"In case you were wondering, I am a player, and did not start out as a machine or AI, and was only recently promoted to my position as one of the 200 Chief Administrators. You’re the first person I’ve allowed to become a Machine Lord, so try not to screw too much up. Just try to help your own race, the humans, as I’m sure you will. If you do somehow become super powerful, that’s fine as well, just remember that I try to keep the balance, no matter which way it tips. But, well, as Administrators our power to influence the Game and the politics of the Game is rather limited. That’s a different topic though.
"Anyway, as I guess I’m the sort of class leader of the Machine Lords, let me know if you encounter any class specific problems or difficulties. Should you perform tasks for the Administrators, I may share additional information about the class with you. Oh right, I’m also supposed to set up your class quest. Hmm… What will your future be like.
"Right, well, you may or may not know this, but as most beginners don’t, or at least shouldn’t, I suppose I should tell you anyway. Once you reach level 100, you’ll stop getting 5 ability points a level and only get 1 ability point each level. Then, at level 1000 you’ll only get 1 ability point every two levels. Yes, I know this is unfair as the XP requirement for each level grows almost exponentially (the growth is linear, don’t let anyone convince you otherwise), but it allows lower level players such as yourself to match up more evenly against higher level players. It also demonstrates the importance of the Gifted/Skilled abilities, but you have them already I’m sure, as they’re a prerequisite for the class implant.
"You should also know once you successfully complete the Tutorial, that is, when you finish the Learning the Basics quest, the credits you have remaining will be multiplied by five. That includes any credits you may have paid someone or given away, which is why everyone gives new players such a discount, in case you were wondering. We Administrators force them to, otherwise the players would be ripped off left and right, and then send endless complaints to us. I suppose we should just multiply credit rewards by five, but that’s how the Game was set up originally, and we aren’t allowed to change certain basics like that.
"Right, moving forward I advise you to join a guild or find a sponsor. In the Game the majority of players join an institute or academy, places that essentially power level a player to level 1000 and teach them a number of useful skills. They have all of what would be considered in most games to be the ideal farming grounds, with entire planets designed around power leveling. You’ll probably want to join a more combat-oriented academy, but the cost is prohibitive, generally hundreds of thousands of credits, hence why you should join a guild. They’ll pay the cost of the academy, provided you sign a contract to be a member of the guild for a period of time.
"Based upon your results and class, I think you should join the Black Rose guild. I’ll actually recommend you to a contact I have there. This is the last free favor though. I guess you could pay me with the marks you’ve managed to acquire from the Tutorial though. Any questions?”
With a split second pause, he continued.
“No? Well, if any spring to mind, message me in a chat window and my AI should respond within a few milliseconds. Bye.”
The communications window closed. Shortly after, Alan got a message:
CA170: Oh, I forgot to give you your class quest. Here you go. It should be… interesting.
Scoping out the Competition:
Discover and meet with 10 major players in person. Introduce yourself to them. No big deal, right?
A major player is determined to be a player capable of massively influencing the game. Chief Administrator 170 is a major player, but meeting him won’t count towards the quest. Retroactive confrontations count though, thus the Predecessor you met counts as 1 of the 10, congrats!
1/10 Major players met
Bonus Objective: Discover each major player’s main objective in the Game.
Reward: Locked Class Abilities, ???, Increased rewards based upon bonus objectives found
Penalty for failure: None, but be careful not to anger any major players.
Alan read over the quest a few times. It seemed somewhat obvious the Chief Administrator had simply written the quest text himself. How he had reached such a position, Alan wasn’t sure, although he did seem to be multitasking quite a bit, performing other tasks while conversing with Alan. Alan wondered why exactly the Chief Administrator had chosen to be an Administrator. As if he had somehow read Alan’s mind, the Chief Administrator sent Alan another message:
CA170: By the way, in case you were wondering - balancing the Game efficiently is my current main objective. Unfortunately my race, the Hunaan, are now virtually extinct due to improper Administrative balance. Don’t let that happen to humanity! Good luck.
Alan began to feel sorry for the Chief Administrator, at least until Eve brought up a piece of information for Alan. The Hunaan race had a thriving colony set up in real life in some far off solar system, they were just virtually extinct, which meant they had little to no influence in the Game. Shaking his head, Alan tried to access the alien internet to research the guild that had been recommended, but was stopped by a message. Apparently he had to finish the "Learn the Basics" quest first.
The basics turned out to be the manual that Icewolf had originally given Alan to learn about the rules of the Game. As a Machine Lord, Alan was also forced to memorize a few more manuals about things like the various alien races, factions, technology and the alien internet, called the globalnet. There was also apparently a freedomnet, used by the Republic, a empirenet used by the Empire and a haxnet used by the Haxlards, but most players used the globalnet which was monitored and setup by the Administrators.
With his new-found memory, Alan managed to learn all this information in a week. At Eve’s suggestion, he also studied a few more subjects, pretty much every core science subject: mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering and biology, while expanding his computer science knowledge. Each morning and evening, Alan also progressed through a series of complex exercises suggested by the Chief Administrator that were supposed to improve his balance. They seemed to work fairly well, although Alan continued to feel a bit off. Still, a day before the Titan arrived at Khersath, three and a half weeks after Alan first entered the Game, he learned enough to satisfy the Game.
Learning the Basics, Complete!
Reward: Knowledge is its own reward.
(You are now able to logout from your Home, access online computer networks, join a guild, access the universal Market and Arcade, teleport to a different location, level past 100 and do a variety of other things in-game. Congratulations, you aren’t a moron!)
Alan had a feeling the Chief Administrator was messing with him now. Alan decided to exit the game, see if there was much of a change in real life. His parents were probably worried about him, although it seemed odd to think of his parents now. Of reality. There were also questions he wanted to ask Icewolf.
So Alan proceeded to capsule room, returned Home, and logged out.
Arc 2: The Guild
The Game is lost.
-Unknown
Chapter 11
“Yes, I know. I love you too, bye,” Alan said exasperatedly, ending the video conference with his parents. He’d contacted them right after he’d gotten out of the Game. The log out had not been immediate, the process taking around two and a half hours before Alan emerged back into the real world. Alan didn't remember any of it. As he answered his parents’ questions, or at least the ones he was allowed to answer, he’d checked his email. He had one from Icewolf to contact him once he finished the Tutorial, but other than that nothing important.