Glitch Book Three

by Victor Deckard

  Before getting to the crafting job, I had to secure the place lest some player get inside and jump me. The building had no windows so I had only to create gates. It didn’t take me long. This done, I returned to the builder.

  There were a few standard bus bodyworks to choose from. I scrolled through them, checking on each. When I would pick one of them, its translucent silhouette appeared in the middle of the room.

  Some of them were highlighted in red that indicated that they were too long to be placed inside this garage. I didn’t want too long bus anyway. The short ones didn’t please me as well. I was looking for something average in size.

  Finally, I stumbled across the bodywork I desired. But its outline was red-colored because it overlapped Christine’s car. So I got inside it, pulled to the gates, and parked alongside the right-hand wall.

  Then I returned to the builder and picked the bodywork. The outline appeared in the middle of the garage. This time it was green-colored. A few lines appeared on the screen.

  > Resources required for creating this vehicle:

  > Metal: 15000

  > Glass: 5000

  > (Do you want to create this: Yes/No)

  I was in no hurry to push the “Yes” button. The reason that I was hesitant to create this bodywork was its windows. I wasn’t keen on spending glass, for I wanted my bus without windows.

  A thought struck me as I looked back at the outline of the bodywork. If I put the vehicle that way, Christine’s car would be jammed. So I climbed behind the wheel again and pulled alongside the other wall. Then returned to the builder.

  The outline of the bus bodywork was red again because it’d overlapped the car again. Only then did I notice a few arrow-shaped buttons at one corner of the display. I pressed one of them and the outline shifted slightly to the right. So I could move the outline by pressing the buttons.

  After I shifted it a few inches away from the car, the outline changed its color to green. After making sure that the car wasn’t jammed, I pressed the “Yes” button.

  Nothing changed. Instead the page on the display refreshed to show a message.

  > Error! The Bodywork skill is required for creating this bodywork!

  Right. I didn’t unlock the skills needed for crafting a vehicle yet. Totally forgot about that.

  I’d had unlocked three skills just before the invasion of night mutants: Generic armored window, Generic armored door, and Repair. After that, I had five points left. Then I leveled up from 13 to 15, which gave me ten more points. So now I had fifteen points at my disposal. Good.

  I looked at the crystal embedded in my flesh. The Main Menu appeared in my HUD. I switched to the Mechanic tab and examined it. Out of all the skills in this tab, only one was unlocked––Simple Machine Gun––that had been needed to be unlocked per a quest in the Training Location.

  I spent all the fifteen points on three required skills, unlocking and maximally upgrading each of them.

  > Name: Bodywork

  > Description: Allows you to create a bodywork by means of a builder. To create a bodywork you need such resources as metal and glass.

  > Resource requirements:

  > Metal, Glass (*)

  > The skill state: 5 out of 5

  > (*) Note: The amount of the resources depends on the bodywork you want to create. The bigger the bodywork, the more resources you need. You can find out the total number of the resources via a builder.

  > Name: Wheels

  > Description: Allows you to create wheels by means of a builder. To create wheels you need such resources as metal and rubber.

  > Resource requirements:

  > Metal, Rubber

  > The skill state: 5 out of 5

  > Name: Engine

  > Description: Allows you to create an engine by means of a builder.

  > Resource requirements:

  > Metal

  > The skill state: 5 out of 5

  Out of curiosity, I examined the other skills in the Mechanic tab for a spell. There were many useful skills to unlock. For instance, small drones repairing a vehicle as it drove around. Or some devices preventing other players from stealing your vehicle. I should unlock some of these skills after another leveling up.

  After that, I shifted my full attention back to the builder. I was about to hit the “Yes” button when a thought struck me. Why not to create a bodywork of my own? Perhaps I could save some resources that way.

  I got engrossed in crafting a vehicle for quite a long time. It all happened via my mind. When I wanted, say, to widen the bodywork slightly, it started to widen slowly. It was like modeling something from clay. The builder showed the total number of resources on the display as I modeled the bodywork.

  Finally, I finished work. Nonchalantly hooking my thumbs in my belt, I examined my masterpiece, strolling around the bus and sizing it up. It was exactly what I’d wanted to create. Not too long, not too short.

  I stepped to one door and peered into the bus. There was enough room inside it so that a few players could feel comfortable. It was just perfect.

  Nothing like admiring the work of your own.

  I returned to the builder and learned that more than half of the metal I had on me was required to create the bodywork. I hit the “Create” button. The green outline was instantly replaced by the actual bodywork.

  All vehicles in this game consisted of the three essential parts: a bodywork, wheels, and an engine. The bodywork had been just created. It was time to make wheels.

  I looked at the display again. The wheels could be modeled the way the bodywork had been, but I decided to go with one of the standard ones. They all differed from one another only in the shape of their rims. After picking the wheels that appealed to me most, I created them.

  That left only an engine. There was only one to choose from. I created it.

  That pretty much wrapped up the crafting of the vehicle. I strolled around the bus one more time, examining it. The bodywork was pretty wide but not too long. The wheels were rather big and with good-looking rims.

