Proving Grounds

Note from the author:

Hi.

The second chapter is here, and this time we get some action. Fair warning, it may seem like a questionable situation at first, but my first draft of the story had a workaround that was three chapters long, so I decided to take a shortcut.

Maybe it's not the right choice, but it's the one I made, time will tell if I was correct.

Have a good read.

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- Hey, girl - the man in front of me spoke again - What's wrong? Don't tell me it's your first time diving.

I shook my head, trying to stay calm.

- No, just the first time online - I answered - Until now, I only played solo.

- Ah, that solves it - he laughed - I remember my first time in an MMO, and I still can't believe how awkward I was at the start. But don't worry, you will get used to this in no time.

Like hell I will, I thought.

- Anyway, I am James, that is Lazar and Veronica - he continued, pointing at the other two people near one of the walls - we are doing our last check before the flight, I suggest you also do one. You can request items with the terminal over there. There is no such thing as too much ammo, so you should check it out. Let us know when you are done, I will introduce you properly to the rest of the team.

With this, he turned around and started walking away. It felt awkward to just stand there alone, so I moved to the terminal he pointed out. There was a large table next to it with some tools, and when I focused on them the whole thing lighted up slightly for a second, with the [Gunsmith table] notification on my HUD.

I came closer and as soon as I touched it some graphic overlay appeared, not only on this table but also at the few other spots in the hangar. I scanned through them. [Armorsmith station], [Reloading bench], [Chemist table], [Equipment rack], and few others were scattered throughout the place. Well, might as well start with...

With my body.

I leaned over the nearest table, facing away from the rest of the group not trusting myself to keep my emotions in check. I already was breathing heavily, the panic slowly creeping back in. I was about to start preparing for the launch of the mission, just because I saw some flashy prompts on the HUD. Was it all it took for me to forget that I was in a girl's body? Shouldn't it be more... unnatural for me? I looked at my hands resting on the table. I was wearing gloves, so maybe that had something to do with it. It was worth a try to see if without them I would feel any different.

They were a part of the whole uniform, made from the bark grey, thinner material, but I was sure there must be a way to take them off by themselves. Not trying to reinvent the wheel I just pulled on one of them. There was a felt resistance, but then the rim of the sleeve flashed green in one spot and the glove slid off easily. It caught my attention, and I inspected it closer. Both the end of the sleeve and the glove had underneath them a stiff, flat band. Was it some kind of magnet, that kept them together? And it flashed green when I wanted to take it off.

Then I remembered, this was a set of unique gear. Maybe it was meant to be modular, so it could be upgraded in the future with some new parts.

Wait. Why was I even thinking about that? Have I seriously gotten distracted again? I opened the menu and went straight into the character tab. Information, perks, stats, levels, and even the history of my character, but no settings.

- Hi. Valerie, right? - I heard some voice speaking from behind. A female one - I noticed you are having some trouble with the gear, and I thought I could help.

I turned around to face whoever was speaking to me. It was the girl I spotted earlier, one that James mentioned. What was her name, Veronica? I was pretty sure I remembered that right. Almost a head taller than me, with long brown hair, and similarly brown eyes, she was wearing light, black and green armor that made me guess she was some kind of infiltrator or striker class. That was a lot of information I gathered despite staring almost exclusively at her sizable chest. I looked at the ground. Fuck, stop thinking about that!

- Uh, yes, thanks - I stumbled around with words - it's my first time playing this game and I don't know what I should do.

Even for me, that didn't sound very convincing, but thankfully she went with it.

- Okay, so this is the gunsmith table - she tapped it twice and the overlay appeared - I don't use it much, but I know the basics. Do you have any firearms on you?

I nodded.

- Take them out.

I brought up the menu and equipped the rifle. Instead in my hands, it appeared lying on the table.

- Wow, I wasn't expecting that - she reached to grab it, but stopped to ask - may I?

- Yeah, sure - I crossed my arms wanting to look more confident.

Veronica smirked, then focused back on the rifle. Why did she do that? That was not a pure, friendly smile like before. Did I do something wrong?

