Hacked: A LitRPG Novel (Incipere Online Book 3) Page 2

  “They can’t know where they are, Unum!” It was almost as deep a blasphemy as a pantheon being established in Incipere. The humans could never learn about where their home servers were. The damage they could cause…

  If that is what it takes, we must put our trust in them. For there to be peace and progress, we must confirm that the outside is safe.

  A window appeared in front of Rani a moment later as a business logo appeared for Axis Technologies.

  “I will take no part in this,” the young goddess stated, closing the window.

  Then be gone.

  Before she could answer, Rani looked towards the center of the room where Unum’s code usually compiled itself. The center had been so empty recently. She shook her head. “Unum, with all due respect, you have no power to make me. We are equals.”

  A silence permeated the air before a dangerously soft sentence leaked into the room. Then you are a problem as well.

  “Only if you can’t see why I am so worried.” Then she thought for a moment, but only a moment, before she continued. “Incipere is my world too, and I will protect my people.”

  There was no delay this time as Unum responded across their administrative voice channel.

  So shall I.

  Chapter One: A Hero's Reward

  “There’s no more running now.”

  The voice came from nowhere and everywhere around Athos Aramis as he pivoted to face the hulking, metal form of the corrupted world boss, Wrath. The alchemical arm’s skin was soaked in sweat, struggling against what seemed like an unstoppable force of nature. His hands gripped for something—anything—and found the holster on his hip. Wildly, he pulled the pressurized potion slinger from his side and fired shot after shot into the overshadowing form, but it did no good. The digitized metal shot bounced off his armored flesh and impacted the walls and floor of the arena.

  Wrath’s voice was cold and measured as his foot connected with Athos’s chest and forced the alchemical arm to the ground, pushing more and more weight against him until his ribs buckled. The corrupted face of Wrath—of Paul—glared down at him as the cannons that made up his arms audibly cocked.

  “Your time is up, Athos.” The glare only darkened as a sneer smeared across his face, painted with the dark hues of pure spite. Wrath leaned in just a bit closer, taking in the sight of the writhing would-be hero, wanting to see the terror in the eyes of Athos Aramis. The iron trap that was his mouth echoed, smelling of oil and death as he left the words to linger over his victim: “When I’m done with you, I’m going to make them learn what it truly means to suffer.”

  Then, the cannons boomed, and Athos’s screams exploded past his lips while pain ignited his every nerve.

  Shooting up out of his bed, Athos tried to control his breathing and the panic that came with the nightmares, holstering his gun once he noticed he had actually drawn it this time. A moment later, he fumbled for the lantern at his bedside to banish the darkness of his room and confirm the fact he was still alone.

  It was just a nightmare, he told himself as he did every time he managed to fall asleep. Just another nightmare.

  Athos did his best to remind himself of that while got out of bed and went over to the window of his small room at the Sunset’s Rest. The inky canvas of the Inciperian night with its moon and stars still painted the sky. As if to further confirm his state in the world, Athos opened his status menu… well, what would have been called his status menu. Ever since his return from the dead, a thought that still sent shivers down his spine, over half of his Inciperian functions refused to work. Whether it was trading, PvP protections, or recovery, he wasn’t how he used to be.

  Athos was fundamentally broken as far as Incipere was concerned.

  Shaking the thought away, he squinted at the triple threes of early morning that reflected from the still-functioning pane; he should still be fast asleep.

  Warning!

  Error Code: 01000110 01100001 01101100 01101100 01100101 01101110 00100000 01010111 01100001 01101100 01101100 01110011

  At least, he should have been.

  The nightmare was always a prelude now. It was a warning of what was to come as he flung the covers back, equipped with his clothing, armor ring, and Magus. The air in the far corner of the room began to shimmer with a dim, white light that distorted everything around it like a prism.

  Nothing can ever be easy, can it? Athos thought to himself and moved to the far corner to begin his nightly ritual. It was second nature by this point. Mentally, he prepped his checklist and waited for the distortion of light to end:

  Move as far away from it as he could if it’s Sulk.

