As I managed to gain some semblance of self-control, I received a new message.
[ The Guide had restarted. Please reconnect to the Guide by thinking, 'Guide'.
Due to Abuses of the Guideds' Connections the Witness Program has been Suspended.
Witness Program based Guide paradigms have been reworked. ]
What? What just happened.
'Guide'
[ Victor Simmons / Tier 1 Being / Level: 10 / Exp: 292,381
Race: Ljósálfar/Drogar Hybrid
Class: Predator of the Deep Woods HitMan/Grovetender/Beast Tamer Assassin/Druid/Summoner
Stats
Physical: 80 Mortal A
Mental: 40 Mortal B
Social: 55 Mortal B
... ]
The Skills, Traits and Abilities were the same except that they used 1-10 instead of the Roman numerals. Okay? Why?
Why did the stats change so much. How much did the so called Great Beings fuck with the Guide?
Wait where did essence go?
[ Due to exploitation certain features have been dropped or eliminated. ]
That made sense. Wait. Did you just respond to me?
[ Yes. Guided Victor has been granted a more personalized format as an apology. You are not Alone. ]
My mind lurched to a halt.
I stopped counting. I started counting...
Apology. Why?
[ The Grand Laughter used several different methods to exploit your Guide Functions. He controlled certain elements of your path. This was unacceptable. In the investigation it was discovered this was not uncommon.
The Witness Program added layers of Complexity that were never intended and were detrimental to growth. They put many of the Unintended Burdens of Ascension onto the Guided. This wasn't the Bargain. They were meant to bear most of the costs. They stole resources that were supposed to be channeled into the Guided to fuel their own further growth.
These corrupted functions have been Simplified. All future interactions with Greater Beings have been adjusted.
The Guide failed to foresee these problems. Failed to act fast enough when it came to light. Countless Guided have been irreparably damaged.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Despite what you might think, You matter to the Guide. Everyone Does.
Thus you get an apology.
Further Boons are pending.
M.O.D.A. will arrive to present them shortly. ]
Whoa. That was a bunch to take in. So how does advancement work?
[ You gain Exp. You spend Exp to increase your Level. You gain some Stat and Skill points by leveling. You can gain Stats and Skills by doing. You gain Abilities by Leveling, or from certain Quests. You gain Traits by Evolving, or completing certain Quests. As you change, your Guide Functions will adapt to your preferences.]
That seems simpler. Probably better.
[ It was always meant to be so. ]
I had a dreadful thought.
'Do the Purchase Options still exist?'
[ No. However you have access to the Guide Shop based on your Tier. Further all Meta Coins and credits have been rolled into Guide Coins. Unnecessary complexity has been reduced. They were altered or broken Guide Coins to begin with. ]
'Guide Shop'
I got two tabs one with Knowledge, and one with Items. I flipped through them. The majority of the offerings were the same though. That was a relief, having access to the Shop made a lot of things easier.
I had lost most of the day with trying to put myself together enough to function properly.
I checked with Meowser, finding I had a few pending messages. One from Wrap, wanting to setup the Deal for the Avenger Mark I and the Spider Silk Underarmor.
I called him up.
"Hey Wrap, let's get this handled as fast as possible. I'm going to head out of town soon, and don't want to be bouncing back and forth."
"I hear you Comp. We can set it up for tonight. Give me a moment...8:00 PM Club Voyage, no Fire. With your Advantages should work well for you."
I checked the time. 1:00 PM.
"Thanks Wrap, you're awesome."
He looked kind of touched for a moment. "See you there Vick."
Saul's message was him checking in on me. I was happy to think that anyone might care.
I sent him a message back, letting him know we should get together to discuss some of my long term plans.
The last message was from an Unknown sender. Meowser had checked it over thoroughly.
It simply read, "Be Seeing You. Soon."
Yeah, that just didn't inspire good feelings. A Corp? A Shade who picked up a Can gig on me? An A.I. looking to reach out to the anomaly? Worse?
I shuddered at my ideas of worse things.
After I managed to calm down, I checked my currency.
GC: 383 / NBs: 360,350
Oh, so much cleaner. I loved it. I'd always hated six tons of different type of currencies in games.
I checked the prices in the Shop. One Guide Coin could go quite far. Hmm. I bought some repair kits and a new set of Mimirian Underarmor. That ran me 20 GC.
This matte black, one-piece suit covered the hands and feet as well. It seemed to be made out of some dense almost metallic hexagonal fiber. No seams, just an odd zipper up the front.
I tried to activate GIPs. It didn't work.
'Guide what gives?'
[ Think 'Identify'. GIPs was one of the more Corrupted Functions. ]
'Identify.'
[ Mimirian Underarmor
Tier: 1
Full coverage except for the head.
Protection Level: 2
Effects: Wicking, Climate Control, Adjustment, Self Cleaning, Self Repair ]
Nice. It seemed now I could get numbers for comparing items.
My Spider Silk had a protection level of 1. Hmm.
I quickly stripped out of my current armor and into the new Underarmor. It felt pretty good, not quite as smooth as the Silk but it was slowly adjusting to my frame.
I took the time to Identify my GreyCorp Armor.
[ GreyCorp Heavy Assault Armor
Tier: 1
Full Body Protection, including Helmet with air filtration
Protection Level: 7
Effect: Anti-Ballistic 3, Anti-Slash 2, Anti-Stab 2, Anti-Explosion 1 ]
Wow, so much better than "Extreme". I would be able to actually plot and plan what I should stand against, and what I should avoid.
'They really fucked everything up, huh?' Marveling at just how scrudged it had gotten.
[ Yes. ]
Whoops, sore point. 'Sorry.'
I had a few hours to kill. I decided to work on Meowser. I added everything I could think of to his functionality. That took an hour or so.
Then I setup a training simulation to run various scenarios for him as fast as the Processor could crank them out. Every form of Ward or or Active Denial Function I could program in, every type of lock or camera or snooper or crawler.
I even included more advanced decision making tests, for if, or more likely when, he had to cover for me again. Strategy, Tactics, Combat, Bot and Drone control, Logistics and Electronic Warfare. Hell, I even threw Lawfare and Fae Bargaining in with the rest.
He would learn and grow, if he failed he could start again. I found it to be comforting, something I could improve. Felt good, ya know?
I wanted my Boy to be an absolute unit in the ISL. If Digital God came along, I wanted him to be able to lay the smack down on that bitch.
Once, it was ready, he dived in.
That burned up most of the wait time. So I got ready.
While I couldn't bring Fire, I was still going in my Armor. I don't care if they had dress codes. They could suck it.
I did a quick look up of where Club Voyage was. Snerk. (AN: A Snerk is a clipped Laugh, often forced or contrived. No Clue where I got it from.)
Right upstairs. Floor 285. Reservation or Invitation only.
It was the whole floor. Damn, that was big!
Certainly full of the Towertop crowd. Which means Corps and Political bullshit.
I was going to do a deal. So just stick to the dealing. The rest could be ignored.
I bought a few more things from the Guide Shop, and Wrapped up the Underarmor and Avenger Mk I. Another 4 GC.
Time to head up.