  The sheet metal on the vehicle was rather thin, but it was okay because I was going to cover the bus with armor. The interior of the vehicle was extremely spacious because except for the driver’s seat, there was nothing else inside yet. Extra seats could be installed later on.

  I returned to the builder and brought up the stats of the vehicle.

  > Name: ––

  > Armor: 15000/15000

  > Speed: 15/100

  > Stability: 25/100

  > Nitro: The vehicle has no nitrous oxide engine installed.

  15k armor wasn’t much, for sure. The night monsters destroyed my 25k armored windows pretty easily last night. So they would tear my bus to ribbons in no time flat. To prevent this I had to level up one more time and unlock one more skill that allowed a player to reinforce their vehicles with armor.

  Before getting to it, I looked at the display again. The speed and stability attributes were pretty low. They depended on the engine and wheels respectively. So in order to boost the speed and stability of my car the engine and wheels had to be upgraded.

  I committed to the memory what resources were required for the upgrades. Perhaps I might find them while leveling up.

  My vehicle had no name. I had no intention of racking my brains for long, so I just called the vehicle Monster. Truth be told, the bus wasn’t anything like a monster now. Without turret guns and armor, the vehicle looked absolutely harmless. Time to fix it.

  I pulled out of the garage in Christine’s car. As I drove through the city, it occurred to me that it was already midday, which meant that there were lots of players in the game and it would take me pretty long to level up to 16.

  After giving the matter some thought, I decided to hunt the most powerful mutants in this location, mantises. I had an amazing weapon at my disposal, so they shouldn’t be much of a hassle.

  I reached the part of the
city where there were plenty of mantises. I parked alongside the curb and climbed out.

  The area was already occupied by several other single players. They wandered around, slaying mantises. Each of them had level 14 or 15. They seemed to do their best to avoid getting on one another’s nerves and having run-ins. It figured. They probably just wanted to get a couple of levels more and set out for the next location without hitting any snags.

  It was a good thing they weren’t willing to engage me, so I could turn my full attention to killing mantises.

  My unique Ice Volcanos dealt good damage to them, but my uncommon chitin armor, which I’d gotten from Cooper, wasn’t much. I had to run for cover or activate Shield when mantises spat out fireballs at me. Other than that, I had no trouble in fighting the winged monsters.

  Some of them dropped items. None was suitable for my class, but I collected them anyway.

  Finally, I leveled up to 16 and unlocked the desired skill, having assigned to it all five points.

  > Name: Generic armor

  > Description: Allows you to cover your vehicle with armor by means of a builder, boosting the Armor attribute of your vehicle.

  > Required ingredients:

  > Metal

  > The skill state: 5 out of 5

  With this done, I returned to my car and took off, heading for my garage. I stopped by a vending machine to sell out the stuff, which had dropped from mantises, on the way. I also dropped by the mailbox, but there were no new messages for me yet.

  On reaching my garage, I wasted no time getting right down to business. I would use the builder to set the size of an armor plate and create it. Its translucent outline would appear before my eyes. It constantly followed my gaze, so I was able to move it wherever I wanted to. After attaching the armor plate to the bodywork, I repeated the process.

  I soon ran out of the resources. I took a step backward and sized the bus up. Now that was more like it. The bus started to shape up, resembling the vehicle I had in mind.

  Yet only half of the vehicle was covered by armor, so I had to gather up more resources to reinforce the rest of the bodywork with armor plates.

  I pulled out of the garage in Christine’s car and rolled through the city. It was late afternoon and the game was teeming with players. Lots of them would be wandering around the garbage dump, for sure.

  Should I get there now? Would I be able to gather enough resources before night fell? Given the number of players online, I doubted that.

  Maybe I just should hold off until tomorrow morning, when there would be few players in the game.

  The heavy armor, which had dropped from one boss last night, lay on the passenger seat. I shot a glance at and remembered that I still didn’t send the armor to Stan. Might as well do it right away.

  I pulled over, got out of the car, and stepped to the mailbox. It still didn’t have new messages for me. It occurred to me that Stan being a novice might not know about mailboxes yet. What if I sent the armor to him now, and he would learn about it much later when he would get a few levels and wouldn’t need that armor?

  It was a good idea to get in touch with him first. I wrote a short letter to him and started for my car. Before I could reach it, I heard someone shout angrily. Looked around. Nobody was in sight. Yet there was a narrow side street to my right. The shout must’ve come from there.

  I started for it, taking care to produce little noise, the Ice Volcanos at the ready. Once I got to a corner and peeked around it, I saw the familiar gamer named Flynn a few yards from the entrance to the alleyway.

  I’d already met that guy the other day. He was being mugged by two PKs called Croc and Frozen. They wasted him and then dealt with me as well. A little later, I ran into him again. He delved into a trash can before noticing me. I had no armor, no weapon, no jack-squat at the moment. When Flynn spotted me, he attempted to whack me, but I was fortunate enough to give him the slip.

  So I happened to meet him again. His level was 12 now. The funny thing was, he managed to get himself in the same predicament as before. He was kneeling on the ground with his hands on the back of his head. He was being robbed again.