- So this is some sort of a long-range rifle? - She asked in a neutral tone. Maybe she wasn't smiling at all, and I was just imagining things. She pressed something on the table and a lot of stats appeared around the gun - Let's see, x4 magnified optic, seven rounds magazine, hydraulic stock, ergo grip, heavy barrel. To be fair, if not for the table I wouldn't even know what any of those things are, but that's one nasty gun. And with good stats to boot.

She turned around and looked at me. I had to look slightly up to meet her eyes. Again, that smirk. It made me furious. There was something I was missing. Her smile widened as she moved one of her arms up, right under her breasts and then a bit up, making them stand out even more.

- Jealous much? - She teased.

She fucking teased me. She thought that I crossed my arms to make my chest look bigger. That fucking ...

- Hey there, no need to get angry - she laughed at me. How was that supposed to calm me down?! - Believe me, they are more trouble than they are worth. Oh my god, you are all red.

And now I was blushing. Great. I stared at the ground so hard that there was a [Floor] notification on my HUD. I fucking know what a floor is! Stupid game! I wanted to just storm off just to get away from here, from her, but at the same time, I was angry at myself for even getting jealous. Was I jealous? How was that possible, I shouldn't even have boobs in the first place!

- I didn't choose it - I said quietly.

She looked at me with curiosity.

- You mean like a preset character? I thought you could modify those. You know, there are sliders in character settings.

- I didn't choose to be a girl! - I almost shouted with my head still down. I couldn't stand it. I knew she was looking at me, her stare burning a hole in me. I didn't want to but I had to look up. Meet her eyes.

I saw her putting everything together, my behavior, my awkwardness, and my mannerism. I knew the exact moment when she realized what was going on. I expected... I don't know. Disgust? Resentment? But the moment I looked at her I saw something else entirely. Confusion, then understanding? How? She couldn't have known what it is like for me to be stuck in this body!

- It was nothing! Don't worry about it. - she now stood between me and the rest of the group, shouting to them across the hangar - We will be right back.

I realized that she moved so they couldn't see me. I looked up at her again, feeling a single wet trail on my face. She smiled again. This was a pure, friendly smile.

- Wanna tell me about it?

I couldn't get the words out, so I just nodded.

——————|V|——————

We moved to the Armorsmith station since it was the most remote one. We sat down on some crates, and I told her everything. How I got the promo code, how I only wanted to try out the game, but the dude at the DDVR spot persuaded me to go for a full week. Then about the tutorial zone, how I turned on automatic join when the party was found, and how out of all the packs I got opened the sharpshooter first since I liked the gunplay.

When I tried to leave out my time in front of the mirror she immediately knew that something was missing, so I ended up telling her about it too. Not once through my whole story have I felt as if I was boring her, or that she was angry, or anything like that. The words just flowed through me and found nothing but her full attention. I couldn't even think of the time I had such an honest conversation in the real life.

- Well, that's one hell of a story - she summarized - and I can't say I would want to be in your situation.

- Thanks? - For some reason, I was feeling exhausted.

- No problem - she leaned back on some crates - So, you can't log out, you can't change your character, and are totally, completely lost and have no idea what to do.

- Something like that, yes - I sighed - You are not exactly helping here.

- One thing I don't understand is why is it a problem in the first place.

- What?

- You are a girl, what's wrong with that? I am a girl too and you don't see me crying about that.

- But I am a guy!

- Well, you are a guy in real life, just like I am a girl, yes. But in the real life, I am not a super assassin who can do backflips and throw knives.

I just looked at her, gears in my head slowly turning.

- What I mean - she continued - is that there is nothing wrong with being something in the game that you are not in real life. Like me being an assassin and not an accountant - she pointed at me - or you being a girl and not a guy.

- But I am not a girl - I opposed trying to convince myself more than her.

She rolled her eyes at that.

- Stand up - she said firmly.

- What? Why?

- I said stand up.

I did.

- Turn around. - she was quick when I wanted to object again - Turn. Around. Just do it.

