Glitch Boxset

by Victor Deckard

  > You have received an ingredient: + 90 pieces of wood!

  Some crackle sounded suddenly. I looked around for the source of the sound and saw a pile of debris in the far corner of the room stirring. I unholstered my gun quickly and prepared myself for whatever I was about to encounter. After a moment, a bug the size of a domestic cat clambered out of the pile.

  > Name: “Bug worker”

  > Level: 4

  > Health: 65/65

  The bug grunted unpleasantly, spread its wings, and charged forward lifting itself off the floor. I got off the Surge. Dark energy shoved the bug back into the corner. It collapsed onto its back, ending up upside down. The mob set about nimbly moving all its eight legs, desperately trying to turn itself around. I finished it off, having to empty almost the entire mag for that.

  One after another appeared two messages.

  > +25 exp!

  > Congrats! You have just leveled up to 3! You have got 5 unused skill points!

  After death, the bug dropped something. I walked over to it and saw a pistol lying in the pool of green blood.

  > Name: “Moderate”

  > Weapon type: Pistol

  > Rarity: Uncommon (green)

  > The player’s required level: 3

  > Damage: 35

  > Accuracy: 55

  > Fire rate: 600

  > Magazine size: 10

  > Elemental damage: None

  There we go! I picked the pistol up and regarded it almost with tenderness. Now I could ditch the weak Newbie’s Punch I’d gotten in the Training location. Yet after giving the matter a bit of a thought, I decided to keep the pistol. I unloaded it and stuffed the emptied pistol in the bag to sell it later on. Then another thought occurred to me. Where could I sell it? I encountered no vending machines so far. Probably I had yet to come across one.

  Deciding not to mull over it for long, I slid the Moderate pistol into the holster, raised my left hand, and looked at the crystal. After switching to the Skill tree, I commenced looking the available skills over.

  The Survival tab had five skills placed on each level. The first one had two skills I’d already learned, Cooking mutant roach meat and Fabric outfit, and three more, Cooking mutant mosquito meat, Cooking giant rat meat, and Fire pit. As for overgrown rats, I hadn’t run into them thus far. They might have dwelled only in particular areas. And roaches, I met them only in the Training location.

  For that reason, I decided to neglect the Cooking giant rat meat for the time being and unlocked another one.

  > Name: “Cooking mutant mosquito meat”

  > Description: Allows you to cook mutant mosquito meat on a fire pit.

  > The skill state: 1/1

  > Required ingredients:

  > 1. Pieces of mutant mosquito meat

  > The stats of a cooked mutant mosquito meat:

  > Reducing hunger: 20

  > Restoring health: 30

  I used the second point to unlock the Fire pit skill.

  > Name: “Fire pit”

  > Description: Allows you to built a fire pit for cooking.

  > Required ingredients:

  > Stones: 10

  > Wood: 50

  > Metal: 15

  > Matchsticks, a lighter, Warlock’s Pyrokinesis psi-power, or any other gadget or skill to set a fire.

  > The skill state: 1/1

  However, I still couldn’t build a fire pit. While I had enough wood resources on me, I had no stones or metal at all. Besides, I also had to find matchsticks or a lighter. I hoped it wouldn’t take me long to find all of these.

  So I had three more points left. I opened the Warlock tab and commenced going over the skill tree. I found the Biokinesis psi-power quite useful. It could get wounds healed up almost in no time by accelerated consumption of the mana points. But it was on the third level of the skill tree, which was unavailable for now. I remembered that I was able to learn the Blow psi-power only after I’d upgraded the Surge and Shield psi-powers maximally. So there appeared to be the necessity of assigning at least six points to skills on a lower level before skills on a higher one got available. Well, okay.

  After taking some more time for examining the skill tree, I noticed that the second level of it had a quite interesting psi-power situated right below the Biokinesis. I decided to learn it.

  > Name of the psi-power: “Acceleration”

  > Description: Your movement speed gets increased for a limited amount of time as well as your reloading speed. Moreover, while the psi-power is active you take less damage.

  > The skill state: 1/3

  > The stats of the Acceleration psi-power (1 level):

  > Your movement speed gets increased by: 50 percent

  > Your reloading speed gets increased by: 80 percent

  > The receiving damage gets decreased by: 30 percent

  > Duration: 10 seconds

  > Mana consumption: 75 points

  The remaining two points I allocated into the Blow psi-power to upgrade it maximally.

  > Name of the psi-power: “Blow”

  > Description: Dark energy coagulates on a given area. All the things, foes, and players in this area are being lifted off the ground a few meters into the air. Dark energy holds them in the air for a few seconds and then smacks them hard against the ground.

  > The skill state: 3/3

  > The stats of the Blow psi-power (3 level):

  > The circumference of the area where dark energy coagulates is: 5 meters

  > The height at which foes and players are being lifted is: 3 meters

  > The duration of them being hovered above the ground is: 30 seconds

  > The strength of the blow against the ground: high

  > Mana consumption: 100 points

  So I got all five points spent. When I leveled up to 4, I’d allot two more points into the Acceleration to get the Biokinesis available for learning. Good.

  Suddenly a roar of an engine came from the street. On whipping around, I saw my buggy lurched forward and pulled away from the building, picking up speed very fast. What the heck?! I barreled for the exit and dashed out into the street. The car already rolled down the road at highest possible speed, trailing fumes of smoke from the damaged engine.

  I employed the Acceleration and bolted after my car. I raced so fast strong gusts of the blustering headwind didn’t slow me down a bit. Yet I wasn’t running fast enough to catch up with the buggy. The car was moving farther and farther away from me by a second. The Acceleration psi-power soon terminated.

  The car made a right turn at the intersection and disappeared from view. I ran a little farther down the street and came to a halt. There was no use in pursuing the buggy. I just stood there in the middle of the ruined road, staring straight ahead as if hoping the player who had just jacked my car might return. Surely he or she didn’t return.

  Then I realized something. I delved into the bag and dug out the key to my car. Dumbfoundingly gaped at it. How had the player managed to start up the car without the key? Was there some trick or skill allowing the player to hot-wire a vehicle? Or maybe that player was a cheater? Or one of those who profited from glitches? Whatever was the case, it looked like there were many various features in the game I was yet to learn of.

  A gust of blustering, piercing wind blew. I shivered in the cold. Having my car stolen would give me hard times, for sure. Why would anyone need my vehicle, anyway? It was just an old heap from the very first game location with no upgrades at all. More to the point, it’d taken some damage already. It had its hood crumpled due to having been rammed by the warcid. And the buggy also had its engine quite damaged by the fireball having exploded near it. Nonetheless, someone had decided to try and steal my car, running a risk of encountering me and hazarding their life for the success of their plan. My hands clenched into fists. I wanted to take a swing at somebody. If anyone had been around at that exact moment, I’d surely have punched them.
But there was no one around.

  It was a shame I hadn’t made out the nickname of the player. I would have gotten even with them had I run into them afterward.

  After a few minutes, I settled down a tad. It was time to decide what my next step would be. Looking around, I spotted a huge building nearby. It was a Walmart. The shop was shabby and had long cracks and pretty large holes across its walls. Yet overall, the building was intact. Had to be something useful inside it. I might be even able to find all the resources required for building a fire pit.

  I started for the shop.

  Chapter four

  It was quiet inside. The place naturally looked deserted. I stood at the threshold for a few moments, looking around and listening to the silence. Then chose a random direction and headed that way. Glass shards and bits of plaster crunched under my soles. Rows of various boutiques on both sides ran the length of the wide arcade. Surely everything had long since gotten abandoned and ruined. Dust-ridden debris and litter lay all over the whole place. Nevertheless, I looked inside every store I encounter and looked around. There had to be something useful.

  Suddenly, the crack of a gunshot reverberated through the air. It was close. I glued to the spot. My hand quickly withdrew the pistol Moderate I’d recently found. Looked around but didn’t see anyone nearby.

  After a few seconds, another barrage of gunfire sounded. It was almost deafening in the silence. I crouched down and looked in one direction, then in the other again and again, ready to engage whoever might attack me. The sounds of the gunfight were somewhere close to me, yet I didn’t see anybody. Maybe the fight was unfolding on one of higher floors.

  Someone let out with a loud shout. Yet it sounded like a person cried out in frustration rather than in pain. After that, it was all over. Everything fell silent again.

  I still didn’t move. Just lingered around for some time, listening to the silence intently and looking around. When nobody showed up, I moved on. Given the possible presence of a hostile player nearby, I walked slowly and was on full alert. Was looking back constantly. Treaded forward gingerly taking care not to step on fragile debris.

  Nobody turned up in my way. Nobody followed me either. Seemed like a person having discharged their weapon at someone a few minutes before had already left this place. I even allowed myself to slightly relax. Yet I didn’t holster my gun so that I could waste no time getting a bead on a foe.

  On walking along a boutique, I noticed light coming from inside it. There was a small fire crackling. There we go! I had to get warm. Entered the room. It was pretty dark in there. The fire lit the middle of the room, but far corners of the room were enclosed by darkness.

  As soon as I neared the fire I felt pleasant warmth envelop me. Having walked around the fire so that I could watch the entrance to the boutique, I hunkered down. Looked at the crystal and switched to the Character menu to see the Freezing attribute decreasing slowly but surely.

  Water in the pot above the fire was boiling. I had a few pieces of mosquito meat so I decided to cook them while I had a chance to do so. I delved into the bag for them. Yet as I fumbled in my bag after meat, it occurred to me that I didn’t have to bother to retrieve the meat pieces from the bag to cook it. I looked at the pot and two lines appeared in my HUD.

  > Pick a recipe:

  > Mutant roach meat: 0

  > Mutant mosquito meat: 3

  I redirected my gaze toward the second line and after a moment a morsel of meat appeared in the pot. Having added two more pieces to the first one, I regarded an indicator counting down the seconds to completion of the process.

