Noa in the Flesh
a novel
by Vasily Mahanenko
World of the Changed
Book#3
Magic Dome Books
Noa in the Flesh
World of the Changed: Book # 3
Copyright © V. Mahanenko 2020
Cover Art © Ksenia Nikelson 2020
Cover Design © V. Manj-ukhin 2020
English translation copyright © Jared Firth 2020
Published by Magic Dome Books, 2020
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 978-80-7619-132-7
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental..
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Epilogue
Chapter l
EVERYTHING HAPPENED so quickly that nobody had any idea what was going on. Except me, of course. And while some might call what I did betrayal or a dirty trick, for me it was the only thing to do. If I’d had another chance at a “dirty trick” like that, I would have taken it without a second thought. Earth was for humanity — there was no room on it for aliens. No matter how useful they were.
Closing my eyes, I thought back to everything that had happened, letting myself sink into the experience...
“Not a fan of being pinned to the wall, Mark Derwin?” Greenskinned Villian, head of the Tsarter mercenary group, flashed sharp teeth. The group was the mysterious game owner’s personal guard, the owner being the cause of the problems on Earth that had turned 80% of the population into terrifying monsters. The rest were equally monstrous, just with their wits still about them. But that wasn’t enough — a whole crowd of other players was thrown into the mix, too, players generated by the system itself. And while the natural changed were tasked with surviving, the aliens were just there on Earth to get rich. That included everything from resources to prisoners to game items. Anything they could turn a profit on or use to boost their status in the next release. The Tsarter
mercenaries were among the arrivals, and they specialized in taking out over-achieving Earthlings.
“You promised to help. How?” I asked as I watched Villian burst out of the armor. Not long before, with the help of Grust, another Earthling, I’d been able to take down the dangerous opponent and imprison it inside a suit of steel armor, an odd if effective jail. But right then, the greenskinned player was tearing its way out of it, and there was nothing I could do. Squirrel, my sister, had been kidnapped again. And that time, the situation was much more dangerous. The player with the numerical name, the one everyone called Two, had set conditions: either I work for it, or Squirrel would be destroyed with no chance of getting her back. I couldn’t let that happen. And with that in mind, I’d decided to do something I would never have stomached before then: work with the enemy. When it came to my sister, I would have heard the devil out so long as it was offering an escape from my predicament.
“To start off with, you’ll take care of a job for me, and then we’ll go ask Olsen what Two wants,” Villian replied as it stretched and worked its stiff muscles. “Maybe, things aren’t that bad.”
“A job for you? My sister was kidnapped!” I shot back indignantly.
“You were given three days to make your decision.” The alien was harsh and insistent. “Nothing will happen to her in that time, and you can use it to find leverage on the general. Something it would be willing to trade your sister for.”
“I have the pearl,” I said in surprise, slipping my hand into my pocket just to make sure. It was right where I'd left it.
“It’s as good as gone,” Villian replied with a snort. “I was promised a certain something for it, so it’ll be coming with me. Call it compensation for not killing you as soon as you let me go.”
My face twisted into a scowl, though I said nothing. The alien laughed gloatingly and directed the LTS due west — out of the hexagon. We flew for a little while in silence. Each of us found ourselves lost in our thoughts, at least until Villian suddenly pointed at Mary.
“I’m taking the female, too.”
She hadn’t woken up, though that was going to be happening shortly.
“What do you need a human for? All about that interspecies mating?”
“You’re an idiot, Mark Derwin. The female is a ghost morph — the game automatically adapts her to fit the ideal inside each person’s head. For you, I'm sure she looks like a fat, bald guy, but for me she’s gorgeous with green skin. Call her payment for my services.”
“The pearl isn’t enough?” I asked sarcastically. The reply was patient.
“The pearl is payment for me not killing you. Mary is for my time. What, you think I don't have anything better to do? There's still plenty of looting left to do on Earth, and here I am spending time on you and your miserable sister.”
I ground my teeth helplessly. After all, I'd known I was letting the genie out of the bottle, and I'd also known it wTasn’t a nice blue one like in Aladdin. There were never going to be little birdies tweeting out their happy songs around us. And because of that, all I could do was shut up and follow Villian's instructions. It had my named items, which meant I was its hostage. But there was something I could do.
“You still need to tell me which locations the owner’s team is in.”
“You’re not going to have time to worry about that,” Villian started, though I kept pushing.
“Why don't I decide what I do and don't have time for? Which locations are closed? Or are you going back on your word? I’ll bet the game would have something to say about that, though I have to figure out how to talk to it. Hey, functionality! I have — ”
“Fine, fine, you can have your locations!” the mercenary said too emotionally. Judging by its face, the game did have a way of pushing the aliens. At least, it had a way of pushing Villian.