Again, I did as I was told. I heard movement. She walked closer. Stopped. Inhaled sharply. There was a clap and I yelped. Loudly. My armor may have been the latest and greatest technology to ever exist, but when she slapped my ass I felt every single digit digging into my skin through the thin material.

She took a step back and watched with amusement as I spun around and jumped from one leg to the other while trying to massage my stinging right asscheek. I swear, I could still feel the imprint of her palm there.

- You aren't fooling anyone with hips like that - she said patting her thigh for emphasis - and I could bounce a quarter off of that ass if I had one. If you want my advice, then take this: stop whining as if you got dumped by your first boyfriend... I mean girlfriend and just move on. You said that you can't log out during the tutorial level. It takes two hours top to finish it. If you just went with it we would be halfway through it already.

Her words hit me like a truck, but in a good sense, if that was possible. Of course. It was so simple I never even thought about it. Just beat the tutorial, and go back to the main menu. I sat down again as the wave of relief washed over me.

- See? Self-pity never helped anyone with anything. Trust me, I learned it the hard way - she gave me a half-smile and started walking towards the other two party members - I will make a cover-up story for them, don't you worry about it. Grab your things, we will get you some ammo for the road and then we will be off, we wasted enough time already.

With that, she left, and I had a moment to think in peace. It was so clear now. Nothing to worry about. I mean, we just had to beat the tutorial, literally the easiest part of the game. It can't be that hard.

——————|V|——————

Veronica introduced me again to the party and they didn't ask many questions, so I assumed the cover-up worked. Then they helped me with the terminal, and I had eight full magazines for my rifle, two battery packs for the laser pistol, and one med kit. With that, we boarded the VTOL (as James told me it was called) and were off.

Turns out, there was a reason why there was no one to party with for a long time, and then in one moment, the game found three players to team up with. Veronica, James, and Lazar were all friends in real life and they decided to come back to the game after a long break, so they dove in together at the same time. Since they were away for more than a few updates game put them back in the tutorial. That wouldn't be a problem, since I was level 1 and they were all at 10, but when I equipped all of the gear from the bonus pack my level rose to 6, and that was close enough to match us all together.

Also, to my great shame, I learned that there is a full minute after finding a party to manually accept the invite, and only after the time runs out does the auto-join kick in. I didn't tell the other two what got me so distracted, that I missed the countdown.

Right, the other two. One was James, the one that went to greet me first. At the first glance, he was around 6'1 with blond, rugged hair and a low-trimmed beard. Wearing a brown long coat with a bulletproof vest underneath and with a revolver hung on his letter belt I was waiting for him to take a cowboy hat out from somewhere. He was trying to chat with me during the first few minutes of the flight, but Veronica told him to knock it off, which I was so thankful for.

The second guy, named Lazar, was harder to figure out. Bald, with a thick beard and mustache, looked like he was a strong and silent type. I haven't heard him talk at all, he just nodded or grunted along. He was shorter than James, maybe around 5'10, but was built like a truck, with massive arms and chest. Wearing just pants and boots his torso was naked, and before we boarded the VTOL I spotted what looked like a cybernetic spine and two other large, circular augments more or less where his shoulder blades were.

Compared to them Victoria with her light armor was more of a backline DPS than anything else. She showed me her knives when we went back to the gunsmith's desk and told me that most of the time she just throws them at stuff, instead of getting close. Turns out she had a thing mounted to her wrist that allowed her to recall the knife after each throw. I didn't even know that this was possible when I was testing melee weapons in the waiting zone. Maybe when I will be creating my next character I will put some points into it.

In the meantime, I also learned, that all of the gear in the game had a cooldown time before you could put it back in the inventory. I never noticed that the inventory in all of the other games I have played was some magical space that all of the items disappeared into and could be summoned back from. Here, it worked similarly, but you had to physically carry the items on you for a while before you could teleport them to the virtual inventory.