  I shifted my gaze toward two players who towered above the unfortunate gamer. They both had level 14. It was only when I looked at their nicknames that I realized who those two were. Croc and Frozen.

  They had gotten themselves seemingly good armor sets and weapons since I last saw them. Frozen clutched an assault rifle with an attached under-barrel grenade launcher in his hands. Croc had a submachine gun cradled in his arms, the pockets of his web gear stuffed with extra clips.

  They had their backs to me, which was why they didn’t get aware of my presence yet. As for Flynn, he spotted me. When our eyes meet, a sign of recognition appeared on his face.

  The two PKs noticed the player peering behind them and looked back. They had themselves skull-painted helmets on their heads. Their bodies tightened as the two players recognized me.

  So Croc and Frozen had found good armor and weapons and were back in crooked business now. They just couldn’t help but jump and mug single players. They were real brave when the odds were two to one in their favor.

  I could’ve just mind my own business and left these two alone. But I couldn’t stand the sight of those two PKs robbing and killing weaker players who couldn’t defend themselves against them.

  Without saying anything, I drew my Ice Volcanos and exploded into action. The two PKs fanned out in the opposite directions.

  The last time we’d had a run-in I’d taken care of Croc first, for he’d been more dangerous opponent then. Now I decided to dispose of Frozen first. He had the same level as Croc had but was armed with a way more powerful weapon.

  Flynn didn’t come to my aid. Once the PKs’ attention was distracted from him, the guy jumped to his feet and tore off. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed him dive into the nearby doorway.

  I used my Teleportation skill to materialize behind both the PKs. The two PKs turned their heads this way, then that, looking for me. Bringing my handguns up, I started to fire, aiming at Frozen’s head.

  Both PK whipped around and opened fire too. Four grenades leaped from the muzzle of Frozen’s grenade launcher at once. I didn’t expect that many and because of that managed to lobe back only two grenades.

  Seconds later, the twin explosions came near me. Good thing I activated Shield in time. The power dome bore the brunt of the explosion and popped. After re-creating it, I began hastily reloading my revolvers. Once this was done, the power dome disappeared under the savage onslaught of gunfire.

  The cooldown of Teleportation wasn’t over yet, so I utilized Acceleration instead and darted to the side to dodge the bullets.

  Only then did I realize that the alleyway was only three yards or so wide, which meant that there wasn’t enough room for me to run around the PKs the way I had during the fracas between us the other day. I had to adjust my tactic since Acceleration was nearly useless now.

  Yet there wasn’t enough time for me to think up another plan.

  Once the cooldown was over, I used Teleportation again and materialized behind the two PKs again.

  Frozen got puzzled again, whipping his head left and right, but Croc made a one-eighty, well aware that I could materialize only directly ahead of or behind them in this confined alleyway.

  I decided to lure the two PK into the open and dashed down the alleyway toward the way out. At this exact moment, a bullet punched into my back. My movement speed reduced considerably and an icon of a debuff appeared in my HUD. Dammit!

  No way I could get out of the alleyway before the two PKs whacked me, what with my speed slowed down. I had no choice but to turn around and continue to fight them in the alleyway.

  Having activated Shield, I used a stimulator and vigor to restore my health and mana respectively.

  The power dome popped. I used Disarming to yank at the weapon clutched in Croc’s hands and flun
g it thirty or so yards away with Telekinesis. Without flinching, the player wrenched a heavy pistol out of a hip holster and opened fire.

  The first bullet struck me in the chest, the force of the impact slamming me flat onto my back. I checked my HUD. The HP shrank noticeably. My character was running low on mana as well.

  Croc’s pistol kept on barking, gritty dust spitting up from the sidewalk all around me. Then Frozen discharged the grenade launcher. This time, I fully focused on the rocket-propelled grenades dashing through the air toward me and managed to lobe them all in the opposite direction. The resultant explosions boomed around the two PKs.

  Croc continued to shoot at me, but most of the bullets went wide. Either his pistol had an extremely low Accuracy attribute or the player just wasn’t used to wield pistols.

  I activated Shield and rose to my feet. The debuff was still slowing down my movements. When I used a heal, the bullets from Croc’s heavy pistol destroyed the power dome. Frozen instantly discharged the grenade launcher. I performed my trick with Telekinesis once more, sending the four grenades backward. Frozen disappeared in a cloud of smoke for a few moments.

  Still, he survived. Once the smoke dissipated, I saw his index finger pulling the trigger again. Frozen was about to discharge his grenade launcher once more. He wasn’t very bright, for sure. Or his rage made it impossible for him to think clearly.

  Croc shouted to him, “Wait! Don’t do that!”

  But Frozen already had. When the resultant growing fireball of the explosion swallowed the two players up, I used Teleportation to pop up behind the PKs and fired at them. A few bullets slammed into Frozen’s helmet. The player spun around and sighted.

  But he didn’t discharge the grenade launcher this time around. He finally realized that he just made things worse by firing it. He set about firing his assault rifle instead, shouting above the rattle, calling me names. The bullets failed to penetrate the Shield I’d created.