Chapter 155: Bugs! (1/2)
From the time Flavia initiated her Trial, she returned barely two minutes later. When Rakna asked what her simulation had been, she said that she had been dropped in a small town where she had helped the residents to defend against a stampede of monsters.
Soon after, the rest of the group arrived, with Evelyn and Nyx being the first ones. Their simulation had respectively been a rescue mission and a subjugation mission, not unlike Rakna's. When they were finished, it was Allan and Marie's turn and both of them got a similar type; plain and simple protection. They were tasked to act as bodyguards for someone.
When they were all done, they stood in front of the pillar as Rakna formed the party through the System. The only way to travel between Plateaus without being separated was to be in a party and they all would need to be heading to a Plateau that they hadn't yet visited.
”This all reminds of those damn 'if's and 'else's,” Rakna grumbled as he sent the invites.
”What?” Marie was a bit confused.
”He's talking about programming. We learned coding in high school,” Allan explained. ”And I have to agree. I wouldn't be surprised if there were class instances for us with detailed coordinates of our travels in the Plateaus. If I were to guess, I'd say that we can't change Plateaus in a group when one of us already got there in the past is because they have coordinates that cannot be changed through that method.”
Everyone looked at him with genuinely surprised faces.
”Why are you all staring at me like that?”
”You're usually not that smart-sounding…” Flavia said unhesitatingly.
”Oh, come on! You know better than anyone here that I was always first in exams. Even more, I was the best when it comes to programming,” he stated with some amount of pride.
”Really?” Evelyn tilted her head.
”…what is this feeling of distrust I'm getting?” The blond muttered to himself more than anything.
”Well, you can believe him,” Rakna said blankly. ”He isn't bright but his propensity for all that is studying and technology cannot be underestimated.”
Allan figuratively cried at the sky. ”Bro, why'd you say that first part…” He grumbled and everyone chuckled at his distress.
”Anyway,” Rakna continued and opened the window to select Plateaus. ”Let's get going. All of us here should have the required strength to go straight to the 15th. Since we are all at least level 45.”
”True that.”
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The selection has been confirmed.
Scanning… skipping rights have been met.
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The Host, Rakna Xiorra, and his party will now be transferred to the Fifteenth Plateau, The Dark Woods. You will be automatically dropped at a random location in thirty seconds.
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Brace yourself for the spatial transfer.
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”Dark Woods, huh? Creepy.”
'Higure?' Rakna asked internally and the lioness hummed.
”{Nope. Never been there. I visited several Plateaus in my lifetime but this isn't one of them.}”
”{I could help with that,}” Fray said perkily. ”{This Plateau is as it sounds; it's a vast, dark, and treacherous forest. I would like to save the surprise but a small piece of advice for you; do not lower your guard after the transfer.}”
'How promising,' Rakna replied sarcastically and when the countdown came to an end, their group was swallowed by a burst of light.
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Meanwhile, in a room filled with all sorts of plushies and decorations, Eva was sitting on top of a queen-sized pink bed whilst furiously typing on a virtual keyboard.
”AAAHH! I hate this!” She yelled childishly and fell back on the bed whilst kicking air. She hugged one of her many pillows and whined. ”Too many bugs to fix,” she grumbled to herself.
Since meeting with the source of her headache, namely Rakna, she had been spending all her time making sure that what she had done to turn the lamia into a Host didn't become a problem.
”And it's getting harder than expected…” She added and sat up. ”Changing her nature was easy but the real hassle is to deal with the aftermath,” she muttered and started typing with one hand until something suddenly blinked in her eyes.
She pouted but her eyes glowed menacingly in contrast. ”What do you want?” She asked the figure that had silently appeared behind her. Without even looking back, she continued to work as she waited for an answer.
”Don't use that tone with me,” the figure spoke. ”Answer; why did you reroute the database so that you could do something as senseless as granting the demands of a fresh Host?”
Eva clicked her tongue. ”Because he's worth the investment,” she uttered.
”I don't believe it. Even if he is the relative of that man, letting him grow within our care is already enough. Furthermore, that Quest you gave him; there are plenty more capable of dealing with it. Some of them could easily trounce the Zero in a day.”
”As if they'd listen to me,” Eva retorted annoyed. ”And you know some of them are involved in it as well! And I don't even know which! What if the one I approached is actually a user of the Arena himself, huh? They are already expecting me to take care of them, I really don't need to give them a reason to be even more on guard right now, okay?!”
”…” The figure fell silent for a moment as the little girl panted after shouting. ”Don't make a mistake like this again in the future. This is my last warning to you. I will reset you if you continue to show this kind of behavior,” it said before vanishing.
”Coward; too scared of the Kind Demon finding out about the System,” Eva scoffed. She stopped typing and lied down on her bed. She only did it for show anyway.
Using contraptions such as screens and keyboards helped her to relax and it reduced the chances of conflicts between her programming and her humanity. There was a reason she had built herself the persona of a little girl. So that she could have something to fight back her hard-coded duty.
Truthfully, there were billions of processes running in her head at all times and even for an AI of her caliber, that was enough to make her lose herself in practicality and get rid of her ego to better perform her responsibility.
”As if I'd do something to please those shitheads,” she said and started giggling sinisterly. ”Let's see if they're still going to stay calm when Eternal Night discovers them. For that to happen, I need to trounce the system and make it unstable enough for Him to detect it. And Rakna Xiorra… you are the key,” she whispered with a grin.
”Mwahahaha-BEEP!” She laughed crazily before freezing when she heard an error go off. She eyed the red box flashing dangerously in her mind and her lips twitched.