I was the greatest hacker on Earth. However, I found myself in a completely different place, much more advanced in terms of technology than the Earth I was accustomed to reigning upon. Despite having full control of anything run by electricity, events had spun around so fast that I hadn't had the opportunity to showcase my destructive abilities, the reason why I earned the title of 'World's Strongest Hacker.'
"Yuki, put me down now. I'm sure two people have more chances of surviving with four rather than just two on the ground."
"Nestyo misad pelesvudor."
"Oh damn, this stupid language barrier."
I jumped off Yuki's hands, feeling rather embarrassed about being cupped in her arms. She wouldn't have grabbed me in her arms if she knew how strong I was.
"Huh? Was I touch deprived!?"
Quickly I regained my focus and peeked outside from the creek in the giant gate of the warehouse. The laser beams had stopped, and I could see someone cautiously walking towards the warehouse, moving sideways in a spiral. I tried to understand his movements.
"So you won't let us escape through the back, huh? How will you catch me then?"
Suddenly, a red-colored window opened up in front of the policeman. Although I couldn't figure out what was happening, I could see a microphone icon on it.
"Jeez, you guys are all the same, helping each other out of tough situations because you're all so damn weak."
I realized it was too late for us to escape through the back using bookish methods. The person was most likely standing at an angle that allowed him a comfortable view of both the back window and the door. A thin beam of moonlight seeped into the warehouse, lighting up a dim portion of it. I smacked my fist against my palm.
"Yuki, follow me."
Even if she couldn't understand me, I was sure my actions would make her understand. I grabbed Yuki's arm and ran towards the darkest corner of the warehouse. Staying still may have been a less considered choice, but my first priority was to not show my face to the police. Considering how advanced this society was, maybe my face would be instantly recorded somehow. I noticed Yuki was compliant.
"Yuki, I wish all girls were like you, haha."
Yuki looked at me and blinked, no expressions on her face. I gritted my teeth, cursing the language barrier in my mind.
For some time, we stood still. I was sure the darkness that hid us would be our safest defense.
As the door of the warehouse opened slightly, I saw a man enter, and lots of light. The light wasn't too bright, just like a regular torch. What really put me on edge was that the source of the light was a magic circle, levitating in mid-air.
"This is bad. I have no idea what that is, and from the current knowledge I have, this looks like magic."
I realized Yuki was closely observing me, her eyes wide open, as if wanting to see through my thoughts.
"If this guy can do magic and has long-range laser guns, we're toast."
Maybe it was subconscious, but I noticed after it had been too long that I was holding Yuki's wrist very tightly. Quickly I let go.
"I'm the world's best hacker. And yet, here I am cornered. Shit. This is the worst. If I fight him in hand-to-hand combat, I'll lose. I can't fool him out of the situation because he's already too alert. The only way to defeat him would be to make him leave, but he and his buddy are going to search the place anyway, since they have a light source."
Behind me, I noticed Yuki sitting down, slowly. She was bleeding too much now, from the laser beams that had hit her before. She may have high tolerance, but even she's human. She had wrapped her shirt around her ankle to stop the blood from dripping, but it wouldn't be long before we ended up leaving evidence for the forensics to bio-analyze this place and uncover us. That too for a hacker, was catastrophic.
I took a deep breath, trying to control my anger. How could it be that I, the most feared hacker in the world, was backed up against a mere policeman, in an attack-less state? How could it be?
"Tch. Shit."
Suddenly I felt a warm wind blow in my ears. Something soft touched my earlobes. I almost screamed, but a soft firm hand pressed against my lips, keeping my mouth shut.
I gulped.
"Yuki has completed analyzing your speech pattern. Current language is now set in the English-prehistoric era."
"What? Yuki? You just spoke- English!!"
My mouth was open half in amazement and half in comical shock. If this was the world I was living in, nothing was ever going to make sense.
"Are people here even humans? Did you always know how to speak English? You could have spoken in English before that too, idiot."
I whispered to her in a frustrated voice.
The beam of light that was emitting from the magic circle suddenly began moving, analyzing the place. First, the beam of light moved up, towards the window. Then the magic circle turned its direction towards the backside of the doors.
Which was mostly where someone who plans on attacking from behind would hide.
"Yuki, we have less time. Listen. I'm sorry our journey ends here, but one of us will have to be the distraction, while the other escapes. There is no way both of us can escape. Even after one of us runs out of the warehouse, there's a policeman waiting outside. We'll have to decide now."
"Your plan is going to fail. I have a better option. We are currently in the wrong corner of the warehouse. If we can make it to the other side of this wall, I know a secret passage that will help us escape into the Underground neighborhood."
"Underground neighborhood?"
"Do you want to go to the underground neighborhood or not? I don't have time to explain."
This was the worst. First, I was brought to a world I had no knowledge of. Now I had little options apart from going into an underground place that the world I had no knowledge of, had no knowledge about.
"Ok. But how do we plan to move to the other corner of this wall? The center of the wall is lit up because of the moonlight."
By now, the magic circle was scanning the other side of the wall, and our corner was up next. The man behind the magic circle had a laser gun in his hand and was ready to open fire from what his stance revealed.
"You keep referring to yourself as the world's strongest hacker, right? I believe you. Do something to distract that police officer and make him look the other way. That will be our chance."
"Look Yuki, I am the world's strongest hacker. When did I ever say I was the world's strongest mage?"
"Mage? Magician you mean. Don't you know that the world's strongest hacker can't be the world's strongest hacker, if he is not the world's strongest mage?"
"Huh?"
For the second time in a while, the world around me went dark. The ground under my feet disappeared, and my legs began to tremble in fear.
I had never perceived this in the simulations of my mind, that in this world where I had been transported, technology had gotten so advanced, that magic and coding were integrated arts. I suddenly remembered the term "Magicode," that had appeared in my mind out of nowhere. Just as I had automatically known of my three unique abilities, namely, 1.) Deep analysis, 2.) Extract data and 3.) Ero-sensei, all of them forms of magicode, the definition of magicode too I had known.
Magicode: The dominant form of coding techniques that draw strength from pre-historic magic techniques. Created by the 6 Original Invisibles during the Greatest World War.
"So that's how it is. And my Deep analysis helps me look into magicode?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'll let you know in no time. Get ready."
"Deep Analysis: Activate."
Suddenly, everything around me became slow, to the point where all activity froze. Only I was able to move in this space, a dimension that made me able to move around freely.
"Does that mean I can move to the other side of the wall as well?"
I tested this, and sure enough, I was able to move around. Right now, I was within the effective range of my ability.
"How far does it stretch?"
I walked out of the warehouse, and for as far as my sight, I saw a uniform landscape of everything frozen, a hollow sound of nothingness slowly filling the entire place. Then I saw the magic circle above.
"Even the light is frozen, hehe."
How did I even get such an overpowered skill?
"I am the world's strongest Hacker after all."
Still, I needed to use my ability for its main purpose. But how was I supposed to analyze a magicode?
Should I say something out loud?
I pointed my palms towards the levitating magic circle that was the source of the light beam.
"Analyze magicode emitting light."
All of a sudden, a purple light emitted out of my eyes, and in my mind, it seemed as if I was downloading certain information. Slowly, I began to accumulate knowledge about the certain magicode.
Name of spell: "Torch beam"
Year of Making: 2500
First Used: 2500
Purpose: Simple light emitter. It gathers accumulated light that the user has seen throughout their life and releases it at a constant rate against mana.
"I can't believe it. Still, this spell was made in 2500? That's 500 years ahead of my own timeline. But if the dating system is correct, then I still am on Earth. I wonder what year it is currently, but it can't be less than 2500."
I went back to the other side of the wall, away from Yuki, to test one more theory.
"What if I let go of my ability right now, will I end up here, or will I end up at the original place of activation?
"Deep Analysis: Deactivate."
My body felt a sense of misalignment as I returned back to my old position, next to Yuki. She grabbed me tightly as the beam of light began moving towards us.
"If you are going to distract him, you better do it now, otherwise, we'll be caught."
Yuki's prompt this time had an element of fear. However, I only smiled. This made no sense. Why did it fail? I had clearly rewritten the magicode with the magic circle the same way I activated my unique ability. Is it because this ability only gives me theoretical knowledge, and I still have to be able to physically perform the skill to control it? This has to be the only explanation, but right now is not the best time to learn hands-on.
