"Akilah, it's lunch time"
Akilah and the Seeds were brainstorming with their mana to create everything as fast as possible when a knock on the door and a female voice reached his ears.
Right, he had an android in his place.
The old Akilah was an orphan and, having lost his parents in the same accident that took his arm when he was really young, he was raised by Thea, the family's android.
He went to live in the apartment complex provided by the school itself and couldn't bring himself to leave her behind, so she came along.
After asking for a break, he left the cabin and looked at the clock.
[12:03]
'Already?'
He was surprised by how long he and the Seeds took while just making the outline of the games.
Since it was the Seeds' first time doing a game so detailed, they were still trying to do the most basic stuff while he was actually getting used to using mana.
They had just fully understood how it was done after half a day.
They had just started really making something when he had to stop and eat.
"You seem excited today"
He ate rather quickly, too eager to finish both projects to chew properly when Thea spoke.
Looking up he saw a woman with fair skin and white hair staring back at him with green eyes with splited pupils.
Because androids were too human-like, they were made with split pupils for easy differentiation
"Two of my seeds agreed to make a game" He said happily "We just got them started"
She seemed surprised by the response, and also confused.
"Don't you only need one for your test?" She asked.
"Yeah, but we need money for our place after I graduate, and two games generate more profit then one"
Seeds were expensive, the 1000 he had before was now reduced to just 175, far from enough to sustain the mansion his parents left for him in the capital.
They used to be rich, but the old Akilah took just a little portion of the money they had and left the rest to keep the house running.
She nodded at that as he finished his food.
"Leave this to me" She said taking the dish and silverware "Go make your games"
With a 'thank you' he rushed over to his room.
Slime Rancher could wait a bit more, but he had to finish Subnautica in less than a week or he was doomed.
***
"Hey guys! It's JayFeather again, how's your day today?"
Jayleen Frey looked at her lively chat as she prepared for game hunting.
She was a Hunter, a human with the ability to use mana to fight monsters, and a streamer who loves to play games and watch movies and series.
Even though her stream wasn't really famous, with about 100 regular viewers, she was happy with that, but the problem is…
"Guys, I think we might have to go movie hunting today"
Good content was hard to find, series and movies were a bit better, but games were just fancy training grounds, it wasn't interesting, and, looking at the games on the apprentices page, she could tell that the new Game Developers didn't plan on changing their style.
She was about to move to a movie section when she saw a comment on her chat that made her stop.
- Go to the last page of the game section, there's a new game on the bottom that just released.
Curious, she did so, and there really was a new game there.
"Subnautica?"
The name was strange, and so was the front image, a diver in the sea.
- What is this?
- I don't think it's a game.
- Maybe the Creator released it by accident?
- Hey upstairs! Are you stupid? Since when is it possible to release something like this by accident?
Curious, she clicked on the game and read the description.
[Descend into the depths of an alien underwater world filled with wonder and peril. Craft equipment, pilot submarines and out-smart wildlife to explore lush coral reefs, volcanoes, cave systems, and more - all while trying to survive]
[Obs: Don't play in case you have thalassophobia]
It seemed to be an exploration game.
"This seems interesting" She said "I'm gonna give a try"
Games were made to train Awakened, so this game must train their capability on exploration, right?
She bought the game (30$, a pittance compared to normal minimum of 80 to 100 that most games ask for), then went to her gaming capsule and let her consciousness enter the Seed.
When she woke up, she was in a small place full of fire and pain on her head.
'Fuck!'
Panic set in as she looked around, quickly finding a fire extinguisher and using it to the last bit, just to make sure the fire was really out.
"What" She said, a bit startled by her new masculine voice while throwing the fire extinguisher on the ground "Was that?"
- Well, that's a way to start.
- Didn't expect that.
- A Survival game through and through, huh? Even the burning pod.
That last comment actually made her pause.
Yeah, a burning scape pod was actually a normal sight for some people, Jayleen herself had been in one or two.
Now it wasn't as surprising anymore.
After that, she started to look around, finding a small set of icons on the edge of her vision and something attached to her waist.
By their looks, the symbols were obvious that they mean life, food, water and oxygen, so she left that aside for now and focussed on the thing on her waist.
Pulling it, she found a tablet-like thing glowing in blue. Curiously, she tried to activate it, which happened, but she didn't know how she did it and a logo with Alterra name appeared, along with a 'Rebooting in emergency mode' Warning in bright yellow.
When it finished rebooting, a robotic voice spoke.
"This PDA has been rebooted in emergency mode with one diretriz: Keep you alive in an alien world. Please refer to the database for detailed survival advice. Good luck"
She honestly felt a bit of envy at that moment, after all, not all ships had a proper survival guide for a person to follow, so a PDA would be good to have.
With that, she got to see what the PDA had to offer to her and, after a quick look, she decided to go out.
"Should I go up or down?"
There were two exits in this pod, one linked to a ladder above her and one close to her feet, which seemed to be linked to water, so she let the chat decide.
With a quick command, she added a poll before the chat was flooded with their choices.
It took just a moment for her answer to appear.
"So I'm going up!"
Everyone decided that it would be better to go by the ladder, according to the comments, because it would be better to first have a look around before jumping in unknown waters.
Jayleen climbed the ladder, pushed the hatch and froze.
- Holy Shit!
- My God…
There was water everywhere she looked and a glorious sunset was bathing the water, but that wasn't what made her freeze, nor was the flying thing that had flown away when she opened the hatch.
It was the dreadful sight of a gigantic spaceship partially submerged in water.
She stood there for a moment, too shocked to say or do anything.
This…
This was a F rank game!?