Galataea Crystallim Core 1
Galataea Crystallim Core: Collection 1
By Scottie Futch
Copyright 2016 Scottie Futch
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notice
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Author's Note: All characters depicted in sexual actions in this work of fiction are 18 years of age or older.
Table of Contents
1. Episode 1 – Making the Grade
2. Episode 2 – Here, Fishy, Fishy!
3. Episode 3 – Yes, Please No.
About the Author
Other Titles by Scottie Futch
Episode I: Making the Grade
Joy comes in many forms. There is the joy of simply existing in the world. There is great joy in music, or the arts. For some, the greatest joy is found in neither the simplistic nature of being human, nor in the art that humanity made. No, for some people the greatest joy is found in achieving a commonly achieved goal.
Scott Matthews was overjoyed, despite the ordinary nature of his achievement. Even a thing that happens in the life of every human being can seem incredible when it finally happens. For the young man gazing at the light-screen shining in the air before him, the incredible just became his new reality.
“I passed?” He stared at the screen with a mixture of jubilation and surprise. Few people passed the final exams on the first time that they took the test. His score was low, garbage really. Yet, the fact that he passed the test in one try was a major event!
The useful hallucination displayed his score in bright green numbers. He passed with a ‘C’ rank. His total point score? Eighty-three points. While some might think that such a score was mediocre, they would be wrong. The hunter examination was a difficult test that required extensive knowledge of both the job, and of a wide variety of Crystallim.
“I got an eighty-three on a first-time test!” cried the young man in a loud and boisterous tone. It might be a mediocre score, but earning it during the initial test meant that he was automatically placed on the list.
He dismissed the light-screen. One of the most useful of the visual hallucinations commonly used across the world, light-screens were a triumph of science and reality augmentation technology. As soon as the screen was dismissed, however, he received a new message. Scott mentally commanded the message to display before him.
<<< Message >>>
[Congratulations, Scott Matthews, on your recent test score. Due to the fact that you passed your Crystallim Hunter’s Novice Grade examination during the first round of testing, the American city government has granted you the following benefits.
+ 1000 EXP
+ 5 Gold Credits
+ 20 Augmentation Points
Special Bonus:
1 C-Rank Crystallim Trade Ticket
--
Spend your augmentation points, experience, and credits in any manner that you like. You have earned them. Due to your EXP benefit, you are now officially level one. Your status may now legally be improved. May your future be bright, young hunter.
Stay safe out there!
- American City Council]
<<<*>>>
“How badass is that? Pretty badass...” He stuck his nose into the air and shifted his head from side to side while making a cocky expression. Those rewards were a wonderful thing to have for someone yet to start his career as a hunter.
The trade ticket was expected. Any hunter who completed the test and passed on the first try would receive a free starter Crystallim from the city government. Most city-states would provide at least a free F-Rank ticket upon successful completion of the test, though a higher score might lead to a better trade ticket.
America, however, was stingy in that regard. Hunters who did not pass the test during the initial testing period would not receive a trade ticket. They would have to purchase their first partner, and that partner could only be F-Rank.
“Man, two years of late night studying and months of field work finally paid off.” He was now an accredited hunter novice. He could go out into the world and capture Crystallim, a supernatural race of beings often referred to as monster girls or M-Girls in popular media.
Scott Matthews could not help but smile. Finally, he was going to live his dream. Every day had been a struggle since he had been forced to move out of the orphanage. Once someone reached the age of eighteen, they had to leave. No exceptions.
There was a constant stream of children who needed to be housed. Life was hard outside of the fortified Mega-Cities. The city of America safely, relatively speaking, housed over twenty-six million people. It was one of the largest legacy cities on the colony world known as Galataea.
He commanded the light-screen to disappear then called up his personal status window. He received a wonderful present for his eighteenth birthday, even if he was homeless the next day. When an American became a legal adult they were required to be gene-tagged and infused with certain types of nanotech and magical upgrades. One of those upgrades was the EXP system.
Now that he was twenty years old, and a hunter to boot, he could actively upgrade his status! The life of the legendary adventuring badass was within his grasp!
<<< Status >>>
Name: Scott Matthews | Class: Hunter | Grade: Novice | Rank: C
Age: 20 | Level: 1
EXP: 1000 | EXP to Next Level: 100
Augmentation Points: 20
City State: America
--
Vital Force: 20
Attack: 4 | Defense: 4
Strength: 4 | Agility: 4 | Vitality: 4
Intellect: 4 | Resonance: 4
<<< * >>>
“Finally, some EXP!" said Scott. Status was practically everything on Galataea. A commoner, someone who was not allowed to go beyond level one, could not augment their innate capacities. They could not go beyond the theoretical biological human maximum. Even then, a commoner could not officially be granted level-one status unless they were considered an asset to the people.
