I put a good bit of distance between myself and the happy group to make sure I didn’t bring them down with my mood. Really, I'd had high hopes for Grust. For Milady and Little, too. I’d figured we'd get strong together, form a quartet, and... Whatever, moving on. World of the Changed taught you to only ever rely on yourself. And that wTas yet another reminder.
Sitting down under a tree nowhere near the people living in the location, I pulled up the trials. My mood made it the perfect time to get in a little sadomasochism. A couple tries, I figured, and I’d have my will to live back.
And while I was ultimately right, it took me more than two trials to clear my mind. I wrent through an entire series of them, in fact.
You locked in 28 levels. 22 levels were discarded in favor
of the game.
Current level: 405 (282).
Adaptive vision +2 (6).
***
You locked in 41 levels. 9 levels were discarded in favor of
the game.
Current level: 396 (323).
***
You locked in 34 levels. 16 levels were discarded in favor
of the game.
Current level: 380 (357).
Impenetrable skin +3 (15).
I didn’t have enough spare levels left for reinforced internal organs, but that was perfectly fine by me. When you have fire and electricity doing a tango on your skin, your head clears almost instantly. I wasn't sure I would’ve had enough mental fortitude to make it through another round.
Once I’d caught my breath and gotten my emotions under control, I suddenly realized what I needed to do next — level-up. I was no alien.
Coins meant nothing to me. At least, they meant something, but there was no point stockpiling them. I needed to get stronger.
Pulling up my virtual storage, I started printing out the six items I’d gotten after the previous dungeon. Wait a minute, why are there six of them? I definitely remembered five in the pirate chest. Let’s see. The armor was most important.
BRO-X tactical equipment kit. Description: Tactical outfit made of ultrastrong material capable of withstanding a direct hit from level ten monsters. Slots and pockets adjustable to fit the needs of the wearer. Integrates with the owner’s phone and weaponry. Built-in universal protection against up to 2000 hits from all weapons through level ten. Fire-resistant (up to 2000 degrees), cold-resistant (as low as -150 degrees), built-in cleaning system. When activated, is airtight for 300 minutes. Regenerates when up to go% of the surface area is damaged. Requirements:
The requirements for the wearer were intriguing. All values for level ten equipment started at 130, though Td seen a monster handling a level ten scanner with no problem. Was it really that advanced? I had a hard time believing it, but facts were facts.
The worst part was that the BRO-X suit was in some ways superior to Ulbaron. At least, it was in terms of its resistance to heat and cold. It offered specific numbers; my suit didn’t. Of course, there wasn’t much benefit to that, as my phone had told me the epicenter of a plasma grenade blast clocked in at over 3,000 degrees. Neither Ulbaron nor the BRO-X suit were capable of withstanding that. Still, it helped to know exactly where you stood.
Musings notwithstanding, I just went ahead and traded the suit in for coins. There was the suit, a pistol, a rifle, and even a couple items for the LTS. All of them were worth fifty7 million, and Raptor suddenly went crazy when I sold the last one.
You’re the first natural player in this release to have more
than l billion coins.
Moneybags rank changed to Fat Cat.
Level +1 (381).
I checked my account in surprise and found that there really was an entire billion coins there. That was a nice feeling, though it was ultimately pointless — I needed another two to really feel comfortable. Okay, what’s that sixth item?
It turned out to be a sheet with something engraved on it. There were no additional attributes or anything else like that. Only the name:
IOU
Taken aback, I read the text that was etched into it.
You beat a level 11 dungeon. Because the maximum equipment level
in this release is 10, you were awarded compensation for each equipment level you were not able to receive. The compensation is 100 million for each item (5 total), and you can spend it on store items that are not permitted to be sold.
That was a surprise. Finally, the game was recognizing the problems I was dealing with and trying to make up for them. Verloven, I have something for you!
The function made no bones about trading me five explosions for the sheet. From what I could tell, it was happy to cash in on some of its supplies.
You used a green flash (5).
Valkyrie, Fang, Ulbaron, Raptor, Zelda, Fartira, and Shulma levels increased by 5 (29).
Perfect! One more level, and I was going to be into the red.
But right then, I paused.
Pulling out Fang and staring at it, I thought back to how Td boosted the dungeon level. Right, by sacrificing alien players. I had Fang, I could catch the players... And It didn’t have to be ten like the last time; I could go for fifteen, say. That would have been easy enough with my level 29 equipment. Adding in level ten items at 50 million a pop... And the store has more than just explosions! There were attribute syringes, for instance.
I think I might have just figured out how to farm the coins I need.
And if that was the case, I needed to get myself ready for level 40 named items. You never know when you're going to get lucky. Just as I’d planned, I went ahead and got my primary and secondary skills and attributes up to level 160 — that was 632 million gone just like that. Next, I stopped and checked to see what the requirements for Ulbaron and Fang were. I had to make sure that even if I somehow jumped straight to level 40 named items, I wouldn’t be left without my armor or dagger. That would be the end!
