If he could find his way to Pete, they could team up and take on the challenge together. It would be just like the previous night and countless other nights they’d spent gaming together; only this was real.
A translucent holographic gauntlet had appeared on his right wrist, responding to movements of his hands and arm just like a glove made from light. Ollie raised his hand and examined the gauntlet as closely as he could. It looked like a high-tech piece of equipment, with all kinds of buttons and metallic-looking plates that interlocked together. He tried to tap one of the buttons, but his finger passed right through the gauntlet and touched his bare arm beneath.
>> Calibrating.
A head-up display appeared, showing what Ollie presumed was his health bar as well as available slots for spells and abilities, and a time that was set at sixty seconds.
“Sweet!” he chirped, moving his head left and right and watching as the HUD stayed perfectly in place. It was like the best VR he’d ever experienced. “Fucking sweet!”
>> Calibrating.
He held out his hands. Ollie wasn’t sure exactly what to expect from some intergalactic gladiatorial contest, but he figured they’d have to do something to his boring human biology to make things more interesting, something more than just the gauntlet.
“Hey, voice lady? How are we gonna do this? Is it nanites or some shit like that? You gonna inject me or swap out my DNA or something like that?”
>> Calibrating.
Ollie nodded. “Guess I’ll have to wait.”
He wiggled his fingers and toes, searching for some sign that something had changed. Everything felt exactly as it normally did. He still had a thudding headache and was still severely dehydrated from the previous night’s drinking. All the normal aches and pains were in evidence, but the sheer adrenaline and excitement of what was happening was overriding all of those sensations, filling Ollie with so much energy that he had to force himself not to start jumping up and down.
>> Assigning contest tutor.
“Tutor, huh?” He nodded to himself. “Okay, now we’re talking.”
He looked down and caught sight of his feet, realizing that picking up a pair of shoes might be a good idea given that he was shortly going to be fighting for his life. A park wasn’t exactly the hardest place to move around with bare feet, but once he got back onto streets and sidewalks, things would change.
>> Loading personality.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Ollie had a moment of panic as he wondered whether it was his personality that was being changed. That panic quickly settled as he realized that the disembodied voice was referring to his new tutor. He hoped that the tutor would come in the form of a hot-looking woman, someone like Anthea, or one of those naughty schoolteacher types with the heaving chests and the skimpy suit and tie.
>> Tutor activated. Handshake completed. Tutorial duties transferred to gauntlet AI.
Ollie grinned in anticipation, looking around the dark void and hoping that all his dreams were about to come true. Instead, a small waveform appeared on his HUD and started moving as an English voice, which sounded like it belonged to an old-time butler, started speaking.
[Nero] Greetings, contestant Alpha-Fifteen-Horatio-Nine. I am Nero-Seven-JJH7-Sigma, your inbuilt AI tutor and guide to the Dominion Ultrimax Contest. What is your preferred designation?
Trying to hide his disappointment that the tutor he’d been given was a disembodied butler and not at all the sexy teacher type he’d been hoping for, Ollie shrugged.
“Ollie. No, wait. If I get to choose a name, call me Raven!”
[Nero] Very well, Raven.
“Shit! No, that won’t work. I need something Pete will recognize. Hey, so I figure we can contact other players, right?”
[Nero] Indeed. You will need to find them in person, using a Novice Area Map, or to upgrade your current communications device and unlock its various features.
Ollie nodded. “Right, then I guess I’ll have to stick with Ollie. Can I change my name later on?”
[Nero] If you acquire a Name Change Token, yes, it is entirely possible to change your preferred designation. Such tokens are relatively expensive, however, so you are not likely to be able to afford one until much later in the game, provided you survive, of course.
“Got it. Okay, so how do we do this? There are enemies coming, right, so I guess I need to get my hands on a weapon. What about this gauntlet? Can I use that to fight with?”
[Nero] No. The gauntlet is simply the means by which you are integrated into the Mammon System and through which you can access the various attributes, abilities, upgrades, and so on that form part of the Dominion Ultrimax Contest.
“Do you guys give me a weapon then, or do I need to go and find something myself?”
[Nero] You will need to acquire a weapon yourself unless you have sufficient funds to buy a weapon, and you can access a Tongsly Belch Vend-o-matic machine in time. Before we continue, however, I should inform you that I am technically under the employ of the Tongsly Belch Corporation and, as such, am required to feed back all data gathered during the course of my tutorial duties. Any conversations we share will be made available to the Tongsly Belch Corporation, as will all visual and auditory data collected during the course of your time in the contest.
Ollie waved away the comment. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just get moving. I’ve got sixty seconds to find a weapon and start fighting. Any idea what’s gonna be coming after me?”
[Nero] Ah… they will be low-level enemies, but I cannot say precisely which type of creature they—
“Could I fight them bare-handed, or is that gonna be impossible? What if I grab a piece of wood or something? Must be a bunch of branches lying around. Oh, can I take weapons from an enemy and use that?”
[Nero] Before we discuss such details, I need to inform you of various information handling practices and obligations which—
“Yeah, you can skip all that crap,” Ollie said. “I click yes to all the cookies and tick the box to accept all the legal garbage. Let’s just get on with it.”
[Nero] You’re sure? You wish to waive the right to hear all of the stipulations and statutes which govern the Dominion Ultrimax Competition and your—
“Yeah, I’m good. Let’s get moving!”
[Nero] Very well. I will return you to normal space and time, where you will be given a quest. If you successfully complete this quest, you will be rewarded with a Soul Ledger Token. To obtain this, you will need to approach the obelisk once more.
“Awesome! Let’s fucking do it!”
[Nero] Quite. Well, I am here if you need me, Ollie. You simply need to ask a question, and I will answer.
>> CONFIGURATION COMPLETE!