Chapter 2: New Challenge From Old Players
"Hey, new player! Do you want to join a reliable squad?" One of the big-looking people shouted at one of the other players.
He was wearing a woodland camouflage, albeit using some sort of FLAK jacket. Probably one of the earliest ballistic vest types worn by the United States military, IBA. His weapon was kept on his back, probably a variation of the AR-15.
"For a game world, this is quite realistic," I muttered, still amazed by the outpost.
On the motor pool of the outpost, there were six vehicles parked. Six of them were all Humvees with a 12.7mm Browning machine gun on top of it. Most players looked at it in awe, even I was still the same, just like when I first entered the military.
We literally looked like children surrounding an ice cream van when we looked at the humvee. Some people wanted to enter the humvees, but they couldn't. Mostly because the heavily armored door of the car was locked and partially because a squad of contractors was guarding it.
And what was this smell? This smelled awful, like diesel fuel burning. One of the cars started its engine, releasing its fumes into the air.
The driver shouted from the bottom of his throat, "NEWBIES, FUCK OFF!" He honked the new players as the rest of his squad entered the vehicle. The squad looked very well equipped, even better than the previous guy. And what was the rifle on their backs? An M4 Carbine? They might be the high-level players in this outpost.
I walked away from the rest of the new players into the command center. It was huge, probably three-story high, and had the size of half a football field. The entrance of that outpost was a huge double metal door that opened automatically and was guarded by two heavily armored Carmine Federation soldiers. A quest interface suddenly appeared.
[Getting Started]
As a newly assigned freelance contractor in Outpost C-12, it's time for you to get your weapon. Head to the armory in the command center to retrieve your first weapon. After that, you can go to the receptionist to retrieve your first quest.
[Reward: Weapons]
As the quest just told me, I headed for the command center. If I recall correctly, I was a private. I shouldn't try to piss off anyone there because I was practically a doormat in terms of ranks. The huge metallic door opened automatically as I put my feet in front of it.
The cold breeze from the air conditioning unit filled the room. This felt realistic, for a game that was. I looked around for a sign that would lead me to the armory. There were four directions from here.
Go to the left of the armory. Go to the right to go to the commissary. Go to the front right to the elevators or the left to see the commanding officer. It was simple, I'd go to the left.
Walking to the left hallway, some newbies could be found with their weapons. They were all carrying the same exact weapon, a 1911 pistol on their hands. Was that the newbie weapon that the armory would give to me? Well, better than nothing, I suppose?
I walked into the armory. New players were lining up to retrieve their first weapon. A bodyguard on each side of the armory watched us with their M4 carbine on their hands. They were heavily armored with arm protectors and leg protectors covering their entire bodies.
Two people in that armory served all of the new players. It seemed that I was the last player of the last batch. Everyone else had gotten their weapons. I walked towards the armory master. She was standing in front of this cage that separated me from all the weapons behind her.
Weapons from the usual AR-15 to the German version of swiss-watch-put-into-a-rifle G11 were displayed behind that armorer. There were also several ATGMs like Javelin missile launcher to the more traditional RPG.
"May I have your name?"
"Beuer. Private Beuer."
"Alright, Private Beuer, here is your pistol," The armorer put a 1911 pistol on the desk alongside four magazines for the pistol itself. I picked up the magazines, put them in my pocket, and put the pistol into the holster on my knee. "The shooting range is on the 2nd floor if you want to try the weapons."
[Quest Completed]
[1911] [MOD 0]
The M1911 is a single-action, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, recoil-operated pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. It is well-known to be the historical pistol used by many armed states worldwide. Although not as up-to-date as the other weapons, it will still do its job.
Ammo: .45 ACP
Attachment: -
Strength requirement: 1
"Thanks, ma'am," I said since she probably outranked me by a margin.
Heading to the elevator, I spotted several other high-level players. They were easy to notice because of the way they dressed, high-helmets, and body armor accompanied with mid-level weaponry such as the M16 or the AK-74. Or that was just my feeling that they were veterans of this game.
They seemed to be several levels beyond me compared to me, who wasn't even wearing any chest rig. Maybe not to the scale that they were level 100 or something, but they might be 20 or more.
Even though I had not been here for a long time, differentiating people from different levels wasn't that difficult. If someone is seen using low-end weaponry or civilian weaponry such as the AKM or the AR-15, they might belong to the lower end of the spectrum. They only wore soviet-era or Vietnam-era body armor.
I pressed the elevator button while waiting for the elevator to come down. It didn't take too long for it to come down, but it did take a while. Pressing the elevator button to go to the 2nd floor, the elevator door closed as the elevator lifted me up from the 1st floor.
The elevator door opened again as I reached the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor seemed to be the combination of the shooting range and the offices. Judging from its look, this 2nd floor was the information retrieval center on the outpost. It was in the right direction of the elevator.
To the right, it was the shooting range bordered with soundproof glasses. There were two shooting ranges, it seemed. The one on the left was the ordinary shooting range with holographic targets appearing, while the one on the right looked like a kill house with targets popping in and out.
Most of the new players took the shooting range on the left. It was most likely because it was way easier than running and gunning through the kill house. I entered through the door on the left. Several new players were already there, shooting their pistols at the paper targets.
On the left side of the shooting range, a leader board contained the time on that shooting range. The top of the list was a player called "Lobaev" with the time of [0:15:23] seconds. What was even the average time here?
"Try reaching sub thirty seconds, kid," One of the older players said to the newer player.