  Suddenly, some thrum came from behind. Jumping to my feet, I jerked my gun out of the holster and made one-eighty to see two small robots emerged from the darkness at the farthest corner of the room. Each had four pairs of slender metal legs, which made them take after spiders in both appearance and behavior. These mechanoids took a few steps forward toward me and came to a stop a couple of feet away from me. The fire reflected off the metal surfaces of the robots. Only then did I notice a sentry gun mounted on each robot. Two black muzzles were pointed at me.

  There was a thrum and then two more robots flew from the darkness. Each of them was a metal box with a rotor similar to that of a helicopter. Also, each carried a huge gun. All weapons were menacingly aimed at me.

  Then I heard sounds of shuffling footsteps on the floor and from behind a rack at the far end of the room emerged a short but sturdy-built guy.

  I fixed my gaze on him to see a piece of info appear.

  > Name: Kilgour

  > Level: 7

  He held in a bulky and cumbersome but nevertheless nasty shotgun in his hands. The guy took a couple of steps forward toward me and came to a halt right behind his robots. He didn’t point his gun at me, but he didn’t put in into a scabbard on his back either.

  An uneasy silence hung in the air. Kilgour was in no hurry to strike up a conversation with me. Having waited a moment, I broke the silence.

  “Hey,” I said.

  He didn’t bother to answer. The two mini helicopter robots hovered in the air in front of him and the guy was partly hidden by the darkness so I couldn’t quite make out the expression on his face. After waiting a little longer, I asked, “So it’s been you who built the fire pit, yeah?”

  He still kept his mouth shut.

  “Mind if I get warm by your fire? I’ve just learned that skill but haven’t found resources to build a fire pit of my own yet.”

  And once again Kilgour refrained from replying. His keeping silent really started to get on my last nerve. My right hand gripping the butt of the pistol started slowly lifting up.

  Suddenly the player brought his shotgun up to eye level and took aim. It happened so fast I couldn’t do anything to protect myself in time. An earsplitting gunshot shattered the silence. I felt as if I was smitten on my chest by a heavy mallet. I was hurled over the fire and collapsed to the floor behind it. All four robots, two spiders and two mini choppers, opened up. Bullets bounced off the floor around me.

  I utilized the Shield. A power dome appeared. There were small ripples on the translucent surface where bullets hit. My chest hurt a lot. Grunting and groaning, I slowly got to my feet. The wound on my chest was bleeding. Glancing at the UI, I got aware that just one load of buckshot reduced my HP by fifty percent.

  Kilgour’s shotgun barked deafeningly once more. The power dome got much fainter. It was nearly transparent now. After another shot gotten off by one of the robots slammed into it, the Shield vanished altogether. I instantly recreated it and then looked at my UI. I was interested only in one line.

  > Mana: 200/400

  The maximally upgraded Shield used up too much mana points, specifically one hundred points. Puckering my lips, I employed the Blow. Dark energy grabbed the spiders and lifted them off the floor into the air. The helicopters got affected as well. Since they were already hovering in the air, they were just raised higher. Kilgour was also heaved up. The robots wallowed helplessly in the air, slowly rolling around and unable to do anything to check the motion. The sentry gun kept releasing deadly streams of gunfire, yet all bullets hit anything but the Shield now.

  I brought my pistol up, gripped the butt with both hands, and began squeezing the trigger.

  After taking a few bullets, one of the choppers exploded. Smoky and scorched pieces of the destroyed robot hung in the air due to the Blow psi-power still being active. I gave the other helicopter a salvo on its blades. The rotor was ripped off the body. The robot seemed to not be able to pose any threat for me so I brought my gun to bear on the closest spider.

  I had barely squeezed off one shot when the Shield and Blow expired almost at once. I wasted no time in recreating the Shield. Then looked at my UI.

  > Mana: 25/400

  Dark energy slammed the remaining robots, pieces of wrecked helicopters, and the player against the floor. One of the spiders got black smoke billowed from
its damaged body. The other had four out of eight slim legs snapped which made it sag on one side. As for Kilgour, he seemed not to sustain any severe injuries.

  The player suddenly tore a spherical object from his belt and pitched it forward. It dropped to the floor and rolled over to the convex surface of the power field. After a moment, the object emitted a low droning sound and then the flash of brilliant light shone momentarily. The grenade had detonated. The power dome instantly disappeared.

  The shotgun went off in a heartbeat. Buckshot caught me in the chest again. I fell to the ground. Excruciating pain made me immovable. I couldn’t budge. Casting a glance at my UI, I learned that I had now only ten health points left. Kilgour strode over to me and pointed the shotgun at my face. After a moment, the gun spat deadly flame.

  The world fell dark before my eyes.

  As soon as the darkness dissipated, I decided not to mess with the players whose level was much higher than mine was from now on. I laid my hands against the door, gave it a push, and climbed out of the Resurrection Pod.

  Looked around. It was a dirty room with the floor covered with litter. The entrance door was open. I walked out into the street and saw the mall just across the street. I thought that I might as well return to there since I’d scoured only a small part of the huge store. But I had to take care not to bump into that player, Kilgour, with level 7 again.