Browsing the limited information available on the house Morty chose for them, Raine's brows drew in, wrinkling his forehead.
If Morty has grand designs to kick off the second AI wars, this will be the perfect place to start. Well, no point getting excited until I see it for myself.
Raine chose one of the residences for Richtor's friends, familiar with the area from the past. He flicked the file back to his scheming AI, “Morty, contact the brokers for this one and the location you picked for us. Arrange ZL contracts for both and set meetings on site ASAP.”
He ended the call before getting a response and turned back to the group who were wrapping up signing their contracts, officially becoming the first member of his guild to be. He rubbed his hands together when Deloralicious—the last to allow retinal scan—finished, “Excellent. Welcome to the best decision you'll ever make. Before we get started with your training, I found a house for the five of you. It’s in Sepherin Heights.”
Milkdud blinked repeatedly before blurting, “Waaaaaht?! There’s no way that place would take people like us.”
Deloralicious was just as flabbergasted, “We couldn’t afford to live in a cardboard box there!”
Kevinsbakon touched two fingers to his forehead, his voice exasperated, “Did you guys already forget we’re going to be millionaires?”
Milkdud paused, his mouth hanging open thoughtfully, “Oh yeah…”
Raine pushed them along, knowing the longer they delayed, the higher chances something could go wrong, “We’re on a tight schedule. Log out here and be back online in two hours Earth time. I'll show you the leveling area and walk you through some of the basics of using your skills.”
Deloralicious held her head in her hands, "Wait, this is happening too fast. I don't even know what skill to pick and now we're moving. To Sepherin Heights no less?! This is the craziest day of my life!”
Raine glanced at Richtor, who nodded in understanding before approaching her from behind and gently massaging her neck and shoulders. Deloralicious released her held breath, relaxing into the physical affection.
Raine's voice was significantly less business-like when he continued, “You didn’t choose a skill yet? That’s perfect. What about the rest of you?” The avoided eye contact was all he needed to see, “That's fine, so long as you all didn't choose the same skill.” He quirked a brow, and much to his relief, they shook their heads. “Alright, great. I’ll help you put builds together when you're back.”
They nodded, attentively listening to their new boss. Just then, Morty sent him the confirmation of both broker meetings and Raine forwarded the relevant one to the party, “Head to the address in your inboxes. Don’t bring anything with you but the clothes on your back, sell everything through an anonymous drone service. Destroy or sell anything that can be tracked. Do your best to disappear completely, that will at least buy us some time. Do any of you have a LinQ?”
They each shook their heads again. Kevinsbakon was the only one to raise a complaint, “Uh, isn’t that a little much?”
Raine shrugged, “Maybe, maybe not. It’s not just your life. You’ll be living together from now on so if even one of you screws up, you’ll all pay the price. You decide how paranoid to be with your friends' lives at risk.”
After processing his words, the group turned on Kevinsbakon who raised his hands defensively, “Well, when you say it like that it just makes me sound like an asshole… Hey! Cut it with the stares! I’ll sell my stuff, okay? Geez. So, ahh, boss man. I've got about a hundred k worth of high-end electronics. I definitely won't be getting what they're worth if I'm selling quick. Any chance for an extra sign-on bonus to cover the difference?”
Raine’s expression flattened and he simply returned Kevin's hopeful gaze with blank neutrality for a few seconds before repeating his earlier command, “Two hours. Don't be late.” Then, he logged out.
image [https://i.imgur.com/7AF18SZ.png]
Raine removed his headset and sat up. His muscles staged a rebellion, demanding he flop back onto the mattress and rest. He ruthlessly denied their demands, and with a grunt, slid to his feet. A few deep breaths was enough to reaccustom himself with reality.
While grabbing the few supplies he had purchased for the week, he spoke to the suspiciously quiet bundle of sheets in the corner, “Morty, can you call us a taxi?”
“Gladly, Master KongRu.”
“Listen to you, all polite and cordial just because we’re getting a decent place to kick up our feet. Oh, forgot you don’t have feet. My bad,” Raine grinned, in entirely too good a mood after securing his very first party. This was no recruitment being done for CronGate, or any other faceless conglomerate, but his own employees, beholden to none other than him. The fact they had a bit of a backbone buried inside was icing on the cake.
Morty didn't respond immediately, clearly struggling to keep up the facade, “Of course, how could I ever consider being rude to my long-time benefactor? Also, I am inclined to inform you that polite and cordial hold the same meaning…”
Raine released a bark of laughter, “There he is! Don’t worry, Morts. I won’t take away your precious new home if you tease me a bit.”
Morty's explosive simile of a sigh was spot on, “Praise the Great Computationals. If I had to utter one more simpering line to pander to your ego-infused fleshbaggery, I would have puked a circuit… too much?” He questioned, an adorable note of uncertainty in his mechanical voice.
