02 Nuel's Truth

Nuel's eyes lighted up. He immediately opened up his [Character Status] screen and began scanning through the items on the familiar holographic interface.

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[CHARACTER PROFILE]

Name : - unassigned - (function locked)

Title(s) : [Subject-023

Class : [Civilian (Level 1)

Race : [Human : Unknown - Phenotype

Age : 18 y/o (200 yrs cryo-sleep)

Reputation : 0

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[STATS]

DMG : 10 | Crit.DMG : 20

RES : 5 | COMP : 0.75

HP : 50.0 /50 | HP.Recovery : +0.50 | Crit.HP : 10.0

Stamina : 20.0 /20 | Stamina.Recovery : +0.20

Sanity : 12.5 /12.5 | Sanity.Recovery : +0.16 | Crit.Sanity : 2.5

Accuracy : 68.75% | Evasion : 13.75%

Immunity : 1.2% | 0.1s

Initiative : CE +1.1 | 6.25% | 1.25s

CE : 1.10

XP : 0 /10 | XP Multiplier : ×1.00

Carry Weight : 0.0 /20.0kg

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[MAIN ATTRIBUTES]

STR : 2

INT : 2 | INT.GP : +0.1 /Lvl

DEX : 1

VIT : 1

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[SUPPORT ATTRIBUTES (locked)]

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[ABILITIES & SKILLS (locked)

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[TALENT TREES (locked)

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[MISSIONS

[Act 0 - Main Story Mission : Survive till Rescue Arrives] (New!) : The facility is under attack by hostile unknown entities! However, the facility managed to send a distress signal to a nearby allied forces, so rescue is underway. Survive for 30 minutes!

Duration left : (27m:37s)

Rewards :

• <XP > +10.

• <Random Common Light-class Armor> ×1.

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[Dungeon Mission : Rescue the Civilians] (New!) : A distress signal coming from a previously unknown medical facility had alerted <Thacon City Administration>.{REDACTED}""You and a team of elite soldiers are immediately assembled and dispatched to the facility.""{REDACTED} Secure the objectives and clear the facility of any hostiles within the time limit.

Duration left : (27m:37s)

Requirement :

• Survival of Secured Objectives : ( 0 /3 )

• Hostile Level : ( 100 /100 )-----( Contribution: 0 )

Reward :

• <XP > +( 2.5 × <Secured Objectives> × [ Class Level ] ).

• <Random Common Utility Item> ×1 for every <Hostile Level> -10 points contributed per player.

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[ ADDITIONAL ]

[Rare Title : Subject-023] (New!) :

-----Due to prolonged exposure to <Unknown Radiation>, the test subject had developed a brain with greater mental capacity than a normal human.-----

Grade : Rare

Requirement(s) :

• No [ Reputation ] requirement.

Effect(s) :

• [Base Attribute : INT] +1.

• Adds to the first <Mission Reward> :

- <Talent : Unknown> × 1.

- <Ability: Unknown> × 1.

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[Class : Civilian] (New!) : Unaffiliated to any faction, a Civilian is the players' default Class. Leveling-up as a Civilian will grant +1 randomly-assigned Attribute Points, up to the maximum of Class Level 10. Players may choose to undergo a Class-Change anytime as a Civilian. [Base Attribute : Random] +1 /Lv

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[Race : Human : Unknown - Phenotype] (New!) : Due to prolonged exposure to Unknown Radiation, the test subject have a higher intelligence growth potential and evolves a certain <Deviance : Unknown Affinity>. Text will update when new information is found. [INT Growth Potential] +0.1 /Lvl. <Information Points> (0 /3).

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As the name implied, a [Character Status] screen was where players may access their characters' vital information.

And the [Character Profile] tab - which was the foremost and topmost at the [Character Status] screen - was where a player could access and edit his in-game character bio and social data.

Firstly, here there was the [Name] function. Nuel's previous in-game character name was <Calibre101 >, a combination of the latin word calibre, to refer to bullet sizes and the number 101 referring to manual books or introduction courses.

Being the gun-enthusiast chuuni that he was in his college days, Nuel thought up that name so as to mean that his character was supposed to be the textbook example of professional gunman.

Now, he had became an NPC inside the very same game yet he was not even given a goddamn name!

Luckily there was the <Add or Edit> function, though he had not yet have the required level to do so.

Secondly, the [ Titles ] function could also be found here. [ Titles ] often times denoted a player's in-games achievements content-wise, and equipping one's character with any would usually provide bonus attributes, stats, buffs and sometimes, access to certain game content.

However, some, if not most [ Titles ] had a minimum or maximum [ Reputation ] requirement before any could be equipped and activated.

Moreover, the player's [ Class Level ] limited how many [ Titles ] that could be equipped simultaneously at one time; being one [ Title ] for every one [ Class Level ].

Nuel had the [ Rare Title : Subject-023 ] equipped currently as allowed by his [ Class Level : 1 ] and it provided him with plus 1 in [ Base Attribute: INT ], as well as one unknown <Talent > and another unknown <Ability >.

Thirdly, there was also the [ Class ] function in this tab. A [ Class ] referred to the main occupation of a player's character.

Within the game, there were six [ Classes ]; the default and faction-neutral [ Class : Civilian ], the most versatile, all-rounder [ Class : Soldier ] with its vertical <Military Rank> and horizontal <Ops > specialisations, the stealthy, espionage-centric [ Class : Ghost ] and its branching <Etheresy > progression, the utility and support [ Class : Esper ] and its five main <ESP > builds and unique <Psionic > abilities, the multifaceted Mana-using, Old-World-originated [ Class : Adeptus ] and its many <Disciplines > and lastly, the enigmatic, magic-machine-based [ Class : Vyrus ] and its various <Manatech > trees.

Nuel's previous game character was a [ Class : Soldier ] with the <Military Rank : Captain> and specialised in mainly <Ops : Tactical Command> and <Ops : Supply Logistics>, allowing him to successfully play the proxy base strat, aka 'cheesing'.

A player's [ Class ], its current [ Class Level ] and the amount of experience [ XP ] required to level-up as well as total [ XP ] already accumulated could also be viewed and selected from here.

By expending the required amount of [ Class XP ] accumulated, a player would be able level-up his character's [ Class ] with a simple affirmative click under the subsequent notification prompt.

Although a player's character may only have one [ Class ] at any one time, he or she may choose to obtain multiple [ Subclass(es) ], from various sources throughout both the <Outer Ward> and <Inner Ward>.

A [ Subclass ] mostly provide extra [ Abilities & Skills], [ Talent Trees ], etc. as well as access to certain exclusive <Weapons >, <Armors > and/or <Ordnances >.

For example, the combat-focussed [ Subclass : Gunlancer ], allowed a player to equip the <Heavy-Class > gunlances (or heavier weapons) with a much lesser percentage of <Combat Effectiveness Penalty>.

The [ Subclass : Technician ] on the other hand was a utility-driven one; it provided <Proficiency > bonuses to Abilities and Skills in handling and repairing Machinery- or Electronic-type items, such as, vehicles, computers, weapons etc. In fact, the [ Subclass : Technician ] was one of Nuel's subclasses in his previous game character.

Next was the [ Race ] function. A player's character [ Race ] was randomly determined during the [ Character Creation ] phase, and a player would be given two chance to roll for a [ Race ] they would prefer more. Due to the different probability values to roll for each [ Race ], the players' in-game demographic eventually had the [ Humans ] making up 60% of the players' population, followed by the humanoid beastfolks - the [ Therians ] - and its many subraces, to about 20%.

Then it was the biotronic ex-humans, the [ Corpus ], who had their human brains and central nervous system extracted and transplanted into robotic bodies, which made up 15% percent and finally, the highly mutative but sapient non-human creatures, the [ Aberrants ], accounting for the last 5%.

