Chapter 9 - First Impressions (2/2)

Unsurprisingly, Major Valen picked up one of the clipboards a medical technician was holding, walked up to the kid and smashed it over his head, shattering the clipboard and knocking the kid to his knees. "Does anyone else have any real questions? We have plenty of clipboards for the smart asses here!"

The girl to the right of Gray stepped forward "Sir! This is just a game to us, are we being forced to join the military?"

"Yes and no, you joined the game fully aware that it is a military mech simulation. While you are forcibly on the side of the Alterra Alliance, you could still try and make it on your own as a mercenary. You should all be aware of this after reviewing the information included in your Diamond-tier package."

Gray nodded his head with everyone else, but he remembered that his package was never opened and is still on the small coffee table in his house. "Guess I should read that when I log off" Gray thought.

The girl continued "I am aware of this, I was asking simply because I feel I would like to help in other ways than fighting."

"Each mech requires a small team to maintain and refit, if you find yourself unable to handle combat, you can still contribute from behind the front lines!"

This answer seemed to satisfy the girl as she stepped back into the row. Gray started to think that maybe these players were surprisingly responsive to an NPC but figured maybe everyone, including himself, was just playing along with them.

Thinking about it, this NPC was amazingly self-aware with a very human personality! Not only that, the CGI was so well done that it looked life-like, far more advanced than anything else out today!

Gray was starting to think that the NPC was using an advanced AI instead of the more common AI that could easily be confused if asked a question outside of their parameters. Gray decided to test this…

"Sir, I also have a question!" Gray shouted "I was informed we would be given a starter mech, when will we be able to see it, use it, and what… is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

Major Valen looked at Gray expressionlessly and said "You will see it soon, use it not as soon, and an African or a European swallow?"

"Well… I don't know… Aaarrggghhh!" said Gray as a clipboard smashed into his head as well.