Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series

by Michael Atamanov

  Gerd Gnat. Human. H3 Faction.

  Level-69 Listener

  Statistics:

  Strength

  14

  Agility

  17

  Intelligence

  23 + 3

  Perception

  27 + 2

  Constitution

  16

  Luck modifier

  +3

  Parameters:

  Hitpoints

  1516 of 1516

  Endurance points

  1121 of 1121

  Magic points

  709 of 709

  Carrying capacity

  62 lbs.

  Fame

  59

  Skills:

  Electronics

  53

  Scanning

  31

  Cartography

  55

  Astrolinguistics

  82

  Rifles

  49

  Mineralogy

  49

  Medium Armor

  52

  Eagle Eye

  66

  Sharpshooter

  32

  Targeting

  20

  Danger Sense

  42

  Psionic

  62

  Mental Fortitude

  50

  Mysticism

  14

  Machine Control

  48

  Attention!!! You have nine unspent skill points

  Yes, my “classic” combat skills had fallen a bit behind. Rifles, Sharpshooter, Targeting and even Danger Sense were behind Astrolinguistics, but my psychic abilities and Machine Control were growing by leaps and bounds. I could feel a stronger and stronger pull toward a half-mage half-technician, which is basically what the Listener was. That meant I was developing my character properly.

  Nine unspent points... Where to put them? On the one hand, I could fill the hole in Scanning, still gaping after it was zeroed out. I still couldn’t get used to the low detail on the results of my scanning and their low level of information. On the other hand, there was a way to quickly level Scanning. I just had to buy a hundred geological analyzers (and now I could easily afford such expenses) and search on asteroids or planetoids for minerals and whatnot. In a day or two, I could bring my Scanning skill up to one hundred easily, so why waste the points?

  I thought and weighed all the plusses and minuses, then decided against it. I put seven right into Mysticism. I was very impressed by that skill, I was a big fan of having more Magic Points and the faster they came back the better. Even at a low level, Mysticism had a clear effect, and it would be even greater the more I leveled it!

  Mysticism skill increased to level twenty-one!

  My Magic Points increased instantly from 709 to 759. Not bad, not bad at all! That meant an additional few seconds of mental control over an enemy and the ability to not worry so much that I would run out of mana in my direst moments.

  I put the remaining two points into Machine Control. I had only just come to appreciate all the benefits of this new ability, and they were impressive. It could open doors without Break-in or put enemy robots out of commission with a mental command, controlling all kinds of drones and bots, and even... here I took a heavy sigh and crossed my fingers... the ability to control a starship directly with my mind without any Pilots or Navigators!

  Yes! Apparently I could mentally command any ship system from thrusters to cannons and control them without the skills necessary to pilot a starship or shoot a heavy turret. I suspected that the quality of this piloting or shooting would be horribly low, an order of magnitude below what a professional was capable of, but it meant I could substitute for a missing player in a critical situation, so why not?!

  * * *

  THE FIRST PERSON I met after entering the game was Avan Toi. The corpulent Supercargo was using a special scanner to read tags on a huge pile of containers, taking that down in a palmtop and marking the boxes for Basha and Vasha. That told them what to bring into the cargo hold, what into the galley and what into the other sectors of the ship. When I showed up, Avan Toi clearly lit up and hurried out to meet me:

  “Captain, the goods Uline ordered have arrived, along with the spare parts and equipment. I’ll check the list now while it’s all here. As you asked, provisions were purchased with an eye to the different races on board. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we’re having a hell of a time filling the other vacancies. Not a single Geckho has enquired about our openings for Medic, Engineer, or Gunner the whole time. And though it is okay to fly without a Gunner or a Medic, there’s no getting by on a ship like this without an Engineer...”

  Ayukh then walked up to greet the captain. After hearing the Supercargo’s words about difficulties finding crew, the old Navigator said his point of view:

  “There is a military base here on the Un-Tesh comet, so I suppose this is a very bad place to find crew. The ones who survived the battle with the Meleyephatians are now in the Ursa system. The ones who died and respawned, as a rule have been assembled into flight crews and do not want to change that. They’re just waiting for a ship. What’s more, the mentality of most crew here is different. They’re courageous obedient warriors, accustomed to doing everything by command and have no idea what it’s like to be a free-thinking fortune-seeker.”

  If the experienced Navigator was right, searching for new crew here on the military base was an exercise in futility. Most of the soldiers probably felt disgust just thinking about leaving this warm place where everything necessary was provided and joining a crew of adventurers to head out who knows where without firm confidence in the future. But still I asked for the advertisement not to be deleted. I mean what if someone came anyway? Beyond that, I was holding another reason in mind. It was fully possible that the Morphian from before was still here on the Un-Tesh comet, so I wanted to leave it a convenient chance to rejoin me on my new ship.

