Opening Moves (The Gam3 Book 1) by Cosimo Yap

tutorial?”
    Alan debated lying to the store owner, but considering he was an information broker, that probably wasn’t a good idea.
    “Yes,” Alan said.
    “I only ask because there’s actually a trade hub-wide discount of 80% for all humans undergoing the tutorial. In an effort to promote humanity all traders you find here should give you the discount. Any that aren’t are ripping you off.”
    “Oh, thanks a lot!”
    Alan mentally agreed to the purchase for 100 credits, and Eve was soon downloading the data. It looked like it could take a little while.
    “Also, are you by any chance willing to sell any information about the tutorial so far?" the information broker asked. "Trust me when I say I could make it worth your while.”
    Alan entertained the idea, but then decided he should probably ask Thiago, and let him know about the cheaper equipment.
    Unfortunately, the others had already spent their credits on the rip-off shop the Administrators had set up. Thiago also asked him to not sell any information. Since he didn’t completely trust this information broker anyways, Alan politely declined the offer, waiting for Eve to finish downloading the data.
    Once the download finished, Alan pressed okay on the message that popped up, and his entire world changed. Suddenly, usernames and multicolored health bars popped up all around him. Some players also had levels, titles and class descriptions floating above their heads. Alan's HP bar that had only read 100% changed to 350, his stamina changing to 248.
    Tooltips began appearing when Alan thought about a particular item in his inventory. The vials of blood in his backpack were now labeled as vials of DNA. The gun had a description with the model type and serial number, along with a damage range of 12-20 and durability of 37/60. The combat knife had a damage range of 5-6 in comparison, along with a durability of 107/120. All the items also had an estimated value, and apparently the vials of blood were worth about 100 credits each, while the boss’s DNA was worth 5000 credits. 50,000 dollars!
    Things were finally beginning to look like a game rather than real life. Opening up his character window, Alan found another surprise. Gone was the relatively simple list of abilities and stats, replaced with a much more comprehensive list of stats, with a separate tab for abilities. Though there was a lot of interesting information, Alan merely skimmed it; it seemed like if he skipped over the tables he wouldn't miss anything important. He also had to play with his visual settings to read the tables clearly, switching to a horizontal, single column view.
     
    Status Window
Name:
Adampwnage
Alignment:
Neutral
Level:
27
Class:
Undetermined
Species:
Human (Earth)
Gender:
Male
Titles
None
Renown:
N/A
Notoriety:
0
-
Health:
350 / 350
Health Regen:
0.05 / Sec
Psionic Energy:
10/ 10
Psi Regen:
0.01 / Sec
Shield Energy:
N/A
Shield Regen:
N/A
Stamina:
248 / 250
Stamina Regen:
1.0 / Sec
-
Strength:
29 + 20
Agility:
36 + 20
Intelligence:
47 + 20
Willpower:
22 + 20
Charisma:
13 + 20
Perception:
38 + 20
Endurance:
24 + 20
Luck:
55 + 20
Resistances
Physical:
??
Mental:
??
Psionic:
??
Faction Standings
United World Government:
Neutral
Predecessors:
Unfriendly
Legion of Man:
Neutral*
Lords of Life:
Neutral
Haxlards:
Neutral
Administrators:
Friendly
Debt:
1M Credits
Current Quest:
Tutorial
     
    Ability Window
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
Sneak (Basic)
G
???
G
A basic stealth ability.
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
Skilled
N/A
N/A
F
Grants an additional ability point every five levels to spend on abilities.
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
Gifted
N/A
N/A
F
Grants an additional ability point every five levels to spend on attributes.
Skill Name:
Skill Rank:
Skill Proficiency:
Skill Rarity:
A.I. Interaction
D
???
C
The ability to better allow oneself to interact with an A.I. and be interacted with in turn.
Skill Name:
Skill