Raid Control (4)
When Shirone arrived in Democrasie, the Mafia crew hit him with shocking news.
"What? You can only challenge one mythic-grade hunting ground per day?"
Sona said.
"Yeah. The system resets at 24:00 server time. You can attempt the same hunting ground as many times as you want, but the 'Lunar Conception' event only opens after midnight."
Without that restriction, most users would swarm the mythic hunting grounds.
"Normally you form a party and clear one place. If it's no good, you bail and go to a regular hunting ground," Mafia said.
"Anyway, if we want to go to Lunar Conception we have to wait until midnight. We might as well contact the Golden Wheel now—"
"Then see you then."
Shirone cut them off and went into the Mid Gear charging station.
'I'll just wait until it's past midnight.'
Staying outside with them would only lead to pointless arguing.
"I'm going to charge."
He paid with a credit card and plugged into Mid Gear; the power line latched on.
'It'll start the moment I wake up.'
It would be a blink for Shirone, but time still flowed outside.
The Mafia group loitering in front of the charger could barely contain their anger.
"Damn it! We've been dragged around by that guy the whole time. Are we really just going to let it go? What if he changes his mind later?" Mafia grumbled.
"Post it to the board—title it 'Acquired Legendary Item.' We're the top-ranked guild in the Eastern Region; they won't call us scammers. At least it's insurance," Sona said.
"Alright, I'll post it. I've got the recording."
As she uploaded the video, DexGamseong glanced back at Mafia and muttered, "I didn't expect him to ignore a legendary drop and keep going. He must be someone the guild is pushing hard. You can't afford mistakes in Lunar Conception."
"You think another legendary will drop? Best play is to run with him for a day, then formally petition the Golden Wheel," another said.
"I've got a weird feeling about this. It's just too lucky. I searched the board on the way here—there are rumors it's exploiting a bug. Admins said there was no evidence in the meeting, so nothing more to add, but—"
"Hmm."
Mafia thought for a long time.
"Then do this."
They arranged something over comms, and the group's attitude shifted after hearing it.
"Wow, guys, check the board." Sona said. Her video had racked up over thirteen hundred views in five minutes.
'Good.'
If Yahweh2 had cheated, public opinion would at least be on their side.
Clang, clang.
Five hundred meters underground, in a vast factory, engines never stopped running.
The sky was only darkness; the sparks flying everywhere revealed no backdrop.
A boss-creature manufacturing plant.
A region not yet updated to High Gear—Operator Number Seven's main stage.
"Phew. This never ends."
He shut off the torch and stood from welding an unfinished mechanical monstrosity.
The frame was built for factory work; a shoulder guard bore NO.7.
"You've got weird tastes." He pulled up a document in augmented reality; the operator-supplied portfolio unfolded. "How am I supposed to match this to a new update date? The guy just lounges around every day."
Units finished here went to a test server before official updates. Testing meant fixing errors—mind-numbing, repetitive work.
Still, the reason he pulled all-nighters was—
"Am I a pervert?"
Because the operator who fought the units he made got more absorbed in them than anyone else.
'How did I get mixed up with someone like that?' At first it was curiosity; then the operator's design skills drew him in.
'That's why it pisses me off more.' His teenage fantasies about a girl overlapped with reality, and his own image felt shaken.
'I ran away.'
Number Seven was addicted to that undercoder.
He had trouble dealing with people (especially women). He hardly remembered how long he'd been living down here.
"Ah, damn it. Fine. This is the last one. I'll quit after this. I'll move out and rent a room or something."
—Hit news.
A message popped into Number Seven's AR.
"What? I'm busy."
It was part of his duties as an operator, so he put out the torch and opened the bulletin board.
"Whoa—ten thousand views already?" He scrolled casually and didn't move until the video ended.
The video finished.
"What the hell."
Admin meetings had revealed that Yahweh2 had a special sense for time and space.
But even accounting for that, this case didn't make easy sense.
"Acquired Mikelan in one run?"
It was possible. The problem was who the subject was—Yahweh2, who'd been at the center of so many rumors.
'Log search.'
Countless signals in the undercoder's language swept across his retina.
'Not a bug. No trace of illegal programs. Clearly a probabilistic result. But—'
The stream of signals suddenly stopped.
'This section. Couldn't Ergos have been dealt with faster? The delay is slightly longer than the average user reaction. It feels deliberate—like something was being aimed for.'
Number Seven snapped his head up and asked himself, "Is that even possible?"
Probability is probability. Even if you understood the random number algorithm at the designer's level, outcomes still depended on chance.
'Even if I tried, I couldn't time a specific result. How would anyone know the moment a particular value appears?'
He muttered, "Pattern."
Perfect randomness is nearly impossible.
'If you roll the dice infinitely, symmetry breaks and individuality appears. People call that the designer's intent—something unconscious, deeper than intention.'
His face hardened.
'But reaching that would require processing an amount of information rivaling the universe. You can't compute that—unless there's a quantum computer in someone's head or something. Huh?'
