PftA Book 2 - Chapter 27

Chapter 27 – Rhona’s News

As my last class of the day was winding down, an icon on my interface began blinking, letting me know I had a message. I knew it had to be important because Lisa had allowed the message through during class. Seeing it was a meeting request from Rhona and knowing she was aware of my schedule, I figured the timing was no coincidence.

As the instructor bid the class farewell, I replied, letting my boss know I was on my way. The invite had included the location, so I hurried to her in-game office, using Teleport to travel most of the distance.

“Thanks for coming so quickly,” Rhona said with a tired smile as I entered the secluded office in the training building next to Beta Promenade. “How are you liking the new game so far?”

While I didn’t think she’d call me over to ask such a question after only one full day of testing, I had plenty to say. I felt comfortable enough with the high-tier princess to share my thoughts, though I didn’t want to be too harsh.

“It… kinda sucks?” I said hesitantly.

“How so?” she asked curiously.

Hoping she wanted the truth and not a bit of gloss, I answered, “There is no purpose. There are no quests to guide players’ actions, so we’re mostly floundering without any kind of goal. In addition, there are almost no resources, which isn’t realistic at all. Even if I didn’t know what was coming, my apartment would still have more to scavenge than the game's generic mockup. I feel like it could be something good, but the desire to stay as close to reality as possible is limiting any kind of entertainment value. Most people aren’t going to bother playing if they are bored, even if the game is super realistic.”

“That’s about what I expected,” Rhona said with a nod. “Quests will be added when the game resets at the end of the week, as will your earlier recommendation to include a scan of nearby items. The DIVE equipment has the ability to perform a single scan, so any more than that will require additional equipment. The designers are still working on options, so if you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them.”

I’d put a lot of thought into the problem since discussing the new game with Rhona the first time, so I had a few ideas I was able to share. I wasn’t sure if any of them would work, but they’d at least provide a starting point.

“Okay. I’ll forward your ideas to the people working on last-minute changes,” she said, tapping her virtual tablet before looking up and taking a deep breath. “Now, for the real purpose of our meeting – your roommate, Donna Jessup.”

“Bell?” I tilted my head in confusion. “What’s going on with Bell?”

“Well,” Rhona tapped her tablet a few times before turning it so I could see the display. “According to our most recent assessment, she’s on the verge of awakening.”

It was hard to make sense of the graphs and numbers displayed, but I gradually realized what I was looking at. The information shown reflected Bell’s physical scans – something I immediately felt bad about looking at without permission.

“Are you sure I can look at those? Isn’t it a violation of privacy or something?”

Rhona chuckled. “Not at all. You are an Atlas employee with information directly related to the topic. Having a functional ‘need to know’ bypasses any privacy concerns – not that the Alliance cares much for such things. Earthborn and their sense of entitlement… sometimes it amazes me.”

Deciding not to open that can of worms, I focused back on the information displayed. The charts included historical data, which depicted a moderate uptick in Bell’s internal mana concentration after moving to Pensacola. I might have attributed it to an increase in ambient mana if not for later changes. From what I could tell from the charts, Bell’s internal mana concentration had drastically increased over the past two to three months, pushing her levels beyond the lower threshold for awakening.

“It’s from the food, isn’t it?” I asked, looking up from the tablet. I’d started incorporating more mana-infused foods into my diet – and, by extension, Bell’s since she generally ate whatever I prepared. Since I’d hoped for this very outcome, I couldn’t help but feel excited.

“That’s my suspicion. You mentioned it before – that you were sharing mana-infused food with your roommate and brother—” she swiped the screen, changing it to a new display “—but I was surprised to see just how significant the effect has been.”

I looked at the new image, noting Justin’s name at the top. Though the initial increase was much more subtle, the marked jump in internal mana concentration over the past two months was obvious. Justin’s levels had started higher than Bell’s in the beginning, but hers had quickly overtaken his, though he wasn’t very far behind.

“So Justin will likely awaken soon, too?” I asked.

Rhona nodded. “If you keep feeling him mana-rich food, yes. He will likely awaken in the coming weeks. Even if you stop, he will still likely awaken before the reintegration begins.”

“Is there any way you could…” I waved my hand uncertainly. “I don’t know, maybe have them awaken together? They are planning to move in together next month. It would probably make things a lot easier.”

“No.” Rhona shook her head. “I’m sorry. We aren’t allowed to awaken anyone without a really good reason. Convenience isn’t enough, unfortunately.”

I considered the possibilities. “Would it be unsafe for me to load him up with mana-dense food? I’ve been mostly sharing Tier One foods, but I have a ton of Tier Two foods. I can also program my Meal Maker to increase the mana density…” I looked at my boss questioningly.

She grinned. “It won’t hurt him, though I’d keep it limited to Tier Two.”

Going back over the discussion, I found myself curious about something. “How is Bell closer to awakening than Justin, anyway? He was exposed to mana months earlier.”

“Part of it has to do with affinities, I’m sure,” Rhona said, pulling back the tablet. “However, I’d wager being your roommate and sharing food more often before the change a couple of months ago had more to do with it. Bell likely consumed a lot more mana than your brother. Eating mana-rich foods has always been an effective way to replenish mana.”

