Vivid Stars Online

The last few days of combat in the wilderness had prepared me well. Even in my shock, I didn’t freeze, instead, I pulled my gun in a single movement and took a shot at the Beast. My plasma bolt took it in the face even as it charged with terrifying speed.

Its flesh sizzled, yet it only let out a bellow of rage and continued its advance. It was clear that it would take a lot more than a single shot to take out this Beast. I estimated the distance, then dived behind a tree to my right when I realized I didn’t have time for a second shot.

The rush of air from its swinging paws ruffled my hair as I moved, I’d barely made it in time. I circled the tree to keep it between us, then turned and legged it. While it was faster than me in a straight line, I hoped I could stay ahead by using the terrain to my advantage.

A massive crack sounded from behind me. Despite myself, I turned, unable to avoid looking. The beast had gripped the tree in a literal bear hug and was pushing it over to get to me. It was working too, the tree was already halfway over, its trunk tilting towards me.

Holy shit, I thought as I sped up my pace. The Bestiary entry had not been wrong when it talked about the creature’s strength. I didn’t know if it was smart enough to be targeting me with the falling tree or if it just wanted to get past. Either way, I was not sticking around in the danger zone.

The tree crashed down behind me, slapping against several others as it went. The cacophony this caused was deafening, however, it had given me the lead I needed. I slipped behind another tree, keeping half my body exposed.

With my gun still out in the open, I took a series of shots at the Great Bear as it smashed its way through the fallen trunk. I was long past worrying about ammo efficiency, I just wanted the damn thing dead.

My shots splashed against its hide, hitting it in the chest and legs. While I was firing wildly, it was a massive target and every one of my shots still hit. However, the damage only seemed to anger the Bear further, as it rushed forwards faster than before.

Once more, I darted away as it struck the tree in front of me. Ok, it’s just like a boss in a normal video game, I tried to console myself as I ran. Just keep it angry and use the terrain to keep away from it.

This time was different, however, as rather than pushing the tree over the bear smashed the bottom of the trunk into splinters, sending the upper part flying off to the side. With no fallen trunk blocking its path, it dashed straight after me.

Ok, smarter than a normal boss, I thought, desperately diving to the side to avoid its charge. This turned out to be a mistake as it killed my momentum and left me sprawled in the dirt as the Beast slid to a halt.

With no time to think, I chose to fight instead of fleeing and unloaded my pistol into its side. I’d been smart enough to load my full ammo pack this morning, rather than the one that only had ten shots. I was determined not to die with a single shot left in the gun.

Before it could turn, I got three shots in, all hitting its right leg. It was finally taking effect as well, the Beast was limping by the time it had turned to face me.

Yes, I thought in triumph, I just had to keep it up. I turned my fire on its front left leg as it limped towards me, its speed severely hampered. If I could just take out its other front leg I might bring it to a halt.

I backed up as I fired, then stumbled as I hit the trunk that had gone flying earlier. Fuck, I thought as I flailed to keep my balance. Sensing my weakness, the bear pushed through the pain and awkwardly lopped forwards.

It slammed into my chest with a bite, tearing through the skin of my chest even as it propelled me over the log. I landed with a thump that took the breath out of me. I didn’t have time to recover, however, only the trunk between us stopped the bear from eviscerating me then and there.

Instead, I rolled backward, awkwardly coming to my feet. My chest screamed with pain at the maneuver, but I pushed through and pulled my gun up. The Beast was slumped against the trunk, its legs apparently having given out with that last push.

I didn’t know how long that would last, however, and I wasted no time in emptying the last of my clip into its head. When that didn’t finish it, I loaded my half-empty one and fired another five shots.

That finished it off, causing a System message to pop up in front of me.

Combat Report

Outcome:

You killed 1 x Great Bear Level 3

You have been moderately injured.

Rewards:

You gain 60 XP

Pistols skill has increased to Level 2

I sighed in relief at the confirmation the Beast was finally dead. I could barely believe how dangerous it had been, though the revelation of its level explained it. At level three, it was the highest leveled foe I had ever faced.

Pulling the pack off my back, I pulled out my medical kit and began surveying my injuries. In the end, the only serious injury was my stomach, which had large, raking lacerations from the Beast's teeth.

Luckily, they didn’t seem to have hit anything critical. I wasn’t sure if I had my Toughness to thank for that, or whether it was due to me already falling backward during the hit. Either way, the important thing was that I’d survived and come out victorious.

Better still, with that influx of XP and what I’d gained from the last few days, I was only 20 away from level 3 myself. I should be able to hit that without issue soon. The boost to Pistols was nice as well, it seemed I had finally used enough shots over the last few days to push it to level 2.

I’d also secured the clearing that I needed. If this was anything like when I’d killed the Great Tiger it was unlikely there were any other Beasts nearby. It should be safe enough for me to set up camp here for the night.

With my newest wound covered by wound sealant, nearly using the last of my supply, I began the slow and messy process of extracting the Beast’s core. While it was the last thing I felt like doing right now, my watch had informed me it was worth a whopping two thousand credits.

That was more than I would spend on the trip back, not an amount I could afford to ignore just because I was tired and sore. It took me nearly an hour to cut my way through the bear’s chest with my little carving knife, but in the end, it was worth it. Got to get a better tool for this when I get back to the city, I mused as I finished.

The core I pulled out was nearly the size of my fist and thrummed with power. I wonder what they use these for, I thought as I lay back with a sigh. Powering those Psi Gates, maybe? They have to run on something and I rather doubt it's normal electricity.

The information I had access to on the planetary network was useless in answering my question. Whatever their real purpose was, the government, and thus the royal family, obviously didn’t want it to be general knowledge.

Realizing I wouldn’t get an answer right now, I instead slowly made my way back to the clearing. There wasn’t any rush now I’d secured it, in fact, I might even take the chance to duck out of the game for a few extra hours.

As long as I set up a fire first, it should be safe enough and it would be nice to have a bit of time to relax after such an extreme fight. First, however, I had something I should handle. I pulled up my watch and called Brian.

“Hey, Jared. Not dead yet, I see,“ he said as soon as he picked up the call.

He must have saved my contact details from when I sent him the payment, I thought with a smile. “Barely,“ I said,“ I’ve found an appropriate location for a pickup and am about to begin the one day of surveillance we discussed. Will you be able to pick me up at this time tomorrow?”

“Aye laddie,“ he responded. “You're my only customer right now. Send me the location and I'll be there.”

Grinning at everything coming together, I sent my position along with my latest scan of the area. He paused for a moment, then responded with a cautious tone of voice.

“Ah, how close is that to the mountains, laddie? You’ve probably got a better map than I do,“ he finished, not sounding happy at all.

I wasn’t sure why he was asking, however, it was an easy enough request to check. I dragged the map over to the nearby mountain range and plotted a direct line from where I was to the nearest edge.

“Just under twelve miles,“ I told Brian. “As the crow flies, that is. It would be further if you actually walked it.”

“Ok, that’s fine then,“ he responded a relieved note in his voice. “I'll be there tomorrow then.”

“Can I ask why you wanted to know? “I asked, unwilling to let such a strange request pass by.

“Birds Jared, Birds. I'll explain more when I come by.” With that cryptic message, Brian disconnected, leaving me wondering what on earth he could mean.

Oh well, I thought with a wry grin. Sounds like I'll hear all about it tomorrow. Might even be worth staying in the game to talk during the flight. Come to think of it, that might even be what he’s after, he wasn’t too happy with me ‘napping’ last time.

Deciding I would just have to wait, I moved on to setting up camp. By now it was a familiar routine and before long I had my tent set up and a fire burning merrily. I ate my lunchtime bars before sliding into my tent to log out.

I spent a few hours out of the game relaxing around my apartment and reading the VSO forums. By this point, the sheer volume of posts across the various sub-forums was beyond my ability to read in a week, let alone a few hours, so I focused on the Psi forums and the Altheias forum.

The Psi forums had no new information apart from a few people mentioning that you got a class skill at level three. Most of them seemed to be taking a skill called Psi Sense that allowed you to detect Psi energy. That seemed sensible as a way to help locate whatever it was we needed to find to unlock our class abilities.

I would likely do the same unless there was an amazing ability the others had missed.

The Altheias forums were almost entirely dead. There were only a couple of posts ironically talking about how quiet it was and one post advertising mercenary services. I bookmarked the mercenary post, if it turned out that they were in the same city I was, they might be worth hiring.

Investigation complete, I jumped back into the game to build the fire back up before logging off for the last time that day. I was very slowly becoming used to the enclosed pod, the continual exposure finally having an effect.

With everything set in the game, I slid into my tiny bed, feeling good about how far I’d gotten since the game started. Hopefully, I’d be able to find the help I needed to finish my quest tomorrow.