“Here. I am unlocking your two starting systems, the Personnel Condition Monitor and Metaverse Access Hub. There are a few hidden systems we will not speak about to encourage you to explore the MR menu.”
As she was saying it, the Personnel Condition Monitor popped up to the left in my peripheral vision. It was ethereal and only lost that status when I looked directly at it.
No surprise, it was basically a red health bar with a large round circle above it that shone green. There was no advanced training needed to interpret it. Green meant I was healthy. To its left, there was an outline of a person. This should indicate what part of my body was injured if I took damage in the future. Clicking on the person brought up a very basic Character Status screen. It resembled parchment in color and texture but was really just a digital display.
It read as follows.
Character Status
Player Name: Lucius
Level: 1
Health Points: 221
Endurance Points: 330
Combat Level: Unknown?
Strength: 28?
Dexterity: 40?
Endurance: 33?
Abilities Unlocked: Personnel Condition Monitor (Basic), Metaverse Access Hub.
What was with the question marks and combat level unknown? The stats themselves were also fairly high for level 1, weren’t they? It sounded like my stats and level really wouldn’t have any direct relationship, so these must be a numerical estimate of my strength, dexterity, and endurance that my real body was capable of. So my stats would grow as I got in better shape. Hmmm.
Where were the stats like Constitution and Agility? Or any mind-centered stats like Intelligence?
“As you see, this menu is basic just as its rank suggests. Your height and weight are not used in the calculation. A tall person with the same stats as a shorter person may have less powerful movements because it takes more strength to move longer limbs. Although the tall person may be faster than the short person with the same stats because they have longer legs.”
“What about stats like agility?”
“As you level you will unlock higher levels of detail and numerous tools to help you plan your training. The calculation for things like agility and speed are a mix of your current stats. They are hidden from you. As an example though, for your top speed, both Strength and Dexterity would be a part of the equation. For quickness, Dexterity would be the main stat, but Strength would also affect it, and Endurance may have a negative effect on it because of the differences in the type of muscle fiber used.
“Your HP, or Health Points, represent your body’s health status. Having full points indicates perfect health. How points are lost is more complicated. Depending on the part of the body injured, points will be lost. This is not like most games you are used to. Someone can’t hit you in the arm over and over until you lose all of your HP. After all, you can lose a limb or two and still survive in the real world. Bleeding to death after losing a limb is a very real concern though.
“Your EP, or Endurance Points, work in a similar way to your HP. Your body is constantly working to provide itself energy when it does work. Whether by taking in oxygen when running long distance, or using chemical reactions during short, intense bursts of exercise, your points represent your real life ability to sustain and regain energy.
“Both HP and EP cannot rise as your stats rise. How good of shape you are in, and how well your body recovers or heals will determine how points are lost and gained. Also, there are other factors that can improve your ability to take damage and lessen the points you lose. As an example, as you gain muscle, your mass works as a natural armor, allowing you to take a harder hit and lose less damage. Having a good endurance will affect it by increasing your recovery time.”
Closing out of the Character Status screen, I removed my focus from the Personnel Condition Monitor (health bar), and looked back to my AI guide.
“Very good. You can access the Metaverse Access Hub in two ways. The first is with a verbal command. Say ‘activate Metaverse Access Hub’, or Hub for short.”
I did just that.
A Game Menu popped up in the same parchment style window the Character Status screen had. There was a list of different options.
Metaverse Access Hub
Personnel Condition Monitor
Lore
User Interface
Metaverse
Everything was grayed out currently except for Personnel Condition Monitor and Metaverse. The rest must be things that I would unlock as I progressed. Clicking on Metaverse, a very familiar list of options jumped up from the scroll as a holographic user interface. It was a grid system where I simply had to touch the option I wanted and it would allow access to that part of the Metaverse.
Find a Mentor
Freedom News
Player Channel
It was pretty straightforward, and we were locked out of the majority of the Metaverse as expected. They took no chances with us cheating
Find a Mentor was as it sounded. It was currently grayed out, but there would be mentors available to teach different skills and martial arts.
This aspect of the game had been highly publicized. Hundreds of famous names and faces had been advertised. Every form of martial arts and fighting system would be available.
Freedom News was a link with a number of well-known gaming news celebs who had talk shows and internet channels. They didn’t completely cut us off from the outside world.
Player Channel gave me a portal to read comments by my fans. There was no way to respond to them, sadly. I currently had 260,447 followers. The number had only grown since it became public knowledge I would be a participant in Freedom.
Already there were 72,581 people watching me live! It was no surprise since it was the first day of Freedom. But still, it was a personal record and all I had to do was show up! I knew opening day for Freedom was going to be a big event, but this was beyond all expectations.
Unsheathing my sword, I stood in an open stance, my arms open to fully display what I now wore. After a few moments, the camera angle was exactly where I wanted it and a new 3D selfie was created.