“So, how close is Bell? It looked like she was already over the threshold.”

“Based on her exam this morning – or rather, yesterday, now… it could happen anytime.” Rhona looked down at the tablet with a thoughtful expression. “As I’m sure you noticed, she’s already exceeded the minimum mana required to break through our temporary hold on interface activation.”

= = =

I observed Bell’s interactions with one of the Beta Group parties living in our building from my seat in the common room. Rhona had warned me that when Bell’s interface activated, she would be automatically transferred to the Junction and locked out of her interface until she signed the system-enforced contract… or was given a geas, depending on her reaction.

I doubted the geas would be necessary, especially if Rhona approached her the way she did me.

Rhona had also assigned me with the task of immediately removing Bell’s Fitmon upon her awakening and bringing the device to her. Though she wouldn’t explain why the Fitmon needed to be removed immediately and kept in storage the whole time, I sensed it was meant to protect Bell somehow.

I was surprised to learn I needed an auxiliary augmentation to remove the device – one that was transferred to my interface without needing to spend CP while I was still in the simulation. The fact that I hadn’t needed to pay for the augment meant removing the devices would likely become part of my official duties, at least to some degree.

Then again, the other awakened natives I’d interacted with thus far still wore theirs… It was a disparity Rhona had artfully avoided explaining during our meeting. Instead, she’d redirected the conversation toward the possibility of Bell joining me in ‘R&D’ to work on basic enchantments since she also held the skill.

Ultimately, I didn’t care what she hid as long as she acted in our best interests. Given the type of person she was, I firmly believed that was the case. If nothing else, she had Amie’s best interest in mind.

“Hey, what’s up with you?” Bell asked, sliding a plate of grilled meat and vegetables in front of me. “You’ve seemed a bit out of it all day.”

I shook my head. “I had a meeting with Rhona, and I’m just thinking about some of the stuff we discussed.”

“Oh,” she said before biting into a roasted carrot and chewing thoughtfully. “Did you mention how… blah… this new game is?”

I huffed out a laugh and nodded. “I did! I think my exact words were, ‘It’s boring, and nobody is going to want to play a boring game.’” I shook my head. “Maybe not my exact words, but pretty close. They’re trying to stick to realism, but I told her quests are a must, especially in a game like this. I mean, we have a system in the game. There should be quests to guide us down the path the devs want us to take, right?”

“What did she say?”

“She said they already had it in the works, along with some other stuff. I guess they are pushing out an update at the end of the week or something.” I shrugged and focused on my meal while covertly watching my roommate. If she could disappear at any moment, I needed to be ready.

“I think we should be more proactive with our activities,” Bell suddenly said. “This is supposed to be like real life, right?” I nodded in reply, and she continued, “What would we do, then? We’ve got additional walls around the housing complex, and all the doors and windows are impact-resistant, so they should hold up against LT1 birds.”

I held up my plate. “We’re obviously harvesting meat and have someone who can grow food. What else would we need?” I asked, playing devil’s advocate.

“If this was real, I’d probably head to the military base,” Bell offered. “It isn’t very far away. It would probably be safer long-term than staying here.”

“Maybe,” I said, though I largely agreed. Living on base in Missouri had been much safer than staying in one of the outlying towns or cities. At least, that was the impression I got from those who sought shelter on base. “But what about places without an infrastructure like that? Also, the base isn’t big enough to accommodate the whole city.”

“Well,” Bell began, “if we are using our neighborhood as a testbed, ignoring the military as an option for the moment… We’d need to set up patrols –”

“Already being done,” I cut in.

Bell nodded. “We should find all the rifts in the area and delve the bad ones until they disperse, leaving only the best ones to farm for materials.” Bell pursed her lips in thought. “It’s obvious too many rifts spawned during whatever surge started everything, but if we force too many to dissipate, more will appear. That’s how it works in Atlas Online, right?”

My roommate looked at me questioningly, knowing I’d researched game lore much more deeply than most others. I nodded. “Yeah, it’s a balance, but I’m not sure how large of an area the balance impacts.”

We discussed options, with various other beta testers providing their opinions as our conversation drew their attention. Eventually, the conversation became more of a debate, with others taking over and attempting to push their opinions on others.

I could only sigh and shake my head as I observed the other players arguing about how to approach the ‘town building’ scenario they believed we were in. They weren’t wrong, necessarily.

Eventually, about a quarter of the players who had gravitated to the common area decided to make their way to the military base and join with some of the players there. By this point, everyone had logged out at least a couple of times, so the status of the surrounding area was fairly common knowledge.

The most prominent groups were the military – run mostly by NPCs, a group that had taken over the airport, and one based out of the mall. There were a few smaller groups, but ours seemed to be a distinct outlier. I suspected it was due to the number of beta testers living in the virtual university housing.

We had a few NPCs among our numbers, but they were just as likely to cause problems as they were to help. More than a few had decided to go full murderhobo, which made me wonder what the devs were thinking when they programed the AIs in charge of their personalities.

I sincerely hoped their behavior did not reflect the real tenants’ proclivities. If it did… a harsh lesson would need to be made sooner rather than later.