Impenetrable skin boosted by 5 levels.
It took me forever to recover. Inside, everything burned — when I collapsed, my body found itself no longer able to cope, and it began gulping down all the oxygen it could find. The fact that it seared my lungs apparently didn’t bother it in the least. All it cared about was living, and the little roadblocks that appeared along the way were just obstacles to be overcome. By the time I woke up, the burns had yet to heal, and so I got to enjoy all the bitter sensations that came with getting that close to dragon fire in the flesh. Judging from the message, it hadn’t even had a name.
My thoughts ran so quickly that I nearly missed the second message, the one about my skin getting even thicker. With Ulbaron still untenable, I made what might have been considered a mistake by tapping the virtual emergency escape release. The overheated suit’s body opened up to drop me onto the ground.
The air seared its way through my nose, trying to burn a path to my lungs and keep them from ever recovering. I held my breath and...
A quick glance down at my hand told me it was resting on the stone ground. But the sensation was like grasping sand that had been wanned in the sun — hot, but manageable. Still, I wasn’t far from the remain of Ragnaros — I was still going to call it that — and couldn’t breathe, though even my eyes were more or less fine. What is that, the impenetrable skin? If it is, I’m a fan! I could even stand up and look around. The little creatures were gone, having disappeared along with the big boss. Ragnaros itself had been reduced to a scalded pile three meters away, the heat coming from it nearly intolerable despite how small it was. Grabbing Ulbaron, I was stepping away from the epicenter when I heard something rustling. It was deathly quiet in the cave without even my breath to fill the air, so the sound was easy to pick up. The erstwhile elemental floated upward and filled the space with air that was first hot and then much cooler. Right where it had been lying, a hatch opened up, and the air the piston was pumping down poured into the cave.
It got cool enough that I risked breathing in. My poor lungs were only too happy to suck down air, and they rejoiced when they realized it wasn’t going to burn. The hatch closed; the chilled remains of the elemental dropped to the ground. Warmth still oozed from them, but not nearly to the extent it had just a few minutes before. Okay, so the piston is a kind of bellows? It apparently fed oxygen down to the creature to keep it burning brightly and heating up everything around it. That makes sense, but why? Who would need a heat source like that?
For some reason, nobody came running up with answers. I checked my phone — Ulbaron was just a few minutes away from rebuilding its functionality. Stepping away from where Ragnaros was lying to find some air that was so easy to breathe my body practically jumped for joy, I still kept an eye on my defeated foe. Device control was powerless, though that was to be expected. No devices could work at those temperatures. Really, I needed to give the thing a wide berth and dig out through one of the walls, as I was sure there was plenty more to find. But I apparently wanted my loot more than I wanted to protect my own skin. There had to be something for me — my adaptive vision was screaming as much. Part of the elemental had started to shimmer, looking all kinds of juicy. It was time to break out my inner masochist yet again. I needed to go over to the lava and stick a hand in it, though that was easier said than done.
The store had nothing for me. There was no liquid nitrogen, heat absorbers, or anything like that. Although, I found a first-aid kit with some medicine when I did a search for heat absorbers. The aliens didn’t really have much to offer. Presumably, they had all kinds of inventions and achievements under their belt, but all we had available to us were some weapons, armor, explosives, and accessories. There wasn’t much to use in everyday life. It was a shame. It wasn’t every day you had to fight, so it would have been nice to pick up something like a TV. Or a refrigerator. Something that made life easier, more comfortable. But no, everything in the store either dealt death or helped you deal death better and faster.
It took a while for me to build up the nerve. Three whole air cycles went by, the wind whistling in through the hole. The elemental stayed right where it was — it had dropped a little farther away from the hatch and continued to smolder, signaling that it was still intent on retaining some heat in the near future. And that didn’t work for me, not considering the army on its way to have it out with me.
