Level 2

"How did you prepare all this so fast?" Cody asked, as lunch went into full swing. Goodness, dad even managed to do a sizzling pork roast.

"Oh, the minute you completed the Entrance Exam, we were all notified and we all scrambled around getting the stuff out of storage." Cyril laughed.

"We have all these in storage?" Cody was amazed. "Since when?"

"Since…" Cyril hesitated. "Uh… well, we were expecting this sooner or later, so…"

Casiphia rapped him on the head. "Eat!"

Lunch was followed by moist chocolate cake for dessert, along with Supa-Durian. Dad had actually bought back a whole fruit, and sat outside the back porch cutting it open with a cleaver. A bitter but delicious thick smell wafted from the back.

Cody's family loved Supa-durians, and thoroughly enjoyed the smell, but Vera, who had arrived to tutor Cindy, backed away with a cough and a splutter. She quickly put on an air mask. With her standing here in her white robe and hood, with a white visor and a white facemask, the only expressions they could glean from her came from her grumbles about the smell.

"Now, you gotta level up fast, Cody. When you reach level 10, you can help me hunt for Legacies!" Cyril exclaimed.

"Help you… huh?" Cody blinked.

"Didn't you know? Cass and I also have accounts in Sophia Academy. We're also students there. There are many courses there that we can't find anywhere else." Cyril explained. "Everything you're going through, we've already handled. We've even been there physically. You're going to have to as well, sooner or later. Cass started out when the Academy first opened, three years ago. I started two years back. Everything was really new at the time… the students market hadn't even stabilized yet, and auctions were totally crazy."

"There's a student's market… and auctions?" Cody stared.

"Not until level 20, there isn't." Cyril nudged him.

"I thought this Academy was new."

"It IS new. Three years is new."

"So you guys are in my school too? Just what levels are you guys at, now?" Cody had to ask.

"Uh… 50, I think? Maybe 51?" Cyril scratched his head.

"You did that in two years?" Cody stared.

"I had some help." Cyril confessed, glancing at Casiphia.

"I thought we weren't allowed to help each other."

"Not at first. But later on, it's different. You can't crew a ship with just one person."

"So… you can actually send me stuff and all?"

"Uh… not exactly. The Academy is quite strict about transactions. But I can hire you for jobs and pay you a fair wage. Stuff like that."

"What kind of jobs?"

"Get a tricycle, and a trailer cart, and you should be able to make quite a bit simply by hauling cargo." Cyril glanced about. "Speaking of leveling up, I believe Vera wants to help you with that."

Turning around, Cody found Vera standing behind him holding up a full tray of eggs. She had laid out cooking utensils and condiments all over the dining table.

She flat out handed him a saucepan, and said, "You try it."

They ended up giving the results of his lesson to Cody's uncle and aunt next door. Midori and Byron Rivers had four kinds of egg for lunch that day; fried egg with baked beans and tomato sauce, an egg omelette, steamed egg, and scrambled eggs. Seeing the doubtful looks his aunt and uncle gave him and considering that those were really the best results of hours of experimentation, Cody began to have a clear idea why these learning missions were all in the virtual realm, not the material one.

Having learned to cook (sort of), Cody went back to the comms room. Before he went back into his sphere, he glanced around at the three other occupied spheres in the room and waved to them casually. "I'm going back in, guys. Later, Cyril. Later, Cass. Later, Mom."

It was nearly 3 pm when Cody logged back in to the Academy VR and tried the mission for level 2 access.

***

Even with Vera's teachings, Cody slipped up the next time he tried the Advancement mission. The yolk broke as he cracked the egg. His plans for a sunny side up turned into a scrambled egg, milk, salt and pepper included. He'd have gone for an omelet, but he didn't have suitable ingredients.

Nevertheless, he passed with a score of 5.2.

"What are the level 2 missions?" he asked.

- Summarize the founding of the Hiranin Empire. Credits awarded according to score, 1=1.

- Fill a sealed test tube with pure oxygen. 5 credits award.

- Collect 1 kg of ore containing copper. 5 credits award.

- Show the image of an ant as big as 3 cm. 5 credits award.

