4 Chapter 3

Oliver was looking at himself in a mirror. He couldn't help but feel that this armor looked a lot like the protagonist's armor from a certain game series related to halos, except that his armor was completely white in color.

'So Grace, how do we go about this whole tutorial thing?'

|You will enter a battlefield in the virtual reality. You have to survive for as long as you can. You will |be provided a standard issue chainsaw sword and a standard issue assault rifle from A1 series. There |will be 200 rounds of ammunition provided too. No extra ammunition will be present on the map.

[Candidate #2212345678 a new branch quest has been issued.

Branch Quest 1: Survive 60 minutes in tutorial to gain 1000 SVP.]

'Grace did you hear anything just now?'

|No, Oliver. But I did notice a spike in your heartbeat.

'Well, forget about it.'

|Sure.

'Interesting. It seems like Grace can't hear the other AI-system thingy. Hey Grace! Did you hear anything now?'

|Except for the question? No. Are you hallucinating Oliver? Would you like me run a complete body scan?

'Nah, forget about it. It was something else. Seems like she can't even hear thoughts related to that thing. That AI seems to have a fetish for keeping secrets. Good for me I guess.'

|So, are you ready to start the tutorial?

'Yes.'

|Entering Virtual Reality in 3, 2, 1…

Oliver vision was became blurred for a second before it was replaced by an open field full of snow and some snow covered rocks and bushes.

"I didn't realize that we were going to fight in a snowy landscape."

|What did you expect Oliver? Sit on a sofa with a gun in one hand and pew pew the hive creatures.

|Now, please get familiar with your weapons. The monsters will start coming in 30 seconds.

'Oh right, the weapons!'

Oliver reached over his shoulder to grab the handle of the 2 meter long bastard sword-chainsaw thing. He thought that it would be very heavy and cumbersome to use, but it wasn't. Although he couldn't claim 'light as a feather' but he was pretty sure that he could swing this thing for hours.

|Oliver if you look down at your right thigh area, you will find the assault rifle with a magazine |containing 50 rounds in it. Three more magazines are stored inside the left thigh area of the armor.

|To use them just order me and I will make them come out.

'Grace this is my first time fighting the hive, so any suggestions?'

|Hive creatures become berserk at the sound of guns, so you might want to use the rifle later when |you have less stamina- The 30 seconds are up. Best of Luck Oliver! I am starting the chainsaw |sword.

A low murmur filled the surrounding as the weapon became fully operational.

"Damn. This is it huh~"

Oliver muttered to himself as he looked at the weird 3 meter long ants rushing towards him. There were so many that he couldn't even begin to count them. The only good thing was that due to their huge size Oliver could easily move between them, and more than 3 ants couldn't attack him at once.

|These creatures are called Goliath Ants. They are fast but not nimble. Their weaknesses are the leg

|joints, their slightly softer underbelly, and their eyes. Everything else is covered in a tough |exoskeleton so you will have to spend a bit more energy to cut through those areas.

'Thanks for the heads up. By the way set an hour long timer for me Grace.'

|Done.

A small timer had appeared in the peripheral vision of Oliver.

Now, all of Oliver's experience related to fights came from a couple of fist-fight in the bar. But even those fights were enough to teach him one thing – Hit first and hope that the opponent goes down.

Not really the best strategy for a group fight but Oliver decided to roll with it since he had nothing else.

He rushed forward with all his strength and .... collided head first into the leading Goliath, smashing its head into pieces.

'What was that?'

|You killed a Goliath.

'Not that. Why did I run so fast?'

|Because of the armor, its main function is to help someone with weaker physical abilities fight. Your |speed just before the collision was 270 miles/hour.Your rushed forward with all your strength so you |reached such high speed. But obviously you aren't used to moving at such high speeds.

'Awesome, now I have to survive in a fight with uncontrollable body movements.'

Oliver instantly decided to move as less as possible. Oliver smiled ruefully and thought, 'I didn't want to do it, but I think I will just have to pin my hopes on the defensive property of the armor. Hope it can last an hour.'

*Sigh*

Oliver simply started slashing back at Goliaths who hit him, or were in the process of doing so. He even used the 'body smash' move from earlier whenever he felt that he was starting to get overwhelmed.

Although he was slightly successful in killing Goliaths using this method, he realized that this method had a very big flaw.

"Haa…Haa…I feel so tired right now. How long have I been fighting Grace?"

|10 minutes and 28 seconds.

"Damn it. I don't think I will be alive for an hour. What should I do?" Oliver muttered to himself while slashing down the heavy chainsaw sword on a Goliath's head. This motherfucker just tried to bite his head off.

'I think I will use the rifle to shoot down some them and use that time to give my sore body a little bit of rest. Although this armor is very good, and I don't even feel dizzy after so many hits to my head, my body simply can't handle such high intensity activity.'

With a plan in his mind Oliver jumped back to distance himself from the starving horde of the Goliaths and started looking around for a vantage point. He quickly realized something.

Behind him was a cluster of rocks. Some were giants, reaching up to 5 meters, but there were small ones too. Somehow Oliver felt that it was the perfect hunting ground.

"Hey Grace! Why didn't I see such a convenient geographical structure before I almost completely spent my stamina?"

|You must have missed it because you didn't take the time to properly access your battlefield. And |since this is a tutorial, so I can't offer any detailed advice. Charging forward may look brave, but it is t|he most stupid tactic if you are weak and outnumbered.

*Sigh*

"I'm so stupid. Well no point in thinking about it anymore." Muttering short phrases of encouragement to himself, Oliver sprinted towards the rocky area.

After hiding behind two rocks with a small opening between them, Oliver took his first shot.

It hit a Goliath. But it was the one running besides the one he had aimed for.

'Well, I did get a hit on my first try though. That should count for something, right?'

…..

Oliver did his best and consumed all the bullets within 5 minutes. He continued fighting using his melee weapon and somehow survived for 34 minutes and 22 seconds.

At the end he was completely covered with Goliaths. One went for his head, other for his partially armored shoulder, and his limbs had already become free feast by this time. He blacked out due to the intense pain of being eaten alive.

According to Grace the pain was set to 100%, and he could have adjusted it if he wanted to. Apparently even kids know how to do it as it was the first thing taught when going into virtual reality for the first time.