Are you sure this is safe? Alan asked Eve.

Both sides are avoiding firing upon new players. Do not engage anyone in combat and you should be fine.

Drawing a deep breath, Alan burst out of the hangar he was hiding in, sprinting as fast as he could. Alan kept his head down, following the green line before him. Better safe than sorry.

He heard a soldier call out to him. He continued running, adrenaline pumping. A minute later along the path Alan was completely winded, panting, slowing to a walk as he glanced around and saw no one. Maybe he should have worked out more in real life… this correlation to his real life endurance certainly explained why all the people the companies were hiring to play the Game looked super fit.

The path Alan was following led him along a runway parallel to the hangars. Behind him, acrid black smoke hung above where the tent had been. The ships he’d seen approaching were now overhead, small jets shooting lasers at the ground. The jets weaved back and forth in the air, far more nimble than any aircraft Alan had seen before, reversing as though inertia wasn’t a thing.

A man in a black jumpsuit turned a corner from behind one of the hangars. He raised his assault rifle at Alan. Alan raised his hands up in the air, yelling "I surrender! I surrender!" The man glanced at Alan, then continued to scan his surroundings.

Alan let out a held breath, about to say something, when a sword emerged from the man's chest. There was little blood, and the wound was slightly pixelated. The man fell to the floor, dead.

Amazed, Alan looked behind the man to find an Asian girl about his age, wearing some sort of dark navy blue martial arts robe. Alan thought it might be called a hakama, or something like that, but that was only what he remembered from watching too much anime. The sword was a katana, according to Eve, which likely made the girl Japanese.

"Um, thanks, I'm, uh, I'm an innocent bystander," Alan said, trying to get a better look at the girl’s face. She turned and stared at him. She had fierce brown eyes and a few scars on her face. Unlike almost every other girl Alan had ever known, it didn't look like she was wearing any makeup. Handsome leapt to his mind before pretty. And deadly.

She began raising her sword.

"Wait! Aren't you Kitana?" Alan said. "Icewolf told me you were in this batch of tutorial recruits, he showed me a picture of you, as you'd already entered the Game. Our capsules are like right next to each other in real life!"

Kitana paused, lowering her weapon, staring at Alan.

"You are Adampwnage?" Kitana asked.

"Huh? No! I mean yes, but call me Alan. Adampwnage was the stupid username I thought would be cool in high school, going by Adam instead of Alan because my mom didn't want me using my real name. Icewolf registered me under that name without asking me.”