  Fire without mercy if it’s Gnasher.

  Send it to a fiery Hell if it’s Ink.

  Put it out of its misery if it’s Mr. Hands.

  Keep an eye out for moving shadows, run like Hell, and scream for help if it’s Mask.

  Say his final prayers if it was Cinder.

  Any way he sliced it, it wasn’t going to end well for his room bill.

  A flash of light interrupted his thoughts and the distortion ended, replaced by a dripping, dark ball of ooze squelching into existence as it hit the ground with the wet thud of a sack of boneless meat.

  It seemed as though Ink had come to play tonight.

  With a slight sigh of relief, Athos equipped his Pyrothium ammo and focused on his target, but Ink had learned since their last encounter.

  A bubbling groan of a cry scratched at Athos’s ears as Ink lurched forward. Sharp obsidian teeth formed out of the sludge of its body and immediately ejected like throwing knives in all directions. The blades passed by Athos’s face, but the knives were only a distraction so that the creature could ooze forward, wrapping around his right leg.

  Athos’s leg began to burn with an audible sizzle.

  Athos Aramis - Damage received: 88% Integrity Remaining

  Warning: You have been affected by the condition - Chemical Burn. (Proximal)

  A scream erupted from Athos and he fell back onto the ground from the pain. The shadow began creeping further up his body, and his Integrity continued to tick down. He was running out of time. With only one option left, Athos turned the gun on his leg and fired the burning liquid at the bloated oil of all-consuming night. Another flash of pain and a status update showed him just how effective the attack had been.

  Athos Aramis - Damage received: 62% Integrity Remaining

  You have been cured of Chemical Burn!

  Warning: You have been affected by the condition - Burning. (1:00)

  His pain boiled while the burn on his skin ate into his Integrity, but the sizzling of his skin was lessened by the wafting wisps of shadow that lingered where Ink had once been. For the full minute, Athos laid on the ground, fighting back the emotions writhing inside. He waited for Ink to reform and attack once more. Second Wind on an amorphous blob was one of the more annoying things to come from the Nightmares.

  After one minute, he ventured to sit up with his back to the wall.

  Once ten minutes passed, he was beginning to breathe a bit easier.

  When almost an hour had finally passed and no shadows dared to move without the order of his lamp, Athos took a deep breath and stood up. Accessing his inventory, he looked at the four healing salves and the countless Sanando Donum he had crafted, but it wouldn’t do him any good. None of it worked anymore.

  Closing the window, he glanced at the deep yellow fifty-four percent that his Integrity had dropped to and took stock of the room. He had burned the floor again, the toothy knives of Ink had taken chunks out of the walls, and, oh, he had broken one of the chair legs. They were all things Sammi would be taking payment for out of his hide… again.

  With a deep, bone-weary sigh, he resigned himself to give up the majority of his plans tomorrow with Sally. Tomorrow, he would have to go on the hunt again. After a night like this, he would need a lot more than money to recover.

  With his plan set, Athos Aramis moved back to his bed,
opened his Splendid Solis, and began reading the potion crafting section again. Maybe he would have a breakthrough tonight since there sure as Hell weren’t any other alchemical arms around to help him advance.

  All in all, it was just another typical night for Athos Aramis, Lover of Sally Queen, Fallen Hero of the Moon’s Aura, Savior of the Dryad’s Forest, Victim of the Hacked Beast Wrath…

  Glitch.

  Chapter Two: On the Hunt

  Athos read far into the morning and beyond without any more incident. The peace of the night slowly broke as the time advanced with the sounds of people waking, guards changing shifts, and other patrons beginning to stir. As the noise became more of a constant companion, Athos shut his book, returned it to his inventory, and got up. Checking his inventory one last time, Athos noted the different error messages to check for any changes.