College graduates, people who worked at a public job for four years, and military personnel who were on the job for two years were allowed official level-one status. They were that level already, regardless of allowances, but they would be able to increase their level once they were legally granted true status.
Once someone was granted the status of a level-one citizen, they were granted many benefits and acquired several responsibilities. Level-one citizens had to vote in every major election as a requirement of the law. They were also allowed to own property inside of the city, and were granted much greater authority to enter and leave America when the gates were open for travel. Many other perks and responsibilities were part of being a true citizen, as well.
Due to the advancement of science and genetic technologies, everyone was as healthy and strong as nature would allow. The modern level-one Galataea native could easily run forty miles in an hour, and lift one thousand pounds of weight over their head.
The most destitute among the populace could expect to see well over one hundred twenty years of life, similar to roughly one hundred thirty-seven years back on old Earth. Galataea took four hundred day and night cycles to make a complete solar rotation. A single day on Galataea was twenty-five hours.
Early human colonists were strangely perplexed, and quite excited, by the simplicity of the cal
endars that they could create upon colonizing the planet all those centuries ago. Earliest estimates had shown a wildly different rotation period for the years and the days during the earliest days of colonization.
Some less scientifically minded individuals claimed that the planet wanted to accommodate them as much as possible. Actual scientists had many theories about the shift in rotations, but most academics now merely chalked it up to poor observational data in the earliest research periods.
The common man or woman who was not some sort of drunken hobo could easily live another twenty or thirty years in relatively good health. However, the real hope for most people was the use of the EXP system. Tapping in to the system would allow someone to grow beyond the limits of mere humanity. In order to do so, however, the would-be candidate must prove that they are trust worthy in some manner.
Scott, as an accredited Crystallim hunter, was automatically accepted into the system. Soldiers who serve more than a mandatory two year term were also allowed to upgrade. Though, their upgrades were specialized and primarily followed a preset pattern established by their method of service. Several other means, such as high-end government work, or the establishment of an important business could also be utilized.
Scott considered his status carefully. He had twenty augmentation points. Augmentation was the primary means of increasing personal power, and for preparation in case of future emergencies.
He would gain four more points at each new level. That was his only direct method of advancing his status through the system. He'd already reached the maximum point that simple physical or mental training would allow based on his solely human physiology. Such an accomplishment was both easy and mandatory for hunters-in-training. It accounted for thirty-one percent of their final test score. Even if a trainee hunter passed every other part perfectly, they would receive sixty-nine points at most. A hunter needed to score seventy points to pass.
Scott studied the stats carefully for years. He already knew how he would spend his points, but now he had five times as many points to work with due to the bonus that he received. After a moment of thought, he said, “I’ll stick to my plan for the most part.”
The Crystallim hunter chose to spend six of his augmentation points on resonance. His first goal had originally been to reach the ten point mark in that stat. At ten points his maximum ability to resonate with F-Rank Nightmares would be ninety-nine percent, even at level one. Of course, resonance capacity dropped rapidly with each class rank above F-Rank. He would need to increase it to far more than ten points to guarantee resonance with a high-grade Crystallim.
“Fourteen more points...” Scott considered his status for a moment then splurged on vitality. He raised it to ten points as well. His vital force stat showed that it would increase to fifty points when he finalized his decision.
There were still decisions to be made, however. He originally desired to get his stats to ten points across the board. He would have a solid baseline, and would gain the initial perks that ten points in the stats were known to provide. The main issue that he had at the moment was the answer to the question of how he should spend the last eight points.
“If I put six points into either of the stats, that stat will reach ten... which is good. Which one do I choose, though?” Scott asked the screen. It did not bother to answer him, though communication between light-screens was quite common.
After a moment of indecision, he hesitantly placed six points into agility then put the other points into strength. He did not think of that decision as a snub to intellect. It was a decision based on the necessities of survival. Agility would allow him to better survive battles with the low-rank Nightmares that roamed the land. Scott finalized his decision then received a new message screen in response.
<<< Message >>>
[You have chosen to expend more than four augmentation points in a twenty-four hour period. Safety protocols dictated by the American City Council require that the upgrades that you have selected be realized over the course of the next twenty-four hours, and at evenly spaced intervals.
Thank you, for your understanding.]
<<< * >>>
Scott revealed a wry smile after reading the message. He expected that outcome, but he hoped against it. Augmentation happened at multiple levels. His body, mind, and spirit would require adjustment to increase the capacities specified. The safety protocol allowed people to safely advance their abilities without fear of aberrations.