The standard was below thirty seconds, huh? It shouldn't be hard. I pulled my gun out of its holster, put the safety off my gun, and started aiming at the target in front of me. Hold your breath, and pull the trigger.
BANG.
A target disappeared and was replaced by another target. I pulled the trigger again, and another target appeared. BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG. I fired the bullet continuously until the magazine ran dry. I let the magazine out and replaced it with the new one.
[0:20:32]
'Could be better,' I thought. It was a 21 targets practice range. The reload time really hampered my time to shoot all of the targets. Maybe the top player knew where the target always appeared, so they could score a faster time. Still, maybe my skill wasn't that rusty.
The leader board next to me also changed.
10. Bennett [0:17:12]
11: Boss [0:18:01]
12. Nicholas [0:19:98]
13. Beuer [0:20:32]
To be entirely honest, not too bad. I still got to the top 20 positions on the base. Not too bad for someone who just joined the game. Still, I wasn't confident enough if there was more enemy.
"New player, nice shooting," A man smoking a cigarette on the back of the shooting range said.
"Thanks."
"You know, you're pretty impressive," the player approached me while looking at my pistol. He looked like those middle-level players, the ACH helmet and the soviet-style body armor, 6B5 armor. His weapon was an AK-74, pretty much confirming his level.
"Thanks for the compliment. What's your name?" I asked him.
"My name? I'm Lobaev," Lobaev replied.
"You're the top player?" I asked back.
"Not really. I just happened to score the fastest time in this shooting range. I think some people might have a better reaction time than me. Hey, you're Beuer, right? The leaderboard changed when you finished shooting." He pointed his finger at the leaderboard.
"Yes, I'm Beuer. Nice to meet you, Lobaev."
"My pleasure. Listen, I see your nice shooting, but I think you can do better. Why don't you borrow my AK and test it on the range? I think you'll be a lot faster," He unslung his AK-74 from his back and gave it to me.
From my point of view, it was a chance to test a new weapon. "Sure, why not?" I grabbed the AK-74 and inspected it. I pressed the magazine release lever and checked the remaining ammunition in the magazine. Probably half of it was left. Then, an informational display appeared.
[AK-74] [MOD 0] [Owner: Lobaev]
An assault rifle was designed by Kalashnikov in 1974. It is created to fulfill the role of a lighter intermediate cartridge to replace the old 7.62x39mm ammunition used by AKM. It has lighter recoil, thanks to its smaller caliber.
Ammo: 5.45x39mm
Attachment:
• [6P20 5.45x39 Muzzle Brake] (-20% All-Directional Recoil)
• [6L31 5.45x39 60-round Magazine] (+5% ADS Time)
• [Lambda Industry 16" Heavy Barrel for AK] (+30% Range) (+10% ADS Time) (-10% All-Directional Recoil)
Strength requirement: 15 (Warning: Strength Requirement Not Fulfilled) (+30% ADS time) (-20% Movement Speed) (+20% All-Directional Recoil)
The weapon did feel heavy, but I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, to be honest. But it did affect how I aimed at the target. It was a little bit slower than usual but still manageable. Would this thing help me to get a faster time?
I held my breath and aimed the rifle at the target. I pulled the trigger. The target disappeared and was replaced with another target. I kept pulling the trigger until the target stopped appearing. A new time came up.
[0:14:32]
The leader board also changed.
6. Colette [0:13:87]
7: Beuer [0:14:32]
8. Del [0:15:48]
9. Linus [0:16:00]
"As expected, your reload is your bottleneck. Just give you a bottomless magazine, and you shaved six seconds from your overall time. Impressive, very impressive," he clapped his hands.
Suddenly, another person barged through the shooting range. "Lobaev, what the hell, mate? I've been waiting for you in the armory for an hour. What're you doing in here?" She then looked at me. She immediately let out a large sigh. "Again? Seriously?"
This person seemed to be Lobaev's friend. They wore a similar outfit, albeit the weapon that this person held was a UZI, and she wore glasses. Weird choice, to be honest, then again, it seemed that Lobaev was more of a machinegunner than a regular rifleman, judging from his high-capacity magazine and his heavy AK barrel.
"Again?" I wondered what she meant.
"Sorry for the interruption, mate. Lobaev, let's go, we have a job to do. Are you going on this shenanigans about a newbie having potentials again?" The person asked Lobaev.
"C'mon, man, look at the leaderboard. This dude is the 7th position," Lobaev said.
The person looked at the leaderboard, then he looked back at me. She then squinted her eyes and looked back at Lobaev, "Don't tell me you're giving your AK to him."
"No, of course not, I only lent it to him, but still, look at his score," Lobaev said.
"Hell naw, I ain't going to let a random person enter our team again. The last new player you entered immediately die after we entered the forest because he thought goblin is a melee exclusive mob," she said.
"C'mon, give him a chance," Lobaev teased the person.
"Fine. Only with one condition," she said.
"Throw it away, Millie."
"If he can beat me in the kill house, I will let him join our team after he reaches level 10. If not, then no way I'd let him into our team," Millie said.
"You know, let's spice things up. Man, are you up for the challenge?" Lobaev asked.
"Depends on what it is."
"If you beat her, I'll give you an AR-15. If you don't beat her, you'd have to pay me 300 Credits, what do you say?" Lobaev asked.
I needed to think. I didn't even know the price of an AR-15, but it might go above 1,000 credits or so. Still, any rifle was better than the pistol that I equipped at this moment.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone