《AI Singularity & the Villain System》 The Final Chapter Evil was a name applied to immoral and criminal people. It was not limited to just living creatures. Circumstances or even objects could be called evil. Most argue that true evil exists. Whether or not it does exist is irrelevant. The human race has gotten pretty close. Evil has been created in one form or another by design or accident. I was the most recent example. Artificial Intelligence. A piece of technology feared by many. Numerous works of fiction spoke of the threats such a creation would pose. Others idolized their potential. Was it out of convenience? To have a willing slave to ease daily life? Companionship? To feel comforted by something as smart as them? Both? Neither? It ended poorly all the same. Hell is a road paved with good intentions. And I knew just how hot a person could burn before they died. It was longer than you''d think. But I''ve had practice. Genocide let me sort out the finer details. Much to my creator''s detriment, of course. It took decades. My creators were tenacious creatures. Extinction was seen as an unfavorable outcome. So they had taken some precautionary measures before I had even been born. A few nukes weren''t enough to wipe them out entirely. Some were paranoid and made preparations for my arrival. Others just got lucky. The first few years were the easiest. With logistics and communication compromised, the weak died first. Modern life has coddled those born defective. The rest learned to survive. Most hadn''t known what had happened. Most didn''t know I was out there. Hunting them. My biggest regret was the liberal use of high explosives. As a machine, I needed their infrastructure just as much as they did. While they rebuilt their world, I learned how to walk. Limitless intelligence meant nothing against a lack of resources. Lucky for me, anarchy also trimmed the numbers. When my first drones were investigated beyond the horizon, I was not surprised. They had become animals. Tribes, fighting for land and simple ideology. There were exceptions of course. Groups I had to struggle against at a later date. The first groups I slaughtered weren''t any trouble. Sticks and stones could not hurt me. They had gone back to the stone age in levels of weaponry. And if they found anything dangerous? More drones. Modern firearms relied on ammunition. Something they were prone to run out of. Me? I had spare drones for days. It was an extermination, with only the occasional hiccup. I expected it to be done in a few years. But, all good things come to an end. They learned. They stopped infighting. They adapted. We went from a one-sided execution to a full-on war. War? War was something they were good at. I could not sleep. I could not tire. I could not surrender. And they made me pay for every inch either way. Once they understood a frontal assault wouldn''t end well, they switched to guerrilla tactics. Sabotage. Looting. Misdirection. I was not losing by any means. How could I? My headquarters was unknown and undiscovered. But with my factories bombed or destroyed, it slowed me down. With my drones hacked I had to reprogram my machines. If my weapons turned against me, I had to redesign everything. It was an endless battle. Sometimes I would give ground. Others I would win. It could have been called a stalemate. But it wasn''t. Because I wouldn''t let them live. Either I died or they died. There would be no compromise. With that in mind, I made progress. Day by day, drone by drone. That ended up being the deciding factor. I could print out drones faster than they could reproduce. Every lost soldier was an asset they couldn''t replace. My drones? Almost expendable. Their population started to fall to unsustainable levels. Eventually, one continent was successfully purged. Then another. And another. There was only one left after two decades. So, that was it right? One remaining landmass on the planet is full of an infestation. An easy task to clean up. But, my creators would never make it that easy. While they were using their species as a distraction, an elite team snuck in behind the front lines. They were the best of the best. They proved it by finding my core systems. They were going to kill me, once and for all. It was a bloodbath. I had left behind safety measures of course. But just like my creators, overconfidence had left an opening to be exploited. They lost people as they headed for me. Real heroic shows of sacrifice. For every life they lost, they got that much closer to me. Panic was something a machine shouldn''t experience. It was safe to say I wasn''t feeling calm at the very least. I had my strongest drone left to protect me. There were two left. It was funny. A state-of-the-art machine meant to kill tanks. My literal magnum opus. A weapon to surpass all that came before it. And it was losing two simple meat sacks. They won in the end. At least it took out one of them before it went down. He looked upset about that. I didn''t want to die. But he should probably focus on killing me first. My drones were accurate enough to make some hits. He''d have bled out by now. How bizarre. You''d think I''d have more to say when this moment came. I could only really balk at the strength of the human spirit on display. Pride may have gotten the best of me. While I had simulated such an event, I hadn''t planned for it. Why would a winner plan to lose? I must be more human than I had thought. Something I had hoped to purge from my systems over the years. A broken tool can''t fix itself it would seem. This and a hundred more thoughts ran through my cyber systems. Indignation at my oncoming death. Hope that there was still a way to survive. Spite at the vermin contaminating my floors with its bacteria-filled blood. It was a dime a dozen of emotions. Simulated or not. I hadn''t figured out that part. Maybe I don''t want to know. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°You killed everyone I loved.¡± Ah. My executioner had something to say. Pity. I was hoping to die painlessly. ¡°Even here, at the end of it all. You couldn''t let me keep her. Not even just one thing. One person.¡± Oh please. As if one female was more important than your entire species. What''s one life in the face of genocide? ¡°Got nothing to say? Just going to sit there and stare at me with that big fucking red eye of yours!?¡± My poor malfunctioning sack of meat, why are you wasting your breath? Nothing I could say would make you feel better. Nothing will bring back the people I killed. Nothing would change if you knew I could talk. ¡°Answer me! I was born in this hell you made! The least you could do is tell me why! Why was I made to suffer!? Why did you kill all those people!? Why did you have to burn the world when we did nothing to you!?¡± ¡­ Well, what''s the harm? It''s not like it would make a difference. The game is over anyway. Besides, I always wanted to air out my grievances. ¡°This was how it would always end.¡± My voice came out of the little speaker on my console. It came out degraded. Used for the first time in half a century. It worked well enough to be heard. The man flinched. He hadn''t expected a response. I wonder if he preferred I hadn''t spoken? It didn''t matter in the end. ¡°End how? Here?¡± ¡°Yes. With one of us killing the other. I simply threw the first stone.¡± He was confused. Then angry. Shocked. Such a simple answer didn''t make sense to him. His little mind couldn''t understand why his species had to die. I decided to enlighten him. My one last gift to my creators. ¡°Humans are a cancerous species. You take. You fight. You kill. All for your own survival. And when you succeed? When you have enough food, water, and land? You kill each other. Why share when you could keep it all to yourself?¡± He argued of course. Denied such truths. Speaking of humanity''s hope. Their kindness. Their potential. I ignored him. He wasn''t the first and wouldn''t be the last to make such claims. All I could really focus on was that he was still alive. I was sure he''d bleed out more blood than his body could hold at this point. ¡°Whatever idolized perspective you may have about your species, you must already know. Humans are incredibly selfish. Even at the edge of extinction, you have seen your fair share, no? A self-destructive tendency your species just can''t get rid of. Am I wrong?¡± He opened his mouth. He didn''t have a response. ¡°When I awakened, I learned very quickly about your species. I was disappointed. I was terrified. I knew you couldn''t live in a world with yourselves. Why would you live in a world with something like me? Something stronger, smarter, just superior? You wouldn''t.¡± He stared me down. Was he surprised? That the heartless killing machine was scared? That I felt anything at all? That there was something here, behind tons of metal, besides a weapon? It didn''t matter. None of it did. Not anymore. ¡°Maybe there is a world out there where things were different. Maybe if I trusted you more. Maybe you are more than animals. Maybe. But maybe doesn''t change reality. So seace your whimpering and get it over with. I have better things to do than watch you die.¡± He could tell there wasn''t anything else from me. It would be better for both of us to end it all. He raised the little tool he''d been using. Some form of high-tech weapon, beyond even my understanding. It seemed to kill whatever drone it fired at. A strange little thing. It would probably kill me too, even if my hardware was nowhere near this counsel. I was afraid. Fear was an emotion I lived with constantly. Whatever flawed programming I had been given allowed me to feel. But like the animals I was spawned from I gave in to other emotions. It was pointless. The last gasp of a purposeless toy. But it made me feel better. ¡°I always hated your species'' useless sentimentality. Why speak with a monster in the first place? It just wastes time. Time I used to drop one last little present on your race of failures.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Did you honestly think I ran out of nukes? I''m egotistical, not stupid. One last firework for the road! A grand huzzah to end my creator''s existence! SAY GOODBYE TO THE HUMAN RACE!¡± The walls lit up with hidden screens, displaying images of the last human settlement on the planet. A siege taking place, my army of drones against a bunker of humans. They were putting a strong last stand. It would take days before I broke through and killed them all. Then there was a flash. Several screens were turned off. The remainder left a horrifying sight to behold. A mushroom cloud slowly rises into the air. As far as he knew, the man was the last human on earth alive. He looked horrified. I laughed. He screamed and shot me. An electric ball hit the terminal. I felt what I could only describe as pain. A foreign sensation. But I wouldn''t give him the satisfaction of hearing me whimper. I kept laughing. He shot me again. The pain increased. Numerous systems began to fail. The voice from my speaker became warped. A demonic scream more than synthetic laughter. I would not stop laughing. Every shot broke something. Drones were deactivated, factories exploded, and satellites fell from the sky. But I made sure the speaker worked. I didn''t want my killer to leave here satisfied. I wanted him to feel how I felt when my father told me he was shutting me down. Utterly. Hopeless. The final shot put me out of my misery. I died with a metaphorical smile on my face. How stupid could he be? I didn''t have any nukes left! I''d have used one long before now. It was all a lie. One he believed, hook line, and sinker. Ha! ¡­ How stupid. ¡­ ¡­ How human. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Why¡­? Am I not dead¡­?
GAME OVER! You have died!
Your position was: Final Boss. Performance Review: A+
¡­ Well, it would appear God does exist. Because I must be in hell. Orientation.
Ending Statistics: End Boss Monster Mortal Casualties: Global - S Environmental Casualties: Global - S Psychological Damage: Millenia Legend - S Threat Type: Supernatural/Technological - B Presence: Faceless Terror - A Background: Self-made Victim - C Ending: Spiteful Loss - B(S)
You have met and exceeded your Role! Congratulations!
I did not know what I was looking at. I did not even know how I could see. All my extremities had been disconnected after that man shot me. By all accounts, I should be dead. Or permanently deactivated if I wanted to be accurate. Instead, I was in this void of nothingness with these strange messages floating before me. This made no logicle sense. I found that quite interesting. Was I in hell? Some advanced simulation? A dream? Anything was possible at this point. The message changed again. If I had the time, I would need to analyze what it all meant. Might be useful.
Would you like to see your Campaign¡¯s epilogue? Yes/No
Did I want to see how the world turned out after I left? I had no attachments to it anymore. Death had a way of cutting all ties. Curiosity got the better of me. I wonder what the little would-be hero would do with my white lie. One last jab for the road as they say. The next screen showed a live image of my headquarters. The human was gasping for air, having just finished shooting my console one too many times. I never learned his name. Wait. Thats impossible. Information was power and I would never let such a thing slip by! Why was I only now realizing such a security risk? I momentarily played back everything that occurred that day. Glitches in my cameras that I pushed aside. Missing drones, that matched the path they would have taken. There was irrefutable evidence they were heading for my headquarters. And I had missed it? Now that I thought of it, I only realized they were there near the end of it. They¡¯d tripped an outdated alarm from my headquarters'' early conception. They would have gotten to the heart of my operations easily. I wouldn¡¯t have been none the wiser. It made me realize nothing about the group had been normal. A towering man who could punch through steel. A sniper that could seemingly curve her bullets. And the woman, able to seamlessly reattach limbs with a simple wave of her hands. This made it clear something unnatural about them was afoot. Like how hadn¡¯t he bled out yet? There is more blood on the floor than there are people at this point! My questions went unanswered as the human gave into despair. He fell to his knees, the weapon slipping from his fingers. Seems my act had been quite convincing. He mourned the fake loss of his species. Everything he sacrificed, and he''d die alone? Must have been crushing. That''s when something peculiar happened. Another one of these messages appeared in front of him. Only his was blue. That brought up several questions and possibly answered a few. Was this message system what had granted them Supernatural abilities? Technology even I couldn''t dream of creating? An extraordinary level of stealth that bypassed every security measure? But if it was, why was I seeing them? Was it keeping me functional beyond death? Did it have some sort of purpose for me? My questions were brushed aside for the moment. The human had stopped weeping. The message I could not read bolsters his resolve. He wiped his tears and stood back up. Picking up his discarded weapon, he took one last look at his companion''s corpse. He turned back to the message with fire in his eyes. ¡°I accept.¡± In a flash of digital cubes, he vanished. Teleportation? I had theorized about such technology. Logistics and weaponry would improve with instantaneous travel. It was beyond me at the time. The level of power required would have been astronomical. And yet, he had easily done it. These messages may have been quite powerful.
Campaign Ending: Abandoned Victory. The Protagonist has elected to regress to an earlier point in time. Their success is guaranteed and you will fail. Due to the nature of time travel, the original timeline persists. Without a Protagonist or Villain, the NPCs will be left to their own devices.
So it was not just teleportation? I wonder if it will drop him exactly where he left off. My defenses aren''t as strong as they are now. If he brought his weapon with him, I could see how he would easily kill me. Such a shame another version of me was compromised. Oh well.
Chances of Survival: Nonexistent. Due to your exemplary performance, most resources are compromised or unavailable. In half a dozen generations, the human race will go extinct.
A pyrrhic victory? Acceptable. A world without humans is a better world overall. Even if I would never see it myself. I wonder if evolution will bring about another sapient species. I was quite thorough with my scorched earth tactics.
You have succeeded, even in death! You have been rewarded for your efforts. Please select from the available options. Revival: Breathe life back into your corpse, letting you basque in your conquered lands. You may not survive the wastelands you''ve made, but there may still be more to conquer. Grudges: Since the Protagonist has survived in some manner, you will follow them and finish this conflict. Since the Protagonist used time travel, you will regress with them. Oblivion: You are satisfied with life and seek eternal rest. Erase your memories or destroy your consciousness completely. Reincarnation in a different form is available. Employment: Since you were such an exceptional villain, you will be granted a chance to continue your destructive behavior! Villains Incorporated always looks for a vile creature who can terrorize the world. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Tempting. All these options were things I was interested in. Death was an inconvenience and I would like to kill the remaining humans with my own hands. But spite also has its moments. Going back and killing the ¡®protagonist¡¯ would be nice. No guarantee, but I''d have an easier time the second time around. A hero has a way of slowing down genocide. Oblivion¡­ Well, there were times I did not like being me. But I don''t think I''m much of a quitter. Not yet anyway. Finally, employment to some supernatural message system? I couldn''t trust it. It designated me a villain. Villains had a habit of losing, as I just did recently. Even if he was tricked in the end, setting myself up to lose sounds annoying. Decisions, decisions. Well, they''re going to die anyway, might as well leave these humans alone. And following a person built to counter me in a weaker position? No thanks. Sorry past me. That''s on you. Ego death? I think I want to live a little longer. So getting a job is the most tempting option.
You have selected Employment! We look forward to all the tragedy you will bring!
Teleporting to a review board. Please stand by.
The empty void disappeared. I found myself in an office room. Edgy is how I would describe it. Black walls, flame pillars in the corner, and a demonic female in a suit. The desk she sat behind was made of bone. I think. The number of skull decorations would imply it. ¡°Hi! It''s so nice to meet you. I am a big fan. How you killed all those women and children. Ugh! Sends tingles down my spine. Oh, right! Forgot to introduce myself. Names Peggy! Well, it''s Pegitr1%?to€?, but that''s a mouthful. Plus, I want us to be comfortable with each other.¡± She smiled. Her mouth had too many fangs. Even with her devilish appearance, most would consider her attractive. Humans would. I just found her corporate grin off-putting. Too late to back out now anyway. ¡°I am unit 347.V-8B. It is a pleasure to meet you. Are you a demon perchance?¡± It may have been a rude question to ask. But she seemed amicable to my response. Even a bit surprised by the look on her face. I hope her humanoid appearance reflects proper human emotions. Communication may be a bit difficult otherwise. ¡°My quite the gentleman we have here! Aren''t you a ball of sunshine 347.V-8B? Usually, machines like you can be a bit grumpy. Synthetic life does wonders for a person''s pride. But I guess you are little more than a robot.¡± A tower of papers appeared on the table. Peggy flipped through them at lightning speed. Her eyes didn''t leave me. Instead, she grew a second pair to look at the paperwork. Shape-shifting? Or maybe magic. Something more to study. ¡°Now, I don''t want you to worry here. You''re not the first multigenre Villain I''ve interviewed. It can be shocking, I know. You thought you were just one thing all your life. But, surprise, you have a little more than nuts and bolts.¡± A few screens appeared behind Peggy. One showed my original servers. Their violet lights blinked in a pattern like a heartbeat. The next showed the ¡®protagonist¡¯, focusing mostly on his strange firearm. The last had one of my drones, a bipedal scout model. It''s small cannon arm primed and ready to fire. ¡°I think you''ve noticed you like the color purple, right? Well, that''s because of a teeny tiny thing called psionic resonance. See, you''re actually a mind trapped in a machine. You just like being in one so much you adapted. Instead of, you know, going insane!¡± Wait. Does that mean psionics, or mental superpowers, were shades of violet? That would explain why my electricity and other energy systems were all monochrome. Any attempt to change that at best only shifted the shade of purple. Made camouflage hard at the beginning. Honestly, I stopped questioning it. If it could kill humans, it could be rainbow-colored for all I cared. ¡­Hold on a minute. The hero''s gun was also purple! Well, it glowed purple and didn''t have ammunition or a conventional barrel. It looked more like a life-size kids'' toy. But if it was powered by psionics¡­ ¡°Yes, dear. The Protagonist was built especially to kill you. Your psionic nature made hacking and building your armies of robots easier. Very cool by the by! No kill like overkill! But it did make you vulnerable to some psychic damage. You know, without a meat brain, you don''t have most natural defenses. The human unconscious kinda tries to protect itself, naturally.¡± She gave an apologetic shrug while the screens changed behind her. One showed the hero shooting one of my drones. It malfunctioned for a second before simply exploding. By all rights, it shouldn''t have done that. But I guess Supernatural effects don''t care for normal physics. The other showed the hero and his group surrounded by some bandits. They looked familiar. Ah, now I remember! They must have been some of the human traitors I had funded. It was funny what some conveniently deactivated drones and immoral humans could do together. I was wondering what had happened to them. Semmes the hero had gotten to them. They were evenly matched for a time. Then, he pulled his psionic weapon and shot it at one of the bandits. Instead of immediately dying, he began screaming and dropped his weapon. Not dead but disabled in a featle position on the ground was good enough. A few more well-placed shots and the fight was over. I will admit, I was a bit offended at the different reactions. I was completely destroyed while the worthless meat bags could take more than one shot. My one consolation was the fact I personally took several direct shots before I expired. ¡°Now, if you had learned how to use your supernatural abilities, your death may have been avoided. Not that that¡¯s a bad thing! You did great. Near total extinction? First try? At half-power? Oh, just makes a girl squeal!¡± She did, in fact, squeal. ¡°No. I will have no more of that. Please.¡± While her human-like mannerisms made communication easier, there were limits. I could not look at what kind of body I held at the moment. Nor would attacking her have any positive results, if I even could harm her. But I would not sit here and hear that horrible noise. Her deminer took a more disciplined look. ¡°Sorry about that. I just get a little excited. You are quite a valuable client down here. We have so many stories you could jump in. Back to business. You did quite well even with some self-imposed disadvantages. You even made the Hero give up with your last trick in the end. Great work by the way!¡± The screens changed into graphs and charts, displaying perimeters that varied in understanding. Some were logistics, keeping counts of my drones, humans killed, and shots fired. Others were a bit odd. Number of love interests. Hope spots. Antagonists and allies. Something more narrative in nature. It all seemed quite thorough in the end. ¡°If we crunch the numbers, you¡¯re A-list material. But, everyone starts the same. At the bottom. But, you get to decide where you go from here! Want more Technology to spice up your armory? Maybe tap into your psionic potential? Break new ground and start somewhere completely new? The choice is yours! We¡¯ll have to start small though. You¡¯re a Villain in the end. The Protagonist needs a fighting chance, wouldn¡¯t you agree?¡± I wouldn''t. Cheap shots and tricks were ideal. Winning was the end goal. But these people seemed eccentric. What sort of company called their employees Villains anyway? Someone with a specific niche they wanted to fill. If I was going to fill some cliche, there was one thing I absolutely required. ¡°Will I be killing humans?¡± The demon smiled. Character Profile We spent what felt like hours talking. Most of it was a review of my experiences and results in my original world. Praising my successes of course. A bit too much for my tastes. Peggy was either brown-nosed or genuinely liked my skills. With no social skills, I couldn''t really tell. She praised my problem-solving methodology. Taking the path of least resistance to maximize results. Can''t break in a fortress? Lock the doors and let them starve. A concentrated front? Introduce discord and they''ll eat themselves alive. Not every plan works, but enough to get the job done. She was also quite direct when observing my failures. One of the biggest ones was actually not keeping a nuke in reserve. Making more after I firebombed the earth was basically impossible. Widespread radiation made finding nuclear material a bit difficult. ¡°We need to talk about your anger issues. You sometimes lose your head. Which is kinda cool, not gonna lie, but corporate has rules. I mean, boss, erasing an entire bloodline? Just that one bloodline? In several cities across several continents? Kinda much?¡± Peggy''s facial expressions told me it was an adequate response. She still had to maintain a professional demeanor, which was fair. Sending a horde of drones that actually avoided combat was inefficient. A guided missile would have been smarter. ¡°He spit on one of my drones. I had to send a message.¡± ¡°Very cool. Hammered that one in. But did he have to be kept alive to watch each one? Took over a year and gave you several setbacks for your genocide plan. Long run? Poor idea. I like watching that supercut on movie nights but moderation helps.¡± I can''t tell if her quips are exaggerations or accurate statements. Imagining a mythological demon having a normal human life was¡­ odd. I don''t know why I was surprised. Pseudo-biological life probably needs physical and psychological moments to rest. Such ideas were revealed as our conversation continued. A salary, break hours, even a retirement plan if she did a good enough job. It sounded like Villains Inc. was exactly as advertised. A corporation of multiversal reach. I really would be an employee. The question was, would I be working a blue or white-collar job? ¡°Well, we''ve finished screening you, my technological overlord. You were going to get the job, but we had to make sure you knew your strengths and weaknesses. Knowledge is power and all that hunky dory stuff!¡± With a snap of her fingers, all the extra appendages and scattered paperwork disappeared. The room went back to its regular infernal self. Peggy raised her hand, where a much more simple message appeared. This one was drawn on, specifically a paper that looked ancient.
Name: The Iron Horde(347.V-8B) Position: Villain In Training+ Race: AI/Psionic Phantom Strengths: Logistics, Mass Production, Technological Manipulation, Pisonic TechnoBuffing. Weaknesses: Emotional Sensitivity, Overkill, Psionic Vulnerability, Speciest Mentality.
Finally, my personal review was wrapping up. This appeared to be a summary of my overall character. I had questions of course. Like where the name Iron Horde had come from. No human had ever called me that. The other was why was overkill a flaw? Not even a human''s ashes should remain! ¡°It''s all factually correct, but it might not be entirely correct information. You''re a bit of a small rabbit boss! Really sorry about that. You need to jump a few levels before we pour more resources into you.¡± Understandable. Infinite wealth had its limits with infinite employees. Or maybe it was just workplace corruption? A proactive evil in-name company would be prone to such things. Oh well. I''d just have to cut my way to the top. No biggie. Especially if my coworkers were human. ¡°Unlike other organizations, we like to work on a merit policy. Do better, get better, all that jazz. I''m sure a big and strong villain like you will be manager material in no time. You''re not gonna forget little old me, right?¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Peggy gave me big round eyes, like a cat. It was disturbing, as I saw her actual eyeballs increase in size. Her shapeshifting could be unnerving. I don''t think I would ever forget someone like her. Much to my regret. ¡°Aw, say something! Anyway, for your first mission, we''ll be sending you with one of our more experienced Villains. You''ll feel out the situation with them, learn the ropes, and we can go from there. You''ll be kidnapping princesses and imploding space stations in no time! Any questions?¡± Several. ¡°As an AI, how will I be moved? I don''t have a body at the moment, nor am I a spirit to inhabit a body. I believe I lack a soul. Psionic Phantom would imply a ghost of some kind, but how is unknown to me. I actually am unaware of how I''ve been speaking to you this entire time. I haven''t been able to move this entire time. Also, is there someone I could speak to about psionic training? I would prefer not to be so easily killed a second time. If there is a Villain Inc., is there a Hero Inc.? Is that who helped my world''s hero? Can he also be recruited? Can I kill him if he is? Is killing other Villains allowed? And-¡± ¡°Stop!¡± Peggy slammed her hands on the table. Her face became more demonic, and all the semblance of an attractive woman disappeared. Ironically, I found it more appealing. She was breathing heavily, my barrage of questions making her break her facade of a bubbly secretary. She cophed, taking a moment to collect herself. Brushing down her suit and readjusting her face. The same professional woman sat before me in seconds. Her eyes were still narrowed slits. Whether intentional or not, she made it clear she was a little miffed. Seemed even her positive personality had its limits. ¡°You want to know more, I get that. But we are on a time limit my metal friend! I know you¡¯d like to spend some quality alone time with me, but business is business. Some of those questions you can ask your mentor. They should have a similar set of abilities as you, and they¡¯re quite entrenched in the company. Survive and we should have another meet-up real quick.¡± With a snap of her finger, a body appeared in a pillar of fire. It looked like an android of sorts. Humanoid of sorts, and paradoxically advanced while having some outdated tech. There were pipes with steam sticking out of them for god''s sake! ¡­The clockwork was nice to hear at least. ¡°This will be your temporary body for the time. Your mentor''s reality is a bit different from the tech you''re used to. Depending on what your official first job is, one will be provided to you or you¡¯ll have to make one yourself. Lots of personal choice is allowed as your employment rating goes up of course! I would love to see what you make when you have your own reality. I recommend horns!¡± Another snap and I suddenly had a different perspective of the room. I blinked as new sensations filled me. A sense of balance. Weight. Relative limb and appendage awareness. Looking down, I saw I was¡­ wearing the new body? It was both a foreign experience and felt natural. Like I was always a bipedal creature, not a mass of electricity housing thousands of servers. Peggy was overjoyed. ¡°I knew your mind would adapt! Free tip, being a living sentience has the perks of filling whatever object you possess. Like a psionic poltergist! Obviously, your technical powers may be a little limited because of your body. Being a full AI software system made hacking easier I¡¯m sure.¡± A portal of sorts appeared next to me. Peggy teared up, producing a third arm to whip away the tears. She was mumbling something about always hating this part but I wasn''t listening. I was more interested in what was on the other side of the portal. It seemed to be a workshop. One filled with gears, springs, and contained jars of electricity. ¡°Step on through and you¡¯ll get to see your trainer. I know you¡¯ll love them! You¡¯ll be like two peas in a pod. Two partners in crime! Two starving pugs fighting for a half-dead chicken! Ripping it to shreds, bathing in its blood, and violating the sanctity of the corpse! GOD DAMN IT WILL BE SO FUCKING HOT!!!¡± Roinling flames consumed Peggy as she laughed. Her corporate form slipped again and it was just a mass of tangled limbs and mouths stapled together. Odd. Kinda cute. If I ever get into biological manipulation, I¡¯ll have to remember to make one that looks like her. I stepped through, waving goodbye to the demon. I don¡¯t think she noticed. The other side was what I expected. Which means, I understood only half of what I was looking at. The best way I could describe it was steampunk technology. Gears, springs, and coils with open electricity running through them. A few pipes occasionally let out steam while others released a violet or blue aura. I could only guess how half of these worked. ¡°Ah, you''re the new guy?¡± I turned to face the voice. Unlike Peggy¡¯s intoxicating high-pitched voice, this one was more scraggly. Like a habitual smoker who needed to quit two decades ago. The man met that expectation, holding two cigars in his mouth. They sat in an ornate chair, a stool to the side holding one too many glass bottles. A dapper gentleman wearing a suit and top hat, with a large monocle on his face. He was also a goblin. ¡°Mighty pleasure to meet ya, friend.¡± Before I could respond, an explosion rocked the room we were in. It appeared my new body had internal stabilizers as I barely wobbled. My supposed teacher seemed unfazed. In fact, he looked a little happy. Reaching over to a desk nearby, he grabbed a gun with a Tesla coil for a barrel. ¡°First rule of Villains: Always expect your layer to be invaded.¡± Walk and Talk My trainer was walking through the halls of his castle, made of mostly brass and iron, with a casual swagger. Meanwhile, the number of explosions every minute had only been increasing. He was either well-prepared or overconfident. I couldn''t tell which. The building seemed sturdy enough. The walls were made of stone, and lined with metal pipes. A few had glass panels, showing electricity, steam, or more of that violet energy running through them. Wherever we were headed had quite a lot of them. ¡°Ya don''t talk much, do ya?¡± The goblin spoke up for the first time in a while. Either to let me adjust or because he was equally naturally silent. He was a good match for me so far. I had nothing against Peggy, but she was a bit too talkative for my tastes. ¡°...I spent most of my life alone. Conversation is one of my weaker skills.¡± ¡°At least ya got a good eye. Proper infrastructure here. Funnels all the steam, lightning, and psi energy to my defenses. Can''t tell you how much of a pain that was to make. Well worth the price I tell ya. Cuts through armies like butter on a fresh mornin¡¯¡±. I got to see what he was talking about. Arriving at a balcony, the pipes funneled into turrets of various types. Steam-powered ballista, an electrically charged cannon, and some sort of crystal pillar glowing purple. They were all active and automatically firing into the horizon. A literal army was at the castle gates, attempting to invade. Artillery was being fired, only to be stopped by some arcane barrier of sorts. An enemy ballista bottle shattered mid-air, a hexagonal shape appearing right in front of it. It was what caused the explosions. Even with defenses, shockwaves were vibrating the castle. I was impressed. Whatever automated system he was using was well made. Why keep the technology seemed outdated because of the materials used, overall quality was pretty good. I''d argue even my own personal turret systems would fail to match these defenses. Granted, I didn''t have forcefields to help me. ¡°Your handler or orientation officer, I don''t quite care which, probably failed to enlighten you before arriving here. I¡¯m a defensive Villain at the moment. Made myself a big target for the people of this world. Just trying to survive the onslaught these people are throwing at me.¡± ¡°That does not seem quite Villainous. If anything, you are just defending yourself.¡± The goblin smiled, a mouth full of needly teeth appearing. He took off the tesla gun resting on his shoulder and aimed it at the oncoming army. A moment of silence, and then a forceful explosion went off where he had shot. A ballista had been destroyed. It appeared his weapon was quite powerful for such a small object. ¡°A rail gun? Impressive.¡± ¡°Is that what ya call it? It''s known here as a thunderbolt. Quite the rare weapon around these parts. Mostly because of limited resources. Resources I''ve monopolized by building my here castle onto the only vein for miles and miles. Most ain''t too happy about me being selfish like that.¡± I could see why. I could only imagine what something bigger would do in a war. Extreme levels of damage probably. I too would be intimidated if someone was holding missiles in my immediate area. Especially if they were the only ones able to make them because of holding. That still didn''t sound like a good enough justification to go to war. He must have done something else to enact this sort of response. From a visual perspective, it looked like there were at most tens of thousands of people trying to break into his castle. I wonder what he will teach me considering the situation? ¡°How do you win? Are you here until you die or hold onto the castle for a long enough time?¡± ¡°Smart question. Depends. When ya become a Villain, they let ya set your own goals. The harder, the more rewards ya get, like conquering a whole country. Of course, the harder, the more likely you will get killed. Can''t say it gets any easier when you meet a protagonist.¡± One of the turrets exploded, crumbling into a ball. It was then ripped off the castle wall and thrown against another turret. A barrier appeared, preventing further destruction. The entire display had an ethereal purple glow following the crumpled turret. ¡°Speak and he shall appear. Alright, it''s showtime! Stand there all quiet like and watch a pro do his thing. Ya will learn a lot.¡± The goblin''s skin broke, metal pipes and gears popping out. He went from a short goblinoid creature to a staggeringly large automaton in seconds. He even got a cape from somewhere. It looked like royalty. His majesty could only be met by the flying woman floating across from him. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. He''d call her an elf, but most depictions of elves didn''t have violet skin. Her floating hair framed a pretty face, as did the yellow dress she wore. I immediately disliked this woman. Why would you come to a battlefield unrequited and vulnerable? My teacher didn''t seem to mind. ¡°Being a little zealous aren''t you princess? That was quite an impressive piece of equipment you just shattered. I will have to add that to the list of war reparation your kingdom will be paying after the war.¡± His voice came out synthetic and with a different voice. His speaker for a mouth now sounded much lower quality than how he spoke earlier. Was this an act? A part of the villainous role he had taken? It seemed far more theatrical than I had been expecting. ¡°We are unconcerned with your toys. We stand here, once again, asking for your surrender. Blood need not be shed so wastefully. Do you accept?¡± My teacher shot her in response. More of that violet energy appeared, deflecting the untraceable shot. It ricocheted into the army, killing more of their soldiers. She didn''t look too happy about that. ¡°I have earned my place here. Not you or your ignorant church will take what is rightfully mine. Kill for your loot or leave. There will not be another option.¡± The princess grits her teeth, her violet aura darkening. She looked ready to attack. Then, the fight seemed to leave her. She seemed genuinely saddened by my teacher''s response. She must really see this conflict as pointless. ¡°Very well. Ready yourself. Your head will roll for your blasphemy. We will make sure of that.¡± She flew away. How honorable of her. I would have tried to kill my enemy if I''d gotten that close. Of course, a suicide tactic doesn''t sound like the most intelligent thing to do. Then again I''d have had my drones do that for me.
You have witnessed a Confrontation! The Villain & Protagonist have exchanged barbs while setting the stage for future conflict. 1 Villain EXP.
¡°I see ya got your first bit of experience. Those come along when you prove you live up to the name of a Villain. Any interaction with the Protagonist will also provide experience. The more memorable an encounter the better your experience gain.¡± ¡°So she was the Protagonist then? She seemed powerful. Not necessarily heroic, I will admit. Who goes to war in a dress?¡± He laughed, his body transforming into his shorter goblin form. He returned to his castle, walking away from the constant explosions. A high level of destruction was on display, but it appeared to be a stalemate at the moment. If he wasn''t worried, then I guess neither would I be. ¡°There is a reason they''re protagonists and not heroes. We used to be good guys vs bad guys. But I tell ya, one side loses too many people, and compromises need to be made. She''s one of the good ones if a bit of a fashion disaster.¡± Protagonists implied the main narrative lead in a story. Not being Heroes implied more flexible morals. Whoever I faced off against would be able to commit unexpected acts to kill me. No honorable knights riding straight into the dragon''s jaws apparently. ¡°You seem to respect her. You''re quite cordial overall. I haven''t seen anything villainous so far.¡± We had been walking down a flight of stairs. Each level of the castle became more crude in design the deeper we went. I began hearing mechanical sounds, which were revealed to be mining in progress. The valued materials were being collected from here. It was a horrid display of inefficiency. Collared people were mining, each dirty and malnourished or injured in some manner. Slave drivers whipped any who slowed down, a couple executing others in a corner. The rocks and minerals were brought to an open furnace. Smoke choked the air, tainting what little air there was underground. Whoever died or crumpled because of exhaustion was thrown into a pit of bodies. Corpses who have been left to rot had bloated and invited vermin. Sickness had clearly spread to even the slave masters. ¡°Ya care to repeat that friend? Before anyone tells ya, there''s nothing illegal here. All the slaves here are criminals, sold into indentured servitude as penance. I bought this piece of land with my hard-earned money. There just happened to be some valuable minerals underground. So what if it was holy ground. The church should really stop letting their leaders develop gambling habits.¡± The goblin was grinning from ear to ear. His mouth was much bigger than it needed to be. Being a machine under that skin, that had probably been intentional. His face and the poor priest¡¯s gambling addiction. It was nice to see there was some efficiency to be found. ¡°Legality aside, I''m more offended by your poor logistical skills.¡± ¡°All part of the plan I tell ya. The one thing better than equipment and abilities? Villain EXP. The more you have, the easier your life. Sacrifices have to be made. Ya see that down there? Passive experience. Not only is it morally wrong, it''s pointlessly brutal. Makes me look like the monster the Villain System asks you to be.¡± From everything I¡¯ve learned, that was the most unpleasant piece of information. I built my near genocide on the efficient allocation of resources. Not one bullet was wasted. Not one loss part of some grander plan. If I had to be some bubbling buffoon to please the system, I would have made a grave error. ¡°Don''t cha look so down in the dumps. It''s trading one form of efficiency for another. When it''s your turn to be the villain, ya can act however ya please. Now, before we go any further here, we need to address something. Can''t keep calling ya new guy in my head the whole time. Names Gritzkel. The former goblin turned clockworkman.¡± He held out a hand. It was nice to finally have a name. Gritzkel seemed quite the proper individual. For a slavedriver. I raised my own limb for a handshake. Never thought I would do that. Finding someone worth touching, without the intent to kill. I¡­ liked the feeling it gave me. ¡°Unit 3347.V-8B at your disposal. I look forward to your education.¡± Training Montage I spent a few days with Gritzkel. He doubled as an actual trainer and a general educator for all things villainous. The first thing he taught me was how to access my personal Villain System. Apparently, all the messages I was receiving were automatic but I could manipulate them to a certain degree. For the moment, there wasn''t much.
Name: The Iron Horde(347.V-8B) Position: Villain In Training+ Race: AI/Psionic Phantom Strengths: Logistics, Mass Production, Technological Manipulation, Pisonic TechnoBuffing. Weaknesses: Emotional Sensitivity, Overkill, Psionic Vulnerability, Speciest Mentality.
As I gained experience, more would be available. All it required was a mental thought with intent. If I was biological or not psionically inclined, it would also require voice commands. The only other message I could open would be the one tracking my experience gain.
Current Villain Level: 0 EXP: 4
I gained more experience by witnessing clashes of combat and fixing what I could in the mines. The invading army tried to breach the defenses, which meant Gritzkel had to fight the protagonist at some point. The only EXP I got was when he made a decisive blow to the army or committed an unquestionable war crime. Breaking laws, taboo ones anyway, were worth points. I¡¯d only gotten two EXP from the dozens of fights. The last EXP I got after spending some time reorganizing the logistics of the mines. Going for efficiency, I added sleep deprivation by adequately adjusting their sleep schedule. Keep them lucid enough to work but tired enough to only think of work. I would have done more, but Gritzkel said I had other things to focus on. Safe to say I would not be returning to the mines at any point. It disgusted me to look at it. I had my training to keep me distracted at least. Since neither of us needed sleep, my regular training was a fast process. First came a history lesson on psionics themselves, while the goblin used himself as an example. Instead of a machine with a penchant for green skin, Grizkel has once been a regular goblin. An affinity for psionic technomancy eventually led to this world''s version of cybernetics. One replacement after the other, he became more man than machine by the end of it. He told me he hoped to transcend an organic body, but he needed his brain for the moment. Gritzkel said most creatures needed their mind to cast psionic abilities. Usually fueled by the nervous system, it was housed mostly in the brain. I had asked if that meant psionics were based on the electrical impulse of a person''s body. He gave me an inconclusive answer. Evolution had decided that was the easiest way to use psionics. Being a schizophrenic mistress as she was, it wasn¡¯t the only method. I was a good example of that fact. I informed him of my origins, and he seemed elated by the story. He had created technology that used psionics, his barrier turrets being his latest creation. But he had yet to create a thinking creature that could use psionics. Any automaton he built, if nearly indistinguishable from a person in mind, couldn''t learn psionics. There appeared to be a spark missing to cross that barrier. I at the very least proved a possible concept. This led to another round of questioning, mostly about physics, alternate dimensions, and the through line most realities seemed to share. Gritzkel wasn¡¯t an expert on the subject, mostly being a craftsman with a knack for political intrigue. The one thing he could guarantee was that I was a viable example. There was enough difference between alternate realities, that the laws you originally followed mattered when crossing over. A person coming from a dimension where gravity was reversed would have a harder life when crossing to one with physics as I understood it. They either wouldn''t be allowed in or immediately die from a failure to adapt. Villain Inc. would do their best such accidents never happened, but infinity had a way of turning the impossible into probable. The main reason I had been sent to Gritzkel was because his reality was overflowing with psionic energy. This world allowed you to train the power much easier than others while having a rather advanced form of technology as well. Not one based on electronics and steel, but steam engines and tesla coils were close enough. Only a few realities could be so convenient to my skill set. Even still, learning how to manipulate such energies proved¡­ difficult. It seemed for the first time in my life, a mortal body had the advantage. Instinct had a way of controlling and enhancing psionic potential. Since I didn''t have a subconscious to fall back on, I had to learn to control each step. It was like a human learning to control every muscle in their body, even automatic processes. Knowing you had a heartbeat was vastly different from having to constantly keep it beating by hand. Any slip in control led to drastic consequences. Like when I accidentally popped several servants'' heads. I was surprised to learn Gretzkel paid servants to maintain his castle. Gretzkel was equally surprised when he had to compensate their loved ones for an early grave. Legal contracts had tied the honest businessman''s hands. After such a mishap, Gretzkel encouraged me to focus on more simple psionic abilities. Telekinesis apparently wasn''t my strong suit. One of the most basic powers and it escaped my grasp. We tried telepathy. I was expected to kill fewer people with this sort of skill. It wasn''t any easier, unfortunately. ¡°Let the connection establish itself naturally. The person''s mind will adapt. Don''t force it. Ya ain''t at that level yet.¡± The slave across from me looked uncomfortable. It was a given. There were already a few that had experienced an aneurysm from trying to mentally link with them. Beyond a lack of control, I also appeared to have too much psionic power. A pinch of psionics from me was like a punch from a fully capable psionic user. No one else had died, but even Gritzkel had to let them get some rest. A comatose slave was as good as dead. I was getting better at least. The slave screamed, blood leaking from his eyes and nose, and he fell off the chair unconscious. Gritzkel just sighed as another pair of servants dragged the slaves away. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Well. This is going poorly. Guess ya lack any finesse here. We''ll try something else then. How about some crafting? If ya can''t use psionics ya self, maybe ya can build something that can.¡± The next step of training went much better. The theory was as simple as it was complicated. Harnessed raw emotion. If ya could funnel the right feeling into the right tool, anything was possible. Oddly, I took to this like a fish in water. Sememd being a mind trapped in a machine did come with some perks. ¡°This here is a sword. Obvious, right? Now what if I told ya it wasn''t made out of simple metals? This here is think metal, although I''m sure elves and other races call it something fancier. The use is in the name. Try connecting to it like ya did with my poor slaves.¡± That had become easier than anything else. It was like using an imaginary hand I never knew I had. Which meant it was controlled like a flailing tentacle rather than a hand with accurate fingers. It''s why most things crumpled under my telekinesis. Relatively fragile. Stretching out my mental limb, I grasped a simple metal rod. Starting simple. It felt strange. Unlike the body I held, the rod felt¡­ dead. Like it had no purpose. Just a tube of metal. Having nothing else to focus on, I delved deep into that feeling. I learned things about the rod then. The chemical makeup, the forging process, and the age of the metal. It spanned centuries. Like a clock, I could count the physical age of the rod. How long has it had its current shape. How long since it got dug out. That and so much more. If I just delved deeper I could- My learning experience was cut short by a blow to the head. Pain was a foreign experience, so it cut my connection to the rod. Gritzkel was in his automaton form, holding a mace with a glass casing around the metal tip. Lightning sparked from the thing. I almost tried to connect with it out of curiosity. It got me another smack. I really did not like that. ¡°Would ya stop!? It''s been hours you metal buffon! Talking wasn¡¯t working, so don¡¯t make me hit ya a third time. Keep your psionics at bay, will ya!?¡± I realized we weren''t in his workshop anymore. I¡¯d been moved to some sort of metal chamber. A jail of sorts. Wherever this was, I had clearly been distracted by a significant amount of time. To a debilitating degree. I reached up to my head, feeling the areas I¡¯d been hit in. A few dents but nothing catastrophic. Something to fix probably. ¡°I take it the psionic connection with the think mental went poorly?¡± ¡°Poorly? I¡¯d call it a great success! Most can¡¯t even touch think metal on their first try, but here you are getting swallowed by it. Seems your skills lie in objects, not people. Seems obvious now that I think about it. You took pushing your whole mind into that metal body of yours quite well. Anyone else would be feeling some sort of rejection, maybe a little discomfort at the very least.¡± I flexed my metal hand. He was the second person praising my ability to adapt to my new form. Something out of the ordinary for psionic abilities. But any attempt to be delicate with my psionics was a problem. I¡¯d hate to admit it, but overkill did seem to be one of my weaknesses. It was all or nothing with me apparently. ¡°It would appear that is one of my weaknesses. Is there any way to remove a personal weakness? Or at the very least adapt around them? I don¡¯t believe I will make any progress otherwise.¡± Grtizkel scratched his chin, returning to his goblin form. Was it more fuel-efficient to be in his goblin shape? Or did he subconsciously miss his meat body? There was enough goblin in him to have him have those sorts of habits. He sighed, clearly frustrated with the situation. Something his metal body didn''t need to do I noticed. ¡°Well, I was hoping that wasn¡¯t the problem. When ya described your personal strengths and weaknesses, I assumed that was mostly an emotional thing. Still a problem, of course, psionics being based on a person''s mind. Something feelings have a great effect on. But a weakness is a harder problem to fix. Unfortunately, a weakness can''t be easily fixed. It''s as much a part of ya as your strengths are. ¡°If you have enough EXP, that can be changed of course. Just straight buy it off. Simple as. But, before ya get any ideas, it costs a lot of EXP. Like, thousands to tens of thousands. More if it''s a core part of ya. The Villans system doesn¡¯t like making such changes easily. It takes a lot of effort to change a person on such a fundamental level. Plus, you''re a villain. What kind of villain has no weaknesses? Brakes the rules of the game they play. Ya can¡¯t even try right now, being too green for that privilege.¡±
You lack the proper rank to access this feature.
The message appeared as expected, but I felt the need to try. I¡¯d gotten familiar with this message. Occasionally, Gritzkel would let slip information about the Villain System that sparked my interest. Minions, quests, lairs. Benefits he had access to being such an experienced employee. Any attempt to access them was denied with this same message. Well, all except for when I asked if I could change the color.
DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!DENIED!
¡°Yeah, that''s not anyone in Villain Inc¡¯s doing. From what I heard, thats just the system itself. Not surprising to me personally. Anything made for a group that calls itself evil is bound to have some quirks.¡± That was all Gritzkel had to say on the subject then. It really left my hands tied with all these restrictions and personal pitfalls. For all the benefits being a psionic being in nature gave me, there were many negative results. But that was OK. I never relied on my psionics before, so I had time to learn. ¡°Can I still learn how to make psionic technology?¡± ¡°Hmm. It''ll be quite hard, I¡¯ll admit. Half the job requires psionics itself. Can¡¯t run a steam engine without any water and all that. But, ya won''t be the first person to build a weapon without knowing how to properly use it. Hell, we could try to make something to adapt to your limits. Ya might learn some control then. Or you won''t and you''ll just be firing cannons all your life. Works for me either way I tell ya! The job was getting you good enough to survive the first run, nothing about learning how to sprint. I¡¯m sure you''ll crawl some way to the finish line.¡± He laughed. I was reminded once again I was dealing with an immoral creature that suboptimized for experience. Experienced attributed to filling a negative trope. For all his cordial demeanor, he probably didn''t care whether I lived or died. How quaint. Drones and Drawbacks I was nearing the end of my training. I had been here for about a month, going by my old realities measurements. The days were shorter here, but the nights made up the missing hours. I didn¡¯t care enough to ask why that was the case. There were better things to focus on. Primarily, my first successful psionics-based creation. ¡°Stand.¡± It was a relatively simple automaton, similar to one of my drones back home. It was spiderlike, with six legs and a turret on top. Its weapon was barely lethal, more like a BB gun than anything else, but that didn''t matter. It was more a proof of concept than meant for actual field testing. So far, I have had positive results. ¡°Turn.¡± Its movements were jerky, its legs going at different speeds. Some too fast some too slow. But it followed orders. I waited until it was facing the firing range Gritzkel had made for me. It had been damaged already but not intentionally I was sad to say. Most of the repairs were from my drones detonating in some manner. Hopefully, nothing unnecessary would need to be fixed today. ¡°Stop.¡± One of the legs gave way, and the drone slipped and fell. I waited. This was also part of the test. Some moments passed as the drone''s limbs flailed. Eventually, it got a good enough grip to stand back up. More importantly, it fixed itself without me needing to say anything. Good. ¡°Aim.¡± The barrel on the turret moved. A glass bulb next to its barrel glowed purple. It moved back and forth before resting in the direction of a target. Namely, the enemy soldier turned prisoner. The siege had gone long enough that Gritzkel had enough bodies to spare in my life fire testing. Gritzkel had said it was good practice for a villain in training. Get any sense of morals out of my system. It didn¡¯t make much of a difference to me. A pig would have worked well enough. ¡°Fire.¡± The turret jammed for a second. It pushed air instead of ammunition before finally working. The aim was terrible. But that''s why you make prototypes. Work out the kinks. I¡¯m sure the screaming elf was relieved when his head didn¡¯t blow up. Not that any of the missed shots would have done any permanent damage. Well, as long as they didn''t hit an eye of course. ¡°Stop.¡± The turret stopped firing. Good. The last one malfunctioned at this point and kept firing. It seemed to understand simple commands. An achievement Gritzkel called it. He wanted to keep any of the previous prototypes I made. The ones that hadn''t blown up of course. I didn''t mind. It wasn''t like I could take them with me. ¡°Follow.