Chương 4: Arc 0 - Chapter 4 - Tutorial Level

Thea suddenly found herself standing in an empty, but seemingly infinite, grey space. There were no visible light sources anywhere around her, yet everything was bathed in a uniform, calming glow, bright enough to clearly reveal the monotonous expanse stretching out in all directions. Before she could even fully take in her surroundings or attempt to get her bearings, a woman dressed in a form-fitting dark-blue suit materialised right in front of her.

Her hair was black and tied into a neat ponytail down her back, similar to Thea's own. The woman's hazelnut-coloured eyes were partly hidden behind a sleek pair of modern hololenses as they focused directly on her. With a cheerful, friendly voice, she immediately began speaking, not giving Thea any time to recover from the shock of a full-on human appearing out of nowhere.

"Welcome to Deep-Dive Simulation #6, 473, Lumiosia Citizen.

"My name is Selene, and I am an Auxiliary Staff-Sergeant with the UHF.

"I will be guiding you through your first steps in this Deep-Dive Simulation, before you are given the option to partake in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"I am here for your convenience. It is imperative to the UHF as a whole that you are able to perform to your utmost limit in the challenges ahead, in order to obtain an accurate read on who you are as a person, as well as what you are capable of. As such, if at any point during this tutorial you have questions, concerns, or require a break, do not hesitate to speak up." With a slight bow, Selene waved her right hand, and Thea's surroundings started shifting immediately.

The infinite grey expanse was replaced by a mountainous landscape stretching far into the distance, and even the air around her changed, gaining a freshness she had never experienced before. It felt… alien to her—but not in a bad way. The ground beneath her feet slowly shifted into a field of grass, while her immediate surroundings changed into what looked like a high-end outdoor training course.

Wooden scaffoldings, metal pipes, nets, barrels, and even a full shooting range appeared as if they had always been there. There was no sound of them materialising, no blinding lights announcing their arrival—they simply came into being, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Utterly stunned by the rapid influx of new impressions, sensations, and thoughts, Thea struggled to stay steady.

A wave of vertigo hit her as her brain tried to make sense of everything that had happened in the last thirty or so seconds. Just as she was about to stumble however, a strong arm wrapped around her from the side. Startled by the sudden contact, Thea turned her head and saw Selene holding her in a light embrace with one arm.

"My apologies, Miss," Selene said, lightly bowing her head once more.

"It appears that this sudden change may be somewhat jarring to mid-worlders such as yourself. I will be certain to report this to the higher-ups, so that future Deep-Dive Simulations can be adjusted accordingly. Rest assured, we did not intend to cause any ill effects."

"... Ehh… It's… It's okay. Thank you, Ma'am," Thea managed between deep breaths, still trying to calm her racing heart. As she gently pulled away from Selene's arm, she realised something important about the Deep-Dive Simulation. Selene was… no… felt real. When Thea had tried neural-link VRs before, there had always been a sense of distance between what the character experienced and what the player behind the screen actually felt.

Fully simulating all five senses from start to finish simply took too much processing power and bandwidth to give a true one-to-one experience. This was very different. Not only did the Deep-Dive Simulation cover all five senses, but her own body felt just as real as well—as if she had truly been transported to another dimension.

From her usual unruly bangs that never stayed quite where she wanted them to, all the way down to the tips of her toes, she could feel every part of her body exactly where and how it should be.

"Where… no… we're inside the crystal cylinder now, right? How is this possible?" Thea asked the patiently waiting Selene beside her, her eyes roaming over the vast stretches of the mountainous training course ahead.

"You are correct in assuming that we are indeed inside one of the 'crystal cylinders,' as you like to call them," Selene said.

"Their proper name is 'Deep-Dive Simulator Chamber,' though many UHF Marines simply refer to them as 'Sim Tubes.'