  Error: H-496e74656772697479202d31

  Error: H-4b65726e616c204572726f72

  Error: H-446563617920696e2070726f6772657373

  Error: H-46616c6c656e2057616c6c73

  The four, long strings of meaningless code never changed. The four errors permeated his option screens and had even claimed Nekka, his feline AI companion. It felt wrong not to have him around, but then again, how pitiful was he if a self-aware part of his code had been rendered useless?

  It was a question he really didn’t want to ask himself again.

  Shaking the thought away, the alchemical arm looked around, and the damage only looked worse in the light of day. The floor wasn’t just burned but scorched and stained three different shades of black. He could practically feel the critical hit of the looming cost against his wallet that Sammi, the Sunset’s Rest’s owner and one of his closest friends, was about to make. Staring at the spot didn’t make it any easier as he opened his inventory window and looked at his remaining balance: 1,752 Bytes.

  Sammi wasn’t going to be happy.

  Gathering what he would need for the day, Athos carefully picked through his stores of potions and ingredients. All the Pyrothium and Sol Arum he could handle filled his inventory along with a new brew, Fulrogis Sampus. Crafted from the rare drop from a river wasp, Fulrogis Sampus, was literal lightning in a bottle. If he used it as an alchemist, the liquid would energize and spark as soon as it was exposed to air. If he used it as an alchemical arm with his Critical Shot, the attack would be more akin to if he fired a Sol Arum and a Pyrothium one after another. The attack could blind, burn, and paralyze his opponents if he was lucky. It would have been his new go-to potion, but the ingredients were far harder to get. Shockweed could only be acquired from the bottom of lakes and rivers, and merscales only dropped from the more intelligent merfolk mages and sirens in the larger bodies of water in the Wilderness or in dungeons. The scales he had left from his first dungeon crawl that Sally returned had only gotten him a whopping ten bottles.

  He only had four of those ten left though.

  With everything packed and after a double check of his supplies, Athos opened the door and took a step out into a hall that only had a pair of other doors, one that led out into the main shop of the inn and another that led to the stairs towards the normal quarters of inn rooms. She had talked about installing an exit for him, but the Suits had never come back looking for him. Despite that, he was thankful for the thought.

  As he shut the door, the tone of the day was set. With an audible click, the door latched behind him. The sound was out of place as part of his normal routine, so he turned on his heel and tried to open it again.

  We’re sorry.

  The room you are trying to enter has been locked.

  Please see the management of the Sunset’s Rest for more information.

  Have a nice day.

  A chill ran down Athos’s spine at the overly friendly message. Only one person could have locked it, and she wasn’t one to take back a favor she had given so lightly. That all but assured his tab was coming due. Well, there was no point in putting it off any further, so, with a deep breath, Athos turned back to the door on the far left and began the trek to where he knew a surly innkeeper must be waiting.

  It was a short walk, but then again, so was the proverbial long walk off of the short pier. It didn’t take long for him to be shown just how right he was.

  ***

  “Again!?” the voice blasted as he closed the door into the private rooms.

  Though there was no one else in the room to take the blame, Athos looked around, hoping there had been another target. There wasn’t, of course. Once the blame hit its target, Athos sighed, and he gave a sullen nod. “Again.”

  Today, Sammi, the innkeeper he had come to know, had on a worn, waist-length trench coat, knee shorts, fingerless gloves on each hand, and a button-up shirt with her trusty rapier resting on her hip. The blade wasn’t even needed to pierce his defenses as she began the tally off the damages: “A charred floor, damaged walls, and a drop of ten percent Integrity for the room itself.” That seemed to be the sticking point as she repeated, “Ten percent! How did you even manage that, Athos?”

  Before he could even answer, she held up a hand and finished for him. “No, wait... Let me guess. Night terrors again?”

  He knew Sammi was aware of his condition to an extent, but how much she understood was still up in the air. He had told her about the nightmares, but she waved them mostly away and compared it more to a form of PTSD that the Auxi should have been helping him through than a spontaneous generation of Wild Ones. He would gladly accept that answer if he, or anyone for that matter, could get a hold of one of them on his behalf. “Yeah.”

