1.05
Friday, April 6, 2046
Defiance, Earth, Sol System, Terra Ferox Universe
After a night's contemplation, you decide to save your stat points for later. They will be useful in the future, but you don't think you need them immediately, not when you can simply grind them up easily in the immediate term.
You've got more specialized plans in mind for today. You're going to go to the bookstore, look for something on meditation and cooking, buy a book or two for each, and then you're going to go find a secluded spot in the wilderness and grind.
The bookstore is owned by a human couple, and is staffed by a Liberata man you don't remember the name of. The Defiance Bookshop doesn't exactly have an inspiring name, but it will serve its purpose. There are more options than at the library, which makes a small degree of sense, you suppose.
You greet Mr. Chavis amicably as you enter, and it doesn't take you terribly long to find two books, one on egg recipes (it was only a scrip and it was a skillbook) and the other on Kundalini yoga. It's the only book on meditation in the store, but it's definitely functional. Eight scrips, but it's definitely worth it.
-8 Scrips.
Skill Unlocked! Cooking 1/100. The most basic art for survival of any sapient and sentient species. You understand the basics of boiling, brisking, baking, and all that nonsense in regards to Terran foods familiar to the average North American. Food tastes 1% better, requires 1% less ingredients, and gradual development of subskills. Percentages increase by 1 with each level up of this skill.
Skill Unlocked! Kundalini Meditation 1/100. One of the most powerful and comprehensive methods of yoga for achieving mental clarity and transcendence. Simply visualize the stars, the earth, and the body, and perform the proper mantras to receive your physical and mental rewards. Practice for one hour per day in order to gain +1 Vitality, +2 Intellect, +5 Wisdom, and +50% mana regeneration for the remainder of the day. Practice one full session for 40 days and double those bonuses. Further skills for this meditative ability will unlock as you progress on your path to enlightenment.
Fuck yes. Oh, this is awesome. That kundalini skill will take a while to be useful when compared to how long it takes to activate, but still. Damn, this is wonderful. You somehow manage to resist the urge to fist-bump yourself, and leave Defiance for the outside world.
Well, you don't actually mean the outside world. The stasis net surrounding the town has an enormous berth, most likely in preparation for future growth of the town, and there's a sizable amount of privacy to be found in the minor forests contained within the city limits. It doesn't take too long to get too, and after half an hour of searching, you find a place that's both easy to get out of, close to town, and difficult to see.
The tree in front of you is very convenient. It's large, aged, and easy to punch without seriously injuring yourself. You wanted to get your skill up with martial arts, so you might as well start now. You throw a right jab at the bark, essentially just to get yourself started. Another. Again. Repeat. After seven punches or so, you unlock a new skill.
Skill Unlocked! Unarmed Mastery 1/100! Ah, man's most trustworthy friend. His own fists! You know the basics of unarmed combat, particularly brawling and punching. 1% additional damage to unarmed attacks, 1% additional speed to unarmed combats, and no damage taken from punching or kicking other enemies. +1% each level of Unarmed Mastery.
Heh. Excellent. Now, in the original Gamer, Han Jee-Han had his own special attack that he used with the baseball bat, before he started getting into all that weird Abyss magic. You don't have that advantage, so Power Strike is very convenient at this early stage.
You take several swings at the tree, all with the best of your strength put into it. At this point, you have roughly above average strength, so it isn't terribly impressive, but your power at least acknowledges what you're trying to do.
Skill Unlocked! Power Strike 1/100! Sometimes you just need to hit something really hard. Costs 20 MP per use. 15% extra chance of critical chance. 25% extra damage on said attack. Increases by 1% and 25% each level of this skill.
Fuck yes. Okay. Time to test your stamina. You want to know how long you can keep up your punches. You try it, and you end up with one hundred and eighty three punches, including a few Power Strikes you throw in there. +2 Unarmed Mastery! Unarmed Mastery 3/100. +1 Power Strike! Power Strike 2/100.
You'll freely admit, the rest of the day was spectacularly boring. Punch. Punch. Wait for mana to restore. It's nothing to write home about, but you manage to bring down four trees over the course of your training. You even find six scrips on the ground as you walk home. +6 Scrips.
+10 Unarmed Mastery! Unarmed Mastery 13/100. +5 Power Strike! Power Strike 7/100. +1 Observe! Observe 9/100. +4 Dexterity. +1 Vitality.
Life is good.
You didn't do much in the way of jobs today, but you gained an impressive amount of power. What are you going to do tomorrow, on April 6, 2046? Remember that you have six actions to take.
[ ] Meditate. Become one with the stars, the Earth, and yourself. Take the path towards ascendancy. Unlock the benefits of Kundalini Meditation for the day.