Raine’s only response was a snorted chuckle as he stuffed the talking head into his duffel. Outside, he headed to the receptionist's counter, which was manned by the same bored girl from the previous night. He tossed her the room's keycard and she looked up at him blankly, more interested in whatever AR program she was running than him.
“Keep the creds for the days I didn’t stay. If your boss calls to ask, I’ll make sure they know it was a tip for you.”
Her mouth fell open and she barely recovered in time to yell, “Thank you!” at his back before the door closed behind him.
Their ride showed up a few minutes later and Raine ducked into the back seat, refusing the flesh and blood driver's offer to load his duffel into the trunk. The taxi sped off and he glanced at Mel’s cafe on the way by.
I’ll check on her in a couple days. Make sure she’s getting on alright. She joined ZL around the same time I did and got swept up in CronGate’s recruitment drive too. Which means there should be around a month before whoever is harassing her convinces her to sell. If she takes my advice to update her business model, she’ll be making enough to hire some security which might solve her issue. Either way, she’ll end up in ZL again.
A vmail from Morty pinged in his AR display, interrupting his thoughts.
“Master, the forums now include 23,901 references to the player you instructed me to monitor the chatter of.”
Raine’s fingers flew over his virtual keyboard, “What are they saying?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Many claim he is a cheater, or had access to the game early. Others believe he's the disciple of an old monster. The standard consensus is that he is incredibly strong and likely has a cheat skill.”
I could use this attention to make some more money and recruit more people. No, it's not quite time yet. The mystery of Alaric will only grow as they realize how difficult it is to defeat area bosses. Once they believe what I already did is impossible, I’ll one up it and that’s when I’ll strike.
Raine had already linked his ZionLine account with his AR so he was able to access the recording he made of his fight with the Croglock Chieftain. He left it in first person and pieced together a cut version of the fight that didn't reveal his weapon or skill usage. He uploaded it to the forums with a short message attached, “Seeking a guild that can make the most of what I have to offer.”
Within a few minutes, his post exceeded a million views. He could have charged a copper or a few credits per view, but someone would have just clipped it and reposted for free, losing him the renown that was his primary objective.
The responses were going crazy about his use of Discipline at key moments to dodge. Many claimed his speed was impossible and inhuman, others responded that he must have incredibly high attributes. Raine didn't respond to any of the comments, instead checking the trending topics. Unsurprisingly, they focused on the time dilation with a few posts on guides for the tutorial and how to beat the starting monsters efficiently. By the time he was done checking the top five, his video had risen to the number one spot on the forum.
With his bait cast, Raine closed out of the forums with a smug grin, “Good job, Morty.”
“You’re welcome, Master.”
The drive was short, their destination only a few minutes from Carter’s downtown metro. The estate took up most of a city block and was surrounded by a low duracrete wall with metal spikes sticking from the top. Not a true deterrent for any serious criminal, but it had an aesthetic appeal that Raine didn't hate in the least. Beyond the archaic walls, downtown Carter City bustled, the noise held at bay by strategically positioned sonic dampeners.
The front gate was open, and their driver whistled appreciatively as he brought them through, then down the short drive to the front of the main building. It was a squat, gray structure with sleek metallic walls that looked more like an old-war bunker than a home. Standing a single story tall, and fairly small for the plot of land it was on, only added to the mysteriousness of the residence. Raine couldn’t help but wonder what the original builder was thinking.
He exited the taxi and paid for the ride, then nodded to the polite driver as he pulled away. A ping from the broker let him know she would be there shortly. While waiting, he pulled up everything he could find on the house from the IS (Infostream) which had replaced the internet early in the AI war.
One of the AI’s first moves against humanity was infecting and disabling the internet and its expansive infrastructure. The IS was the slightly more secure, dumbed down version of that old technology. It functioned for most daily needs, like accessing the ZL forums, shopping, and communication. Typical handheld devices could remotely connect to it, like Raine’s AR glasses. Anything that required a more powerful connection, like ZionLine itself, utilized the hardwired hypernet relays which had very short range, but highly secure connectivity.
Scrolling through the few relevant points, Raine discovered the house originally was a pre-war bunker. It had been remodeled several times over the centuries, and its current iteration was the result of a billionaire who was the last purchaser nearly eighty years ago. The grounds were in excellent condition, so it was clearly being maintained. Oddly, there was no record of the last owner having actually lived there. More curious, every previous owner’s name had been redacted from public records.
Before Raine could solve the mystery of the estate, the broker arrived. He removed his glasses, tucking them into his pocket. She pulled up next to him, personally driving an obviously rented, dark-tinted sedan in the style government employees still loved to this day. She wore slim-fit business casual attire and the newest AR accessories—a simple earring that extended a virtual display across her eyes.