"Unfortunately, I cannot disclose their technical designation to you. However, I can tell that you are quite eager to learn more about them as a whole. Perhaps one day you will have the chance to interact with them on a more technical level, should you be both able and willing to join the UHF in the future." Selene finished with a gratified smile. At Selene's words, Thea's shoulders slumped slightly. She knew there was practically no chance for her to ever join the UHF—at least not while she was stuck on Lumiosia.

The Mid-Worlds were simply too far removed from the UHF's primary recruiting grounds to realistically give her a shot, no matter how hard she tried. It was something the Old Man had explained to her more times than she could count. The only way in was to reach one of the Inner- or Core-Worlds, and that required a truly stupendous fortune in Imperial Credits.

'But… Maybe this challenge and the rewards it can grant are my ticket off this planet… One stop closer to the UHF's recruitment centres,' Thea thought. With renewed vigour from that stray, painfully hopeful thought, she faced Selene once more.

"I think I'm ready now. Tell me what I need to do." Over the next thirty minutes, Thea went through a basic Deep-Dive Simulation tutorial under the guidance of Auxiliary Staff-Sergeant Selene. She learned how to move her body properly—jumping, running, climbing, and all the usual movements any capable Marine should be able to perform without issue. Thea quickly noticed that the tutorial felt somewhat lax. She cleared every timed section with ease and never once broke a sweat during the entire course.

She assumed it was designed to go easy on newcomers, since this was likely everyone's first experience with a Deep-Dive Simulation, and she didn't feel like questioning Selene about it. She just wanted to get through the boring parts as fast as possible and move on to the shooting range—the fun part. Once Selene finished noting down Thea's final times for the course, they headed over to the range.

"This will be the final part of the training," Selene explained as she opened several weapon racks, gesturing to different groups while speaking.

"I will teach you how to handle firearms of the most common UHF calibres, including standard projectile, laser, gauss, and railgun types. After that, you will be given the remainder of our time together to try out as many weapons as you like, until the two-hour time limit for this tutorial segment is reached." Excitement quickly rose in Thea's chest, and a familiar savage grin started to form as Selene listed off the weapons she would soon get her hands on. She would finally get to shoot something!

"You may end the free-shooting period whenever you wish and proceed directly to the prepared challenge," Selene continued.

"Please be advised that the challenge will involve active combat with live gunfire. It is recommended that you spend at least around thirty minutes with the weapon you prefer most, in order to fully acclimate to its characteristics before beginning the challenge." The first weapon Selene handed to Thea was a standard-issue projectile assault rifle. Its technical designation was the SI-AR-303, though most UHF Marines simply called it the AR-303. And, more importantly, this was a weapon that Thea already knew about.'

The Old Man's teachings are really coming through, huh?' She couldn't help but think with a smile as she recalled what she remembered about the gun from the many hours listening to him talk about it. The AR-303 was the staple weapon for run-of-the-mill UHF Marines without a specific specialisation, having proven itself reliable over countless centuries and seen numerous, minor revisions.

It was nearly indestructible under normal operating conditions and came equipped with a 38-round magazine of 303-calibre rounds, a 3D holographic sight, and the option to mount one of roughly half a dozen foregrips by default. The standard 303-calibre rounds fired by it had become the most widely used ammunition type across the galaxy.

With an unmatched balance of low cost, ease of production, firepower, penetration, and manageable weight, they had long since replaced older ammunition types for the average rifleman and cemented the AR-303 as the UHF's weapon of choice—and similarly, the first weapon most Marines ever got their hands on. As Thea stepped up to the first line of targets, she felt the solid, somewhat familiar weight of the rifle settle into her hands. It wasn't light by any means—not to her—but it felt right.

It reminded her of the older revisions of the same weapon that the Old Man had handed her during training in the abandoned stretches of the undercity, when he had insisted she get used to the heft of"real" firearms. She had always found those to be much heavier and bulkier than the more civilian weapons he had let her use at first, meant to teach her basic safety and general gun rules. Weapons built for the UHF's military branch were clearly a cut above the rest.

