With permission to dock, Selene guided our ship, Mjolnir, into the hanger and set it down gently.
'First things first, bio-scan'
'Stellar Conquest never had a status or character menu like most mmos did. There was one, but you couldn't just access it from anywhere, you had to do a bio-scan, and the only way to get better skills, was to play the game and use those skills. At the end of the day though, the game was still an RPG, but stats didn't really exist, you had a level, which gave you fixed stats at that level up to level 100, other than that, it was all skill and dedication. Equipment could also give you a stat boost depending on what it was. Power armor for example, made most close ranged fights a joke, but it was only obtainable with an insane amount of money and you had to be at least level 90.
Other than that, most fighting happened in your ship, which was basically our home as well.'
While lost in my thoughts, we arrived at the medical chambers where the bio-scanners were.
"Ladies first, I'll check your scan to make sure it looks good." I said to the android girl next to me.
She nodded and laid down in the bio scanner. Closing the lid over her, the holo screen popped up and I began the scan. Like in the game, the scan only took a few seconds before her scan status showed up.
⊕
Name: Selene
Race: Android
Age: 26
Level: 100
Personal Skills:
Ship Operating (100/100)
Medical (100/100)
Piloting (75/100)
Combat Skills:
Marksmanship (100/100)
Hand-to-Hand (100/100)
Daggers (100/100)
⊕
'Hmm, looks right' I thought seeing her usual status show up. 'This is good, that means mine should be the same.'
Opening the lid, Selene came out and stood next to me looking at her status, "Looks the same as usual." She said with a smile.
"Yup, my turn." I said, getting into the pod and pulling the lid shut. The green light flashed over my body for a few seconds as the scan finished. I hopped out of the pod and stood behind Selene looking at my status.
⊕
Name: Andrew Verax
Race: Human
Age: 28
Level: 100
Personal Skills:
Ship Operating (100/100)
Medical (85/100)
Piloting (100/100)
Cooking (100/100)
Combat Skills:
Marksmanship (100/100)
Hand-to-Hand (100/100)
All Melee Weapons (100/100)
Unique Skills:
Psionic (0/100) *New*
⊕
My eyes widened in surprise before an excited grin showed up on my face. 'I really did get it! Psionic power was a special reward only given to those who were able to complete every quest in the game, which is almost impossible due to the sheer size of the game. Even I was only able to complete it last night before I fell asleep, and I spent every bit of my free time playing for the last 12 years.'
In Stellar Conquest, there is only one race, which isn't a playable race, who has access to Psionic Powers, the Valuna. They are a peace loving race and the empire of Valu'shar, which is where almost all Valuna reside, is not only the wealthiest but also the strongest empire by a large margin. Psionic Powers can allow things like telepathy, telekinesis, psychokinesis and more. This allowed them to become the dominant power in the universe, even with their peaceful nature.
Coming out of my thoughts, I looked down and saw Selene staring at the screen in shock, specifically where it was listed my new Psionic skill.
"Captain, h-how do you have the Psionic skill! That shouldn't be possible…" she muttered in shock.
I sighed and pinched her nose, "Andrew… Also, I have an idea, but I'm not entirely sure. I'll need to practice it some while we're here. This can make everything easier, provided I can learn to control it."
She blushed but nodded with a serious expression on her face when I brought up learning to control it. "Do you have any idea what it gave you?" She asked me curiously.
Briefly going over everything I could remember, the achievement in game started you off with telepathy, which was pretty useless when you weren't in a mercenary company and are a solo player like myself. However, now that this world is real, I might be able to use it to not only talk to Selene discretely, even mid combat, but throw off opponents and maybe read surface thoughts too.
"I think it gave me telepathy, but I'm not entirely sure. We can test that later though, we should resupply and check in at the Guild and get updated on everything." I said back after a minute. She nodded in reply as we made our way off Mjolnir and into our Hanger.
The resupply didn't take long, mostly restocking on meal kits and fuel. Nothing interesting happened during our trip either, but this is a heavily guarded station so it's not all that surprising. Finally we made it outside of a large building with a sign the said 'Mercenary Guild'.
The Mercenary Guild is an independent organization through the universe that allows people to hire registered mercenaries for a variety of jobs. The guild assigns ranks to any registered mercenary, which are: Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Obsidian. All mercs start at copper, and as they reach higher levels, and successfully complete a certain number of jobs they, can take a simulation test to increase their rank.
Players were able to form groups called Mercenary Companies, which allowed them to take on jobs that required a small fleet of ships rather than one or two. Things like escorting a royal family member in secret.
In game, this was the largest 'Faction' for players as it allowed the most freedom without being a criminal. The other two options were to join the army of one of the 5 different Empires, or to become a pirate, and play as a criminal. Pirate was another popular decision, but it came with a lot more restrictions, though those could be bypassed with the right skills.
Pirates had a similar thing to companies, called Warbands. Warbands gained additional resources and Velum based on the amount of territory they controlled, and things like smuggled goods and slave trading. Warbands we're also paid by some empires to target specific systems by enemy empires.
"Come on, let's head inside." Selene said as she grabbed my arm and dragged me into the guild, excited to look for a new job.
(Character images in chapter comments)