I took everything off before heading over naked to the pile on the ground. A meter away, the heat became unbearable, even cutting through my impenetrable skin. My instinct for self-preservation pulled me back; my greed pushed me forward. One leap, and I found myself next to Ragnaros, where I howled in pain. My palm was seared to the bone. Without reading the messages, I pounded away at the yes button until my phone stopped showing them to me, at which point I dashed back. Leaping to my feet, I shook the remains of my hand. It took a long time for the pain to die away, and I regretted my decision more than once.
When my head was back in the game, and my hand was halfregenerated, I crawled back into Ulbaron, having dumped a bunch of painkillers and wound healers into my mouth. Finally, I was ready to check out the messages.
I froze.
First, the elemental had given me another core. It was the same as the one Yd gotten from the guard, which told me they had something in
common.
Core. Description: Basic element of sustenance for non-living machines not made of the games nanoparticles. Energy charge: Unlimited by amount or time. Contains dragon’s blood (3%). For storage, use an isolation device, otherwise noa will begin to appear around the core. Absorption period: 10 days. Cost: unavailable.
It was another of Li-Ho-Dun’s creations. That was why the counter for the players I’d killed hadn’t ticked higher — the machines weren’t part of that number. Dropping the core in a pocket in my armor, I didn’t pay it any more attention. I’ll deal with it when I have time. But as I continued reading, each subsequent message brought my eyebrows lower and lower. I didn’t like what I was reading one bit.
Item received: Soul of a living personification of fire belonging to the owner’s son.
Can be integrated with your body. Would you like to begin? Note that there maybe consequences.
Judging by the fact that there were more messages yet to read, I’d gone ahead and jabbed the yes button without thinking about it. Of course, I hadn’t had any idea what I was doing, but that wasn’t really an excuse. What next?
You absorbed the soul of a living personification of fire belonging to the owner’s son.
Integrating...
Discrepancies discovered. Your body cannot accept the
object. Rejecting...
Cannot be rejected.
Modifying item. Integration successful.
Reboot required to complete process.
Mark Derwin, in connection with your update, you will be killed in 24 hours. Note that release 3R32-221 does not include respawns, so you will only see the integration results in your
next incarnation.
Note! You were blacklisted in release 3R32-221. Your data is not going to be saved, and you will not be incarnated in the
next release.
Get your affairs in order. Thank you for playing World of
the Changed.
There wasn’t any more loot, though I didn't care. Next to the timer for the hunter or hunted mission, a new timer had appeared: Time until death. It began relentlessly counting down.
Panic?
No.
That didn’t begin to describe it.
I was off the wall, though simultaneously unable to move. A noise filled my head, my vision blurred, and everything around me faded to nothing. The emptiness gripped me on the inside, too. It was a challenge coming to grips with the fact that I had less than 24 hours to live, and I had no idea how I was going to stave off that eventuality.
Although...
The idea hit me a few moments later. Gardine! The veterinarian was already dead
, off sitting in dark nothingness with a disappointing message staring him down. I can bring him back, give him some noa, and he'll resurrect me when the timer hits zero. Perfect! I had a plan.
You can’t personify noa in Li-Ho-Dun’s living space.
It was amazing how' many emotions just one little message could give you. I don’t think I’d ever before cursed the way I did in that moment, with complex constructions and combinations the likes of wThich would have made a sailor blush. It took a while for me to be able to think straight once more.
Okay...
If I was on the same level as Li-Ho-Dun, logically, there had to be some way to get to wherever it was. The cave I was in couldn’t have been completely closed off. And since there had to be a door, I needed to find it. That was the first thing. The second was that I had just 23 hours left to fight my way to freedom and find a good spot to end that life and begin my next one. Of course, there were at least a few thousand players standing in my way, and all of them wanted in on the owner’s mission. The third... I guess that’s all The first two problems were enough.
Ulbaron picked me up off the ground, and I circled the area, carefully scanning the walls. It all looked solid at first glance. Second, too. Going around again, I stuck Fang into the stone, though nothing worked. The walls were intent on keeping me right where I was.