I perhaps could have gotten down on myself for what happened next, but I didn’t. The move was the right one. Villian held out a palm, and
the game instantly printed its phone out of nanoparticles.
“Look,” the mercenary' said disgmntledly. That was its last word in our release. Bending over the screen to see the pictures flicking by, I let my right hand work off on its own. And even with how agile and quick the Tsarter leader was, it wasn’t good enough. Fang slipped easily into the green bastards brain to release a charge of necrotic energy. There was no slow-motion shot — it was fast, accurate, and deadly.
Just that one little mistake made by the great player cost it a mountain of future problems. The game instantly told me all about them:
Villian Po was sacrificed and received a penalty covering 4
releases.
You can collect 4 items at your maximum available level (current equipment level: 7).
Level +5 (407).
You killed a player from the owner’s personal guard.
You can collect 1 named item in the store.
Level +20 (427).
io free attribute points received.
***
You destroyed a player with more than 5 obligations in
the current release.
For each unfulfilled obligation, Villian Po will receive a
penalty for 1 release.
For each unfulfilled obligation your defeated enemy had, you can collect an item at your maximum available level (current equipment level: 7).
***
The Tsarter group lost its leader for more than 5 releases
and was disbanded.
Tsarter Bane rank changed to Tsarter Liquidator.
The owner removed the Tsarter mercenary group as its
personal guard.
20 free attribute points received.
Villian’s body shriveled up like a balloon that sprang a leak. Its phone dropped out of its hand, though I grabbed it before it hit the ground
— it was the only reason I’d been willing to work with the bastard. My only chance at survival.
Hacking store... Successful! Access to level 8 items
unlocked.
Hacking wallet... Successful! Available: 788227000 coins.
Hacking personal data... Successful!
Hacking contact list... Successful!
Hacking map... Successful!
Hacking storage contents... Successful!
Hacking phone functionality... Successful!
Just to make sure I didn’t run into any problems, I pulled up the virtual storage and started printing out all the valuables the Tsarter leader had accumulated. I started with what was nearest and dearest to me, of course.
Valkyrie — an automatic pistol with six ammunition types that stored up to 6,600 rounds of each. And that was just at level 22. As the gun improved, the ammo drums were going to get bigger, meaning I wouldn’t have to reload them as often. It also had a barrel-mounted grenade-launcher with 22 plasma grenades that worked beautifully for
taking out large swathes of enemies.
Raptor — a replacement for my phone that attached to my arm and worked as a scanner, detecting all opponents with camouflage less than level no thanks to its level 22. Not only that, but it also let me hack other players within a radius of 22 meters even if I couldn’t see them. If I’d had it in the dungeon, I would have frozen everyone.
Zelda — a camouflage cape that cloaked me in invisibility for 22 minutes and restored 22 seconds of invisibility every7 five minutes. It was fantastic, as it took perception or detection above level 110 for anyone to see me.
And finally.
Ulbaron — my fortress, my armor. My everything, really. The built-in protection could withstand up to 1,100 hits, though the hexagon general was so mad at me it had dropped seven times to only 157 hits. But at least I was practically immortal in the other hexagons. And then there were the little, unimportant details like 220 minutes of complete hermetic seal, the ability7 to fly up to 110 meters in the air, the binoculars with 24X zoom, and the comfortable air conditioning. Actually, no, the ah’ conditio7iing isn't unimportant — I’ve really been missing it.
Fang, my deadly friend, was sitting off to the side next to the pile of items. First, I’d already had it with me. Second, I’d created it myself using a blade I’d come across randomly in a dungeon. And third, it didn’t have a special description. All it did was sacrifice players, giving them a debuff.
Or, as with the mercenary leader, bring down judgement from on high. It sure felt good to do someone dirty after they’d taken out so many million humans. Nine releases isn’t enough! I would have sent Villian off for a lifetime of hard labor if I could have.
Finally, with everything in place and a cool stream of air hitting my face, I stopped the LTS at an altitude of about a kilometer. Ulbaron will be able to get this high eventually. But in that moment, I was thinking less about the future, and more about the pile of items I'd printed out from Villian’s storage.
Lots of it was intriguing. First of all, there was the heap of named items. On the one hand, they were useless — I couldn’t even read about their attributes. But on the other, just the way they looked told me a lot about their functionality, not to mention giving me a way of finding them in the store. Villian hadn’t struck me as a collector, so I could only assume each was important to it.