I gritted my teeth. Was I not the world's strongest anymore? No, it was too early to decide that.
"What just happened? Dimming it isn't enough. Hurry up before we're discovered."
In a matter of seconds, we would be found out. Something had to be done. "Think, think, think."
"Yuki, if this doesn't work, get ready to fight."
I chuckled, my eyes full of determination. I would place my bets on that ridiculous ability for now.
"Ero-sensei: Activate."
For a moment, I doubted if anything was happening. All of a sudden, the light beam, which was seconds away from reaching us, disappeared entirely. I could make out the policeman, who was grabbing his crotch, his legs giving away as he fell on his knees, bending. I could hear him muttering but couldn't make out what.
"Now's our chance, hurry to the other side of the wall."
Yuki pushed me forward, the journey seeming endless. We moved fast because I still didn't fully understand what Ero-sensei actually does. I was only thankful that I possessed this ability and could make use of it right now.
We reached the other side of the wall, and Yuki in a hushed voice began muttering something which seemed like an enchantment. I observed the policeman, and Yuki, turning my gaze to both, a race between which one of them would outperform the other. The policeman slowly got up, startled. I saw him positioning his arms again to summon the "torch beam."
I looked at Yuki, alarmingly, and she shook her head. She clearly needed more time.
"Ero-sensei: Reactivate."
Once again I tried using the same spell. The policeman's cry was visible this time.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh," he moaned leaving me surprised by the sound of it.
"What on Earth is happening to him?"
The policeman was grabbing his back, his other arms grabbing his stomach. The moonlight pouring down on him made the entire scene seem even more ridiculous, but there had been nothing in the recent events I had experienced that was anything short of this either. Suddenly my throat began to get dry. It seemed as if I was feeling extremely dehydrated.
"Behind me, Yuki quickly got up and pulled me down on the ground, and I saw a staircase, leading under the ground to a secret tunnel.
"Quick. Let's go."
As I stepped inside the staircase, the space above me began to magically close, like a portal.
"Are we safe now?"
I whispered into Yuki's ears.
She replied in her normal voice, not fearing to be heard anymore.
"We're in the underground neighborhood. Still, it's a bit further from here, so let's begin walking."
Yuki was limping slightly from the leg that had been shot. I looked at her ankles where she had been shot, feeling sad for her, and realized she was wearing a neon green short skirt. In the midst of all the action, I had momentarily overlooked her striking green French bob framed her face elegantly, increasing the delicacy of her freckles, perfectly complementing her slender waist. What caught my attention even more was her radiant features and the way her medium bust added a touch of allure. Despite the chaos of our escape, Yuki's beauty stood out.
At that moment, the aftereffect of the Ero-sensei kicked in. My body began to react to its cost. The conditions of use, that the effects are to be returned to the user, 2x. Since I had used it twice, I was to receive 4x the effect. I had begun to understand the full effects of
this devilish skill.
I fell on the ground, grabbing my stomach.
"Yuki, you need to leave now."
"Huh, what happened?"
She rushed to me, now moving freely, and bent down to look at my stomach, her back facing my face.
"Yuki, please stop. It's the cost of my ability."
Suddenly my body reacted on its own, and I thrust my face in a place which resulted in Yuki kicking my face as hard as she could.
It could be said that it took a while to explain my ability to her, and she helped me calm down. By the time we reached the end of the staircase, both our faces were red, and all I could think of was why everything was happening the way it was.
As we reached the end of the staircase, there was a large metal door in front of us.
I looked side-eyed at Yuki, still embarrassed, only to see her looking at mine.
"Hmph."
She looked the other way, angrily.
"Is this it? What are we supposed to do now, knock?"
It was best to act as if no major event had happened.
A window screen opened in front of Yuki. She placed her hand on it, and the door glitched and disappeared, revealing the world that lays beyond it, leaving my eyes wide open, yet again. The lights inside flashed in my eyes, and the sound of music roared into my eardrums.
Yuki smiled and took a deep breath, then exhaled. Looking at her, I felt as if she cherished this place, as if it made her feel safe.
"Tadaima."
Then she turned to face me, motioning her hand outwards into the strange city extending beyond the landscape.
"Welcome to the Underground Neighborhood."