by Cosimo Yap
Once Eve finished her info dump, Alan got his first good look at the Administrative Center. He had expected it to be a boring office building, like a City Hall or a Department of Motor Vehicles. Instead, the enormous pyramid-shaped building could be the palace, or burial site, of a galactic emperor. The building was layered with sheets of black metal, turrets and defensive shield generators located every few hundred feet. Alan could see the outline of a cube shaped structure at the tip of the pyramid. It was hard to make out, as it was nearly two miles up in the sky, but it looked like a mark.
Two gigantic bipedal mechs guarded the front entrance, fifty foot tall armor plated machines of destruction, complete with an array of weapons and personal shields that could, according to Eve’s database, hold up even against an elite Predecessor. This main entrance was nearly four hundred feet tall and five hundred feet wide, but there were numerous side entrances that people were streaming in and out of as well. Scores of cyborg, machine and humanoid guards stood around the perimeter, wielding a number of different weapons, but wearing the same dark blue armor and insignia.
Unfortunately, it appeared there was still a queue to get in, despite the size of the building. The line appeared to be fairly orderly, with Administrators throughout the line moving people forward, asking questions, directing players to different lines and entrances. Alan began to grow a bit worried. He had to make it to the Black Rose Docking Bay in another four hours, with a package, with no idea how far he had to go to get the package or where any of the places were. He might not have enough time at the Administrative Center.
Running a bit faster, Alan ran up to the end of the line that was snaking out of the main entrance. It was an orderly queue, with each party standing a few feet away from the next person in line. Taking his place at the end, Alan looked over at Red Death, and interrupted his lecture. He'd go back and listen to it at some point.
“Hey, thanks for bringing me here, I think I’ll be fine by myself here. Before you go though, can you tell me why everyone so orderly?”
“Hmm?" Red Death tilted his head, as if he just realized who he had been talking to. "Oh, it’s generally considered common courtesy to stay at least a few feet away from other players, to prevent actions such as theft. As you’ve no doubt noticed, people have a number of insignias on their armor or weapons, to show their alliances, and to warn people not to mess with them. A few players are even so noteworthy their name and title will appear above their heads. You should generally steer clear of these people, as you don’t want to risk pissing a Named player off, and given the countless customs of players you’re more likely to piss someone off just being near them, either looking at them the wrong way or by not looking at them. Are you certain you’ll be okay alone?”
Alan nodded.
“Alright, it’s your choice. Honestly, given that you have no insignia and you’re wearing Revenant armor, most players are likely to consider you fairly suspicious. You should try to stick to the main streets and thoroughfares.”
Alan hesitated, but Eve prompted him to ask the question.
“Um, right, except, well, what do you know about the Undercity?”
Red Death turned his head sharply towards Alan, then glanced about them.
“The Undercity? Why would you want to go there? I haven’t even been allowed there until I reach level 250.”
“Um, I read something about it on the Globalnet, that’s all.”
“Well, my advice is to steer clear of that place. It’s a deathtrap. All sorts of gangs, pirates and even slavers hang out there. A single, low leveled player without any guild or government to back you up would be easy pickings. Of course, you’d have to find an entrance first, and they’re rumored to be impossible to find.”
Unfortunately, I don’t think I have much of a choice, Alan thought. It looked like this simple task wasn’t going to be as simple as he hoped.
“Okay, I’ll definitely avoid the Undercity then. Thanks for your help.”
I definitely need to hide my level too, then maybe other players will be more cautious…
Red Death saluted, then turned around, running back towards the Haxlard Embassy.
A few minutes later, Alan finally reached an Administrator directing players onwards.
“Greetings, player. How may we assist you today?”
Alan concentrated on the Administrator in front of him, forming a mental connection.
I want to change my username, hide my level and make other information private as well. I was also hoping to spend my ability points, peruse the vault, and also set my respawn point here.
The Administrator stood still, examining Alan closely.
Very well. Please follow me, Traveler.
The Administrator broke away from the line, another Administrator taking its place. Alan followed, wondering what was happening. He didn’t notice any of the other players being treated specially, maybe it was a class perk. Perhaps sensing his confusion, the Administrator told him:
As a Chief Administrator is your mentor, your status has accordingly been upgraded. Given the various actions you wish to perform, I assumed you would want a private room for your transactions today. Is that acceptable?
Um, of course.
The Administrator deftly weaved in-between the long lines of players, a few shooting envious or curious looks at Alan. Luckily, Alan's helmet hid his face, and as soon as he changed his username he would fade into anonymity. Alan was led up a flight of stairs to the main entrance, guarded by the two mechs. On a whim, he tried to see if he could form a mental connection to one of them, but was met with a blank wall of silence.
