Chapter 204

*Thanks again for watching over me.* I called out as I slipped down into the Netrunner Combat Zone through the bar-like entrance.

 

*Hey no problem. You bought food. So I’m just hanging around. Besides, it’s still interesting.* Malcolm confirmed and I nodded.

 

I had come to earn some XP. Or try to. I had maybe burned some bridges a bit too much trying to get every ounce of XP I could get last few times.

 

So I was planning on taking a different tact.

 

I slipped into a booth and like I expected, when I put my name up for combat. No one seemed interested.

 

That wasn’t entirely unusual though. Not everyone wanted to fight everyone. So I had to put up something a little extra.

 

*Reward: 1 hour code debugging assistance.*

 

Then I settled in. Most of the time people put up eddies if they were really new, or information. Some put up hacks, or things. But every netrunner I had run into had some deep desperate need to debug their code.

 

It didn’t take long before I got a message.

 

*Vortex: Debugging assistance. The fuck does that mean?*

 

I laughed at the question and responded honestly.

 

*Ghost in the Shell: Exactly what it sounds like. I debug code as a side gig. You can check with Yoko if you don’t believe me, she’s never complained about my work.*

 

*Vortex: I will.*

 

And the chat was closed. I shrugged and settled in. Answering a few questions from similar messages, but an hour passed without any hits.

 

Then I got a response.

 

*Vortex: Okay. Yoko confirms you aren’t a rezzer. I got a program I’ve been tinkering with.*

 

*Ghost in the Shell: Tell you what. I’m looking for something specific. I’ll look over your code, win or lose, in exchange, I want you to spam any Daemons you have at me.*

*Vortex: Okay what’s the scop you’re selling here?*

 

*Ghost in the Shell: Not Scop. I’m working on something, but I need more practice against every type of Daemon I can find. You can think of it like debugging. I’m trying to find the weaknesses in my skills.*

 

*Vortex: You know what? I don’t care what scop you’re shoveling. Yoko vouched and I need a set of eyes on my code. Deal.*

 

I smiled as the request for a duel went through.

 

Excellent.

 

It seems a bit of honey was all I needed to get the flys to show up.

 

—–

 

I raced around smiling as another group of Soldier Daemons came around the corner.

 

This had been a really good idea, not just because I was getting XP, but because I had come up with a really interesting thought.

 

My Onryo Hack. I had originally came up with the idea to fuck with people, but you know what it would be extremely effective against?

 

Daemons. I would need a few adjustments, but Daemons weren’t smart enough to realize what they were attacking wasn’t a real netrunner!

 

Once this was over, and once I finished debugging whatever Vortex wanted, I was going to spend some time updating my hack. Making it a bit more flexible would be nice.

 

I turned and started uploading [HEAT Bullet Mk.01] over and over, the tiny fire balls appearing, waiting for me to launch them.

 

Then as I was hitting the maximum I could handle, I sent them all off at once, and the Soldier Daemons were smashed apart.

 

*250 XP Gained.*

 

*250 XP Gained.*

 

*250 XP Gained.*

 

*250 XP Gained.*

 

Hehehe!

 

I moved on. Vortex might be willing to upload Daemons into the server while we fought, but she was still being aggressive too. She wanted this match to end.

 

A moment later where I had been was hit by an AOE virus, and the whole place started melting for a few seconds. But I was long gone, and I could hear her grumbles over the server audio as I moved on to harass her a bit more.

 

—–

 

I blinked as between one moment and the next I was out of the server.

 

Huh. She had actually managed to launch an attack that hit me. It was another large scale attack. She was good at them, that really surprised me. I would have to adapt some better defenses just in case someone like that tried to do it again.

 

Either way, this had been entirely worth it. After a long list of XP alerts I had earned it.

 

*250 XP Gained.*

 

*Level up achieved!*

 

*One Stat Point Gained.*

 

*One Skill Point Gained.*

 

It had been what distracted me enough that I hadn’t moved fast enough.

 

I stretched as I walked out of the lobby room and back into the bar like server level. There Vortex was already waiting for me, looking like she was going to attack me at any minute.

 

“Relax Choom, a deals a deal. Good hit by the way. I got distracted.”

“Hmm. Well come on then. Let’s use a private room. And don’t you dare start the clock until we actually start!”

I just raised my arms at the woman with glaring red eyes and gave her a calm down gesture.

 

Geeze did everyone just flake on the net when they made a promise?

 

I entered a small side room, and it was a cozy little lounge. I could feel the security on the space, and I took a moment to look it over before nodding. It actually was pretty safe as long as someone wasn’t watching through your line, like Malcolm was.

 

“Here’s the code. It bloats and fails to run after a certain point.” She said, sounding pissed, and I just nodded as I took her data transfer, ran it through every security check I had before being satisfied it was safe, and popping it up in a test environment.

 

“Hmmm.” I muttered as I looked it over. Nearly instantly seeing the problem.

 

Vortex was shit at coding.

 

90% of this program was frankensteined together with other code. “Okay I’m going to pause your timer here.” I said and she twitched as I looked away from the code. “Gonna be honest this is a mess of code, so you got two options. I can either start fixing it, from start to finish, which I’ll doubt I’ll finish in one go. That means you’ll need to fight me again in the arena another time. Or I start highlighting and giving you advice about errors I’m seeing and you can try and use that to fix it yourself.”

“Can you actually fix it?”

“This is… Some kind of skimming code right? To-”

“Hey! Don’t fucking talk about it!” She snapped and I raised my hands.

 

“Okay choom. I’m a professional, and I don’t care what you do with it. Yes I know how to fix it.”

“Then do it. I’ll throw daemons and nukes at you as much as you want.” She snapped, and I just laughed.

“Alright let me get started. You want my commentary or for me to just get at it?”

“Just do it.”

“Alright.”

 

—–

 

“So what’s the deal with Vortex?” Malcolm asked and I shrugged.

 

“Pretty sure she’s trying to skim eddies out of some machine. Maybe she works at a bank or something.” I offered. “She had the machine code in the program, but I’m not going to stick my nose into it.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Gotcha.” He offered and then to my delight offered me a plate of still warm noodles.

 

“Thanks choom.”

I dug in and the two of us chatted for a while as we ate, but my mind and eyes were on my stat screen.

 

Level 21

 

Body 9(17) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 8.

-Athletics 7

-Street Brawler 8

-Annihilation 5

 

Reflex 9(15) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 6.

-Blades 8

-Handguns 8

-Assault 8

-Driving 7

Intelligence 13 (14) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.

-Breach Protocol 12

-Quick Hacks 9

-Programming 13

 

Cool 10

-Ninjutsu 10

-Cold Blood 8

-Rockerboy 9

 

Technical Ability 8 (12) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.

-Crafting 6

-Engineering 7

 

1 Stat point.

8 Skill point.

Perks.

Ambidextrous Blades 2

Quickdraw Handguns 2

Gun Nut Assault 2

Parkour Athletics 2

Grappling Street Brawler 2

Drive By Driving 2

Cat-like Athletics 5

Cool Nerves Cold Blood 2

Danger Sense Ninjutsu 2

Wall Breaking Breach Protocol 2

Cyber Security Quick Hack 2

Recoil Reduction Annihilation 2

Cyber Ninja Ninjutsu 5

Fearless Chill Cold Blood 5.

Improvised Weapons Street Brawler 5

Parry Blades 5

Robotics wizard Crafting 2

Drifting Driving 5

Rapid Reload Handguns 5

Design Wizard Engineering 2

Rifle Ace Assault 5

Ghost touch Breach 5