章 6: Tiers for Survival
"So how do we get stronger?" Riki asked at once.
Wait. How the heck did he manage to stay this long? Didn't that mean that Riki had somehow succeeded in becoming a First Sphere student? How did he pass his Entrance Exam?!
Meanwhile, Crystal was answering. "There are two main factors; yourself, and your equipment. The fastest way is to get some gear. I'd love to put top tier weapons in your hands, but you don't have any training, and even the most basic combat courses will cost credits. The Academy monitors and heavily restricts all credit transfers, so I can't just sponsor everyone. You'll have to take care of your gear and skills on your own."
Crystal flicked at her wrist-comm, sending them emails. "Take the courses on the list ASAP. I've arranged them into five Tiers. Unless you've completed the First Tier, don't log in after dark. Don't even try climbing the mountain until you've completed all five and put together some decent gear."
Cody glanced through her email. The first part had to do with the Five Tiers of Survival. The First Tier listed was 'Squishy' level, with three courses outlined; Life Force Activation, Rudimentary Telepathy, and Mina Sword Style Basics. Each of these cost about fifty credits each. The Second Tier, 'Cakewalk' had four courses, which cost about a hundred credits each. The Third Tier, 'Peanuts' had courses costing around 200 credits. The courses of the fourth tier, 'Roadkill' cost 500 creds on average. The fifth tier, 'Strawman', had courses costing near 1000 credits.
"Is this really necessary?" Kalen groaned. "Flat out graduating from the First Sphere only takes 10,000 credits."
"Even if you wanted to buy your way up, you'd need to earn those credits." Crystal pointed out. "And earning 10,000 credits without basic skills is going to be near-impossible within two years."
"Why two years?" Riki asked.
"Because if you can't get through First Sphere in two years, you get kicked out."
Other than courses, the First Tier had minimum equipment. This included full body protective wear (sports gear would do), and a weapon that could be used with the Mina Sword Style (a synthsteel broomstick or a gravball bat would suffice). Also, emergency flares, detox pills, and ultrasonic bug repellent. That was the minimum they would need to reach the First Tier of Survival and be considered… 'squishy'.
{Which means, right now, we're even worse than squishy. What's worse than squishy? Paper? Tissue?}
The point was, First Tier stuff was as cheap as it got. Running around with mismatched sports attire and a broomstick might not seem very valiant, but it was safer than nothing. The equipment for the different Tiers got more and more expensive and sophisticated until, at the Fifth Tier, they were supposed to have physical enhancement Frames or vehicles, both short and long-ranged weapons with suitable training for them, multiple one-use life-saving emergency items (like stun gas grenades), camping gear, complete first-aid kits and first-aid training, mobile cooking sets, enough rations to last a week, and at least two other people in one's team to do the Mountain Challenge together.
"Ten thousand credits really might be cheaper." Oren groaned.
"But spending ten thousand Clira would only be a net loss. Whatever you buy and use for the trip, you're going to find them useful in the Second Sphere." Crystal paused. "I still do."
"You? Aren't you in the First Sphere with us?" Kalen asked.
"I've already completed the First Sphere. I'm a Second Sphere student now."
"But you're here." Kalen objected.
"I was assigned here for a month." She didn't explain further.
"What kind of courses do you take in the Second Sphere that needs weapons and armor?" Specs asked, baffled.
"Rudimentary Childcare." Crystal sighed. "For the cheap price of three thousand credits, they'll assign you to some newbie village and ask you to take care of the kids."
Oh. So that's what happened.
"What do we do then? We don't have many credits at all. We can't even afford any of the courses." Specs said.
"First of all, all of you need to learn to cook eggs. That will advance you to the next level. You may as well ignore all the first level missions. 3 credits aren't worth the trouble." Crystal snorted. "You get 5 on average for level 2 missions, and 8-9 for level 3's. The pay just keeps increasing from there. Forget the berries. Just go for the eggs."
"Aren't we supposed to figure out everything for ourselves? Learn to learn and all that?" Oren asked. "That's what makes this Academy so great, right?"
"Yeah, but you also need to learn to function in a society. That means learning from each other. So learn this from me; skills and equipment are going to be important for survival. If you learn nothing else today, learn that."
"That's all?" Melinda asked.
"That, and DO NOT leave the village alone!" Crystal emphasized. "Also, report to me or a teacher immediately if you see anything weird out there."
"What do you mean by 'weird'?" Riki asked.
"I don't know! Just… keep an eye out!"
With that, they dispersed.
Cody took a deep breath.
"How hard can it be to cook an egg?" Cody asked out loud. Then, he paused. "I don't have an egg. And I don't have any kitchen or anything to cook it with. It's not like the First Sphere is going to provide me with anything."
He pondered. "Maybe I don't actually need a kitchen or a stove or anything like that. How much does it cost to purchase an Electric Pan with credits?"
Orb answered. "Current market prices fluctuate between 10-50 credits, depending on the brand and size."
"Oh wait. Even if I had an electric pan… my Personal Space doesn't have any electricity. What about the battery-operated kind?"
"15-50 credits." Orb said.
"And how much would a battery cost in credits?"
"For a type-D commonly used in electric pans… 4 credits. Having no electric supply in your Personal Space, you'll have to rent a power outlet at the workshops or warehouse to recharge it. Also, you'll need to borrow or buy a recharger."
Cody sighed. "Maybe for a pan, I should just pick up a scrap of metal from the junkyard and heat it up with a broken piece of glass and sunlight…"
Orb crushed that idea. "Be informed: according to standards, anything scored above 1 in the Fry An Egg mission must be considered edible."
"Just how good must it be to reach a score of 5?" Cody asked.
There was a pause. Then, "Good enough to sell."
"Commercial-grade?!" Cody gave up on the scrapyard-pan idea. "Is there someplace I can borrow or rent the equipment I need?"
"Recommended: Cooking Workshop. Cook An Egg Package: 5 credits for the utilities, machinery, equipment and ingredients. Full kitchen usage for 15 minutes, water, electricity, and fire, and full access to basic condiments."
"Basic condiments…?"
"Salt, pepper, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, ketchup, chilli, chilli powder, chilli sauce…"
Cody had this sneaky suspicion that the Cook An Egg Package offered by the Cooking Workshop included basic condiments for a reason…
But even attempting it was going to cost him 5 credits. Cody had absolutely no confidence in his cooking skills as he was.
Unless…
With a whole different idea in mind, Cody left the Virtual Realm, and exited his Sphere in the real world.
***
Cody exited the Sphere only to see a 10-second delayed replay of him exiting the Virtual Realm. "Huh?"
It was being displayed on a comms room wall. "Wha…?"
They were watching him the whole time? Cody knew they could do it, he'd seen Cyril and Cass at school before too, but shouldn't they have told him about it?
"Cody. Over here." Dad called from outside.
Cody left the comms room and exited to the dining hall…
"Congratulations, Cody!" three voices cheered the moment he stepped out of the comms room.
It turned out that his family wanted to celebrate his successful enrollment into the Academy with a lunch celebration.
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