"First! I've already accomplished my main goal!"
Silver Wolf maneuvered her character, darting wildly through packs of monsters, slashing away while multitasking.
All the while, she gritted her teeth, grinding them as she explained the whole situation.
"Secondly, it was that woman Herta who had no sense of honor! We agreed to settle it with hacking skills, and she resorted to underhanded tricks!"
"...Easy there, you're gonna grind your molars to dust."
Sylvia suppressed a chuckle, supporting Silver Wolf from the side and speeding up her farming efficiency.
Perhaps after being completely exposed, Silver Wolf had decided to just throw caution to the wind.
Her initial awkwardness had gradually shifted into outright complaining.
"You're the one grinding your teeth to dust!"
Silver Wolf's petite avatar charged over, aiming a kick right at Sylvia's character's backside.
But Sylvia, leveraging her character's superior stats, deftly dodged out of the way.
Silver Wolf glared at Sylvia, thoroughly displeased: "Got the guts to come over to my place right now? Let's see if you can dodge then."
"Hehe~ Don't be so mad."
"It's all your fault! The more I think about it, the angrier I get!!"
Silver Wolf gnashed her little fangs, baring them at Sylvia in a mock snarl.
But Sylvia knew this was just one of her rare ways of venting. She wasn't really angry at Sylvia.
Her ire was directed at Screwllum, who refused to give her a proper match, and Herta, who teamed up with him just to mess with her head.
Of course, in Sylvia's view, since Silver Wolf had broken the rules first, it was perfectly normal for Screwllum to ignore her challenge.
If anything, from an opponent's perspective, Screwllum and Herta's handling of the situation was standard procedure.
With the goal of thwarting the enemy, Silver Wolf had indeed taken a major hit.
Just... in a different way than expected.
And judging by Silver Wolf's reaction, her data recovery mission at the company clearly hadn't gone smoothly.
Otherwise, she wouldn't be here, grinding her teeth and farming a new account.
"Alright, just treat it like a New Game Plus challenge run. I'll keep you company."
Amused, Sylvia reached out and patted Silver Wolf's head.
This time, Silver Wolf, unusually, didn't swat Sylvia's hand away.
Even though she was still putting on a show of gnashing her teeth.
"Speaking of which, that Curio you took... can it let other people use Punklorde methods?"
Sylvia had always been curious about Punklorde since she started playing the game.
According to Screwllum, Punklorde was a planet constructed from data and code. The line between the virtual and the real was blurry there.
That description was fascinating.
If a planet was a collection of data and code, then its people, like Silver Wolf—were their true forms also made of data and code, just appearing human?
And strictly speaking, Sylvia wasn't even sure if she'd ever seen Silver Wolf's actual, physical body.
Whenever she wanted, Silver Wolf could craft a photorealistic projection nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.
Hearing Sylvia's question, Silver Wolf glanced up at her, a flicker of attention in her eyes.
"You mean the Aether Cartridge? While it is a chip hackers use to edit reality, and it's important to them, if we're using your analogy, it's more like a weapon."
Those who didn't understand often made unnecessary assumptions about Punklorde because of the cartridge's function.
The cartridge was indeed a hacker's second brain, their second heart.
But its importance lay in recording, not in the cartridge itself possessing some magical power.
Sylvia clearly didn't grasp this, so Silver Wolf had to explain it in terms she'd understand better.
"It's like your greatsword, or Kafka's guns. Our ability to edit reality still comes from ourselves. If just having a cartridge could do all that, the world would be swarming with hackers ages ago."
Silver Wolf turned back to farming monsters, adding a merciless critique:
"It's every hacker compiling their own unique cartridge, not having a cartridge that makes you a Punklorde hacker."
"Oh, seems like I can't learn it then."
Sylvia pouted, a bit disappointed.
In terms of destructive power, Emanators and Aeons seemed utterly miraculous.
But in terms of sheer wonder, Sylvia had always felt Punklorde's ability to edit the world and rewrite reality was the most magical.
Maybe it was because of her past life's perceptions.
Anyway, Sylvia herself was quite curious about this ability.
"You really want to learn?"
"You willing to teach?"
"No way."
Silver Wolf rejected Sylvia without a moment's hesitation.
Yeah, right. Where would she find the time to teach Sylvia that?
"Hmph, stingy."
"Heh—childish reverse psychology."
A hint of a smile returned to Silver Wolf's face, and she raised her hand to slap away Sylvia's palm, which was still resting on her head.
"So, you didn't just come here today specifically to com... comfort me, did you?"
Silver Wolf stumbled over her words, a rare occurrence, and Sylvia even spotted a trace of embarrassment on her face.
Well, well.
Now this is a rare sight.
Let me get a good look.
Sylvia grinned, eyes wide open, secretly taking who knows how many screenshots.
Silver Wolf only realized what Sylvia was doing a moment later.
And promptly turned beet red.
In the end, all the precious screenshots Sylvia had saved were turned into pixelated mosaics by Silver Wolf, right in front of her.
"Argh! Not a single one left."
Sylvia stared at the mosaics, indignantly hitting the delete button.
Silver Wolf stood nearby, arms crossed. Hearing Sylvia's complaint, she let out an exasperated, flustered huff.
Her curly ponytail swished through the air, smacking Sylvia in the face.
"Playing these games in front of a hacker. I think your brain must be malfunctioning."
This girl... truly, hoping for anything else was a waste!
Silver Wolf grumbled incessantly in her mind.
Talking about something so important, and all she could think about was taking screenshots.
She really ought to have Prometheus give her a good, solid crack on the head. Maybe then she'd learn.
"But it's because you're just so cute."
"..."
"Oho, blushing, are we?"
"Go die!"
Silver Wolf didn't hesitate, drawing her sword and slashing. Sylvia was a step faster, turning tail and running.
--+--
They chased all the way to the main city area where combat was disabled.
Only then did Sylvia finally stop. Silver Wolf, her character stats unable to keep up, hadn't managed to kill Sylvia.
So now she was contemplating whether to arrange an offline takedown.
"Ahem... let's stop chasing, okay? Let's just play the game properly."
"And whose fault is it we're here?"
Silver Wolf truly admired Sylvia's sheer audacity.
And so—
Everything went black before Sylvia's eyes, and the game connection was forcibly severed.
Opening her eyes, she saw...
Silver Wolf, with zero courtesy, plopping herself right down on Sylvia's stomach.
"Oof—"
The unexpectedly crushing weight nearly made Sylvia lose her lunch.
This was absolutely not the weight a normal human of that height should have.
This... this girl!
To get revenge, she'd actually modified her own mass!
"You... you have no honor!"
"Serves you right, hmph!"
With a twist, Silver Wolf shifted, her backside grinding across Sylvia's stomach before settling into a position straddling her.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.