As he had always said, " Carrying heavy weapons is simply part of being a Marine, Missy. Now quit your whining, or you'll never make it up that staircase." The rifle she held was finished in the standard UHF matte grey, with a dim crimson 'UHF' stamped along the right side, facing away from her. The SI-AR-303 measured roughly eighty centimetres in length, with the barrel taking up more than half of that at around fifty-four centimetres.

Fully loaded, it weighed a bit above four kilograms—heavy enough to feel serious, yet balanced well enough to be carried all day when slung over the shoulder.' Or at least the Old Man used to say so,' she thought to herself, remembering the hours of muscle-sore exhaustion that had always come with even just a few hours of lugging around the weapon during their training trips. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Selene finished her side of the historical and technical rundown of the weapon while Thea was still admiring the pristine piece of technology in her hands. Then, she was finally cleared to fire. She began with careful, single tap-shots at a few mid-range targets, getting a feel for the recoil, kick, and overall behaviour of the weapon.

She immediately noticed that, despite the calibre being far more powerful and deadly than anything she had fired with the Old Man before—as she had never actually fired the weapon back then, only carried around—the rifle was much easier to control than a lot of the smaller, civilian weaponry. She wasn't sure whether that came from her own growing strength, the superior quality of the weapon, or a mix of both. Ultimately, however, she didn't dwell too much on it.

The confidence boost, on the other hand, was immediate. She sped up, switching to short bursts and snapping cleanly from target to target. After clearing the first sixteen targets without issue, she reached for a fresh magazine. The AR-303's easy-detach system let her reload smoothly on the first try, taking just under two seconds. She couldn't help but note how fast it was compared to what she remembered from the arcade's old retro shooters.' Were those games just modelled wrong…

or is UHF gear really this far ahead, comparatively?' she thought, but decided not to bother Selene with such inconsequential questions, as she shifted her attention to the more distant targets instead. While each set of targets had some variation—medium-range targets sitting anywhere between three and four hundred metres—the gaps between the groupings at different distances themselves were much larger on purpose. The long-range targets Thea picked were placed roughly six to eight hundred metres away.

She steadied her breathing and focused on her chosen target, just as the Old Man had drilled into her time and time again. Selene frowned. In the next moment, the sharp crack of the gunshot echoed through the mountains, followed half a second later by a single, high-pitched metallic ring.

"Wooooh! Got 'em!" Thea whooped, pumping her fist as Selene stared at the distant target with a raised eyebrow. Catching herself and reining in what she immediately saw as childish behaviour on her own part, Thea spun back toward the Sergeant.

"Ehh… I meant… This gun is great. Really fantastic craftsmanship, I have to admit," she said, awkwardly trying to cover for her outburst.

"Mhm. There's a reason it's considered the bread and butter of the UHF Marines. That was some very impressive shooting," Selene replied.

"I was about to offer you a magnification scope, but you clearly don't need it at these distances…" Her voice trailed off.

"Ah… haha… I guess. I've always been pretty good, and my Old Man taught me how to shoot before, so I guess I got lucky with that one," Thea deflected, a little embarrassed, before turning toward the weapon rack.

"May I?"

"But of course. I think we can move straight into the free-shooting portion, as you are clearly already comfortable handling firearms. If you have any questions about anything in particular, feel free to ask me at any time.

"I will be by your side until the end of the two-hour limit… Speaking of which, you have exactly one hour and twenty-three minutes remaining, starting now," the Auxiliary Staff Sergeant said with a bow, stepping aside to give Thea access to the nearby weapon rack… Over the next hour, Thea fell into a figurative shooting frenzy, working her way through every single gun in the well-stocked weapon rack. She quickly found her preferences: Longer barrels and weapons that delivered a lot of power in a single shot.

