Chapter 9 - First Impressions

The timer over the massive door was counting down the last few seconds before launch. Most of the other Diamond-tier players had gathered in front of it, Gray estimated less than two hundred people were here but he remembered that players normally had to pay a massive price to become Diamond-tier if they didn't receive it through some competition of sorts and he still couldn't believe he won.

The clock finished counting down, the large golden doors slowly creaked open and a portal of sorts appeared in the door. Players excitedly pushed forward and Gray got swept up with the crowd and went through the portal.

After going through the portal, Gray's whole world turned black. He tried to move his body but it felt like he was in a very confined space.

"I must be in the incubation chamber" Gray thought.

Shortly after the world started to get brighter and the sound of hydraulics could be heard as his incubation chamber opened up for the first time. Finally able to see, Gray noticed he appeared to be in what looked like a Military medical facility. The room was very clean with dark gray metal walls and floors, evenly spaced lights illuminated the large room without being overbearing. A small number of people in lab coats were looking at him while some others in what looked like military uniforms were discussing something amongst themselves. The incubation pod finally opened completely and the restraints holding him down were released, he was able to get a look at the rest of the room and noticed that only about ten other players were present.

"The other players must've spawned somewhere else."

Gray noticed a bundle of clothes and an armlet were placed on a tray next to his pod. Noticing that he was only wearing a pair of briefs, Gray quickly put the clothes on. The clothes themselves were fairly ordinary, the bundle consisted of a military jumpsuit, socks, and a white undershirt. The jumpsuit was dark blue and of a light material and had very little adornment aside from his name on the left breast and a crest on each arm that denoted his Diamond-tier status, as a standard issue suit it contained several pockets that seemed slightly silly to Gray as a player could use their own inventory and didn't need to store items this way.

A large intimidating man wearing a fairly well-decorated military uniform yelled sharply as some of the other players wanted to try to wander away. Gray didn't know military ranks, but he figured this guy must be high up as he had a lot of bars and some stars. "Welcome new players! Form a line for your briefing!"

Gray and seven other players stood next to each other in a line while looking at this large man. They were all a little confused but figured this was a new player tutorial of sorts. As for the 4 other players, they figured since it was a tutorial they could just skip it if they wanted and started to leave.

The rest of the NPCs did nothing to stop those four players as they were trying to leave the building. A friendly NPC handed these four players what was probably a starter package which they took and then left the medical facility off to play.

Gray was thinking that he may as well skip this tutorial too and started to take a step forward but felt one of the other players grab his arm. When he looked back he saw a brown-haired man shaking his head at him and Gray understood that he was probably trying to help him out. Gray smiled at him and went to shake his hand when the guy shook his head again and nodded in the direction of the military officer. Getting the message, Gray stopped and turned his attention to the military officer.

"I am Major Valen of the Alterra Alliance! You maggots will be the first batch of recruits and the batch given the most attention too by us! We hope to turn you from the raw lumps of metal you are into fine swords, any questions!"

"Sir! I have a question!" A cheeky guy stepped forward and asked "What if I want to be an attack helicopter and not a sword?"

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.