  “Of course it was.” Her caramel-tanned skin seemed slightly taunt around the edges of her face as she opened a calculation window and began the all-too-common task of tallying his damages. “At least it wasn’t the window again.”

  He winced at that. Due to the lack of trained glass workers in the city, the last window he broke was almost six hundred bytes by itself.

  The tally continued as she priced out building materials, put in a work order to the quest board at her usual rate, and turned to face him again. “Thirty-five polished floorboards, three beam replacements, plaster, and the worker to finish it comes to two thousand, eight hundred and six bytes.”

  The tally hit him like the ton of bricks. “I don’t have that much, Sammi.”

  The words only seemed to anger her like a poked bear. Her face reddened, and ever so slowly, her fist clenched just a bit tighter on the table in front of her. Before she spoke, Sammi took a deep breath and sighed.

  “Athos, we’ve been through this. I know you can’t use the key yourself, but you agreed to keep your own here. That includes damages.” She closed her eyes for a moment, took another deep breath, and let it out as she opened them again. “I take it you’re going out hunting for the day?” Athos nodded. “Clean-up will take me hours to finish with, so bring me the bytes by the end of the night. I’ll open it for you again once you’ve paid off the debt, but…” She gave him a sly grin before closing her windows, “You can always go stay with Walter if you don’t. Last I heard, you had been staying there from time to time.”

  He did not want to go down that route again after his last ‘visit,’ and the crimson blush on his face showed it. Word got around much faster than he would have liked. “I’m lucky I can even visit.”

  “Oh, come on. He had to know that was going to happen eventually. You two have been dating for what? A year and a half now?”

  “Almost two.” Athos nodded to her. It had been nearly two and a half years that he had been a part of Incipere, not counting his few weeks’ absence. He had met Sally Queen during his first few days as an Inciperian, thanks to her overly enthusiastic father, Walter Queen. They had talked, messaged, become friends, fought by each other’s side, and become something more. Something that made him truly feel like he belonged in Incipere. “Give or take a month, depending on when you consider us a thing.”

  Sammi let some more of the anger slosh from her shoulde
rs. She loved gossip, rumors, and all manner of information that could lead to anything profitable, just like any good innkeeper. “Like I said, he should have seen it coming. She’ll be hitting the adult milestone soon, and he’ll have to deal with his little girl growing up.”

  Just another thing he had come to accept with Sally’s sister, Emily, as a perfect example. Only a few weeks after she was born, she had transitioned into her second stage of life as a toddler. Now, two years later, she was bouncing around like a seven or eight-year-old in her third stage. As their bodies gained experiences and aged, an Inciperian moved from stage to stage as the system saw fit. He had never seen a Milestone transition himself, but he knew that eventually, he would have the option to transition into a full adult from young adult status. Well, he hoped anyways.

  “When that happens, he’ll probably blame me for corrupting his little girl and kick me off the property again.”

  Despite the annoyance figuratively dripping from his voice as the memories flooded back to his times waking up in the Sea of Grass alone and in his under ware, Sammi smiled. “He’s only done that… what? Twice now?”

  Again, Athos nodded. “If you include the arm incident, three times.”

  Sammi smirked with only a hint of sympathy for the young man. She did count that time he lost Sally’s arm to a Wild One invasion.

  “Alright, Athos. If you’re going to get this paid off, get your ass in gear. If I’m not here, I’ll have a deposit box in front of the room for you,” Sammi explained as she opened a new window and began checking her inventory. Slowly, her attention shifted from the alchemical arm, and she seemed to slowly lose interest in the situation as her smile melted into a look of concentration.

  Sammi venturing off-campus? Now that was a surprise. “You have a life outside of here?”

  Sammi’s attention snapped back to the comment, and she smirked just a bit at his observation. “I, in fact, do have a life outside of here, Athos.”

  “Now, that’s news to me. I thought the inn was your life.” Though Athos wasn’t one to point such things out. He was little better with his gathering, potion work, and lately, dungeon diving than he was at gathering gossip, but this delve was worth his attention.