Once again, the hole in the ground opened to let a powerful flow of air in. But the pressure didn’t rise — there was somewhere the air was escaping out of. It took me a while to find it, though I eventually did. There were a few grills built into the ceiling. I’d been checking the walls, assuming that the elemental was either on the same level or above it, but it turned out to be below everything else. There was a hatch, too. Actually, it took me a while to figure out that it was a hatch, as well, as it was just an enormous stone slab three meters across. I cut a small hole right in the middle and could barely get a grip. The slab was thicker than my hand.
Turning on my invisibility, I peeked out into the hole to find a fairly wide tunnel, the same as the one the guard on the intermediary level had called home. It led off in just one direction, making a turn not far away. Apparently, it was the only way to get to where the elemental wras. The level master used it, presumably, and I had to wonder what size it was. A
well-fed elephant would have had no problem trotting down the tunnel.
I’d already scoured every inch of the cave, so I wasn’t anticipating any unexpected hiding spots. Also, I wasn’t in the mood for loot. After expanding the hole to make sure I could get through without a problem, I suddenly thought of something interesting — my identity7 hadn’t been verified once on that level. There hadn’t even been a security7 system on the intermediary level. Either Li-Ho-Dun didn’t like them, or nobody was allowed on its level regardless. And if it was the latter, that was going to buy me time.
The first turn led me to a second. Then, there was a third, followed by a fork. I had to decide whether I should go left or right. On an impulse, I was about to head left, but that was when my perception picked up a few small details about the righthand tunnel. It wasn't as dust}7, the ground was in worse conditions, and the walls didn't look as smooth as the ones in the tunnel on the left. It was used much more frequently.
Time was becoming a factor, so I decided to go with a different option: straight up. But it was not to be, as my knife didn’t get me anything besides odd sparkles when I tried it against the ceiling. They came from the overhanging rock. A few of the sparkles dropped onto Fang, and I was hit with a pretty hefty7 electric shock. My hand jerked back. Taking a deep breath, I realized I was getting nervous about that Li-Ho- Dun. While it hadn't been expecting an opponent to show up in the cave with the elemental, everything else looked more than secure.
That left me with nothing but the tunnels. The one on the right w7as used more often, though something drew me down the one on the left. I really wanted to see where it led. With a glance at the timers, I was reminded once again of the sword of Damocles hanging over my head.
Finally overpowering my curiosity and the way games had taught me to explore every area you had access to in order to find the hidden sack of gold, I flew off down the corridor on the right. It turned out to be fairly long, with broad metal doors every ten or twenty meters. They were on both sides, too. After passing a good dozen of them, I couldn't help but stop next to one. It was a copy of the others. There were no handles or scanners, though I didn't need any of that. And while I’d been avoiding using my device control to keep from alerting the local resident, I didn’t see anything wrong with trying one of the doors.
You’re trying to hack the defenses of Li-Ho-Dun’s room
88.
Sum total of your skill levels: 760.
Sum total of Li-Ho-Dun’s protection: 710.
Probability of successful hack: 6.6%.
Ah-ha, so that’s where that 710 number came from! And it wasn’t a server; it was just another room without any kind of description. I wonder how long this will take.
Attempt 35... Successful!
You gained access to the security system for Li-Ho-Dun’s
room 88.
Would you like to open the door?
Of course! Why else would I have hacked it?
The panel slid up, and I froze on the threshold, realizing that my heart was about to stop. The device in front of me looked much like a 3D printer. It was busy printing out crazy Li-Ho-Dun’s newest creation.
Me.
Chapter 11
I STOOD THERE bewitched as I watched the device finish shaping the reflection of my arm. The body in front of me was motionless, impassive, unwilling even to open its eyes or take a breath. And while it didn’t differ much from me, there were some things I noticed. There, I was the way I’d been when the game started. In that moment, I looked like a five-year bodybuilder wTho couldn’t imagine life without buckets of protein powder scattered around, while the printer was working on a strong if average young man. Seeing myself, the memories came flooding back — squinting to try to make out signs, always being short of breath, considering a ten-kilometer run nothing short of heroic. And that had all been just a month before.