- Build a wooden box in the shape of a perfect cube. Credits awarded according to score, 1=1.

- Mix an energy-boosting stimulant with a score of 7 or higher. Credits awarded according to score, 1=1.

"Huh." Cody shook his head at Orb. "Well, that's the end of 3 credit missions. Now the average is 5, but I can get more or less according to how well I score. That last one, especially… seems like it'll be giving me a minimum of 7 credits if I pass. Will it give me anything if I fail?"

"That depends on your performance." Orb supplied.

Still. At first glance, the missions seemed incredibly hard. Summarizing history was the only thing he thought would be do-able. "How do I get pure oxygen? What exactly is 'ore containing copper', and how do I get that? What's up with getting a 3cm image of an ant? And a perfect cube wooden box… doesn't that mean carpentry? Worst of all… an energy boosting stimulant?! Where would I learn to make something like that?! Much less to a score of 7 or higher…"

"Please ask one question at a time." Orb requested.

Cody paused. "The first one. How do I get pure oxygen?"

"There are sixteen different ways… many of which are unavailable with the equipment provided in the Initial Village." There was a pause. "Please refer to basic sciences."

"Ore containing copper?"

"Perhaps the mines would be a good place to search. Please refer to geology for a suitable description."

History. Science. Geology. The ant thing seems to suggest photography, though Cody didn't have a camera of any sort. The box thing seemed to be carpentry…

"Orb, what's all these missions for? I don't suppose anyone actually wants any of these things?" Cody had to ask. "I mean… what's the point of all this?"

"The aim of First Sphere Student VR missions is as follows: Acquisition and Employment of Knowledge and Resources." Orb answered, straight out.

Cody paused. "Yeah, I guessed it was something like that. They're teaching us to learn, and to use things. It's not about history or science or geography or carpentry."

"The important thing is that you learn to learn and figure things out on our own. That and how to handle limited resources." Orb added.

"Resources that we must gain for ourselves." Cody tossed back.

"All the information you need is already out there. You just need to learn to get it and use it."

That kind of made sense.

Cody drew himself up. "All right… tell me about the Hiranin Empire. How was it founded?"

Researching the history of the Empire led to more questions, and then the history of the Federation, and the Astalon, and the Cybrid, and then eventually even the Galactic North Frontier where Cody lived…

It was dinner time by the time Cody finally felt ready to start his summary. It was only after dinner (which itself required a quick stop offline) that he managed to get it done.

Afterward, he took a stroll around the village to see what everyone else was doing.

Riki was sorting through a heap of berries and getting them approved one by one and weighing them as the weight count slowly went up.

Na'Sar was gingerly carrying a struggling, giant ant. That thing was at least 20cm big. Goodness knows where he got it. Upon arriving at the warehouse, he stared at a long-haired girl in a wetsuit coming in from the other side… with a printed postcard of an ant. Meanwhile, Specs arrived with a canister of insecticide… with the picture of ants and other insects all over the can. Any of those pictures were big enough.

Kalen was carting in an entire wheelbarrow of rocks. Oren was carrying just one.

As for Melinda, she was watching them all with a smile on her face, as she sold a cup of some brownish-looking liquid to an older student.

"What is that?" Cody had to ask.

"That's the drink that earned me eight credits on the access mission from level 2 to 3." Melinda said proudly. "And then I sold it for three credits more."

"You've done it already?" Cody stared. "What exactly did you do?!"

"I made coffee." Melinda shrugged

A broadcast swept over the village, audio only. "All right, new students, the sun has set and it's time to go."

"What?" numerous groans and protests piped up across the village.

"I'm saying you should log off for the night. Get some rest and come back bright and early tomorrow." Crystal said over the broadcast. "Those of you in level 2, keep it up, and get some gear as soon as you're able to. Pick up pipes from the scrapyard if you have to. Just… don't do it tonight. Do it tomorrow."

"Because it's dangerous?" Oren guessed.

"Weird sounds come from the scrapyard at night." Crystal repeated softly. "Remember what I said. Without at least some sort of protective gear, do not log in to the Academy VR at night."