory storage and computational device, essentially a robot brain. Can be optimized for size, power, or other parameters. (Class Option)

A catch all for most types of computerized control and interface devices for use with a sufficiently powerful computer. (Class Option)

A specific computer interface device unlocked through the higher category and discovery. Allows connection with other devices designed for interface capabilities, with higher levels making hostile intrusion easier and increasing the range of the interface (Class Option)

Abilities: 4/20

4pt Hammer Space

A safe area held within the soul that allows the transfer of items into and out of that subdimension. Can be bought up to the level that allows for the transport of a small spacecraft. (Class Option)

Brain and nervous system implants that allow for mental control of any electronics while allowing electronics to have a degree of influence on the biological. (Class Option)

Allows the user's physical body to be changed to suit their desires. This is mainly used for cosmetic changes but can affect biological weaknesses, identifiers, and is a prerequisite for personal biological experimentation. Speed and range of control are determined by the level of the ability. (Discovered Option, duration limited by Half Life Genetics)

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Allows the user to divide off a section of flesh to create a semi-autonomous minion that follows the user's desires. Minion's numbers and other properties are determined by the level of the ability while the speed at which more can be made is determined by Regeneration. (Discovered Option, duration limited by Half Life Genetics)

Gives the user superior senses, including the mental upgrades required to process the greater levels of information. Allows the user to actively utilize often unconscious senses, such as touch's heat sense, to gain information about the surroundings that might otherwise be ignored. (Discovered Option, duration limited by Half Life Genetics)

A body that has been genetically optimized for the Arcane Arts can now be yours, allowing for greater levels of Magical or Psionic use with less physical strain! (Discovered Option)

A genetic modification that causes genetic material to rapidly break down when outside the body, making it harder to use that information for selfish or nefarious purposes. (Discovered Option, duration limited by Half Life Genetics)

Become aware of danger moments before it effects you. This level gives no information about the type or source of that danger, but it will still give enough warning to do things like wake you if something tries to get to you as you sleep. (Discovered Option, duration limited by Half Life Genetics)

Skills: 0/20

Gives the user the skills to create operating systems to both control a computer and to allow the computer to control other things. Level effects the complexity of the control and the range of how complex the thing is that can be controlled. (Class Option)

Gives the skills to create items that a computer can use to control other things. Level determines the complexity of what can be a controlled target. (Class Option)

Hu, that was informative. Most of the information seemed to be spelled out fairly straightforwardly, though I get the feeling that it is limited by my own understanding of it. Hopefully I'll be able to get some better information soon. Also, hopefully the system or whatever will figure out the wonky formatting; it is kind of really bad... Still, it is better than someone trying to explain what everything is and what it does. That would get tedious fast.

But what I got does seem to mis a few things, such as that there are distinct 'levels' that perks can be bought at rather than just being able to buy however much of whatever you want. The levels are 1pt, 4pt, 16pt, 64pt, and presumably 256pt levels; though the only thing I really know about the levels is a generic 'more is better'. Also the squiggly lines seems to mean that the level I can buy it doesn't have an upper limit on cost (so why not just use one of those infinity symbols?), though there might be something more to it. You can upgrade a perk, such as upgrading my computer would only cost 3pt to get to the 4pt level, but not downgrade them or remove them without... something... I'm not really sure what yet, but I'm pretty sure it uses credits. Also class options, up to a certain point, are free; You don't have to pay to get them or to apply them, everything else costs. It feels like 1,000 credits per point applied. That may be nothing in the future, but applying anything will make a sizable dent on I have right now.

My first thought was, again, 'Why is my interface so weird?' My second thought was that the countdown timer on those abilities was had just dropped to 18 minutes, so I should decide if I wanted any of them before they were gone. The first thing I noted as important for what of those I might keep was that, with the 4 points I had already spent on Hammer Space, I had 16 points left to spend.

Wait, that's not right. I leveled up four times. Shouldn't I be at level 5? Unless I was actually at level 0 before and it only defaulted to treating me as a lv1 because... reasons? I don't know how, but I'm certain this is that robot's fault. Screw you tutorial robot, screw you. So now I'm /still/ not up to the average level everyone else is, and most anyone who survived probably went up another level as well. The system seems pretty straightforward, 5 points per level in each category of upgrades, so I should be catching up with everyone else or at least not falling farther behind.

Also, counting up the points of the abilities I got access to from that boss gets to a point total of 533, and that's assuming that he doesn't have something like my Hammer Space, with it not being shown as coming from him because I already have access to it. Either way, that puts his level as being over a hundred. I don't think we were supposed to be able to beat him. Also I am down to 17 minutes thinking about all that, so I should get back to it.

With the 16 points I have to spend I have basically four options: I can buy one of his abilities at the 16 point level and get something decently useful. I can buy all of his things at the 4pt level and get some skills of dubious usefulness. I can upgrade my Hammer Space and buy 4 points worth of his stuff, or I can save my points and money.

Saving is out. I have barely enough money to upgrade my character to full power as it is, and I need the power. I also saw some of the prices that the nearby merchants were advertising so I know that saving my credits won't get me enough to buy anything good. Maybe I can find something to trade for more credits to get something better? The soldiers have that computer they used to look me up, so maybe I can pull something useful off of that? Either way it is enough 'maybes' that I shouldn't trust it with my future. I need to spend what I have rather than save it.

The second thing I'll rule out is trying to go the minion route like that boss did. He seemed to be extremely specialized and I can't imagine he didn't have Skills or Items that further boosted his ability. There is no way I would be able to make that as useful as he seemed to make it. And, cool as it might be, I'm not sure I'm really cut out to be a minion master. I would only rate my leadership abilities as passable and not 'puppet master' worthy. I can also rule out focusing on Body Manipulation or Hammer Space. Neither of those sound like they would really would be useful at this time. I don't exactly have a reason to mess with my own genetics without some expert direction, and neither do I expect to need to be able to 'carry a small spacecraft' any time soon. That pretty much leaves the enhanced senses. So do I think it would be useful to have super senses about everything that is going on around me all the time? Yes, Yes I do.

Right, so how exactly do I make this work? And how does it