Before the EXP system was put in place, people often over-extended their body’s ability to grow at an accelerated rate. The result was frequently irreversible, and always life-altering in a negative way.
Sometimes people still risked those uncontrollable mutations, however. They broke the safety protocol measures and forced their bodies to grow at rates that were too high to sustain. They became freakish monstrosities that were far worse than any Nightmare.
“Well, that’s taken care of at least.” Scott looked around his sparsely decorated room then shook his head. Currently, only his bed and tables were in use. It had been a decent place to live, but it had certainly been difficult. Due to his lack of funds and connections, he was forced to undertake the only route available for his dream. He joined the American Defense Force as a trainee.
The newly minted hunter rubbed his chin then checked the time. A loud sigh echoed through the room. “Guard shift...”
He called up a light-screen then used it to activate his MISS, the Micro-lite Inventory Storage System that all trainees were granted as an upgrade. It was a system that utilized a combination of Failed Crystallim and quantum technology to hold items in a state of continual flux. In short, it stored equipment in a weightless manner and allowed people to instantly equip or unequip items.
A shimmering ripple washed over his body in slow motion. As the ripple passed over him his current equipment changed. His t-shirt and jeans were replaced by his ADF uniform, with the American legacy flag emblem on the shoulder. On the upper right side of his chest the name ‘Matthews’ was printed in bold block letters. On the left side the acronym ADF was printed.
He called up another light-screen to view his current appearance. A three dimensional image of his current appearance popped up in front of him, with a small status window hovering to the upper right. A wry grin and a short laugh were followed by a casually stated, “Sexy as always.”
Scott walked to his door then glanced back over his shoulder. “Room Function Six: Deactivate all currently activated furniture.”
Three beeps resounded through the room then his bed and table shimmered out of existence. They were once again stored in digital memory until his return.
“Wouldn’t want some asshole sergeant to come waltzing through here on my last day.” A soldier of the ADF was required to keep his room in a neat and organized manner. He or she must maintain an austere appearance at all times. It was a real pain, actually. Sometimes he would forget to store his bed during duty hours and a roving health and hygiene patrol would report it in to ADF command.
Scott walked out of his room and voice locked it before heading to his post. His duties were always the same. Due to a moderately high synchronization rate, he was assigned to the artillery section as an advanced tactical data system specialist. That was fancy speak for virtual drone pilot.
He walked through the corridors of Wall-3, the third of five concentric walls surrounding the American legacy mega-City. It used to be the outer wall before the last war, but due to the fact that the enemy forced their way through all the way to Showdown Point at the final inner wall, the city opted to expand its defensive capacity.
The young man walked into his post, a windowless room at the heart of the wall, room number seventy-two. It was his primary work station, no other soldier was allowed access to it. That might seem strange, but there was a good reason why only Scott was allowed the use of this room.
On the other side of the room stood a tall statuesque woman. Her eyes were a vivid crystal
line blue. Hair whiter than the purest snow, offset only by the shockingly pink highlights that streaked through it near the ends. Other than the skintight body suit that accentuated her absolute physical perfection, and the delightful curvature of her feminine architecture, she wore only a sad little smile.
“Welcome back, master,” she said in a soft, sweet, voice. "I've missed you."
Scott granted a gentle smile to his long-time partner and said, “Hello Seventy-Two. How are you feeling?”
He walked over to Seventy-Two, a beautiful Crystallim girl of the Avatar breed type. The Avatar breed of Crystallim were advanced artificial constructs who were formed from a combination of failed Crystallim and artificial intelligence programs. They were generally only allowed to partner with humans for business and government purposes.
The Avatar smiled beatifically then opened her arms to him. Her delightful action exposed both her desire for physical intimacy, and her sensual curves. Her sweet lips opened to speak but a single word, “Lonely.”
Scott wasted no time. He ran over to her and wrapped her up in his arms. This would be their final shift together. She knew that as well. Seventy-Two was government property. Her master was whoever was assigned to her. Such was the life of a Lucid Crystallim in government service.
“Are you sure I can’t take you away from all of this?” asked Scott with a smile.
Seventy-Two laughed softly. The gentle tinkle of her laughter brightened the room merely by its presence. “Every master asks me that, and I always give the same answer.”
“Tell me again?” asked Scott. He truly enjoyed working with her over the course of the last two years. Even though they would only normally spend four real-life hours per day together, they actually spent a great deal more time than that with each other. The way that things worked during virtual operations extended the actual time that they worked together. They spent two full years together in virtual time, as well. In a real sense, they spent nearly four years together.