I joined up with the group to find that Tarah was avoiding me. Every time I tried to head in her direction she made an excuse to leave. Our group was the size of a large class of students so it was pretty obvious. With only 38 people in our group it was easy to count them all with my new senses. Why does quick counting fall under the heading of 'super senses'? I don't know, but apparently it does. Watching her glance over and the disturbed look on her face that I could see from so far away was also under the heading of 'super senses'.

When I tried asking Donnie about it his only response was that she was intimidated. I hadn't exactly been super forward before the fight. But then the battle happened and I was, in her words according to Donnie: "ordering people to die" and "not even caring what happened to them". She must have been one of the people hiding out at the end of the battle, though I hadn't had the luxury of paying attention at the time, and didn't like how it had turned out. Neither of us wanted to talk about it any more so we just let the topic drop.

Fortunately I didn't need to worry about asking for anything about the market. While her more specialized 'communications' equipment had a longer range and more power, mine still had an easy enough time finding the signals from their advertising. It made sense, since advertising could only work if people could receive it, but I was still worried that my comparatively second rate equipment wouldn't be enough for however they were sending it out. I didn't need to have worried. Once we had left the area of our base a bunch of magical advertisements made of illusions flew near us, near enough for people to reach out and grab them if we wanted. Some people did, but they were less detailed and interactive than the information I already had. Finally there were periodic a pulses of I don't know what, but it brought with it a sense of commerce in a certain direction but that you shouldn't come if something was trying to kill you.

The stuff I had picked up had given me a much clearer picture of what was going on. There was a market but it was located in an adjacent dimension where the shop owners made the rules. Those rules were pretty straightforward and included the expected penalty for breaking them which was also straightforward. Most crimes either were punished by bodily injury (twice what you had inflicted), a fine (three times what you had tried to steal or broken, or forced purchase), or death (and the rules specifically stated that this did count as ending your tutorial run early through 'self sabotage'). Part of me wondered how much control the shopkeepers had over the laws of the area, since the rules were treated more like natural laws than what you would get by a legal body, but maybe there were limits?

Either way, I began the tedious process of trying to figure out were I would be going shopping. Imagine shopping the internet with a list of hundreds of store names and locations but no search engine. You could look up each individual store but with no direct comparison other than to just look at both pages side by side. Even worse, most of the items weren't standardized, so you that only made things even more confusing. It was even worse when I tried to look up information brokers. Nothing was standardized and they all advertised who they were affiliated with; be it nations, Paths, or other groups. Some even made a big deal out of what groups they held in opposition.

Eventually Mack noticed my scowl and came over. "Is everything ok? You seem to be staring at the tree-line with a lot of anger." His tone of voice was calm and steady and the way he came from the side made me think he was trying to nonconfrontationally get me to calm down.

I sighed. "I'm trying to look up shops. The information is completely disorganized and even the simplest things are a mess. And nothing is standardized so it is nearly impossible to know how things compare." I took a breath and tried to calm down.

He nodded along. "Don't worry about it. Nobody has that many credits. Some people have a couple thousand at most, but most have less. You might have some more from all your level ups, but it shouldn't be enough for you to stress out this much about it. Just do what everyone else plans to do and buy some food and maybe something fun with the leftovers."

I stopped and pulled my menu back up, just to check.

Aliases/callsigns: None

Body: 38-40

Speed: 40-40

Mind: 40-40

Recovery: 40-40

Path: Technology

Level: 4

Classes: Computer Operator

Credits: 26,861

Soulbound: 8/20

4pt Computer

4pt Electronic Transmitter

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: 20/20

4pt Hammer Space

16pt Enhanced Senses

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 upgrade that allow for mental control of any electronics implanted while allowing those electronics to have a degree of influence on the biological. (Class Option)

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)

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)

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

The very fabric of your soul has grasped more than most mortals could even imagine! This allows the student to do greater feats with no greater strain, greatly improving one's maximum power! Perhaps, in time, your power may grow to mythic heights! (Discovered Option)

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)

I'm pretty sure that twenty-six thousand, almost twenty-seven thousand credits, is way more than he thinks I should have. It is probably from killing the boss, though I'm also pretty sure that making a big deal about it would be a bad idea.

"What would you buy if you had ten times as many credits as you do now?" I asked instead.

He paused, seemingly surprised by my question, then answered after a moment of thought and a wave of his hand that I took as meaning that he looked at his status. "Ten times as much is pretty small, when I really think about it. I could really use a soulbound weapon and some armor. Some skills to get me superhuman at combat would be great too. I could also stand to buy some skills to sure up some weaknesses that have become apparent lately." He winced a bit at his own admission, then continued. "If I had a hundred times what I do now, though, I would get myself the ability to fly." A small smile came to his face as he spoke and a determined look came to his eye. "It isn't even an option for me right now and I don't have enough free points for it if it was... But still..."

There were a few seconds worth of silence before he regained his composure and let out a self depreciating laugh. "Here I am, dreaming to fly like I was when I was five years old. Don't get me wrong, my class is great. I get to boost most of my stats through the roof and it even came with some options to make me prettier and to learn how to fight better. Don't tell the girls about that though," he said with a wink, "but sometimes I just want the grandeur of being able to stand, like a real superhero up, above some small town while being able to make everything all right." Then he turned to look back at me more directly. "What would you do if you had infinite credits?"

My first thought was of building a character who could do everything before I started trying to narrow it down. Then I willfully stopped myself and spoke. "I would try out everything I can, do everything The Game allows, and never settle forever on one build. I know it isn't realistic and it is good that this dream has infinite money. But so what? I just can't imagine playing a game and not getting a chance to play all the characters and do all the stuff."

Donnie spoke up next walking closer to our group and dropping from his other conversation. "Too bad life doesn't work like that. You have to specialize or you end up weaker than someone who does."

"So what? Just because the archetypical 'renaissance man' wasn't an absolute master of any one field didn't make him less capable than the people who were. If anything it meant that there were fewer situations where he was completely out of his depth." I rolled my eyes at my next thought. "Then again I might be spoiled. In my life I always could just pick up the full range of characters and try them out. That's the nice thing about playing video games for a living."

Mack seemed surprised at that. " That's like, the dream job. What is it like playing games for a living?"

I shrugged slowly and gave him a somber smile in a deliberate attempt to give him a moment to think about my action before I replied. This wasn't the first time I had been asked this question, especially since I was the one player with the longest relevance in the league by a couple of years. In a field where the best players often fall off after no more than two or three years, I was an anomaly who had been around two or three /times/ as long. Yet nobody outside the field understands the pure melancholy that threatens to choke the life out of a gamer who focuses on just one game for the majority of their adult life. Doubly so if they are aware enough to know that their feat of prowess could easily die with the game. History will not remember my deeds, no matter how dominating they may have once been. Something else has to drive me forward.

"It ends up being a job like most others. The dedication required means that you must really love it or else you will fall behind. But after years and years of anything you either choose to keep going or you don't. No amount of the type of fun that normal people have for the game will keep you going at that point. You have to find your own way to keep going once the excitement has faded. Some play for the recognition. Some for their ego. Some for the money. Some because they have sacrificed their entire life to the game and have nothing else left. As for me, I focused on trying new things and always trying to find something new. But in the end you either choose to keep going or you don't."

"That can't be true." he answered slowly. "Everybody wishes they were a professional gamer. Everybody who is serious about the game loves them."

I shrugged again. "Nobody here recognized me and I played in the Ultimate MOBA tournament less than a month ago." Not that I blamed them, really. People only remember the players in the top two teams, maybe the top four. We didn't even make it into the top eight. But, while I didn't blame any normal person for not recognizing me, I could still recognize what it meant for my fading career.

There was some silence until Mac spoke up again. "What about you?" He asked toward Donnie. "How would you build your character if you had enough credits to do whatever?"

He glanced over curiously, seemingly finding things acceptable, and then answered. "I think I'd go full in on the gadgeteer angle. First I'd need more building skills to deal with all this post-space aged technology and then I'd need a good sized Spatial Inventory to carry more materials. I hear that there are even some ways to generate advanced materials so I would never run out. I'd also upgrade my body some more, but I'm not really sure what to do after that." No wonder he hadn't been excited about the ability we had gotten from the mage, it had been completely useless to him. Also, my 'Hammer Space' ability is probably the same as the 'Spatial Inventory' that he wants, but good luck if he wants to sneak some blood from me without my notice.

"You could always get an ability that ups your mental stats, everyone needs more Processing and Focus." It was one of the guys that had been part of the group Donnie had been talking with before. I didn't know him all that well but knew that he focused on biology in a weird middle ground between Tech and Superpowers. "Or even get some robot helpers to help you either make or use your gadgets."

Someone else spoke up next, a guy with factory tech and lots of crafting knowledge but no actual factory. "Why stop there? Why not just go full 'grey goo' and make whatever you want whenever you want!"

The magical girl, who had been with them, decided to give her opinion. "You all are so serious about getting the perfect build. Why not try some magic or regular superpowers to add some flavor? Who couldn't use flight or a force-field?"

We were still a couple hours away but the conversation continued until we had arrived.