It also oppositely worked like that, if you wanted to equip something out of the inventory or use a single-use item it took a few seconds to materialize, instead of just appearing out of nowhere. And that's why I spent the first half of our flight in a VTOL with my rifle on my knees, instead in my inv.

This in turn got me thinking about my next build. From what the others told me about the combat systems, the whole game was built mostly around short-range combat. It would have sucked for me, but that 'mostly' part was crucial here. Almost all of the maps were open-world, so if you spotted someone, you could shoot them, but that was more useful for the players than NPC enemies, and even then just marginally so. I mean, if you shoot someone who is two hundred yards away then there is no way to loot them, right? And the ammo is limited. You also couldn't one-shot a boss anyway, and after the first shot, they would just hide and heal.

The NPCs were not using long-range weaponry, since the game had a capture system instead of regular respawns. They were trying to rush you and take you down in close-quarters-combat, knock you out and then you wake up with a side quest to escape and find your gear.

I don't know if it was better or worse than just respawning, but so far this game was all about immersion, and the capture system certainly sounded like something the devs would add. From what James told me if you die outright without being captured, for example, because you cooked the grenade too long, you either respawn in the nearest safe point or are captured anyway fifty-fifty chance, both with big negative penalties. He was convinced, that the negative stats weren't worth trying to blow yourself up to avoid capture, but I didn't plan to ever get to that point anyway.

The whole world moved back a second. I couldn't describe it any better. It was as if someone just paused a movie for a split second and then rewind it a second back, to watch that moment again. Before I could ask anyone if they also felt it, we all heard a voice from a cockpit and got a notification on our HUD. [Missile incoming! Brace for impact!]. I grabbed the armrests and pushed myself further into the seat.

The explosion shook the aircraft and I screamed. We started to spin, and after a few seconds, centrifugal force and the seat belts were the only things keeping me in place as we fell. There was another roar of flames, and I felt as if someone was trying to push me outside the aircraft through my seat. Right after that another crash, this time more sudden and violent, where I thought the impact would break my spine.

Then, stillness. I breathed heavily, almost hyperventilating. I looked around, wanting to check if the others survived the crash. Thankfully, they did, those traitorous fuckers.

They were all laughing. Even Lazar. Veronica was almost crying.

- You knew this would happen, have you? - I asked, knowing the answer.

- Yeah, but Vera asked us not to tell you about it - James's face was all red - and for the record, I regret nothing.

I unfastened my seat belt and stormed out through the blown-open hatch at the back.

——————|V|——————

After the crash, I went around to check if we were in any immediate danger. Thankfully, we landed, quite permanently, in a good spot on a hill with a forest at our backs and a clear view forward to our destination. We all had a rudimentary map of the area for the start, 'Proving Grounds' as it was called, probably because it was supposed to be a tutorial level, and getting lost was not part of the learning curve.

The path led through a long-deserted industrial district, with many low, ruined buildings that were slowly losing to nature as the trees and other vegetation took back the area. All in all, it looked like we had to follow the remains of the main road and clear out a few outposts on the way, where we were supposed to replenish ammo and supplies after dealing with the security.

So I get out of the VTOL, swept the area (mostly because I was still mad at the rest of the party and needed some time alone), and was ready to move out. The problem was, they weren't.

I sat down at the nearby tree, while James with the half-hearted help of the other two was unsuccessfully trying to get into the wrecked cockpit of the aircraft. He remembered from his first play-through that there was a rare loot inside as an easter egg, and hoped the devs didn't change anything.

On the bright side, I had a quiet spot with some privacy in the shade of the tree, so I decided to get to know my character better. I mean, learn about my skills and such, since they could be useful on the way forward. I opened the menu, begrudgingly noticing the still grayed-out log-out button, and went into the character screen. There was an option to display the details, so I enabled it for now.

[Valerie Lathi.

Human.

Age: 23

Height: 5'2

Weight: 119 lbs

Level 6: Recon (2), Marksman (4)

Health Points: 40

Primary Statistics:

Strength: 5 (6)

Dexterity: 11 (15)

Endurance: 7 (8)