The job done, a pair of arms picked the motionless body off the platform and dropped it by the wall. There were special holders there for three bodies. One of them was taken up by the new me, while the printer hummed into action. Its printhead eased its way down to the ground, slowly beginning work on another person.
It took me a while to work up enough nerve to head over to the old me. The whole thing was creepy. Finally, after yelling at myself for being such a coward, I took the final step and placed my hand on one of the arms. I wouldn’t have been surprised be anything, from an explosion to general annihilation. But nothing happened. The soft body turned out to be completely stationary. But suddenly, I noticed the actual differences — the artificial body was soft and tender. There weren’t any muscles bulging. And no fat, either. Even my stomach was gone, the one Squirrel liked to call Peter and slap when she walked by. It was just one big slab of meat that looked like me.
Stepping out into the tunnel, I picked another door at random. Hacking it wasn’t a problem, and as soon as the panel slipped upward, I scowled. Another printer was right inside. One body was already done, and the machine was already working on a second. Needless to say, it was me over by the wall. I was just as limp, amoebic, and vacant as a whole lot of teenagers out there.
Ulbaron lifted me into the air, and I flew down the tunnel, counting the doors as I went. Ten... Twenty... The tunnel made a few turns, but the doors kept going. Just to make sure, I opened a couple more only to see the same picture — one completed body and another in the process of being printed out. And they were all me.
Soon enough, the tunnel ran into a dead end, and I stopped counting at 42 doors. I picked the wrong tunnel, after all. My subconscious had actually known which way to go, hinting at it every way it could. But, damn it, who could need this m
any copies of me? And why? I’d checked, and the rooms at the end were also being used to print out new Mark Derwins.
My instantaneous reaction times and the fact that I closed all the doors behind me saved me. When I finally figured out that there wasn’t anything else for me to do in the corridor, I headed back, only to smack right into a flying cart full of naked bodies. My bodies. Invisibility popped up in a split-second, fast enough that the monster appearing out of the opening didn’t see me. It was the first time I’d come across anything like it. The closest association I could come up with was a dragonoid — four short, stumpy legs held up an enormous body; it boasted an imposing ribbed tail; its torso and upper extremities, presumably arms, were powerfully muscled; and it had the long-toothed head of a horned horse. Or maybe, a disfigured dog. The creature was about two heads taller than me. My perception immediately identified it as Worker 43, level 120. It had about a million coins in its account, though I surprised even myself when I hurried to check it.
As it pushed the cart ahead with apparent ease, the worker stopped in front of the next pair of doors. They lifted as soon as it got close enough. And after collecting that batch of Marks, the dragonoid kept going.
It didn’t take long to decide what to do. Worker 43 took about thirty seconds on each door, spending that time going over, gathering the bodies, and tossed them into the cart. So, if I pick the right moment... Why was I always looking to risk life and limb?
It took just seconds for Ulbaron and the rest of my equipment to disappear into virtual space. The two cores, enveloped in a blue mist as they were, remained clutched in my hand, and when the creature headed off after the next few bodies, I dove onto the cart and pulled another version of me on top of myself just in case. But there wasn’t much to worry about — sacrificial offering was my backup plan. Happily, I didn’t have to use it, as the next body was dropped onto the cart, and we headed off toward the neighboring doors. I was safe.
The rest was waiting. I wanted kick the sluggish worker into gear, have it finish up with the doors and keep going, though I had to restrain that impulse. It was funny, actually. I wasn’t sure why I was doing what I was doing, though something told me it was the right move. If it hadn’t been for my impending doom, figuring out who needed all the bodies would have been all I cared about in that moment. Interestingly, I didn’t have a problem with the fact that I was about to die. The knowledge that I could be resurrected apparently made that much easier. I would presumably otherwise have been panicking to the same degree I’d been when I’d first read the message.
World of the changed 3 Noa in the flesh Page 13