There was Valkyrie, a half-ruined Ulbaron, and Raptor. I’d seen all of them before, so I quickly disintegrated them into the atmosphere, returning their nanoparticles to the game. But a few other items did catch my attention. First and foremost, there was a small box that looked to attach to your shoulder. It didn’t take much looking before I found a similar item, though I wasn’t sure why Villian had picked it up. This thing is pointless!
Shulma. Description: Universal expansion producer. Current Shulma level: 22. Lets you add up to 22 different expansions. Cannot be blocked in the game world. Requirements: Expanded consciousness (100), device repair (100), device creation (100), integration (100). Cost: 100000000 coins.
I couldn’t figure out why an empty container like that would cost so much. There were also the requirements I didn’t have, attributes that obviously weren’t primary7 or even secondary for me. And then, there was the fact that the store refused to show me the expansions Shulma offered until I actually bought it.
It was intriguing, but I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. Sure, I had eight named items or expansions to pick up, though I didn't know what else was going to catch my eye. There was no sense spending one of my bonuses on something so pointless just to see why it cost so much. Terrible use of resources. With that in mind, I set Shulma off to the side and got to work on everything else. Most of the other devices I didn’t find, though one thoroughly intrigued me to the point that I picked it up right away.
Fartira. Description: Universal device used to hide player information. Current Fartira level: 22. Lets you hide your player information. Can withstand perception and detection through level 11. Cannot be blocked in the game world. Requirements: Camouflage (100), introversion (100), concealment (100), consciousness block (100), noiseless (100), willpower (100), tr'ackless (100), closure (100), inner harmony (100), device control (100), resistance (100). Cost: 200000000 coins.
Fartira was twice as expensive as Shulma, its requirements exceeding even Zelda’s. Still, I was positive it was useless on its own — I was definitely going to have to buy add-ons that would keep me out of the list of the location's best players. Incidentally, I really need to get my detection up to level 150. That would keep me safe from the kind of unpleasant surprise the Tsarter leader had engineered for me. I need that, and I meet all the requirements. Ill take it!
Just as I'd predicted, as soon as the object appeared and set up shop on my right hip, the store unlocked access to additional expansions. There weren't many, though all of them demanded a closer look.
The first kept its owner off the list of players in the location. The second was for the hexagon. The third was for the entire game. Also, you couldn't just go straight to the third; you had to buy the preceding two first. And all of them cost a billion coins. Are you kidding me? How do they possibly come up with these numbers?! After thinking for a while, I decided to limit myself to the location. Its okay if everyone knows Ini somewhere in this hexagon. That still didn't narrow things down much.
The Fartira expansion added some requirements, though there weren't any I didn’t already have: hacking (100), perception (100), and scanner (100). The last one surprised me, though there wasn’t anyone around to answer the questions it raised. I had a hard time imagining what it needed scanner for. But whatever. The most important thing was the end result, and I was a fan — as soon as I clipped Fartira back on my hip, that time with the expansion in place, Mark Derwin disappeared off the list of players in the location. Of course, I was still there on my o
wn list, only my name at the top was semi-transparent and without an indication of the place I was in. Perfect!
It didn't even matter that I was down to six bonuses. That should be enough to get Ulbaron even better.
I was sick and tired of thermal explosions turning my armor into an oven and me into a roast goose. Also, it was too easy for people to hit me over the head. In both cases, of course, my protection held up, only the impact still left me battered and unable to think. I needed to fix that.
But there wasn't anything in the list that worked for that. Finally, annoyed, I bought a couple extra plates of armor to double the number of hits I could take (2,200 total, and 314 in my current location). The only problem was that I had to add device creation (100) and integration (100), buying a total of 1,040 free points. But the added protection was worth the cost. It also helped that integration was a secondary attribute, which meant it was going to cost less to upgrade in the future.
When I realized I wasn't going to be getting anything else, I went back and picked up Shulma. The additions I’d made matched its requirements, after all. And when the store unlocked the list of expansions, my eyes widened. I wanted them all, and I wanted them right then.
Muscle activity blocker. An injection that blocks the target’s muscle activity with the exception of their bi'eathing and heartbeat for 12 hours.
Regeneration blocker. An injection that completely blocks the target’s regeneration for 12 hours.
Injections, injections, and more injections. There were a lot of them, all for different situations, though each had to be purchased separately at a cost starting at 100 million apiece. From the descriptions, the blockers could be mixed, which cut down on how long they lasted. And you always had to add a regeneration blocker if your target had regeneration. The other injections didn't work otherwise.
I decided to leave one named item in reserve, picking up three blockers (muscle activity, brain activity, regeneration). And I'd also found out that the sedative didn’t work on everyone. Villian had woken up after a double dose even though I'd been counting on a good two or three hours, at least.
World of the changed 3 Noa in the flesh Page 1
