Chapter 48: Tutoring Noobs

His smile and their pleasant morning faded with the tense start to the teleconference call with Frankie's Medical Group. Not only was the entire Board of Directors assembled, but nearly three dozen doctors in lab coats were crammed in front of the screen with notepads in hand.

"We'll be recording this for posterity," one of the oldest Directors warned in a dour tone. "Not everyone was able to make it and I'm not certain we could fit every nurse and doctor in our Group in the same room, but rest assured everything you have to say will make the usual rounds through our entire staff. You have my word even the orderlies and janitors will have a chance to hear it."

Hugh blinked in surprise at the last part, but it helped ease some of Hugh's concerns about the group's views on their fellow humans. If there had been more doctors like the smarmy, elitist bastard he'd met the previous day, he'd have seriously questioned whether it was worth keeping them as sponsors.

"That's very good to know," Hugh replied carefully. "You have my respect for caring enough to inform your support staff of details that can make their lives significantly easier. I'm assuming all of you have watched the video I recorded yesterday for the masses? If so, I won't bother going through it again and we'll dive straight in to some of the tactics I've already identified."

"Please do," the Director agreed, his expression remaining stiff.

Hugh kept his word, diving straight into the Book and giving his recommendations on how to proceed. He advised all of them to scan personal vehicles small enough to fit through a doorway, but not to scan anything requiring ethanol or gasoline to run.

"You want fold-up scooters with solar batteries and regenerative brakes," Hugh said. "There aren't any gas stations in Nexus and there might never be, unless someone thinks to export it from their world. The reason you want something you can fold up is so you can take it on the train with you. The bullet rail system in Nexus is free to use and it goes to every corner of the city. You just need transport to get between the stations and your destination."

He went on to spend nearly an hour explaining all the various sub-menus he'd discovered in Section One and how to utilize them. Another ten minutes was spent explaining the trip between Nexus and how to get past the townspeople with minimal trouble. He then walked them through Section Two of the Book, suggesting all of them spent at least half an hour getting their NPCs set up with a basic selection of plants and animals so they could manage themselves without dying off in the absence of their patron godling.

"One other thing you should consider is your supply line for the clinic. I highly suggest at least two or three members of your group focus on building their NPC society as quickly as possible with the sole intent of crafting the supplies you'll need. From what I've heard, the corporate privileges only last a month. What are you going to do when that's over? Where are you going to get things like breast implants, hypodermic syringes, and cotton swabs? That's something you need to think about and quickly.

For everyone else, you might not be interested in your NPCs and building up their society right now, but what about twenty years from now? Maybe some of you would be interested in retiring to the countryside for a year or two. The safest place to do that is within the bounds of your own world, but you won't want to spend the first few months of that time trying to teach your NPCs how to farm crops and build houses. This is why I advise leaving your Engineers behind to manage things. With a few simple instructions and permission to oversee the NPCs, they can slowly work their way up to a civilized society.

In a way, it's like an AFK app game where you don't actually have to be present for things to improve. You just have to lay the foundation for them to build on. If you're up for it, you can spent a few minutes every day adding items to your Appendices and queuing plants and animals to be released into your world. You'll have to take a trip to your Genesis Spear for those to take effect, probably on your day off, but planning can be done from anywhere through your Book."

Going through Section Three was a breeze. The very first page outlined the Nexus City Charter, including the laws every visiting player were required to follow. First and foremost, it listed the fines for drawing a weapon in public, ignoring traffic signals, and public indecency. He used it to showcase how Thrive intended Nexus to function like a city in the real world and he sensed several of the doctors relaxing with every law he pointed out. They relaxed further when he showed them the page for Security Central and the button he could press to summon a police drone.

There were pages for Arenas and Sports, listing scheduled match times for various ranked battles and Tournaments. The Entertainment page offered advertisements he could press to purchase tickets. At the moment, the only things available were a concert for some singer he'd never heard of, a movie showing of an old millennial classic, and a stand-up theater show featuring a well-known comedian.

"The search button is here if you're looking for something in particular," Hugh said, pointing to the requisite button in his book. "Again, the pickings are slim right now, but it'll improve as more players reach Nexus and adapt to living here."

Next, he pointed out the Investment Markets, knowing some of the older players would be interested in that, and he showed them the pages for both the College of Nexus and the Library of Nexus. He took a few moments to point out not everything had a page in the Book, such as the Museum of Earth or the Statue of Liberty resting on the viewing deck at the top of the city. Then he turned to Dex and let his Navigator explain how Housing worked in the game, since Hugh's own knowledge was rather limited on the subject. The page for it had been blank.