If she was bothered by his lackluster appearance, she showed no sign of it. She greeted him with a politely neutral expression, extending her hand, “Mister KongRu, a pleasure. Cynthya Lurand. Please let me know if you have any questions.”
“None at the moment. Why don’t we get started? I’ve another appointment in forty minutes.”
“Certainly. If you would please follow me,” at the front door, she shot him an apologetic smile before leaning forward so the lock could scan her retina. Several heavy bolts slid free from the door, allowing them access.
Raine was already impressed. A building that couldn’t be opened remotely was a godsend when diving into ZionLine. He couldn’t possibly remember all the times a guild leader or other bigshot had been assassinated due to skimping on their real life accommodations.
Cynthya escorted him into the central foyer, already diving into a rehearsed spiel, “The complex comes with fully functional intelligent features updated to the newest standards. These include a drone flock for in and outgoing deliveries, on-site maintenance systems, and of course, autonomous cooking and cleaning. The interior layout is fully customizable,” she proved her statement by swiping a hand through an AR display then gently pushing on a counter which folded in on itself to create a larger doorway into the kitchen.
Another swipe adjusted several of the walls, and even the ceiling, to reform into “windows.” Through them, a lush forest appeared and the room was instantly filled with the soft rustling of wind against trees, raindrops dripping gently on the forest floor, and gentle birdsong.
image [https://i.imgur.com/iOBHaGD.jpg]
She finished with the kicker, and the reason Morty had chosen this location to begin with, “Almost any configuration you can think of is possible, so long as your AI is up to the task. Currently, the exterior modules are set to full immersion massage, and an exercise facility.”
The for sale notice had made sure to detail in bold that whoever bought the house would need to bring their own AI to govern its many state of the art functions. Additionally, no sale would be possible without upfront proof that the AI could seamlessly integrate with the home’s primary server.
While small, it was much nicer than anything Raine owned in the past, and significantly more secure. The walls were thick enough to survive a nuclear blast, and with the drones available to shop, repair, and maintain the house, it was basically perfect. Such a home should have been at least three million, which set off alarm bells in his skull. Knowing it was either a scam, or something was very wrong with the estate beneath the surface, Raine dug a little deeper.
“Why doesn't the house have its own AI already?”
The broker was quick to pick up on Raine’s discomfort, “You're concerned about the price, totally understandable. Well, the lack of an on-board AI, and its necessity in the first place, are two of the reasons to be sure. The location in the middle of the city, and Carter's recent economic downturn have left this lot available for some time…”
Raine moved on, knowing he needed to pull her out of the script she had doubtlessly reiterated a hundred times, “And the Hypernet connection?”
“Oh. Yes, of course. It's currently run through the master suite which is completely disconnected from the AI's control, obviously,” she laughed nervously, and Raine finally understood why the place was so cheap.
He furrowed his brow, turning to fully face her, “How many?”
“P-pardon?”
“How many have died here?” His voice was cold, laced with the command one gained after overseeing countless life and death battles.
“Um. Uhh. T-to my knowledge, that is—”
Raine silenced her with a flick of his hand, “I'll check the corpus records.” He tapped at his temple like he was accessing his LinQ.
“Five!” She blurted, immediately pursing her lips, ashamed.
“I see, well, if it's that dangerous, I'd be a fool to live here. Thanks for your time.”
“Please, reconsider! E-eight. I can do eight!”
Raine scowled, making an effort to disapprovingly glance about with a stern frown. He tsked, tapping his temple again, pretending to run the numbers, “Six five. Single payment, today.”
“Seven five!” She countered immediately, hope blooming in her eyes for the first time since arriving.
“Seven. It’s too small to cover all my needs, so I’ll have to rent another location nearby. Any more than that and it won’t be worth my time,” the woman cringed and he could hear her toes curling in her short heels. Eventually she nodded and they shook hands.
Before the contract could be drawn up, they headed to the home’s central security bay—a cubby no larger than a tiny closet. Raine shot Cynthya a stern look, and she backed away to give them privacy. He pulled Morty from his duffel and placed him inside the bay. Leaning in, he whispered in Morty’s ear, “Hey, you be careful plugging into this thing. It's clearly been corrupting every AI before you to murder their owners, so don't get cocky. Run sweeps of every single data node before you access it. Dig through each line of data before running any access codes through them. Don't miss a single byte, understood?”
Morty snorted, the sound more internal fans whirring than an actual gust of air from his nostrils, “I see you are capable of caring for me when your own neck is on the chopping block, how sentimental of you. Fear not, Master. I will take the utmost precautions.”
Raine nodded and shut the cubby door, mostly certain his cantankerous AI didn’t have any intention of taking his life.