His thought paused.
'…What form would that computer take? It probably wouldn't be logical calculation. More like… certainty. A kind of instinct for a specific result.'
Number Seven checked the logs again.
'The firewall wasn't breached. So it's not manifestation technique—'
It is manifestation technique.
'Damn, that was a play on words. If realization in reality is manifestation, the same concept could apply here. This thing is adapting to High Gear at incredible speed.'
If that hypothesis were true, the real world might not be free from simulation.
What is a perfect world?
Recalling his original purpose, Number Seven downloaded every log related to Yahweh2.
'Who the hell are you?'
It wasn't just the operators who were riled up after Mafia posted the video—the ones most outraged were members of the Ascension Guild.
Codename Taedaecheon ground an electronic cigarette between his teeth.
"The Ergos sanctum? That's controlled by Ascension's Third Division! How did Yahweh2 get in without a Western Region pass?" Codename Yagwi demanded.
"There's more. Mikelan came up. Our guild took turns working it and only got two items total—but those ended up in the Eastern Region," Codename Rubymix said, throwing his hands up.
"We checked. They used a Western Region free pass. That's a card managed by Ascension's First Division. In short, there's a traitor here."
Light shone in Taedaecheon's single eye.
"No way. How hard have we fought the Eastern Region at the Solar Front? Nobody would jump ship for the Galactic lot. Who would betray their pride like that?"
"But the results speak for themselves. And it was Yahweh2—a member of the Eastern Region's strongest Golden Wheel. This is not something to overlook."
"So who is the traitor?" Yagwi asked.
"You all know." In the silence, Rubymix answered. "The Little Witch. She's the newest member and always acts unpredictably in the Solar Front. She's never slipped up, but she always gives us the creeps."
Taedaecheon rubbed his chin. "At first I thought she was just crazy. Skill can hide character. We need to check."
Yagwi looked to the operator. "Boss—what do you think? You're the one who's been most suspicious of the Little Witch." The operator chose silence.
"Fine. No need to wait—let's go get her. If she's a traitor, she'll know what's coming."
As Taedaecheon spoke, the door opened.
"You called?"
The Little Witch stood there.
"I thought I heard a codename out there. What's going on? The vibe's nasty."
"You, you—"
They hedged their accusations for lack of hard evidence, but everyone already had a guilty feeling.
'That kid is the traitor.'
Taedaecheon clenched his cigarette as the Little Witch approached the operator.
"You got something to say to me?"
They stared at each other for a long moment before the operator finally opened her small mouth.
"...No."
Then she walked to the door and said, "I'll be right back. I've got something to take care of."
"Hmm."
The Little Witch watched the operator with her eyes, exhaled, and turned to face the group.
"Little Witch."
Three guild members suddenly had her backed against the wall.
"Be honest. Did you hand the Western Region free pass to Yahweh2?"
"Yeah, I gave it. Why?"
"What!"
Rubymix shouted. "Do you know what you did? You handed a legendary item to the enemy! And you still call yourself Ascension?"
"Come on. It's about balance. The operator's too strong. Honestly, without them you'd have been pushed out by the Eastern Region ages ago. What's the point of winning so ugly?" the Little Witch said.
Taedaecheon drew his mechanical greatsword. "So you finally show your true colors. Spying for the Eastern Region won't end nicely."
"Oh? What are you gonna do?"
"I recorded your confession. Kneel. Strip all your parts. I'll make sure you can't set foot in High Gear again. Even you alone can't handle three ranked players."
Yagwi and Rubymix drew their weapons.
"Anyway—"
The Little Witch walked calmly between them, sat on the sofa, and crossed her legs.
"That's why you can't handle it. You have to put on a show. If you hog everything, what's the fun?"
"Are you done with your dying speech?"
She made her hand into a gun and pointed it; the guild members froze.
"...What are you doing?"
"A gun. This is a gun-shooting simulation. Don't come closer. I'll blast you."
"Keukeu. Kekekeke."
Taedaecheon's shoulders twitched and his eyes lit up.
"Crazy—"
As he hefted his greatsword and took a stance, the Little Witch bent her elbow and made a sound.
"Pew!"
Taedaecheon flinched.
Nothing happened; Rubymix and Yagwi looked at each other in bewilderment.
The Little Witch cocked her head. "Huh? Why didn't it work?"
"You—!"
Shamed by his momentary hesitation, Taedaecheon roared and charged.
"You damn—!"
As the booster-charged greatsword came down toward the Little Witch's crown—
"Pew!"
"Gah!"
Taedaecheon convulsed as if electrocuted and collapsed to the floor.
"Hey! Taedaecheon!"
Rubymix and Yagwi rushed forward, but before they could touch him, his avatar vanished.
'Connection dropped. Forcefully…' A chill ran through the room. Someone turned and saw the Little Witch with a finger gun to her lips.
"How's that? My gun kills, doesn't it?"