Chapter 13: Non-Cooperative Games, by John Forbes Nash Jr. – Part 2

The tension was palpable and like any good starlet, Beatrice knew how to milk the scene. From the table, Beatrice slowly and deliberately picked up her mug of coffee, blew on it, and took a sip. Everyone else had been given their coffee black but hers was special: a light roast with extra cream and sugar, just the way she liked it.

“I’m getting to it,” Beatrice said at last. Then, she turned to Riley and asked, “Lee, you’re a gunner so you know the gunner meta, right?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s the anti-material build. Everyone knows that,” Riley answered smartly.

“And that’s true – it is meta, but it’s only meta for A-rankers and above,” Beatrice explained. “Everyone just does it because the A-rankers do it. The fastest way to level as a gunner in the C-rank is not anti-material – it’s full-auto sub-machine gun.”

“Haha, what? Sub-machine? Are you for cereal!?” Riley exclaimed awkwardly.

“Whoa, whoa. Wait. What?” Lucius spluttered. “Since when?”

“Since always,” Beatrice replied.

“That doesn’t make any sense. Sub-machine guns suck,” said Aaron.

“They do – past level 280. But until then, they’re great,” Beatrice claimed.

“So what’s the build?” Riley asked.

“An enchanted +25% crit P-90 with a laser scope, AP ammo, and an AMP drink,” Beatrice replied.

“What’s an AMP drink?” Riley asked.

“It’s a consumable item that temporarily boosts your attack stat by 15 points,” Beatrice explained. “You can either buy it from the Auction House or make it yourself from the alchemist NPC in District 10.”

“Really? How come I’ve never heard of it?” Riley asked.

“You probably have, you just don’t remember it,” Aaron interjected. “AMP Drinks are commonly used in PvP but rarely used in PvE because the effects are temporary. It’s also a bit pricey. A +15 attack stat boost is good but the juice ain’t worth the squeeze.”

“Exactly,” Beatrice acknowledged with a nod. “And what’s more a flat +15 stat boost is generally inferior to a percentage-based stat boost once you take into account the larger stat pools for higher level players, hence why this strategy is only good up to level 280.”

“So how does this work?” Lucius inquired.

“Glad you asked,” Beatrice replied. “As you probably know, sub-machine guns pulls damage values from your base attack stat pool, divides it by 10, and then modifies it with accuracy and critical hit rates. Sub-machine guns are also notoriously inaccurate. Each individual hit from a sub-machine gun is also affected by both the natural defense and armor values of the target, which is why it sucks and why the burst damage from an anti-material gun is almost always better. However, the P-90 is special because out of all the sub-machine guns, it has both a natural +50% crit hit rate and it possesses the highest rate of fire in all the game. Every gun is allowed 1 attachment and the laser scope increases your accuracy to 95%. The +25% enchantment raises your critical hit rate to 75% of all shots. And all of this is still shit… until you add the AMP drink. The AMP drink adds 15 flat attack points in the damage calculation but it counts in the temporary category, not the base stat category and is thus NOT affected by the x0.1 sub-machine gun penalty modifier. In other words, these 15 points deal FULL DAMAGE. The critical modifier multiplies that damage by 150%, applying 75% of the time with an accuracy of 95%. AP rounds ignore armor values. This allows you to farm the Bunker Turtles at Lake Ellis.”

As the name suggests, Bunker Turtles was the name of a monster spawn with high HP, defense and armor values. While they provided a good chunk of EXP for those in the C-rank level range, no one hunts them because they are notoriously difficult to kill and by the time you can farm them, you can farm something better.

Clearly impressed, Riley said, “Yep, that’ll do it,” with an appreciative nod.

“Goddamn; you’ve been holding out on us,” said Lucius. “Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?”

“Because if I did, Riley would have told you guys and just I don’t trust you,” Beatrice said with complete honesty. “I don’t know you – not well anyway, but that doesn’t matter anymore. If you guys don’t level, Riley’s going to die, so I’m telling you now.”

“Fair enough,” Lucius acknowledged with a shrug.

“Now. Granted, this method will only work until level 280 but that should still be more than enough to get you out of the culling bracket… as far as the level metric is concerned anyway,” Beatrice explained. “After that, it’s just a matter of hunting big game for trophies and hoarding Zeni.”

“Well this is perfect,” said Lucius. “We needed a leg up and is just what we needed.”

“Only one problem,” said Aaron. “We don’t have a P-90 and we can’t afford one either.”

“I could sell my rifle,” Riley proposed. “I can probably offload it quick if I sell it at a discount.”

“We still have our savings but I could sell my gear too if we have to,” said Lucius.

“All right. I’ll check the Auction House listings now but we’ll probably have to buy a base model from the store and upgrade it ourselves,” said Aaron. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sub-machine gun listed. The minimum level requirement is 240, right? So we’ll need… 5 upgrade kits to bring it up to level 265.”

“Mhmm, yeah. You could do that… or you could just use mine,” said Beatrice.

With a look of surprise on his face, Aaron asked, “You have a level 265 P-90?”

“Well mine’s a level 260 but it’s still good,” said Beatrice. “And don’t bother upgrading it – the damage scaling for P-90’s is horrible. P-90’s have a very niche use and they’re only useful between level 260 and 280.”

Riley got up from her seat, walked over to Beatrice, and wrapped her up in a tearful and emotional hug.

“Thanks Bee! I was so scared – the whole day! I thought we were totally screwed!” Riley sobbed into her sister’s arms.

Affectionately, Beatrice stroked Riley’s back and whispered in a quiet but reassuring tone, “Idiot. Next time, check your messages.”

After that, the trio stayed for another 2 hours at Purgatorio and enjoyed some dinner served with authentic Italian hospitality. It wasn’t anything fancy; just a home-cooked meal comprised of soup, salad, and pasta but it still felt like a feast. At the end of the meal, everyone hugged and said their goodbyes before returning to Aaron’s to purchase as many AMP drinks, DIY kits, and AP ammo as they could from the virtual Auction House with mixed success. Then, they spent the rest of the night researching “Culling strategies” on the net until they got tired and went to sleep. There were no tacos, burritos, nachos, or anything else that resembled sombrero’s that night but it didn’t matter because any food tastes great when you share it with good company.