Chapitre 24: Let's get out of town!
Not many teams were playing Team Capture the Flag as it started to take longer and longer to find a match each time for Gray and the rest. After 4 hours they only had played 5 matches. They won 3 and lost 2 so at least they had a winning record at this point.
"Gray, don't forget that each of us was assigned a trainer AI to help us get better, while it isn't a replacement for actual experience, it does help you by storing your matches and other combat encounters and give you pointers based upon professional soldiers advice." said Caleb.
The rest of the team looked at Gray not surprised at all that he forgot to use something, but he got a little agitated and said "Oh come on, I'm pretty sure Caleb is the only one that has used it so far out of us!"
The rest of the team feigned innocence but Gray had a feeling that even Caleb just remembered it.
Gray started to focus his mind trying to summon his AI trainer, but sadly nothing was happening.
"Hey Geoff, how do you turn on the AI trainer?" asked Gray.
"T-That is easy, but it's hard to explain... uhhh... Yurika, can you explain it?" said Geoff nervously.
"I could, but uhmm, mine is special, can you explain it Stacia?" stammered Yurika.
"Yes, you open up Training in your HUD then turn on AI assistant, after that it works just like a regular personal assistant AI and you can get it's attention by calling its name." said Stacia calmly.
Gray smiled at Geoff and Yurika as something as simple as that wasn't hard to explain and suddenly said "Oh, well, if that is difficult to explain for you Geoff and Yurika, I'll make sure to explain future orders in very very basic terms to you guys so you can understand with your limited minds."
Geoff and Yurika laughed shyly as they got exposed for not having remembered the AI trainer either.
Gray turned his AI trainer on and heard a feminine voice that said "Please assign me a name player Gray Wilhelm"
Gray thought for a moment, he really wanted to name it something stupid like "Baby Punter", "Mike Hunt", or even "Lord Sputnik". Fortunately he had a little bit of self control and ended naming it "Tiara" as the AI sounded like a she and that she was also a little bit stuck up like most royalty. Granted, Gray has never met any, he's judging purely off of the stereotype like a normal person.
Tiara, Gray's new AI replied "Name set, how shall I address you?"
Once again, Gray went stupid and thought of using things like "Milord", "All Powerful One", or just "Master". These thoughts made Gray kinda zone out for a bit but everyone else staring at him as he zoned out brought him back to reality. "Just Gray is fine"
"Very well, Just Gray is fine, it is a pleasure to meet you." replied Tiara.
"No, I mean just call me Gray."
"Understood, Gray." said Tiara.
"Tiara, what can you recommend to me for training?"
"Insufficient Data for assessment, need more data from your mech. Currently I have 0 minutes and 0 seconds of piloting data stored."
"Why do you not have any? We've been through around 2 dozen matches total."
"I was just activated approximately 1 minute ago, I can extrapolate data from your combat logs, but live data is best. Please ask me again after a few more battles or training sessions." replied Tiara
Gray thought that it made sense anyways since he had just turned her on... his childish mind of course thought. "Only took me a few seconds to turn her on, that's gotta be a record"
"Well, let's take a break anyways, this game has so much potential that we're never going to discover it all if we just stick to matchmaking and the simulators." everyone nodded in agreement and split apart.
Stacia and Yurika both felt like signing off so they returned to their quarters and logged out for the day. Caleb said he wanted to try something and left without adding much else to that, but Gray and Geoff wanted to explore a little bit so they went up to a NPC attendant and wanted to ask what their was to do for fun aside from matchmaking.
"Sirs, some basic missions are available at the mission board, you can also enroll in training courses for mech piloting, or if you need a break, the break room is located behind the mess hall. A premium hall exists for Diamond-Tier players, but it won't be ready for 4 more days." said the attendant.
Gray figured this premium hall was only going to open at game launch to give the Diamond-Tier players and exclusive hangout since it'll be hard to relax if you have hundreds or even thousands of other players trying to use the facility at the same time.
"Are there any cities to explore and look for quests?" asked Gray.
"Yes, but currently field quests are disabled. I would recommend taking some starter quests to help you earn merits outside of matchmaking. Exploring is allowed, but renting a vehicle will cost merits and using your mech will cost supplies which also costs merits." said the attendant.
"So... basically we're stuck at this military base for now unless we want to go do missions for the military or use our merits to rent a vehicle." Gray didn't like the sound of that as it limited his exploration, but it might be that way to try and keep the players together or to discourage exploration at the moment.
As Gray was thinking, Geoff whispered to Gray "Forget it, let's ask Major Valen and see what he has to say even though it might cost us merits to ask him."
Gray nodded and they both left for Major Valen's office.
The door to Major Valen's office was open and Gray knocked twice against the open door while leaning in. Major Valen motioned that it was okay for them to enter and Gray immediately said "Major Valen, sir, we would like to ask you a question, how much is it to ask a question?"
"Is that your question? If so, that's a freebie, depends upon the question." replied Major Valen
Gray made sure not to laugh after seeeing the clipboard on Major Valen's desk and remembering the feeling of him getting one broken over his head. Gray and Geoff realized that even Major Valen could crack a joke even if it wasn't intentional so laughing could be dangerous.
"Sir, no sir, we would like to ask what is the nearest city and how do we get there." said Gray
"5 Merits"
Gray thought that that seemed like a lot, but he also realized that information is invaluable if you know how to use it and was considering a way to leverage this information once the game launched in 4 days. "Deal"
"Good, the nearest city is just north of this base now called New Venice where the former metropolitan areas of Chioggia and Sottomarina used to be. Follow the trail out of the north of the base and head towards the North West, you will come across the remains of an old highway that our standard F series truck should have no issue with traversing. What do you plan to do there?" asked the Major.
Gray replied meaning it more as a joke and said "5 merits."
Major Valen shocked Gray by saying "Deal" since he thought he wouldn't really care since he was just an NPC.
"Uhh, we just want to look around and get out of this base a little bit, explore the world, nothing special really" answered Gray honestly.
Major Valen seemed to think about it for a second then said "Very well, don't travel outside of our territory and don't get in to any trouble. The military does have a presence in New Venice so please inform them if you wish to log off in the city."
Gray and Geoff left Major Valen's office gratified that they felt like they pulled a fast one on him by getting that information for free.
"That went better than expected! Come on, let's get out of here and head to the city before it gets dark!" said Gray
"Yes, so uhhh, do you think we can use merits to rent a room in the city if one of us gets lucky?" asked Geoff
"Dude, this is a game, not real life..." said Gray
"I know but..."
Gray cut Geoff off "and since it's a game we have a much better chance of getting lucky! Chicks dig uniforms and I wonder if NPCs are no exception. We'll pilfer the freaking truck if we have to!" exclaimed Gray.
Gray and Geoff rented a truck for 20 merits and hurried off towards New Venice.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone