Cryo-Scape 2052

The old man in the robe paused and brushed off some non-existent dust from his clothes before he stopped. Judging from his body under the clothes this guy didn’t look thin at all. I was sure that I could see the hint of a beer belly poking out there. I guessed that priests got to eat better than we did.

‘Remember, the Gods who live in the Above have provided and their servant’s support. I give my blessing for this boy’s birthday. As a present, I’ve been permitted to allow your family an additional dose of the cure. May it stop the curse from entering too deep into your bones.’

He then handed over a small medical-style case to my father.

‘Thank you so much for the gift. We will use it to help us work even harder on behalf of the gods. Please. Thank you again.’

‘You are most welcome. Diligence and industry are good signs for a servant.’

Good riddance old monk. Did he just give my parents drugs as a gift? What kind of world is this?

My parents turned and my father reached out and touched the man’s arm lightly before he left our living quarters.

‘Please wait a moment. Just one moment. We need to thank you Minor Herald for attending the birthday of our son and giving us your blessing of the gods. May he have additional time today for enjoying his birthday?’ asked my father.

‘He may have the time until the next sleep cycle. But you both have duties to fulfil do you not? I recall water pipes that need welding and fixing. Your wife may assist or tend to her duties regarding the animal supplies. Be thankful that you both belong to the maintenance caste and not the waste caste.’

[Game Hint: You can choose to subvocalise character choices into internal thought mode. Do you want to change to this game interface mode? Affirm yes or no as a thought pattern to make this choice.]

Seems like the hint section comes in handy. I made the thought yes in my mind. To keep raising my right arm and talking aloud was going to get me in trouble eventually with a potentially hostile NPC. The best option it seemed was to work out a degree of basic information about what was going on with my local environment and build a rapport with my in-game parents.

[Player XXX please select your character strengths and abilities. Body points can be allocated at this point. Your User Interface is ready for your use. Do wish to build your character profile at this point?]

That’s going to be a hard no I thought. Rather than being allowed to design my character and assign points before the tutorial started, it looked like I was going to have to find the spare time to do so. Luckily, as, a kid I should have enough spare time.

Then the voice of my mother brought me back to in-game reality.

‘Cough, cough’.

She doesn’t look too well. Too much hard work and not enough rest?

‘Honey, have you seen your brother around? He seemed a little upset. And your father is missing one of his gardening tools. I know that today is a special day, but we’d appreciate your help with small chores. You can have another tasty sweet as a reward!’

[Game Hint: Interaction with NPCs will unlock new quests and missions. Top-level rewards await those who side with Peak Prime HQ or their rivals. Remember to have fun playing!]

Then a quest interface appeared in front of my eyes.

Help your younger brother to feel better.

Reward offered: ?? and 30XP>.

Track down your father’s missing gardening tool.

Reward: 45XP and +1 Free Temporary Charisma Point. System will withdraw at the end of the initial tutorial stage>.

My father joined in. ‘Yes son, I’ve somehow mislaid one of my gardening tools. I would appreciate your help in finding it for me. I need to get back to work soon as my next shift will be starting shortly. Oh, and your friend Cathy also said that her mother hasn’t been feeling well and she wanted more medicine.’

Find out why your friend Cathy’s mom hasn’t received her allocated medicine yet.

Reward: 40 XP only.>

My mom spoke out with a harsher tone for a moment ‘Her medicine? She doesn’t deserve a larger allowance than anyone else. The Gods judge us all fairly and provide according to our needs.’

The Elder looked at her before glancing back at me. ‘It’s a good lesson for the boy to learn to respect the will of the gods. That’s what the Herald has provided us with.’

I thought for a moment about activating my character system. ‘Can you provide me with my rough age system?’

[Your actual age cannot be determined at this time as data is lacking. Your eighth year of life is today.]

So as an eight-year-old child I should have a great deal more leniency and less responsibility than a teenager or an adult. That would mean I should accumulate experience during this tutorial stage.

‘AIDWS.’ I thought again. ‘Am I able to put points into pickpocket? And are there further stages during this tutorial or will I immediately start as a full character?’

[Full character build will not be accessible until the tutorial stage has finished. To make it simpler you cannot have the strength and ability of a grown adult in a child’s body. That would be in-game cheating.]

‘Son, are you going to look for my gardening tool after all? Or see if you can help your friend Cathy? And your mother did want you to check on your younger brother as well.’

[Game Hint: Family and friends require less charisma to offer quests! Don’t annoy them or they may not be so helpful though!]

I sighed. ‘Sorry, Dad. Don’t worry, I’ll hunt down your gardening tool! It can be the first adventure that I record in my new book. Do you remember where you had it last time?’

‘Just…. just give me a moment to think about it ok. Work has been pretty busy for the last few sleep cycles. Sorry, son. You don’t need to hear that on your birthday, my special boy.’

Sigh.

Sigh

He was mid-twenties, but the style of his clothes and his appearance made him look at least a dozen years older.

‘I know that I had it yesterday when I left the Garden of Happiness. Oh, I stopped off at the Physician yesterday. I was feeling a bit sick from the ground sickness, but I’m only allowed another dose of medicine in five more-day cycles. Praise the Sky Gods for their kindness.’

I jumped up. ‘Great! A Doctor, that’s a fine clue for me to start.’

‘Honey, I don’t understand what you just said. What was that word again?’

‘Sorry mom, you know that kids like to make up new names for things. I and Cathy produced it. It’s like another word for physician. But we made it up.’

‘I’m not sure if the Gods appreciate you using different names than we’re told by the Heralds.’ Replied my father.

‘They provide for us with shelter, food, and medicine. It’s important to remember.’

‘Cough, Cough’.

He’s also feeling sick…my poor parents.

Then my mother chimed in. ‘Don’t forget the protectors that watch over us as well.’

‘Yes, mom. Do you know where my brother is?’

‘He should be playing with his special collection of rocks. You know how he finds all sorts of different shapes and types.’

‘I’ll go and look for him then.’

My father reminded me ‘Don’t forget about my gardening tool and to check up on your friend Cathy.’

‘I will.’

‘Take care now Honey and don’t forget your charcoal stylus as well. You’ll need it to record all your great adventures in your book.’

‘Yes, I will!’

‘…are you sure you’re feeling ok honey? You seem a little bit off today.’

[Player XXX gains one point in radiation sickness. Due to the basic tutorial initial mode, this is current negated. Rads don’t count for good health!]

Stupid system! Turn off survival mode! I want an easy setting. Easy! I’m getting radiation points just from talking to my mum. A slap to the face from an adult might build up enough radiation to melt me at this rate

I decided to take the time to run off and find a quieter place where I would be able to take my time to check out the system interface and also examine my character build. Given my interest in post-apocalyptic games, I wanted to see if I could make an optimal build.

‘I’m just going to take a walk just to take a moment to write something in my book. Thanks so much for my present again. Um, where is our homeroom again in case I get lost walking around?’

My dad replied. ‘Just through those curtains. We live in block 3, room 8. Are you sure you’re feeling ok son? You seem more distracted today than usual…’

‘Um, thank you. Sorry, it’s just such an exciting day. I’ll make sure that I do my chores today as well.’

[Game Hint: Your family and friends interact differently with you than other NPCs. Be kind to them!]

I looked for the right place that was our home dwelling and found it through a pair of dusty-looking grey curtains. Was that the whole style for this place? Grey clothes and grey curtains? I checked my underpants under my trousers. Yes, they were grey as well.

I decided to take a bit of time to look around the current area that was now my new home.

Two words came to mind. Run-down and downcast. My home itself was old-looking metal beds with two large curtains that seemed to function as entrances. The walls were bare thick concrete with shelves that held household items. Next to the bottom of the beds were large metal trunks.

‘I can’t believe this place doesn’t even have any doors or windows. Am I underground or is this a repurposed prison?’

A concrete paradise. Even the floor was concrete with no wood or any other flooring in sight. I walked to one of the beds to take a seat and saw that someone had bolted to the ground. There were five beds in total. My parents had managed to rig up a curtain that separated two of the beds to create a makeshift bedroom.

Taking a look at the shelves I wanted to see if there was any loot I could grab. Or anything useful. In any video game, you always wanted to make sure that you could grab anything that you could sell or trade.

[Game Hint: Searching for things to sell is always an innovative idea. If no one wants to buy it then you can craft, it into new equipment.]

‘Yeah, thanks for the advice system. I’m not a total beginner here. Still, it’s going to take me a while to get everything. Are there any penalties for taking loot or belongings from others or can I just be a murder hobo and just walk into people’s houses and take whatever is available?’

[Game Hint: In-game characters don’t like thieves. Would you like to lose a hand?]

‘That’s not funny. Not funny at all. Do you have a sense of humour system?’

[Player XXX: In-Game Hints are for the benefit of players of Cryo 2052]

Realistically, taking time out always to build skills was always a decent idea. The best option would be to find a place, and hole up for months with a steady supply of food and water while slowly building up key skills and strengths that would let me take out the more dangerous enemies.

Most players in games would try and take everything they could. For me, it was all about resources. You needed to upgrade your equipment as fast as possible for a chance of survival. That took currency.

Looking through a can on the shelf I found a rusty screwdriver. It was something at least. But nothing flashed up on the interface when I picked it up. It wasn’t a quest-related item then.

[Game Hint: Important in-game quest items will have a * sign next to them. Look out for those special items that you can trade to important quest-giving NPCs]

After hearing that I forgot the most important part of being in a video game. The inventory. That magic space that appeared when you decided to grab things. The inventory.

‘System, can you explain the inventory interface for me? Do I have a storage subspace and what is the capacity?’

[Your inventory in theory has unlimited holding but not carrying capacity. You can store items as you wish but there is a limiting factor. Your physical or mechanical skills determine the carrying amount].

‘Right, does that mean that my overall carrying capacity is limited to the strong build of my character?’

[Correct, that is true for the initial stages of this game. You can choose to upgrade your strength or choose a character-boosting weight allowance which will in turn boost your storage capacity and limit.]

‘System, how much in terms of weight can I currently carry or store at this time?’

[Maximum weight allowance of 15kg at present time. Carrying more than this will mean an enforced overweight condition. You will suffer a character penalty.]

‘Fine, how do I stick stuff into my inventory then?’

[Virtual Inventory is viewable through your virtual interface. You can activate this at any time including when in combat.]

I threw the rusty screwdriver into my inventory slot. Best to grab items that I could sell for in-game currency or use as a craftable, looking further through the shelf I found a tin can, a metal screw, and a broken comb. After throwing these into the inventory I came to a sudden realisation.

This was an extremely poor location to find loot. Who would want to buy a broken comb? I didn’t even know if anyone here actually used whatever passed for in-game currency. Could even be a barter or trading system.

I wish I were Stig of the Dump. He had great crafting skills.

So it made sense to choose a character build that would be able to carry more. Then I could grab the loot and sell it to a merchant NPC to gain whatever in-game currency was available.

There could be a choice of set characters that I could choose and modify such as a rogue with a focus on stealth and stealing or a melee combat tank who could soak up damage. If magic was chosen that would help as well. It depended on what this setting offered. Going so far it looked like it was going to be resource deprived. But weren’t all starting locations like this?