[ ] Read the books. Could give valuable information on the cultures of this brave new world. You can choose up to two. 1 action each.
---[ ] The War of the Three Hells
---[ ] Hello, New York! Recollections of a Life in the Big Apple
---[ ] The World Hatched Anew: Our Love for Our Gods
---[ ] Waiting for a Land to Call My Own
[ ] Visit the library to acquire some new reading material. 40% chance of one being a skillbook. You can buy library books for 10 scrips, although Miss Gonzalez won't like it. Counts as 1 action. You can choose 1 books/book subjects below, or write-in.
---[ ] Get the book Our Flag Was Still There, describing the survival of the United States after the Pale Wars. You could use some patriotism right now.
---[ ] More stuff on post-war human culture.
---[ ] Focus on human geopolitics post-war.
---[ ] Write-in. Please don't be a smartass and write 'something that's a skillbook'.
[ ] Look into jobs. A wealthy merchant wants someone to wash his roller. It's not a very dignified job, but it looks like it pays well, and you only have to do the exterior. Materials for doing the job are provided by Mr. Bedford. 100% chance of success. 30-70 EXP. 50 Scrips. Counts as 1 action.
[ ] Look into jobs. The restaurant Delights of Daribo wants someone to help paint the exterior. They're willing to pay a small amount for anyone willing to work. 95% chance of success. 25-60 EXP. 30 Scrips. Increased relations with Delights of Daribo. Increased relations with Swoga Tilemso. 40% chance of Housework skill. Counts as 1 action.
---[ ] Instead of scrips, ask for lessons in cooking Castithan food. +2 to Cooking.
[ ] Look into jobs. Defiance is a mining town, and almost all of its mines are controlled by a fellow named Rafe McCawley. Maybe you can get a job as a miner? Rewards 120-160 scrips per day. 80% chance of success. Counts as 1 action, unless you succeed, in which case, it's 3. New skills, potential rewards, EXP. Job has unreliable levels of security (cave-ins, scrappers, hellbugs, etc.). You'll compete with other workers for who gets the more profitable shafts or exploration duties.
[ ] Look into jobs. Maybe Clancy needs a junior Lawkeeper to help out? Rewards 3200 scrip per month, other benefits, new skills, allies, EXP chances. 60% chance of success. Counts as 1 action, unless you get the job, whereupon its 4 per day, and you get a new Title.
[ ] Look into jobs. There's an Earth Republic recruitment officer giving out pamphlets on joining the Terran Unitary Expeditionary, a place for people to get a new life serving in the military. Life will be hard if you get in, but you think you can handle it. See new places, kill interesting people. It'll be fun. Rewards 2500 Scrip per month, other benefits, new skills, EXP chances. 60% chance of success. Counts as 1 action, changes the quest entirely if you succeed. You will get a new title.
[ ] Explore the town on your own. 1 action each. Rewards are a surprise. Will expand Sam's knowledge, allies, and armory in varying ways.
---[ ] Go to the Need/Want and just talk to people. Might meet someone interesting.
---[ ] Find some Irathients and strike up a conversation. You want to grind up your L'Irathi. 80% chance of success.
---[ ] Go to the bookstore to see if they have any particular skillbooks you might want. 60% chance of success.
[ ] Go to the haryiv. You're going to get your money's worth for training in Castithan martial arts. +2 to Unarmed Mastery. 90% chance of Nefkivaniro skill.
[ ] Go to the bazaar/shop section. 1 action each. Write in for details. I will respond with the cost if not stated.
---[ ] Buy weapons.
---[ ] Buy new clothes.
---[ ] Buy an alarm clock. 15 scrips.
[ ] Grind your skills.
---[ ] Write in with elaboration.
Slow update, mostly because there wasn't really much to do in the vote. Next one should be different.
Also, I spent around an hour and a half on yoga websites lokoing for kundalini meditative specifics. The kind of websites that are like "Reach Enlightenment from 5 easy payments!"
Nefkivaniro is supposedly a Casti martial art, but the only source is a Tumblr page, so I'm not sure on the accuracy. Datak apparently uses it, so you all know how I'm going to write it if you've seen the show.
Finally, the boring stuff. Here's what you gained in this update.
-2 Scrips.
New Skill! Cooking (goes under Cooking category)
New Skill! Kundalini Meditation (goes under Transhumanism/Psionics Category)
New Skill! Unarmed Mastery (+12, Level 13) (goes under Combat category)
New Skill! Power Strike (+6, Level 7) (goes under Combat category)
+1 Observe Skill
+4 Dexterity.
+1 Vitality.
+5 HP (because of +1 Vit. I already edited the pastebin to include the VIT you've already gained)
Rolls this update.
96, 92 for Meditation/Cooking Respectively
96 for Random Encounter (WTF?)