"You have several living arrangements to choose from. There's traveler's hostels which are free, but you'll be sharing your space with strangers. Hotels can be rented for up to a week at a time with a six hour cooldown before you can reserve a new room. Apartments can be rented indefinitely, but they can't be bought outright. Condos can be bought, but not rented. And finally, you have plots. Plots are instanced with shared neighborhoods available for a fraction of a solo instance. If you choose to buy a plot, you'll be given a basic two bedroom house to start with. It's form will depend on the theme of the plot you choose, which is decided by what building in Nexus you buy from.

The building upgrade system is very robust, but also very costly to use if you want to make your home something personalized. It will be considerably cheaper to hire players experienced in construction to improve your house by hand. In doing so, you'll also have the option of knocking down the starter building and craft an entirely new home using resources culled from your player worlds. I'm afraid I can't give you the exact costs of anything except hotel fees, as we have not yet explored the various options in depth. I do know the cost increases depending on how much system resources you demand for your living quarters. Naturally, solo plots are the most expensive housing option."

"I'm planning to shop around for myself," Frankie piped in. "I'll collect the sales brochures if they have any and email pictures to you."

"What about taxes?" one of the doctors asked.

"Personal property taxes do not exist within Thrive unless you surpass your allotted system resources for more than one consecutive month," Dex replied. "It is doubtful any of you will ever encounter that particular wall as Thrive uses the most advanced computing systems mankind has ever built. There is a sales tax, but only on the sale of finished goods. The use of these funds are redirected by the Navigator Core System without passing through human hands and are allocated for use in providing public services such as human police, college professors, player mentors, and paying out dividends to players who partake in jobs listed on the Public Works page."

"It sounds too good to be true," another doctor commented. "What's the catch? Nexus can't be that much of a Utopia."

"Some would say the fact it's fabricated existence keeps it from being a Utopia," he replied. "It's predicted some players will fundamentally rebel, as well, when they hear things like 'taxes won't pass through human hands'. Some will believe, no matter what they are told, the Navigator System is some kind of new digital overlord designed to overthrow humanity. I promise it's not. It was the World Council who unanimously decided for taxes to be handled automatically by the system to ensure they aren't created for the sake of personal greed, hoarded without cause, or diverted to inefficient programs. If the Navigator Core finds the existing sales tax isn't meeting the city's needs, then it will inform the World Council who will meet to determine how to proceed. The Core isn't designed to make those decisions by itself. It can advise and propose solutions, but the choice will always reside in human hands."

"And we're getting off-topic," Hugh interjected. "This is something you can discuss with your own Navigator once you log in. Right now, let's focus on gameplay. Does everyone know what to do when you log in? Book first, then Navigator and Engineer, then have your Navigator spawn a vehicle. Get to town by following your map, don't take crap from the NPCs, and use the rhyme I gave you to open the Gateway. If you can think of a better rhyme, let me know. I suck at poetry. Once you're in Nexus, report in at the clinic and I'm sure the Doc will be able to help you from there. If you haven't already done so, I suggest you go immediately to the bank after we're done here and exchange all your liquid funds to Zettabits. Don't wait until after you log in."

"Why shouldn't we wait?" a doctor asked. "My financial advisor said it'd be better to hold on to some American currency in case the general public rebels against logging in and the Zettabit market crashes."

"Your financial advisor is either an idiot or he's stolen most of your money and hopes to use the crash of the American dollar to get away with it. Listen up. When was the last time any of you have had actually paper money in your hands? It's been decades, right? I don't think I've ever touched more than a few loose pennies I found on the ground. I was nine when I got my first bank card. Currency went digital a long time ago. The World Council is just using Thrive as an excuse to initiate the use of an official worldwide currency. I'm telling you—exchange your money and don't hold back. When the Zettabit market is allowed to fluctuate, the price of a whole Zettabit is going to skyrocket. Idiots who say 'let's wait and see' will be bankrupt by the end of the week. If you have savings bonds, cash them in or talk to your bank about having those transferred, too. Stocks should be alright. What do you think, Dex?"

"Most stocks transferred into Thrive's Investment Market without a problem, but hundreds are expected to take a dive due to regrettable 'wait and see' stances of their leaders. I advise talking to your investors about which companies are already building a presence in Thrive and move your interest to those. If your Medical Group offers stocks in the real world, I also advise posting to your shareholders you've already opened a clinic in Nexus and are working toward staffing it. This will keep them from jumping ship and potentially increase the value of each share as more and more investors seek out businesses who are adapting to the change Thrive represents in human society."

"Sir," one of the doctors urgently stepped up to the Director who seemed to be running the show. "I checked my investments this morning and VB5I has already dropped twelve dollars a share. This explains why. With your permission—"

"Go, go! Post it on the Net and send out a letter to the shareholders," the Director replied, shooing the man out of the room.