Immediately after my image was posted as my main profile pic, over 2,000 new viewers started watching. A countless number of people were scurrying around online trying to find out all the information they could about Freedom. I had to take advantage of every photo op. It wasn’t exactly communicating with my fans, but it was close.
“The other way of accessing your Access Hub is through hand gestures.”
Bringing her hands together in her lap, like an open book, the AI brought them to her face. This gesture also brought up the hub as she said.
“That is it, Lucius. We are finished except for one final thing. If you get injured while playing you will feel pain. Injury simulation is also at 100% realism with no time limit. If you die in the game, you will feel 100% of the pain associated with that death. There is little doubt you will survive the experience, but there is no guarantee that it won’t harm you psychologically. The study of such trauma, and how people rise above it, is one of the focuses of the Codename: Freedom experiment. You will also drop all of the equipment and money you were carrying and then respawn at the inn in your city of residence. Thank you for participating.”
Wait, what? 100% pain from injuries? Pain simulation wasn’t a new thing, but the most any system could simulate legally was up to 40% for 5 seconds.
My gut tightened like a fist. I wracked my brain to search for any information related to this.
Nothing. They had hidden this aspect on purpose. What was I getting myself into? What other surprises did they have waiting?
I dangled six feet in the air with dozens of mechanical arms surrounding me. Such machinery could tear my body in pieces and now I knew it was designed with a very sadistic ability. To perfectly simulate pain.
A cold sweat broke out on my back and chest. I clenched my fist trying to keep myself from feeling woozy.
My reaction to the news had made me oblivious to a new countdown. When the voice reached zero everything went black.
Chapter 4 – Logging In
June 14, 2387
I have gotten little sleep in the last couple months as Freedom has been in the final stages. Even now, I have to take time out of the precious few hours I have to sleep to write this. I…
I have failed. The criminal element was added to the general population even after I blew the whistle internally. Not only am I still alive, but nothing has been said at all about the report I submitted. Nothing. I don’t know what is worse, being threatened or being ignored. My conscience is clear, but my guilt has been replaced with paranoia.
The person responsible has yet to reveal themselves, but I still feel it’s only right to try and find out who did this. I will try to find a way to help those inside the experiment if things go wrong.
That is all for now.
Dr. Otto Konig, Sr.
Director of Game Development
***
Whistling greeted me as I dealt with a blinding warm light. The high pitch came in a rhythmic tone, from a woodwind instrument playing somewhere below.
My eyes quickly adjusted. A large wood-framed window was a friendly welcome. I stood in the middle of a small room surrounded by a bed, a single wooden desk, a chair, and the entrance. There was no decoration, not even paint.
Outside the window, I had a good view from the second floor of a large village. Buildings were made of weathered wood without any unnatural color. It reminded me of an old western frontier town, but the people carried swords instead of rifles. The road was packed dirt and filled with dozens of people pushing carts. Men wore pants tucked into their boots, with long-sleeved tunics. A few women wore long flower-patterned dresses over tall boots, others blouses with trousers and boots for more manual work. Some of these villagers were non-player characters or NPCs. Each had their own AI loaded with a lifetime of false human memories to drive their motivation. Others were people hired to run the village and work as merchants. It was supposed to be nearly impossible to tell them apart.
Even with the revelation of 100% pain, my mind was racing about what I should do first. The higher the pain % the more people would be watching. I could use this to my advantage. That meant more opportunity to gain followers!
Turning to the door, an abrasively modern popup window of polished silver stopped me in my tracks. I read its message.
Dearest Earthling,
On behalf of the American Armed Forces, I welcome you!
The reasons you have been brought to this world have mostly been hidden from you. Legally there was a certain amount of information we were required to tell you, but we provided no information beyond that requirement. Hidden in this land are clues as to the real purpose of Codename: Freedom. Although we will be collecting data to study how humans respond in such an environment, such efforts are a shadow, the excuse behind our real purpose.
Do I have your attention?
This world is filled with danger, but strength is available to all of those who seek it diligently. Besides the world itself, there are many tools at your disposal. It is highly recommended that you take advantage of the mentor system that will give you access to some of the most accomplished martial artists and combat trainers available from the real world. Few of you have the real combat training that will be needed to survive. All you have to do is survive to the end of the first week and these trainers will be available to you. In other words, if you don’t quit before the first week is out you will gain access to the trainers.
You will not find any direct information from the people of this land about our purpose. Only recently have they come to these shores aboard massive ships to settle here. Regardless, do not underestimate their worth.
As an alien to this world, you will find many of the creatures here foreign to you. They are the real people of this land with thousands of years of history. Beware of the danger even the weakest of them possesses. Strength is often hidden.
For now, the only direction you will be given is to go. Go out into the land and discover what has been hidden from you.