The railgun variants stood out the most to her in terms of fun, ' Extreme power, barely any recoil… and all these tuning options…! Yeah, this is definitely my kind of gun.' For the final twenty minutes of her free-shooting time, she narrowed her choice for the challenge down to three weapons. One was a railgun-type sniper rifle, another a gauss-type designated marksman rifle, and the last a laser-type version of the same. They had been her favourites to fire, all offering excellent power, penetration, and accuracy.

The railgun sniper hit the hardest by far, easily punching through even standard-issue tank armour.

'One shot, one problem simply gone,' she thought at first—but she shook the idea off just as quickly as she started considering taking it into the mission.' Too narrow. If things get close, I'm dead… Without knowing what the challenge is all about, exactly, I can't choose something that doesn't leave me with options.' The DMRs simply gave her more options and could still hold their own at shorter ranges. That left the two variants of the same designated marksman rifle.

The base model was the X-23R "Mjollnir," with the gauss and laser versions designated the X-23R-G and X-23R-L respectively. There were only a few differences between the two, but they mattered—a lot.

Both measured roughly one hundred and thirty-three centimetres in total length, with an eighty-one centimetre barrel. The weights were slightly different. The X-23R-G was a few hundred grams heavier due to the gauss acceleration system, coming in at 5. 44 kilograms, while the X-23R-L weighed 5. 12 kilograms; both markedly heavier than the AR-303 she had used at the beginning of the tutorial.' Going to be extremely sore after this is all over, aren't I…?'

Both rifles came standard with a variable scope, allowing magnification anywhere from 1x to 16x. They also featured a standard-issue bipod with a grav-lock system, letting the bipod anchor itself to the surface beneath it and eliminating small shakes that could throw off the shooter's aim, as well as practically absorbing any and all recoil, as long as one remained stationary. Those features were shared between both variants. The real decision came down to what made each one unique.

The X-23R-G came with a standard sixteen-round magazine, accounting for roughly 0. 2 kilograms of the weapon's total weight, giving it a lot more ammunition at a lower weight than the ballistic variant of the same gun. On top of that, the gauss-type allowed for extremely rapid follow-up shots, too. There was almost no recoil compared to more conventional, chemical-propellant based firearms, and no heat buildup to worry about like with laser weapons.

'I could cut through a whole squad fast if I needed to,' Thea thought. The X-23R-L, on the other hand, had no true magazine limit. All it really cared about was heat. While it could benefit greatly from energy cell capacitors—functioning much like magazines for other weapon types—they weren't strictly required for the rifle to operate at all.' No ammo worries. Just heat,' she noted, immediately seeing the appeal.

For a challenge of unknown length and location, having effectively "infinite" ammunition was a massive advantage. The laser-type also allowed each shot to be overcharged or undercharged with a simple adjustment of the settings via a tactile knob on the weapon itself—or if connected to your armour, via a neural link—trading power for heat generation or vice versa.

It didn't suffer from the recoil the ballistic variant would either, letting her fire it rapidly, though not quite as freely as the gauss variant as she'd have to worry about the heat buildup. She absolutely loved shooting both versions and hated that she could pick only one.

'That overcharged laser hits like a freight train…' she admitted to herself.' But the gauss feels better up close—and on the move.' The gauss rifle clearly favoured close-range fights and mobile combat, letting her shoot while repositioning or sprinting between cover. She had always relied on speed and mobility in her life so far, but that had never really been a choice.

'That's just how you survive down here,' she thought. In the undercity, there were too many threats that brute strength alone couldn't solve, no matter how hard she pushed herself. But with a weapon like the X-23R in her hands, that didn't have to be true anymore.' I don't have to run as much. I can stand my ground.' That was what made the decision so hard.

She had to choose between stepping into something new—leaning into raw power with the X-23R-L—or doubling down on what had kept her alive so far, reinforcing her instincts and experience with the faster, more flexible X-23R-G. After several long, agonising minutes of fighting with the decision, she finally settled on one. With determination, she picked up the X-23R-L and walked over to Selene, who had been watching her this entire time. She had chosen it for one simple reason.

