"[Welcome to MagiTech! I'm Dags, your AI assistant.]"
The message popped up on Cynthia's HUD, startling her with a dinging noise.
"What? An AI assistant? Does everyone have one?" She looked quite confused, tilting her head and scrunching her eyebrows.
"[No, you've received a special NanoPhase Helmet. I will be here to provide assistance when needed!]" Dags sent two new pop-ups to Cynthia. He was a bit nervous, but he felt like he should act like a proper AI helper for now. After all, he didn't want Cynthia to get freaked out and get rid of the helmet.
"Special helmet…" She broke into a gentle smile. Under her breath, she quietly whispered, "Thank you father." Dags, of course, still heard her.
"So her father is the one that took me. I wonder what his relationship is with those people that put me in here." He mused to himself as Cynthia continued on her way to the mercenary building.
"What ways can you help me Mr. AI assistant? I'm not really sure what I'm doing yet, but my family has invested heavily into this game. They claim it's going to be life changing." That was the most talkative Cynthia had been so far. Maybe she's better at talking when it's not an actual person, Dags thought.
"[I can provide several helpful functions. Functions include detecting hostile intent, a multipurpose scan of an area, and once a day I can restore your condition back to full. Quite useful, isn't it?]" Dags sent these in several messages, somewhat spamming Cynthia's HUD and blocking her view.
This character limit is really annoying to work around, Dags thought. He shook his head, but there was nothing he could do. Hopefully such a restriction would disappear as his system got repaired.
"Are you able to tell me what I should be doing to get started? All I know so far is that I should get a quest from this building up ahead." Cynthia clasped her hands together hoping Dags could help her out of her predicament. Her family hadn't told her much of anything, leaving Cynthia to her own devices.
Dags scratched his head, unsure of how to answer her. He was just as clueless as she was currently, knowing nothing about this game. He didn't want to wait too long to answer her, so he quickly just made a message to stall for time.
"[Processing request, one moment.]" He facepalmed once again after sending that. What kind of advanced AI has to make their client wait? He remembered that he had an information section in his options, but it was grayed out before. He hurriedly opened his menu to check on it, hoping it could be used.
"Yes! Phew, thank goodness it's not grayed out anymore." Quickly, he pressed on it. At the moment, it looked like it only contained a few sections.
[Getting Started]
[Technologica City]
[Beast Compendium]
[Marksman Basics]
Skimming the Getting Started page, he nodded his head. This is probably something everyone reads before joining the game, but it seems this girl really has gone in blind. Shaking his head, he was worried if he would have to type this one message at a time, but then Dags noticed a button on the main info page. There was what seemed to be a share button on his screen, so he went ahead and pressed it.
A large pop-up appeared in the middle of Cynthia's vision ,startling her and forcing her to stop so she wouldn't walk into people.
"Wah! I wasn't expecting that so suddenly!" Though it seemed like she was yelling, it was more like the normal volume of other people.
"Thank you Mr. AI assistant." She smiled once again and started browsing through the available information. She held her chin and was nodding repeatedly as she read through it at a moderate pace, and others walking by thought it was rather cute. Cynthia's small stature and cute looks were gathering some attention, but she hadn't noticed it yet.
"[You're welcome. Also, you can just call me Dags.]" She nodded and went on to read the guide. While Cynthia was busy reading through the guide, Dags took a look at the page for the city. He hoped that it would have some useful information that would give them a leg up on the competition, helping them catch up to the other players or even surpass them quickly.
[Technologica City] (Bit of world info dump)
An advanced city that has pursued science instead of magic. Here, they have foregone magic as being barbaric and crude. Instead, the ruling body has invested heavily into advancing technology. There are claims that the weapons of science are far more powerful than that of their magical opposition, but that is highly debated. The city itself is an incredible feat of engineering. It boasts powerful defensive capabilities, having a (according to claims) nigh impenetrable force field that can be activated by the ruling body of this city. With many special reinforced bunkers and high powered energy weapons guarding the city, others would find Technologica City a tough nut to crack.
Technologica City is the starting point for many who chose the path of technology in MagiTech online. Although there are many starting areas for this path, this city is the biggest. Due to it being so prosperous, it is also quite safe with the surrounding area only having low leveled beings that are left to mercenaries to deal with. The center of the city is a ring of buildings that many high class establishments have made their claim on. Only those specially invited may enter the center of the city to peruse the wares of these places. Outside that area will be where the rest of the population resides, and the more mundane lower class establishments that anyone can frequent. Blacksmiths, Gunsmiths, Stim Crafters, ammo stores, and many other useful merchants may be found scattered throughout this area of the city. Players can also purchase land to create guilds, shops, or other forms of buildings if the requirements are met.
There was an attachment in this file that had a full map of the city, and the surrounding area within 10 miles. Checking out the map, he noted all the important places around.
"It's a shame this also doesn't have a share function… I'd like to just send it to Cynthia and update her map." Dags grumbled but shrugged his shoulders. He also mused to himself about how nice it was to move around without all the aches that old age came with before. Unfortunately he was currently stuck in this digital space, unable to move around much to make full use of it. Nearly at the same time, Cynthia seemed to finish her reading of the Getting Started guide.
"Alright, I think I get it now. I'm still not sure about a lot of things, but hopefully I can at least not be completely useless." She raised both of her fists in front of her looking pumped up.
Dags smiled at that and sent her another message.
"[Head over to the mercenary building now. You'll need to level up and learn about combat.]" Dags checked on his energy after this. He was sending messages more often than his energy could recover, so it was sitting at 9.1 currently. It took a few minutes to read the info and had recovered slightly, but it will still take more time before it's back to full.
She nodded her head quickly and started briskly walking toward the mercenary building once again. Upon nearing it, the building was actually called the Resolute. Seemed like a fitting name for those choosing to fight for their desires.
It was quite rowdy inside, the whole room filled with talking. Some were boasting about exploits, others just sharing a drink with their comrades, and there were of course those lurking in the corners eavesdropping. A few looked at the newcomer with curious gazes, sizing up Cynthia. A few whistled at her with smirks on their faces.
"Wow, looks like we got quite a looker joining us today!" Some ruffian shouted just before the lady next to him smacked the back of his head. Cynthia visibly shrunk down a bit and passed through the crowd going towards the wall with many obvious mission posts. While it was quite archaic for such an advanced city, the people seemed to prefer having the tangible paper rather than the screens. Of course, some did choose just to pick missions through the terminals near the receptionist counter.
"Good looks can bring unwanted attention. Guess it'll be important to find a way to hide her face and figure." Dags said out loud thinking to himself. Pretty girls can often get into trouble from people with poor morals targeting them.
Cynthia browsed the current missions, skimming past all the ones that showed high level requirements. After several minutes, she found one that should be suitable for her first mission.
[Eliminate Giant Rats in the Outskirts]