But there were some problems. Fang, damn it, took 672 million coins to get everything up to level 160. Ulbaron was even worse at 736 million. Of course, they had some things in common — resilience, for instance — though I still didn’t have nearly enough.
Ultimately, I settled on Valkyrie. It turned out that my favorite little automatic pistol was the easiest to get up to where I needed it to be — all it needed were pistol shooting and resilience. Everything else was already at level 160. And not only that, but I needed both of those for Ulbaron. That made the decision an easy one, and so I went for Valkyrie before spending everything else on what I needed for my armor. Little by little.
Pulling up my status table, I smiled. I was going to be a hard nut to
crack.
The three hours it took my new attributes and skills to update flashed by. I even slept a little, though the best part was that I grabbed a shower. And shedding the stink felt so good I even thought about buying a level eight portable shower in the store — yes, they had them. The only thing that stopped me was that I didn’t have most of the attributes in the list of requirements.
Soon enough, I flew off into the air, a new man happy with life. I was rested, angry, and resolute. Turning Zelda on to go invisible, I hurtled out of the location. But I wasn’t going where I’d planned — the timer told me I had a bit more than two days left before my meeting with Olsen. I had time to wreak some havoc in the hexagon.
Marching to the tune of the aliens’ drum was getting old. I wanted to have my own say, for example, by heading over to the general’s location and asking it personally what the hell it wanted with our planet. Sure, that wras dangerous. But I really was sick and tired of the whole thing. It was time to attack, force my opponent into making a mistake. Just in case, I handed Grust two units of noa and asked him to give me a call once a day. If I was killed, he could bring me back.
But even with my decision made, I still didn’t fly straight. To the south of the general’s location was a closed zone, one where someone from the owner’s t
eam had set up camp. I couldn’t have cared less wThat the spider-like creature wras up to. It needed to be destroyed. The aliens can try to figure out what I was doing in that location, maybe even spread their forces a little too thin. That was only going to play into my hands.
Still, even with the best-laid plans... Just a couple kilometers outside Verloven’s location, Raptor started going off its rocker.
Interception device detected!
Note! You’re in radar detection range.
Note! Surface-to-air missile launch detected!
What the hell? I’m invisible!
A few streaks were jetting toward me. I panicked, not sure what to do, though my body reacted faster than my brain. Valkyrie sprang into action — Raptor aimed; the gun fired away. It was so effective, in fact, that some shards of metal already incapable of exploding were all that reached me.
My camouflage and invisibility were gone. And as I wras focused on shooting down the next barrage of rockets, I missed another opponent. A thick ray of energy smacked directly into my chest, and Ulbaron groaned under the rapid temperature increase. It was hot. Really hot. I howled like a banshee and dropped like a rock to dodge the second shot.
Finally, I saw the problem — three gigantic metal hulks the general had assigned to come hunt me down. Two destroyers and a locator along with them. So, that’s how they were able to see me! Level 160 attributes apparently weren’t enough to stay off the device’s radar.
All those thoughts flashed by as I flew toward the ground. The rockets left me alone, and the ray stopped battering me, but I was pretty sure that wasn’t the end of the story. I would have happily gone up against a destroyer one on one. One on two, even. But with the locator helping them out, all my advantages as an infiltrator were wiped out. If they could see me, my claws were drawn.
It was bad. I had to do something, and I had to do it quickly. Whatever I did, I wasn’t going to make it back to Verloven’s location.
The ground was just about ready to accept me in its loving embrace when I turned sharply at the last second to fly off horizontally. The field I was hurtling past turned out to be mined, and the mines started going off. Turning a sharp 180 degrees, I flew right toward the two enormous irons. All hell had broken out behind me. There was no flying into the air, and flying straight ahead was also problematic.
This is a nice little pickle.
It was an unpleasant feeling knowing I’d been read like a book yet again. I’d only decided to go visit the general and the owner’s team member at the last moment, so the destroyers wouldn’t have had time to mine the area even if they’d been able to read minds.
I have to get out of here!
And as that happy thought was making its way through my head, it was joined by a powerful strike from some piece of metal or other. I lost control and tumbled across the ground. Just before I smacked into a tree and turned it into woodchips, it crossed my mind that I’d gotten lucky — I was out of the mine field. At least, I won't blow up! Still, the giant irons were just a few kilometers away.
Chapter 3
MY THOUGHTS jumbled around in my head, which was ringing from the blow.
The destroyers definitely knew where I was. How? The locator was helping them. That miracle device was able to track game items across an enormous radius — I’d already come across one of them. A thick beam of high-caliber energy flashed above my head to shred the ancient trees like fresh grass. As it exploded with a crash, the area around me was filled with black smoke and cinder. The wet wood burned unwillingly, smoking up the air.
Hm...that could be my chance!
It took mere seconds to get all my named items off me. Then, I stripped off the coat and pants I’d bought, even removing my underwear. There I was, dressed in exactly the outfit I’d been wearing wiien the game started. Throwing the lot of it into my virtual storage, I cursed. Five units of noa and the rainbow pearl were lying on the ground at my feet. After quickly grabbing them, I broke my phone, crawled away until I found a nice, little hollow^, and dove in to hide from my assailants.