The first clue?
War is coming.
That is all.
Oh. And try not to die, but entertain us if you do.
It gave me pause. I read the last line again. Obnoxious, aren’t they?
I didn’t know if I was more surprised about the direction of the quest, or the fact that there was a quest at all. There had been a lot of speculation about what the game’s lore and history would be like. This was… unexpected.
At least the NPCs shouldn’t give us too much trouble if they were new here as well.
So the government wanted to play games and hide their secrets from us? Some kind of war was coming? I didn’t even care what they threw at me at this point. I smelled the aroma of new followers and was determined to get their attention.
A separate popup, in parchment styling, populated on top of the modern one.
You have unlocked Lore in your Access Hub!
That was quick. So it seemed some systems would unlock if the conditions were right. Bringing up the hub, the lore tab just gave me a list of things I had discovered.
Quest Type: (World Wide Event)
War!?
What could this possibly mean?
Reward: ?!?!
Quest Type: (Regional Event)
Survive the week!
You will be tested! How? Figure that out yourself. Giving you a warning is more than fair!
Reward: 10,000 Experience, Access to trainers, Ability to form a guild.
Failure: You only fail if you quit and leave Freedom.
After examining the quests, the first event was certainly vague, but would likely have amazing rewards. The quest type of World Wide Event was impossible to miss. The time sensitivity of the second event was pretty interesting. It seemed the first week in Freedom was going to be good.
I took some snapshots of both the Quest and Lore windows, once again scoring a few thousand more viewers.
Shaking my head at how effortless it was, if only gaining followers could always be this easy all the time. Going pro was only a matter of time now if things kept going the way they were.
Once again unsheathing my sword, I gripped it, the blade pointing down. I snapped another picture. Small gestures like this one went a long way. Vent, my channel manager, had ingrained such things into my brain.
Outside my little room, I headed down a long hall following the music. It got me where I needed to go. Finding the stairs down to the first floor the upbeat woodwind grew louder.
I ignored a large group of new players standing at the salon-style front counter trying to speak with the inn’s staff. I knew they were new players because they were all dressed in familiar dirt colored outfits, with the rare exception of some players that had leather. A few of the players had even purchased the ridiculous hats. I was not a fan of money sinks.
If the raised voices were any indication, the 100% pain thing wasn’t being taken very well.
I was through the village, which was much larger than it had seemed from my window and out the front gate in a few minutes. I had left quickly enough that the first wave of players hadn’t overwhelmed the streets.
The breeze on my face, gravel underfoot, and weight of my pack left me in wonder. It was hard to believe where my body was and what I was really doing in the real world.
Chewme and I had agreed we should spend the first few days gearing up and getting a hang of the basics before we sought one another out. Of course, there was the hidden challenge to try to see who would get the best gear between now and then. Challenge accepted!
There was no time to worry about Chewme now. It was a race for resources like most first days in new massive multiplayer online games. The people we were competing against were among the greatest gamers and athletes in the world.
Suddenly I felt small just thinking about it. I would
show everyone I deserved to be here.
The wall around the village was nearly two stories tall stretching the full perimeter. It was probably more appropriate to call it a small city. The gate was little more than a bunch of smoothed out trees held together with nails and rope. They were tall enough to do the job.
Two towers made of the same wood held an archer in either perch under gray clay shingles, matching the rest of the homes in the area.
A field of about 200 meters stretched out between me and a forest. The landscape wasn’t quite plains, rather it was made up of low rolling hills. The forest was a mix of old oak, maple and pine, not leaving a lot of room for new trees. This open field was teaming with life of the most basic variety: rabbits, squirrels, and boar.
Approximately ten people had already gathered outside the gate. Everyone stood watching in a loose huddle.
Split evenly, the group of players was made up of gamers and athletes. I was taken aback. Most of the faces of both groups I recognized.
It wasn’t hard to tell the difference between the two groups. The gamers were either toned but thin, or pudgy. Not everyone took physical health seriously. The athletes looked, well, athletic.
Three gamers caught my eye immediately. They were at a level that I only dreamed of. Vector was the leader of a professional gaming team call Clan Craze. Easily spotted by his blood red eyebrows, he seemed to be the guy the other gamers congregated to.
Treetop knew Vector from competing against him from another team. As his name implied, he was a tall, plain looking guy, with a brown mop top for hair. He was a bit of a wild card. He had plenty of talent but was known for not taking things seriously. It was the insane things he pulled off that made him a pro.
The third gamer’s name was Drool. She wasn’t named that because of any odd saliva habits, at least not of her own. Her pink hair was always back in wild waves, and her eyes slanted down like an exotic animal. This wasn’t just another massively talented gamer chick that totally cheated by distracting guys with her looks. She was the gamer chick famously known for starting the Male Fail videos.
Codename: Freedom: Survive Week One Page 4