Notice: Please take note that the events of this chapter are completely unrelated to the current storyline of TCOI, It takes place on the planet Xyphos and has no connection whatsoever to the canon yet. I might connect them later if it looks good but this chapter will not affect the storyline in anyway! Enjoy and a very Happy Halloween '24!
SPECIAL ONE: A XYPHOTICAL HEIST
(VOLTARIS STRIDER)
"WHOA! WHAT IN ZYPHORA IS THIS?!"
I was plumetting down at an incredible velocity. My lens wasn't even calculating how fast I was falling. I was followed by Kai a few clicks above me. I was surprised we weren't surrounded by the Corps Shuttles already.
We still had like a few hundred clicks before ground contact. I couldn't believe we forgot to factor in the CAS Droids. I mean we didn't have the information that they had already deployed them. It wasn't supposed to be until the next few Nyxara cycles. So our brilliant plan had failed. The fifteen backups had been in vain. We should have gotten some DroidX grenades, even if we couldn't hack in them.
I tapped the glider open from my Arm Console. With a gust of wind, I slowed down. I could hear Kai's glider tapping open above me. We smoothly flew down to a deserted alley behind the Aetherion Hospital. We made a smooth landing as we touched the ground.
"VOL! What the heck was that? How the fuck could you have missed the Droids?! We almost died back there!"
"Dude calm the fuck down! They weren't supposed to be online till the Fifty Sixth Nyxara Cycle was over this year! How could I know they had prototypes and shit already?"
He snorted in disbelief. He was about to yell some more, but was cut off by the sirens of the Corps Shuttles racing to the Coalition of Advanced Sciences HQ. I peeked out into the street and it was clear. Everyone was busy with their work to focus on two shady kids.
We started walking silently. We had to be careful not to use our Skills. It had been nearly a decade, since the last Skill user was thrown into the Containment Zone on Orinthia.
That's how life was on the planet Xyphos after the so-called Ascension Era ended nearly a thousand years ago. I read about it in history books in the Knowledge Hubs. Apparently a thousand years ago, every Xyphian had been exposed to something called the System. It had been a crazy, dangerous thing. Like a global disease. It forced the Players, as they called it, to do these insane Quests.
These Quests were utter madness. They made people kill, rob, steal and so much more. There was Chaos all over. But the great God, Zyphora, had sealed the entire System in the Force Cube and had given it over to the newly formed MetaCorps. But since the System had been sealed before the Quests could end, it created more troubles.
The System was a self-conscious AI. It was somehow planted into everyone's brains. The elimination of System from the Survivors was a painful process and even caused permanent memory loss. But the System was smarter than any Xyphian AI so far. It was limited and powered down exponentially, but it wasn't killed. It was still conscious but it could no longer give out Quests to the masses.
However this problem occured to the descendants of the some of the Survivors. Although all of the Survivor Families are still treated as World Heroes, some of their descendants are cursed. Some traces of the System still seep out and affect them. Not all, but every once a generation, at least a hundred people are affected.
After the death of Zyphora, the only way to eliminate the Questers was to kill them. If a Quester was discovered they were immediately killed on sight. No explanations or time would be given to them. If they could be subdued they were thrown to the Containment Zone, where the System couldn't affect anyone. Otherwise death.
Kai hissed angrily, "You can repair damages to your equipments with the Survivor funds, but what about me? I'm not getting myself arrested or thrown to the Lowlands for your Quests!"
Yeah, that's right. I was an illegal Quester. And I had completed twelve Quests so far. They had been small heists or murders and chaos. But so far I could easily get away with my Skills. But not this time.
This time I had got the toughest and most impossible Quest of all times.
QUEST #13
Godly Heist
Difficulty: SS+
Possible Rewards:
Liberator Class
+50,000,000,000 Shards
Random Godly Artifact Box x1
The First Scroll of Immortality
Random Epic Skill Box x3
XP
Briefing: Break the Force Cube out of CAS HQ and Liberate the System on the planet Xyphos
Time Left: Four Nyxara Cycles
The rewards were worth the risk. From what I had experienced in the last twelve Quests, the Shards could buy me goods more valuable than anything of Xyphian origin. But the risks were too high. I couldn't skip the Quest or just avoid it. The System made it clear that if I failed to complete the Quest, then I would be eliminated from the planet, or in other words, be killed.
The only way for me to live was to acquire the Force Cube. Kai was helping me out because he needed serious money to get out of the planet. Plus he truly believed the System was kind of a survival of the fittest things, that was common in the lower class civilizations.
