Opening Moves (The Gam3 Book 1) by Cosimo Yap Page B

rusty street sign, they were on a Lincoln Blvd. Alan struggled to keep up with Kitana’s pace, but didn’t want to say anything or demonstrate his weakness. Also, his attributes would increase if he worked hard, right?
    A few minutes later, Alan glanced at his minimap. He stopped, almost face palming.
    “Wait, Kitana, Eve’s already figured out where we are.” Alan had made sure Eve had downloaded a worldwide map before beginning the Game, along with all sorts of other information he’d found on the internet.
    According to Eve’s map, they were now in the Presidio of San Francisco, which according to Wikipedia was a park that was formerly a military base. If they followed the road they were on now, they’d reach the Richmond District of San Francisco. The body of water Alan had seen a glimpse of earlier was the Pacific Ocean.
    Let me know if you make a discovery like that, okay? Alan sent.
    A discovery like what?
    Like where we teleported to.
    Affirmative.
    “Ask Thiago what to do next, you can message him,” Kitana said, moving her hands about in front of her, exploring the map Eve provided.
    “Alright.”
    Message Thiago, Alan told Eve.
    Text or voice?
    Um, voice.
    Connecting…
    A phone began ringing in Alan’s ear. A second later, he heard Thiago, speaking into his ear.
    “Yes, Alan?”
    “Um, Eve figured out we’re in San Francisco. You can take a look at your minimap. It should have updated.”
    “Oh.” A few seconds passed, as Thiago checked out the map. “Very good. Have you found anything that might be helpful?”
    “Uh, no not really, just a bunch of hills and trees,” Alan replied.
    “Alright, the next thing you should do is look for supplies. If this map is right then we’re properly in the Game now. I think San Francisco is under US military control, but I’m not sure, so try to avoid any other people you find. Remember that this place is a digital copy of the real Earth when the aliens first came here six months ago, so things may have changed quite a bit. Time in-game is four times as fast so two years have passed here. ”
    “Got it, bye.”
    End connection, Alan sent.
    Connection ended.
    Hey, Eve, where’s the nearest police station?
    The nearest police station is approximately 2 miles away.
    Alright, set it as our destination.
    Destination set.
    The familiar blue line appeared before Alan. He turned to Kitana.
    “Alright, let’s try to go to the police station, hopefully we’ll find supplies there. It’s about 2 miles away, but we still have over an hour left to get there and back.”
    Kitana shrugged. “Sure.”
    A blue line appeared on the road in front of Alan, showing him the way to the police station, or at least where there was in the real world. On the jog over he tried making small talk with Kitana.
    “So, um, have you played many video games?”
    “No.”
    “Oh, um, what’s your favorite anime or manga?”
    “I haven’t had the time for either.”
    “Huh, that’s cool.”
    Kitana didn’t respond.
    “Well, if you haven’t really played any games before, all these ability points and skills might be a bit confusing," Alan said. "I’ve found it best to try to stick with one sort of character and focus on doing that as best you can. Also, there are a few pretty useful skills that you can buy that will allow you to improve faster. I don’t know if you noticed them, but Skilled and Gifted seem pretty over powered.”
    "Yes, those skills have been quite useful in accruing extra ability points," Kitana said. "I began with them.”
    “Oh, you did? Um, if you don’t mind me asking, what other abilities did you start with?”
    Kitana made a gesture, opening a menu, looking at it while she ran.
    “Sword mastery, a various number of sword-moves the Game seems to have converted from the style I’ve learned, various breathing techniques, meditation, sprint, sneak, enhanced endurance, there are quite a few here.”
    Alan opened and looked at his character menu. The only