Once inside the building, he could see long rows of Administrators assisting players. It was almost like a bank, with booths set up for privacy. Before he could get a better of look, the Administrator turned sharply, leading him into a corridor guarded by two small turrets and guards with electrical batons. Within the corridor were a series of advanced elevators: open, semi-translucent metal boxes that didn't quite look safe. Alan followed the Administrator into one, and the walls shimmered, becoming solid, blocking out all vision. The elevator began moving sideways, then diagonally, stopping a few seconds later. Alan hoped he wouldn’t need to find his way outside.
The door opened, revealing a simple room with a single Administrator and capsule. Alan stepped out, and the door to the elevator closed behind him, leaving him in this room without any doorways or windows, somewhere inside the vast labyrinth of the Administrative Center.
Um, hello, Alan sent towards the Administrator.
Greetings, how may I assist you today?
Alan proceeded to change his username from Adampwnage to just Alan, at least until he thought of something better, hide his information, and set his respawn point to this location. The Game required what it considered a signature, verbal or written agreement that he was making these choices of his own volition. It was a rather painless experience and only cost 1250 credits too. Alan then proceeded to purchase two main abilities.
Each class had distinct talent trees that branched off from specific paths. For example, for his Machine Lord class he could develop Eve as some sort of cyber weapon, to gather information and hack into secure networks or do whatever it was black hat, dark-side hackers did in the Game. He could also try to develop Eve to control robots, develop a sort of Mecha Eve. Likewise for the Rogue class there were paths that were designed for assassinations, piloting, or a variety of other options. To unlock each talent tree, you had to purchase a central ability, which would cost 250 ability points, a hefty investment. Additionally, only one major ability could be active at a time for any given class. Alan had decided on which two he wanted.
For the Machine Lord class, he selected Enhanced Control. It would enhance his ability to control his own mind and body, through Eve and his augmentations, which would be useful in a number of ways. For one thing, it would allow him to train faster and harder, as, despite everything that had happened, Alan was definitely
still human. When exercising he could only handle so much pain, yet Eve believed he could push himself further without risk of injury. His body and mind just wouldn’t let him. This would help to break free of those bonds, hopefully making training easier.
The battles in the Survival Test had also been extraordinarily painful for Alan, and he wanted to mitigate that pain as much as possible, as he couldn’t imagine willingly going through such torture again, especially in a state where each second that passed felt like minutes. Additionally, it would be useful in masking his true intentions and presence. With enough practice, he would be able to control his heart rate and other factors that might lead to his detection or give him away when he lied. At least, that was the idea.
For the Rogue class, he chose the Jack of All Trades path. The ability was what it sounded like. It would allow Alan to gain and train new skills and abilities more easily, and hopefully master them as well. The other options such as the Stealth or Assassination paths had more obvious, direct benefits, but Alan liked his choices. They gave him the greatest potential for growth.
His decision made, Alan spent the 500 ability points, opening up a series of additional abilities to unlock and train in. A few especially caught his attention. There was an ability in the Jack of All Trades path that would decrease the cost to purchase new abilities, but at the same time there was one that would allow him to learn faster. It would probably be better only getting one. There was another ability that would reveal available combinations of abilities or hidden requirements to unlock skills, but Alan felt like this would probably be a waste of Ability Points. He could find the information online, and combinations of skills should be fairly straightforward, right? The Enhanced Control ability tree, on the other hand, was depressingly sparse. It appeared that Alan hadn’t met any of the requirements for the abilities on this path yet.
Then, they got to the point Alan was the most excited about.
I’d like to browse the contents of the Vault.
Very well.
The Vault. A collection of items that the Administrators traded for marks, rumored to be the largest and most varied collection of weapons, armor and vehicles gathered in the Game. These items were rumored to come from a variety of sources. They were items dropped by players due to death penalties, items taken from chaotic players that broke the law, items developed by the Administrators and items bought by the Administrators. Each Administrative Center had its own vault, but the greatest and most expansive, where all the rarest items made their way, was here, in the Administrative Center at the center of Khersath. Alan needed a weapon, and he had one platinum mark, ten diamond and ten gold marks to spend.
Alan opened the list, and then sorted through the weapons in his price range. The weapons were surprisingly high-tiered, but considering his armor was worth 50k credits and a platinum mark was worth 100k, 200k if sold on the market rather than exchanged with the Administrators, it was no surprise that they were of such high quality.
Unfortunately, a lot of the weapons which were rank B or above also had a series of requirements, most of which Alan didn’t meet. He also didn't want to spend too much, but would need to spend money to make some. That seemed to be the story of the Game thus far.