But now that we knew all about the defences at CAS, I was sure we could launch a successful attack on them and get the Force Cube out. Kai had the best hacking skills out of anyone in Vortaxis, our homehub. I had perfected my infiltration skills over the last few Cycles. We were both the sharpest students at the Vortaxis Knowledge Hub II. But all of that had changed after the System chose me.
No one other than Kai knew that I was chosen. No one alive that is.
BEEP!
The final, updated blueprints of the CAS HQ opened up. We were back at our hideout in Vortaxis. It was a shabby place, but it was enough for us to work in. We had a 2xFTL processor system here which was an old model, but was decent enough to run. The latest 25xFTL was all the buzz these days. But they were only for the Corps and affiliates. Anything above 20xFTL were. And I didn't want any suspicious transaction on my TokenBank. So 2xFTL was the only one we could afford.
Anyway, with the map out, I dragged and dropped the positions of jammers and CloneBots. We took care to entirely change the previous arrangements. The AIs working at CAS were smart enough to have recorded all of our plans and their backups and formulated all possible and similar attempts.
It took a couple of weeks to finalise and update the plans. We had to take breaks and time offs so that no one got suspicious about our disappearances. But finally the plan was ready. And we had one main plan, with a total of twenty two backups. No way we could fail this time!
On the fated day, I was positioned right beside the two thousandth floor of CAS HQ. It was the only one with an opening after the new security schedule. We had our Hovercraft in stealth mode. I looked at my Arm Console as the time drew closer to the opening.
Any moment now...
THERE! I thought excitedly as all the CASbot56Ds went for their shift change with the CASbot56Es. It would take quite some time for them to get back. Enough for us to phase in through the window and get away from them.
Kai hovered me just ten clicks away from the window. I leapt. I used my GravGloves to attach myself to the window. Then hit the phase option. I fell inside as I vibrated at superspeed, through the window. Kai jumped in after me. Quietly, we made our way to the door. I peeked.
There were the RechargerBots running around. But they couldn't see any organic life forms. We activated out coldsuits, just to be safe from any thermal scanners. Then we stepped out. We ran to the nearest Jumper. Set it to floor five thousand. Then Jumped.
We reached the heavily guarded floor in an instant. There was a Xyphian guard on patrol. However he had his back turned. I scurried off behind him to the corridor that led to the Cube. Kai quickly disabled the DiscBots in the corridor and we ran past them. We phased through another arch. Beyond it was the place where we made our mistake last time.
The ProtoDroid room. Beyond it was the Force Cube. At least that's what the prints said. The second we stabilized, all ProtoDroids turned towards us. Shooters raised. As the first Droid shot it's electropulse. I used my Absorption Skill to absorb it. Then all the Droids started firing at once.
I used my Energy Form to spread out and absorb as many as I could. But they had other methods of attacks to. The formed a ring around me and activated the deadly PhotonLock. I felt like someone had paralyzed me. I went back to my Physical Form and collapsed on the floor.
"KAI! NOW IS THE TIME BRO! THESE FUCKERS GONNA CRISP ME ANYTIME NOW!!"
"SHUT UP! I'M WORKING! I'M TRYING! No.. no.. not there... You go here and yes.. yes yes yes... Wait a second... And-"
ZOOM!
With fifteen times the speed of light a ProtoBot, zoomed around the room, turning other Bots to our side! The plan had worked. We had successfully hacked into a Bot, which now hacked into others.
The ring around me broke as all the Bots moved away. We ran up to the final arch. "This is it Volt!" Kai exclaimed. We phased through and finally, after so long, we saw the Force Cube. It was protected by a cutting edge forcefield. But we didn't intend to go through that. We had a better way.
I pulled out the Siphoner from my Inventory. I had bought it off the Shop from the System. I carefully aimed it at the Cube and locked. Then I turned it on. With a soft whir, the Cube moved. A bit more, a bit more and yes!! The Cube was added to my Inventory.
At that moment, with a loud noise, all the alarms rang all through the HQ. The ProtoBots started to phase in the room. They had been overridden to KillMode. The only way out was through. I pulled out my SoulCharger as I equipped my Armor from my Inventory.
It was a mech suit, with its own AI. It couldn't be hacked by anyone from Xyphos, since it was also bought from the System. I stepped in front of Kai, who was defenseless, but had a HandBlaster, which was pretty useless against so many ProtoBots. I aimed my Charger at the ProtoBots, as they aimed their shooters at me. I sighed, "I'm doing it to survive, nothing personal..." as I pushed the activator on my SoulCharger.
To Be Continued In Auxiliary Two: A Dropper From Farlands. Coming Soon!