'I need to be number one.' She had no wiggle room on that point. She had promised Old Man James she wouldn't settle for mediocrity—that she would push herself as far as she could.

'No half measures. No playing it safe, when the risky option has higher potential returns.' And if she truly wanted to push herself, she had to embrace something new.

'I can't just rely on what I already know.' She needed to take in new ways of fighting, new tools, and make them part of her, so she'd be ready for whatever came next—not just the kind of dangers she'd grown up with.

"I'm done. I'll be going into the challenge with the X-23R-L," Thea said, her voice firm as she presented the weapon to the Staff Sergeant.

"Mhm. A solid choice," Selene replied with a nod.

"You do have the makings of an excellent scout, I'll admit. I didn't want to say this openly, but this whole mid-worlder operation wasn't something I initially agreed with. After seeing you, though… I'm starting to think this might not be a waste of time after all," she added, a slight smile forming.

"Well then. Don't disappoint me now," the Sergeant said, turning and walking back toward the spot where Thea had first arrived, motioning for her to follow. As they covered the few hundred metres between the shooting range and the original arrival point, the world around them began to fall apart. The mountains on the horizon crumbled first, followed by distant forests evaporating into grey smoke. Then the training course itself started to break down into countless tiny particles.

The wooden scaffolding, barrels, metal pipes—everything vanished, as if it had never existed at all. Thea watched in quiet awe.

'This shouldn't be possible at runtime like this…' Creating something this real, this detailed, out of nothing went completely against everything she thought she understood about processing power. Even the Zero-G Arena inside the Golden Age Arcade had only been capable of creating environments that had been pre-programmed, but nothing even close to this level of realism.

'I really don't know anything about the wider galaxy.' The thought brought Old Man James' Golden Rule #2 back to her mind:"Never presume to know everything about anything. There will always be things you do not know, no matter how much you know." She had never fully understood that rule before. But now, it finally started to click.

'He really did know what he was talking about with that one, huh?' Once again, she found herself amazed at how much life experience he had managed to pass on to her through just a few simple sentences like that and coining them Golden Rules, so they'd stick in her mind. Before she could drift any further into her thoughts, Selene spoke up.

"Miss, if you would please step into the circle on the ground." A dim red circle had appeared beside Thea. She stepped into it carefully, making sure not to touch the glowing outline.

'Don't break anything,' she told herself.' That would be a very bad first impression.'

"You will now be loaded into the Deep-Dive Simulation," Selene continued.

"The mission objective will be displayed in the Heads-Up Display we covered earlier during the tutorial. It should appear in the top-right corner of your field of view, along with additional mission-critical information, once you are inside.

"The Challenge will last for a maximum of ten hours, but it may be completed or failed earlier. In either case, the Challenge's world will be terminated and you will automatically return to consciousness in your real body, which remains safely inside the Sim Tube on Lumiosia throughout this entire experience.

"One final note: The entire world you will enter is part of the Deep-Dive Simulation. Any actions taken inside will have no consequences in the real world.

"Severe injury, death, or even psychological trauma will not affect your real body or mind, as everything is filtered through the Sim Tube's advanced security systems. These systems have been tested, quite literally, billions of times, and there have been zero confirmed cases of harmful effects carrying over." With that, Selene smiled warmly.

"You are fully primed and ready, Miss. Please verbally confirm your name, that you are taking this challenge of your own free will, that you are of sound mind, and that you wish to begin the simulation." Thea glanced one last time at the Auxiliary Staff-Sergeant and took a deep breath, smiling back.

"I hope we'll meet again, Staff-Sergeant Selene. Thank you for everything you've done for me. I don't know if you're really you or just a program, but… thank you either way." Turning forward and staring at nothing in particular, she spoke with clear conviction.

"My name is Thea. I am of sound mind, and I am taking this UHF challenge of my own free will. I would like to start the simulation now." The moment the final word left her mouth, Thea's world faded to black once more…