Combing through page after page of results with Eve, but hurrying as he still had the task to complete, Alan finally settled on an item. The pistols themselves cost an entire platinum mark, and two diamond marks, while the rifle accessories cost three diamond marks, but Alan felt like it was a necessary investment. The Undercity didn’t sound like the kind of place he should go under-armed. He brought up the item descriptions:
Orion’s Cores (Rank B*):
Two powerful laser pistols with an enormous energy source capable of being transformed into a variety of weapons. Said to be the basic weapons of grunts in the Lords of Life’s army, these weapons eclipse most current technology. Accessories to Orion’s Cores may be dropped upon death, but the cores will not.
Estimated Damage/sec: 300-450
500 Energy, 1 Energy/shot, 50 Energy/min regen, 60 shots/min.
300/300 Durability each. Energy Ranged Weapons (Basic) required.
Dual Wielding: Ranged (Basic), Energy Efficiency (Basic) and Small Arms (Basic) recommend.
Orion’s Cores Rifle Attachment (Rank B+):
Combined with Orion’s Cores, forms a powerful laser rifle capable of firing astonishing bursts. Prone to overheat if fired for an extended amount of time.
Estimated Damage/sec 600-700
1000 Energy, 1 Energy/shot, 100 Energy/min regen, 400 shots/min.
Energy Efficiency (Basic), Energy Ranged Weapons (Intermediate) required.
Energy Efficiency (Intermediate) and Weapons Cooling mod recommended.
The fact that the Cores wouldn’t be dropped either was a big plus too, as Alan wasn’t sure how often he might die in the Game. If he really needed cash he could sell the weapons later.
Moments after Alan handed over the marks to the Administrator, the items popped out of a slot in the wall. Orion’s Cores were two sleek laser pistols made of a green-silver metal. They were completely devoid of any grooves or edges, simply curved weapons that appeared in a half-U shape. The rifle attachment was simply a larger U shaped weapon with two slots to put the Cores in. Thanking the Administrator for the help, Alan took an elevator back outside, ready to enter the Undercity.
Chapter 14
The entrance to the Undercity was nowhere to be found. Alan had rushed over to the position indicated by the quest in the plaza, only to find himself standing in the middle of nowhere. He was standing at the exact location the quest designated, but there was nothing here. Alan had inspected the ground, the peddlers and the players around him, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No clear, obvious sign that said, “Entrance to deadly Undercity, right here!” Maybe there was a level requirement that he didn’t meet and thus couldn’t see the entrance….
Negative. The entrance is likely on a level below.
Of course. Khersath was a city-planet, and this was simply the top floor. There were hundreds of floors below him, with only the upper 100 or so actually being occupied safe zones. The Undercity, as the name suggested, would be below these safe upper levels.
Alright, so how do I get to the lower levels?
Querying… All the space directly beneath the plaza is controlled by the Administrators. The Administrative Center that you see is but the tip of an even more gigantic structure. Most of the space is used as storage space for the Vault; there are likely many secret entrances to the lower levels of Khersath within, like the one indicated by the quest.
Back to the Administrative Center?
Affirmative.
Sighing, Alan ran back to the Administrative Center. This time he bypassed the line by going through a special entrance the Administrators told him about. Alan checked the time; the Black Rose Docking Bay at the outer edge of the plaza, in the private sector. That still meant it was around an hour’s run away, and Alan only had three and a half hours left. Quickly approaching the first Administrator he saw, Alan initiated a mental contact.
Hey, quick question, can I use your entrance to the Undercity?
Greetings Traveler, please remove your helmet for a proper ID. May I ask why you wish to enter the Undercity?
Um… Alan paused for a second, taking off his helmet. He wasn’t sure how much he was supposed to reveal about the task he was to complete. Well, I need to complete a task for a major guild as part of a trial to get in.
Querying database... Checking requirements... Unfortunately, Traveler, you do not meet the requirements to enter the Undercity through our gateway at this time, and I cannot make an allowance without someone authorizing your entrance. You have the necessary reputation and gear, but lack the minimum safety requirement of level 200. I apologize for the inconvenience.
No, wait… Alan frantically racked his brain for reasons he should be let in, yet, in the nervous state he was in, couldn’t think
of any off the top of his head.
Alan took a deep breath, telling himself to calm down, hoping he didn’t look like an idiot simply staring at the Administrator, breathing heavily due to the run over.
Alright, can you please wait a moment to contact the person who gave me this task? he finally asked.
Certainly.
Alan quickly sent a message to Phantom:
Alan: Hello, Phantom? Are you there?
Phantom: Huh, what? Why are you contacting me so early in the morning? I just fell asleep.
Alan glanced at the clock, it was 7:34 a.m.
Alan: Um, sorry for the disturbance, I had a few questions about the task you gave me. I’m having trouble entering the Undercity, and was wondering if you had the authority to grant me access to the Administrator entrance.
Phantom: Grant authority? You mean you went up and asked the Administrators to enter, and they just said they needed what exactly?
Um, who can authorize my entrance? Alan asked the administrator.