  Of course, where else would the Morphian be than on a Geckho military base where it was so easy to get lost among thousands of players? Fox had run and hid at some point during my talk with the fleet commander. I checked that by scanning. And not just once. That meant she had been on the base for some time, but where had she gone next? Was Fox really going out into battle on one of the Third Strike Fleet’s starships? What could that possibly hold for her? She had told me that this was “not her war,” after all. But as far as I knew there were practically no flights anywhere. Before the battle, the Geckho were trying to maintain the secrecy of the operation as much as possible, and after that all flights were suspended.

  I cast off the thoughts about Fox, activated the captain’s tablet and shook my head in satisfaction. Most of the systems were now marked in green, which meant they were working just fine. Yes, there were lots of gray inactive ones, but my ship now had a main thruster and maneuver drives, lidar and gravidar. Plus, the repairers were now finishing installing additional shield generators. The frigate didn’t have any weaponry other than jamming equipment, or atmospheric stabilizers. Really it was missing lots of necessary equipment. In fact, the ship was really just boilerplate now. Sure it could be more or less steered through space, but even that was a great accomplishment given where we’d started.

  Uline Tar walked up looking so serious and important I was afraid. I first noticed she had a bright new emblem on her matte metal armor suit — a spiral Galaxy with three comets below. A popup told me that this chevron meant: Captain’s First Assistant. Clearly my furry friend was very proud of her new status and was trying in every way to emphasize that.

  “Gnat, without a decent Engineer, I can’t say for sure what modules can be combined together, and whether our power unit is strong enough to activate them. But still I dug up all possible modules for Tolili-Ukh X model frigates. As expected, most of the offers are inside Meleyephatian Horde space. I even found a ship registered in exactly the same configuration as ours is now. We can buy a kit to assemble a modular frigate
for just seven and a half million.”

  “But can we enter the Horde’s space? We won’t be stopped?” I asked in surprise. Uline hurried to reassure me:

  “Why not? You’re a Free Captain now and you don’t belong to any of the warring nations. We won’t be allowed to any secret Meleyephatian sites of course, but there are no other limitations. We can go through customs and fly wherever we want!”

  It was great, of course, that the prices for starship modules in Meleyephatian space were not high, but what could we do there without money? First of all, I’d have to get my reward for the trophy tail, and Meleyephatian stations were not exactly the place for that. And again we’d have the problem of how to convert crypto and crystals into... what currency do the Meleyephatians use?

  “Me’eli or melki as they’re known. They are only in electronic form, and Miyelonian wallets can be used to store and send them. But you’re right, captain, there could be serious problems with trying to exchange such a large sum right up to confiscation of your ship...”

  Uh, no. I didn’t want that kind of entertainment! I was in no mood to risk my starship so stupidly and I asked Uline for other options. The Trader hesitated:

  “Well... there is one Miyelonian station where you can get trophy ships and components for cheap. But I’m afraid you aren’t going to like it.”

  “Is it the pirate station Medu-Ro IV or something?” I immediately guessed, and Uline grunted back not anxious, but delighted with my ability to think on my feet. “And why won’t I like that? I think it’s a very interesting option! Yes, the customs on that station are... unique, to put it lightly, and take some getting used to. But if we behave ourselves, no one will touch us, and the prices there really are attractive. What’s more, I actually need to make a courtesy call to a counterfeiter who bit off more than he could chew. Also there is a Translator on the station who I’m sure would love to join our team. And a Trillian Merchant who promised me he’d hold onto a nice ring for me. Overall, let’s go... What’s wrong, Minn-O?”

  My wayedda had no face on. I had never seen the Princess in such a defeated state. Had my threats not worked, and the ghastly old man raised a hand to his granddaughter? I asked her that. Minn-O raised her teary eyes to me and said:

  “My husband, the Coruler of Humanity High Mage Thumor-Anhu La-Fin passed away yesterday at the age of one hundred and eighty. A three-day mourning period has been declared on the whole planet. The great mage’s burial will be tomorrow at the ancient cemetery of House La-Fin.”

  Chapter Twenty. Takeoff!!!

  I HAD NO LOST LOVE for Leng Thumor-Anhu La-Fin. The vastly powerful mage was an enemy of my faction and me personally, and he never hid that. If the ghastly old man could have, he would have obliterated not only me but my entire world without the slightest hesitation or compassion. But now, squeezing Minn-O as she sobbed bitterly, I couldn’t shake the feeling of heavy personal loss, and I especially was not thinking of gloating at the Dark Faction leader’s death. After sending Eduard Boyko under the Dome to tell our allies what happened, I asked the Princess for more details.

  “The servants say that grandpa fell ill after speaking to me. He went black in the face, his arms started quaking, and he couldn’t even hold the video phone. Thumor-Anhu took his usual magical elixirs to restore his strength and stumbled into his personal chambers. He was discovered there two hours later when one of his servants risked entering the fearsome mage’s bedchamber to check up on him. The coruler was lying on the floor next to his bed mumbling incoherently with bulging eyes. That kicked off a big hullabaloo. Grandpa was put in bed, and they looked for his mage doctor for a long time, but he was nowhere to be found. Everyone was at a loss and didn’t know what to do. First Councilor Avir-Sin La-Pirez and other relatives were all called in. And by then, rumors about what happened to the Coruler had already reached the other influential magical families, and the palace of the La-Fins became packed with mages and people from ruling families. They brought in a council of the best doctors and healing mages, but they couldn’t do anything because Thumor-Anhu was already dead.”

  Minn-O La-Fin started sobbing again. I then asked a seemingly obvious question:

  “And why wasn’t the great mage brought into his virt pod to have the game heal him?”

  My wayedda raised her teary eyes and shouted with unhidden bitterness:

  “Well Gnat, it was because it was calculated murder! Coruler Thumor-Anhu made many enemies in his long life and crossed many people. So all these healers were just pretending to help, and in fact were drawing out time to so my grandfather would die!”

  I had to reassure Minn-O again. The rest of the team, seeing this was not a good time, didn’t bother us and dispersed, getting to their own business. Finally, I asked the Princess who would be the new head of the La-Fin family.

  “You, of course,” my wayedda replied, surprised I was even asking.

  “Me???” the news was so shocking I couldn’t hold back and started screaming.

  The Princess got herself together and began explaining lucidly:

  “If I had magical abilities, or if we had a child, maybe there would be other options. But you’re the only mage in house La-Fin, so there’s no other way. You’re the new head of my ancient ruling family!”

  This was, to put it lightly, unexpected news. I was the new head of one of the most ancient ruling houses of the magical world?! This had to be some kind of joke. And it wasn’t very funny. I mean, what kind of a ruler would I make?! I didn’t even exist in that world! By the way... I cautiously asked my wayedda whether I had to personally be present at all the ceremonies.

  Minn-O looked at me like I was a stupid little baby:

  “Gnat, what are you talking about?! You’d be killed the second you showed your face in my world! You’re a claimant to the throne of one of the Corulers of humanity and the heir to a huge fortune. No one there wants you alive except me! The La-Fin family is very rich, and many mages have long desired my family’s wealth. But they wouldn’t dare bare their teeth at Thumor-Anhu while he was still alive. However, before the great mage’s body was even cold, all these vultures had already started demanding a piece of the pie! My house controls huge territories, billions of subjects, corporations and banks... and now there is no one to defend our holdings. I see a huge redistribution of wealth on the horizon. All more or less influential families will want the fattest slice they can get, and there will be such bloody battles that the world will shake! This has happened before, two hundred years ago when the Az-Dur Coruler dynasty collapsed. Those times are now called the ‘seven years of madness.’ That’s how horrible it was. So you mustn’t come into my world. In fact, you should get me out of mine as quickly as possible if you value your wayedda’s life even one bit!”

  Saving my traveling wife’s life was a mission of unquestionable importance. But it was not my style to give up without a fight and let someone else take my property by threatening and outright blackmail. Any time punks from higher grades would tell me to turn out my pockets in school, I would kick them in the groin or knuckle-punch them in the bridge of the nose. And it didn’t matter if that got me in deeper trouble and beaten harder. All the bad kids at my school learned that painful lesson. I even gained a reputation as a “psycho who’s not to be messed with.”

  And now I could not bring myself to give up my inheritance to some fly-in vultures. No, it rightfully belonged to me and my wife. What was more, I was now a senior mage and head of house La-Fin, so it was my sacred duty to fight to protect my family riches! And despite all that, I remained realistic and shared Minn-O’s fears about the danger of going to her magical world. I would just cause too many problems there and would be immediately killed.

  You might wonder how I could fight for my property from a parallel world. On first glance, it seemed impossible. But I didn’t see any contradictions. Princess Minn-O told me all the more-or-less significant figures of her world were already in the game that bends reality. And that
meant I could easily make contact with them. And holding so many cards, I was sure I could come to an agreement with these important personages. My acquaintance with the master of Earth Kung Waid Shishish was one such card. It forced any opponent to reckon with Gnat. The zero-ed out Graveyard node was a good example of what I could do.

  Another even better card was my frigate, which could bomb mercilessly from orbit and wipe any node off the face of the planet. Yes, now my ship was nowhere near in intact, and didn’t even have any weaponry. But the Dark Faction didn’t know that, so they would take my threats of orbital bombardment with all due seriousness. Anyway, I believed it was possible to come to a peaceful agreement.

  “Minn-O, find me the game names of the vultures who are trying to lay claim to our property!”

  I tried very hard to make my voice sound confident. It was funny to watch Minn-O, slain by sorrow, suddenly stop bawling with her head buried in my shoulder, and raise her teary face in surprise, then stand up to half a head taller than me.

  “W-why do you want that, Gnat? You don’t mean to say you’re planning to go against the strongest mages of my world, right? With all due respect husband, they’ll turn you to dust!”