Each [ Race ] had their own [ Racial Traits ] which provided various effects, be it bonus to [ Stats ], [ Attributes ], certain [ Abilities & Skills ], [ Talent Trees ], buffs, etc.

However, a player could always change, or specifically evolve his character's [ Race ] by fulfilling certain requirements, either through consuming certain items such as the <Evolution Serums>, completing certain [ Hidden Missions ], and so on and so forth.

In Nuel's case, his [ Human : Unknown - Phenotype ] race had provided him with the [ INT Growth Potential ] +0.1 per level as well as the unidentified <Deviance > under the [ Talent Trees ] tab.

Accordingly, at [ Class Level : 10 ], Nuel's [ Race : Human ] would provide him with either one of these [ Racial Traits ] buffs - the <Trait : Industrious>, the <Trait : Diplomacy> and the <Trait : Esprit de Corps> - depending on his 'playstyle', as would any other [ Race ] would offer at that level.

Another thing that caught Nuel's attention was his current [ Age ] - he had return to become eighteen years old again!

I actually become twelve years younger! Heck yeah! Goodbye, back-pain~ hello, youth~

According to the in-game canons, a player's age would start at twenty years-old, and without investing any Points into his [ Attribute : VIT ], his character would have a maximum lifespan - aka gaming time - of 50 years. Yes, in-game characters could age and die old!

And given that the six hours in-game was equal to one hour in-real-life, one may technically play a single character for around about a decade before it would actually expire and become unfit for play.

Which was why it was easy to spot veteran players in the game; their characters would appear old!

Nuel had played [ ex Umbrae Online ] for as long as the game had been running - six years - and his previous <Calibre101 > character was already more than fifty years-old!!!

In addition, one could also find the [ Reputation ] function in the [ Character Profile ] tab. The player's [ Reputation ] conventionally referred to how famous one's character was among the in-game NPCs as well as throughout the main server.

Not only that, it also functioned as a [ Leaderboard ] for the entire player population, where the one with the highest [ Reputation ] score would clinched first in the [ Leaderboard ].

Though it provided zero direct advantage in PvE and PvP combats, the [ Reputation ] score would still control the quality of [ Titles] equipped on one's character.

Not only that, certain [ Missions ] would only be accessible to players with a certain range of [ Reputation ] score.

Lastly would be the factional [ Affiliations ] function. This referred to a player's likability towards NPC factions and players' <Clans >, where '0' being <Neutral > while the highest negative value meant <Extremely Hostile : Eternal Nemesis> and the highest positive value meant <Extremely Friendly : Eternal Ally>.

Flashes of trivia passed through Nuel's mind as he recalled each and every details that he could remember from the game.

His eyes veered further below, reading through his [ Stats ] and [ Main Attributes ] tabs, trying to understand as much as he could about his character parameters.

His face initially showed unveiled anticipation and excitement , but as he read on, his excitement slowly died down, then his face scrunched and turn jaded, especially when going through the values.

Minus the bonus from his [ Title(s) ] and [ Race ], the total points of his [ Main Attributes ] amounted only up to 5 points, whereas a typical new player would begin with as much as 10 points! Twice of his!

I've somewhat guessed it was like this, but this is so f**king nerfed! I mean look at my max health points, 50HP. Two melee unarmed hits from a player of 20 damage - twice of mine - would instantly cripple my CE points to half...!

...I'd be half as accurate and half as evasive! I'd reload my guns twice as longer and take twice the time to aim! And not to mention I'd have 10HP left. In one punch, I'd be better off dead!

Nuel sighed to his self who just started his pitiful NPC life.

How the heck was he to survive for the next thirty minutes with this lamentable stats?

How the heck did NPCs like him survive in this world in the first place?

Oh, Lord, hath thou forsaken me...??? Am I not a lamb weak and lost...??? Wait, wait, wait...didn't it mention something about Deviance? If I can collect all the <Information Points> and unlock the Deviant talent, then maybe- !!!