Chapter 13 - Dismissed! (1/2)
Upon waking in his bed in-game, Gray received a message that all players need to report to the logistics facility to receive a new piece of equipment. Gray headed down to the facility and ran in to a few of the other players that were also receiving their new equipment. Showing his player identity badge to the clerk, Gray received a small data chip that had the Alterra Online game logo on it as well as his player number on it.
Looking at it, he saw his number was '068 – D' which Gray assumed the D was for his Diamond Tier status. As for the function of this chip, Gray was told that his unique neural profile would be stored on it as a backup allowing all Alterra Alliance mechs to be able to calibrate them for him if they did not have his profile already stored.
"Weird, you'd think everyone could use a generic setup" said Gray to himself.
Suddenly Caleb Waldowski came up from behind him and stated "A generic setup will never suffice for military applications, the neural paths may be used to communicate signals of the human brain, but the degree of signal sent through them can be different for every person."
Gray got started at Caleb's sudden response from behind him and out of his view. Gray thought about hitting Caleb for scaring him, but Gray realized that he would've done the same thing to Caleb if given the chance.
"Yeah, that makes sense, it's not unique for everyone as you can have an identical set as someone else, but it's not so common that a generic one will work" said Gray nodding in agreement, pretending not to have nearly pissed himself from earlier.
"Indeed, for example, if someone has a very weak signal overall and the mech is tuned for someone with a stronger signal, they would find it impossible to get a full range of motion out of the mech and it would feel sluggish. On the contrary, someone with a very strong signal on a mech tuned for lower strength would find their moves jittery and exaggerated."
"So, once again, why can't the game just use our VR bed's tuning?" asked Gray to Caleb.
"Realism is my guess… also plot convenience…" said Caleb
Gray didn't hear that last part fully and asked "Plot what?"
"Not important, anyways, I imagine today will be the day we're finally turned loose upon the game world. A game is a game and if we aren't allowed to play in it, why would anyone want to even log in?"
Gray did agree again with Caleb. He admitted he was a little frustrated that he couldn't just go on a romp like he normally does in these games and get himself beat up to learn things the hard way, but Gray imagined that he would get to experiment on his own sooner or later.
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After a few more minutes, the rest of the players all received their new keys as well and an announcement rang through their armlets that they needed to head to the classroom. Gray and the others wandered towards the classroom and found seats and were chatting calmly amongst themselves. Major Valen did his usual burst through the door entrance and addressed everyone.
"Good morning pilots! Today is the last day I will be holding your little baby hands, I will not be responsible for you even if you come crawling back crying like an infant begging for help. The last five systems for you players will be introduced and you baby birds can either fly or fall."
Major Valen tapped on his holoboard and a message was sent to all of the players in the room.
"System Message: Matchmaking, Forums, Market, Missions, and Mech Bay are now unlocked" was the message sent to all players in the room.
Gray noticed 3 new icons in his HUD: "Forums", "Market", and "Missions" were now present.
"As players, the forums should be self-explanatory, use them to recruit, trade, communicate, and whatever else you players do with them." Said Major Valen. "As for the Market, this is also another standard for you players, you can use it to exchange your merits for equipment, resources, in-game credits, or even real-life credits!"