And I was just in time. It only took the destroyers a few moments to get to where I was, and I heard what sounded like an indignant whistle. The machines got to work flattening the ground. As the trees and stones crunched and scraped, my teeth grated against each other — even the stumps left over after the shootout were being demolished. A couple times, the destroyers ironed their way over me, though the hollow I’d found was deep enough to keep me in the land of the living. It didn't save me from a few crunched ribs, however.
Everything happened so quickly that I didn’t even have time to mount my own counterattack. There it was — as soon as the ground had been leveled, the next weapon was brought to bear. Electricity again?
The charge the destroyers sent surging through the soil just about punched my ticket. Suddenly, the smell of burnt meat hit my nostrils, and the metallic pair instantly reacted. Drone showed me the two red dots dashing to and fro across the battered field, stopping for a few moments at each corpse. Animals, I guess. Concentrating on the nearest destroyer, I was about to try to hack into it when another charge hit me. And that one was much more powerful.
No longer able to hold it in, I whimpered in pain. I might crack if this keeps up. A destroyer-topped platform squished me into the ground yet again, and I decided to make my move. The noa and rainbow pearl stayed in the hollow, while I grabbed the flying machine and hurtled off together with it.
My back burned — the platform was flying low, and the ground was practically scraping the skin right off my back. No matter how tightly I pressed myself against the machine, I still left a deep furrow in the ground. It was just a good thing we were off in the country. If we’d been in the city center, I wouldn’t have been able to stand up to the pavement.
Unexpectedly, the machines stopped moving and started giving off a wild squeal. Drone showed me that one of them was hovering right above the hollow where I’d left the noa and rainbow pearl. You bastards!
No more charges were forthcoming. It may have been tough to catch my breath with the hunk of metal pressing down on me, but I was still able to regain some of my wind. And that let me go to work. All right, it’s my turn now.
Devices available for connection.
Destroyer ST-17, destroyer ST-18.
Judging by the numbers, I was under 17, and so I went after 18. It was just a shame I couldn’t reach the locator.
Sum total of your skill levels: 640 (device control: 160, hacking: 160, perception: 160, anatomy master: 160).
Sum total of ST-i8’s defenses: 400 (hacking protection: 100, resistance: 100, resilience: 100, willpower: 100).
Probability of successful hack: 37.5%.
Attempt l... Successful.
Perfect! Block the idiot and... Wait, what was that?
You destroyed a larva-level creature.
Level +20 (401).
There was an explosion, and the destroyer I was under lurched, pressing me even harder into the ground. And when the crimson mist cleared from my eyes, one of the red dots denoting the big irons had disappeared from Drone’s radar. What just happened? I hadn't done anything... Did they equip it with some kind of self-destruct functionality?
I had lots of questions and no answers whatsoever. The flying platform I was lying under headed over to where its comrade in arms had died, though it made the quick journey without me. I’d let go of the brackets and remained right where I was. Of course, it wasn’t pleasant when the platform ground its way over my face and chest, though at least it didn’t break anything vital. Damn, those trials really do boost your pain tolerance! Even with my chest gashed straight down to the bone, I knew I’d been through far worse. And once I was sure I hadn’t been seen, I decided to crawl over toward the locator. It was just half a kilometer away, having taken up a strategic position on higher ground. The perfect spot for tracking everyone and everything. I knew the battle would be won if I could hack into it — I wasn’t about to
blow up the second destroyer, as logic told me the area around me would light up in a hail of rockets if I did
that.
Looking around, I was surprised to see what the remaining destroyer was doing. Instead of continuing the hunt for me and bathing the soil in electricity, it was digging through the remains of the dead destroyer like some kind of bum going through a dumpster. And while I didn’t understand at first what it was doing, the whole thing suddenly hit me — my noa and the pearl were there in the hollow. The metal giant had detonated right on top of them. Wait, so what happened to my loot? The explosion didn't destroy the stones, did it? Give me my stuff back! I was so peeved that I was about to crawl back when I stopped dead in my tracks. Chills even ran down my spine. The chances were good, at least 200%, that the destroyer had let the general and its high command know it had found the pearl, which meant everyone and their mother looking to get on the general’s good side would be on the spot within half an hour. The entire hexagon was about to converge on that one little item. After all, if even Villian had prioritized the reward the boss had offered for the pearl, it had to be an awfully tempting one.
For some reason, I felt the sudden urge to crawl back into my armor. It was so strong, in fact, that I instantly decided how I was going to make that happen — turning away from the destroyer, I crawled back toward the locator. That was my shot.
The sly machine was sitting in one spot, though safety was still number one. It was impossible to get through the early warning system set at about fifty meters away from it. At least, that’s what I called the hell it was unleashing within that radius.
On the other hand, I didn't need to get any closer. Even without Raptor, I was perfectly capable of using my device control, as my level made it possible to hack into anything within 160 meters. They had to be in open space and within line of sight for me to reach that range, of course, but that was precisely the situation I was looking at.
World of the changed 3 Noa in the flesh Page 3
