The Legacy Of 2144: The Beginning

Chapter 4: Creatures Of The Dune

I woke to the blaring of my alarm clock and looked at the time. It was 8:15 am. Yawning and stretching, I got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. While brushing my teeth, I took a good look at myself. The young teenage boy in the mirror with olive skin,  black hair that reaches his shoulder level and an eyepatch across his right eye was looking back at me. I guess the fight yesterday wasn't a dream, after all. I thought to myself. However, one thing did change. A message appeared on the top of my head. It was a message about my level.

LEVEL UP! YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 12.

My eyebrows raised as I read the message. My level increased by 2, and my EXP points increased by +150. Finally, I can upgrade my skills. Using my skill points, I upgraded my first 3 main skills:

Bullet Barrage: Level 12

Missile Barrage: Level 12

Precision Strike: Level 12

At that moment, I felt a surge of energy entering me as I upgraded my skills. I felt much stronger and combat-ready. Having upgraded my skills, I checked the other things I could upgrade. I had 10 weapon mastery points, that I could use to upgrade my firearm skills, as well as 50 upgrade points for me to upgrade my armour and my weapons. Using my weapon mastery points, I decided to use the points evenly on my "Assault Rifle" and "Energy Gun" skills.

Firearm Skills:
Pistols: Level 10
Shotguns: Level 10
Sniper Rifles: Level 10
Assault Rifles: Level 10 +5
SMGs: Level 10
Rocket Launchers: Level 10
Grenade Launcher: Level 10
Energy Guns: Level 0 +5
Heavy Machine Guns: Level 0

Afterwards, I headed down to the basement to spend my upgrade points on the Weapon Upgrade Booth and the Armour Upgrade Booth. Firstly, I upgraded my Assault Rifle, the M4A1. Using the upgrade points, I upgraded my assault rifle in these few areas:

M4A1 (+ M203 Underbarrel):
Rate Of Fire: Increased by x4
Firing Range: Increased by x4
Ammo Capacity: 300/300
Explosion Radius: Larger Explosion

Now that my assault rifle had been upgraded, I went on to upgrade my armour.

Assault Armour:
Forcefield System: Duration increased to 1 hour
Missile Pods: Now fires 10 missiles
Hidden Minigun Turret: Rate of fire increased by x4

Looking at the upgrades that I made for my weapons and my armour, I nodded in satisfaction. These upgrades would help me change the tide of my battles, and I was eager to try them out badly. Having upgraded everything I needed to upgrade, I headed up to the main room via elevator to join the other Atlas Soldiers at the canteen, who were having breakfast. As I entered the canteen, a few Atlas Soldiers turned their glances towards me. "Ay! There's our favourite  mercenary! Mornin', kiddo!" One of the soldiers chirped. I nodded to him and smiled. "Mornin', uhhh...." just as I wanted to greet the soldier back, I didn't know what his name was. I quickly glanced at the soldier's name hanging above his head.

Name: Hiroshi Tanaka
Age: 24
Level: 56
Class: Gunner (Assault)
Health: 300/300

"Mornin', Hiroshi." I greeted the Japanese mercenary, giving him a slight smile. The man smiled back, stood up, shook my right hand and patted me on the back. As I sat down, I heard the rest of the Atlas Soldiers around me chattering among themselves, talking about my bravery back on the battlefield yesterday. Just as I sat down to eat my plate of pancakes, Sergeant Lance appeared and took a seat next to me. "It seems that you're the centre of attention now, kid." Sergeant chuckled. "Yeah, so it seems," I replied. "But I don't understand why. I didn't do much to that beast yesterday." "Ah, but your bravery speaks louder than your actions, Jack. Never in my life have I ever seen a soldier as young as you battle against a large and intimidating beast that was much stronger, looking at it straight in the eye. Not to mention, you were quite the hero to save those two medic soldiers who were trying to save you from certain death." Sergeant Lance explained, praising me for my bravery. As Lance praised me, I felt my face turning warmer. "I-It's nothing, sergeant. I just didn't want anyone to die on the battlefield, that's all..." I stammered a little in embarrassment. "No, kid. You were selfless and brave back there. Keep up the awesome work, kid." Just like that, I felt myself blushing even more. I couldn't take any more of these praises.