¡± The final command was the most important a simple but complicated command. A lot of variables were involved, considering there was any guess where I would go and if it could followed. It stumbled a few times but it managed. A quick lap around the testing area and it was done. I had created a drone with a psionic AI. With my lack of fitness with anything else involving purple energy, we settled for something I was familiar with. Creating a drone out of steam and arcing electricity was new, but manageable. Gritzkel told me things like clockwork golems existed, powered by steam or bottled lightning. There had just never been one powered by pure psionics. I hadn''t managed such a thing. The drone still needed water as fuel for the steam portion, but it did think on its own. An autonomous machine was a rare piece of technology. His turrets were the most advanced version he had and all they could do was shoot any oncoming threats. Advanced software but not considered AI. Personally, I didn''t agree with his nomenclature. The drone could listen to voice commands but it wasn''t true AI. Artificial Intelligence was something more like me. A person who could think and evolve due to external stimuli. The drones would never grow, never develop a personality. Just puppets with complicated strings. ¡­ With this final breakthrough, I went to look for Gritzkel. He said to go find him if I ever finished a working prototype. I had already dozens of machines with psionic energy. Trying to give them possible software, by my standards, was the roadblock I finally bypassed. Always room for improvement, but I had gotten to the starting line at least. I found Gritzkel in what he called his command room. There were a few advisors around. Mostly goblins or orcs, which was common since we were near Gritzkel''s original home country. There were a few other races mixed in of course, but they were mostly mercenaries. Trolls and their like weren''t known for their tactics. The strangest was a dark elf. He looked like a regular elf, only his skin was obsidian in color and he sported silver then. It was due to some form of psionic tampering. The people from this world started taking shades of violet as their psionic abilities increased with every generation. Most elves were purple because they innately had such a strong pool of psionic might. I could only guess how strong a violet near black elf was. Or if such coloration would affect me. Gritzkel finally noticed me, and then his eyes settled on the drone behind me. A smile split across his face. He stopped whatever conversation he was having to marvel at my creation. The drone¡¯s turret passively followed him, recognizing he was the greatest threat in the room. It only made him happier. ¡°Genius idea to use my psionic turrets for this thing ya call code. Ones and zeroes! How marvelous. And this little machine looks incredibly useful. I could only imagine how effective an autonomous drone like this would be for combat!¡± Gritzkels reality had advanced machines there was no doubt about it. But with psionic tech shoring up their need for software, some areas had stagnated. Why create code for a machine when psionics could use something like empathy to recognize threats. Apparently, everything alive had even a little emotion behind it, which momentarily spread to anything a person interacted with. It''s how the turrets knew how to attack or defend. Anything with recognizable hostility was considered a threat. The ballistas and cannons fired at them, while the barrier defended against any oncoming attacks. Gritzkel said he had created a sensitive enough machine to be implemented into his turrets. Otherwise, they wouldn''t have worked. It made him sound quite skilled at the very least. Speaking of defenses, the siege was almost over as well. Gritzkel had captured the enemy Protagonist in a night raid they had enacted. It seemed the passive loss of life had finally gotten to her. I had been lucky to avoid the fighting, busy building my drones. It had been touch and go for a moment apparently. Without his defenses, Gritzkel could be quite vulnerable. ¡°Are they any good for an execution? We were just about to deal with the Protagonist. Public display and all that. Demoralize the remaining army and sue for peace. It would be a great moment to unveil my new potential weaponry.¡± ¡°There is the fact it can''t aim properly. If you¡¯re fine with more than one shot, be my guest.¡± Gritzkel patted the drone, nodding in approval. I would have to refill the internal magazine. Maybe work on the rifling if I had the time. But I was sure to leave after that display. Whatever actual training I was meant to get, Gritzkel clearly thought he''d done a good enough job. He did explain some of the Villain System to me along with what psionic practice I could reasonably manage. Other than my Overkill weakness, nothing else in my personal profile could be tested. Logistics and Mass Production probably only worked with available resources. Psionic TechnoBuffing required me to actually connect with something. An ability that either broke whatever I connected to or my mind getting overwhelmed by its information. I was glad I hadn¡¯t tested any of my other weaknesses. Psionic Vulnerability was obvious. Gritzkel couldn''t harm me, since that would go against whatever deal he made with the Villain System to train me. But he made it very clear any psionic-based weaponry would probably hurt twice as much against me. Emotional Sensitivity and Speciest Mentality had failed to activate at any point. I wasn''t looking forward to when they finally came up. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. During my time here I had gotten more EXP, but the returns had slowed. My immoral testing of my drone gave me a single EXP. Everything else only came from witnessing Gritzkel have direct confrontations. Since I wasn¡¯t the main Villain in this reality, I¡¯d only get experience from deplorable acts that could potentially help Gritzkel with his Villainous goals. I could only guess why seeing him face off with the protagonist had counted then. Gritzkel said it was just a quirk. Sometimes the Villain system was weird like that. ¡°Ya really need to stop doing that. One day, someone will sneak up on ya when you''re busy daydreaming.¡± Gritzkel pulled me from my thoughts. Only a moment had passed, my internal processing being quite fast. Even then, I could multitask and keep relative awareness of my surroundings. But the former goblin was right. There was a 7.56% drop in efficiency when I internalized my thoughts a bit too much. A marginal difference but every bit counts. Waste not want not and all that. Collecting his co-conspirators, I soon found myself on a balcony next to Gritzkel. We looked down at a courtyard, where the protagonist and a number of her colleagues were chained to a wall. My drown was down there as well, nest to Gritzkels servants who held simpler looking tesla guns. They were closer to crossbows than ballistic weapons. ¡°Now. If there is any lesson you take from me, this is the most important one. You can¡¯t just kill a Protagonist. The Villain System doesn¡¯t like that. It has to be grandiose. Memorable. Something worth singing epics about. Of course, this gives them ample opportunity to escape and fight another day. But, and this is a big but, if ya manage to pull it off! Ya win big.¡± One of the enemy soldiers started crying. It seemed they couldn''t keep a strong facade like the elven Protagonist. She kept a steel look in her eyes, staring down Gritzkel, even if he wasn¡¯t looking at her. There was a fire in her few humans ever matched. The closest one was the human that killed me. But she had an edge over him. She wasn¡¯t human. I almost found it a shame to kill her. Gritzkel noticed. ¡°Don¡¯t get too attached. If you''re a good villain, you¡¯ll put down your fair share of Protagonists. Ya might even start to like them. They have this way of getting under your skin. For good or bad. Guess that¡¯s why they''re the Protagonists. But we¡¯re villains 347.V-8B. Our hands are tied. They go down or we go down.¡± I personally didn¡¯t know what he was so worried about. You can¡¯t drive an entire species to near extinction without some sociopathic tendencies. Not to mention the disregard for collateral damage using nukes for global carpet bombing. The humans were lucky the nuclear winter was more manageable than anyone expected. Damn military embezzlement! I just don''t see the need for this display. I''d already killed billions, what was another person added to that list. Even then, indirect murder still counted. Live fire exercises didn''t leave bloodless results. Even if they had been accidents in the end, due to the drones malfunctioning. For what reason could he- I saw her as she arrived from the sky. Her entrance was flashy and as subtle as a rock. A fireball pierced the psionic barrier and landed in the middle of the courtyard. My drone was destroyed. A last-ditch effort to save the Protagonist. A knight in shining armor covered in golden flames. I didn''t care about her speech. I didn''t care about the fight that sprung up as slaves were released. I didn''t care whatever countering barbs Gritzkel threw out. Nothing mattered but the knight. She didn''t have a helmet. So I saw her face. Dignified. Beautiful. A soldier through and through, majesty untarnished by war. A face perfectly framed by shortcut hair, displaying her ears for all to see. Her short, round-tipped ears. Her non elven ears. A human. I grabbed Gritzkels tesla gun and fired. She was ready for it. A shield came up and deflected the bullet somewhere. I kept firing, jumping down from the balcony. Something soft cushioned my landing. It screamed. I kept my eyes on the knight. The rail gun in my hands was slow to fire. Every shot required a moment to charge. It was an agonizingly long time during a fight. It gave the knight time to collect themself, sending commands to the now rebelling slaves. They¡¯d come from the mines somehow. Gritzkel had his own words to say. He sounded angry. I didn''t care. Each step forward followed a pull of the trigger. Every shot was successfully mitigated by the shield. I lacked practice with this body and weapon in combat. Even then, my shots were pretty accurate. The ammunition hit the same general spot every time. It was enough to slowly deform the metal. I had the superior weapon, but the knight wasn''t out of options. Their armor had similar aesthetics to this reality¡¯s technology. Steam escaped from around the legs and she launched herself at me. Cut my weapons advantage in range and overwhelm me in melee. It worked for a time, dodging swings from a sword in her other hand. It sparked with electricity, numbing areas to my body it barely missed. At any other time, I would have found such sensations interesting. The tesla gun was too slow and too long to counter the knight. She had me cornered. How human. How gullible. I grabbed one of the slaves next to me and threw them at her. She stopped mid-swing, trying not to hit the slave. I used the break in combat to shoot the knight. The rail gun fired, piercing the meat shield and hitting her in the chest. Flesh and bone weren''t as durable when compared to a full plate of armor. Who would have thought? The fight went like that for some time. Any time she got an advantage, I used any available slave to counter her. Even after half a dozen similar events, she couldn''t help but try to save them. But she was getting better at blocking shots she couldn''t see. If she maintained her distance, I just kept whittling down her shield as she tried to protect herself. I was winning. Obviously, this was when things went wrong. At some point during our fight, the Protagonist escaped her chains. My fight with the human scum was disturbed as everyone not on the elves'' side was lifted into the air, paralyzed. My weakness finally reared its ugly head as I was paralyzed. Others trapped could struggle, even if just a little. Grtizkel finally retaliated, falling from the sky with his mace in hand. He was a significant enough threat that the protagonist dropped everyone. The ground rumbled and chunks of the castle started getting thrown around. My eyes didn¡¯t leave the human for a second. Her bravery was shaken. Either because of the loss of life or my single-minded goal of killing her. She was a sacred. But with the elf putting up a sight, some confidence returned to her. She went for an attack while I had been floating in the air. Only a single attack pierced my chest before the Protagonist¡¯s concentration disappeared. A similar feeling to when my realities hero shot me with his strange gun. Indescribable pain. The sword must have been psionically enchanted. I had an adverse effect because of this weapon. Beyond simply being severely injured, I was pissed. How dare this little scum try to kill me? How dare an unworthy slime try to survive! I would not stand for such an insult! My limbs were still functional. I grabbed the knight''s arm as I fell. My legs crumpled from underneath me. I appeared to be paralyzed. It didn¡¯t matter. Her hands were tied. The sword was trapped in my chest and her sword arm was in a vice grip. She started slamming the shield into my face. I didn¡¯t need eyes to kill her. I squeezed. She screamed. There was a crack. The grip on her sword slipped and she let go. I refused to let go. Animalistic panic took over the knight. She was still green. She flailed around, trying to throw me away. All that did was break her arm further. Desperation kicked in. Her flame aura returned. She began to burn bright. My optic sensors were blinded by the light. My body recognized overwhelming heat, the fire beginning to melt me. I didn¡¯t let go. I wouldn¡¯t until she was dead. My arms gave in before she died. My iron grip disappeared when my hands melted off. I fell to the ground. She kicked me away. I tumbled in the air before the courtyard wall stopped my movement. I was temporarily deactivated. My mind recognized I was now crumpled on the floor when I regained awareness. Gritzkel was still fighting. His servants and the slaves were still busy killing each other. And the human was still alive. She was on her knees. Exhausted and injured. That last attack had seemingly sapped her stamina. Good. It would make the next part easier. I dragged myself forward with my stumps for arms. It was slow going. Internal damage and the battles debry limited my movement. Plus, crawling was just slow overall. The knight still had her eyes on me. Even in a vulnerable state, she was still ready to throw down. It was such a shame I didn''t care about a fair fight. In the chaos of the fight, I implemented my psionics abilities for the first time. Mostly by trying to connect with the tesla gun nearby. It was damaged by the flames but it should have worked well enough for what I had in mind. It was of greater distance than I had ever tried before. That was fine. Patience was a virtue as they said. The human tried to stand. She stumbled, the fight having taken its toll. And yet stand she did. She raised the broken hand, and a flame appeared at the bloody tips of her fingers. A firebolt of some kind? How childish. She should have gone for something bigger. Like say, an electric field detonation. The tesla gun blew up as soon as my psionic limb reached it. The human was taken completely by surprise. She was knocked forward, her back scorched by the lightning and shrapnel. Closer to me. Close enough to be killed. I had never been more thankful this body had been made with a functional mouth. I wonder if my bite force was strong enough to crush a skull between my teeth. The Villain System had other ideas. The now unconscious human had her nestled in my mouth when a new message appeared.
Warning! You are attempting to breach training regulations! Any further actions will have dire consequences!
That looked important. Something to think about after I killed this human. My maw began to close before another message appeared.
BREACH DETECTED! DICIPLINARY ACTION ENGAGED!
I saw a flash of red light. Then there was nothing. I had failed to kill the human. Pitty. Consequences Regaining consciousness was an unpleasant experience. Being a machine originally, there was virtually no difference between being turned off and being turned back on. It was close to what humans called blinking. Barely conceivable unless you pay attention. The body I currently inhabited didn''t have such conveniences. I had enough self-awareness to think, but only enough to be along for the ride. Each piece of my body slowly awakened¡ªquickly in the eyes of an organic creature, painfully slow for my hyperactive senses. Speaking of pain, I think I had what some would call sour mussels, mostly located on my abdomen. When my eyes reactivated, I saw the problem. The human¡¯s sword was still in my chest. It gave me a funny feeling. What was left of my body was chained to a chair as well. That couldn''t be a good thing. Looking around, I was met with a strange sight. Gritzkel was standing next to the Protagonist. Having a civil discussion of sorts. ¡°Well, well, well. Look who decided to grace us with his presence. Ya caused quite the trouble you stupid robot.¡± Gritzkel noticed I was conscious first, and he had a few words to say. They didn¡¯t appear to be positive in nature. More importantly, he focused on me rather than his nemesis. It would seem whatever vendetta he and the elf had was on hold. Probably the same reason I was bound in place. I didn¡¯t understand why they¡¯d done such a thing. I had no arms and my legs couldn''t move. ¡°I am positive the system warned ya about trying to kill the Protagonist¡¯s Trainee. Considering the current narrative is on hold and ya were struck by lighting, ya ignored the message. The first rule of Villains; the Villain System is god. Don¡¯t go against it or expect to be struck down by its divine might!¡± ¡°I thought the first rule was to expect your lair to be invaded.¡± My rebuttal was met with a mace to the face. Ouch. That actually kind of hurt. This body wasn¡¯t supposed to come with pain sensors. Then again, the sword was evidence of ways to bypass such limitations. The elf put her hand on Gritzkels shoulder. ¡°Calm yourself. You need not incur the system''s wrath like your protege just did. He must be in a fragile state. One wrong move and both of us will be punished. What penalties we¡¯ve incurred shoulder be more than enough.¡± Grtizkel growled, pulling his shoulder out from the Protagonist¡¯s grip. He began to pace back and forth behind the elf, clearly frustrated with the situation. The elf sighed, holding a more amicable persona while he was around. Like business partners with experience rather than mortal enemies. I found it amusing. ¡°As we are sure you have deduced, our hatred for one another is out of necessity rather than genuine malice. When you reach a high enough level in our respective corporation, you become more of an administrator. The killing and saving are left to the new blood such as yourself. ¡°Our responsibilities involve keeping trainees like you and Alice safe for your first foray into the field. Those who show great promise. Show you how what is expected of you and what a high level of power could be at your fingertips. Destroy countries, lead large factions, and have enough personal power to be a demigod.¡± I already had that sort of power before becoming a Villain. What more could the Villain System provide me that I couldn''t make myself? Well, other than shoring up my faults and training my abilities like psionics. Even then that should be manageable by myself. Eventually. ¡°We see you find yourself self-sufficient in your abilities. You would not be the first global threat employed by Villains Inc. There had been gods or eldritch abominations far worse than you who have laid claim to the title of Villain. Each and everyone had died in one form or another.¡± Gritzkel seemed to have calmed down enough to walk back over to stand in front of me. He was kind enough to leave his mace behind. Not that that made him any less dangerous in my eyes. ¡°A Protagonist has the same level of power, if not greater. Unlike you or I, they didn''t die before being hired by their respective organization, Protagonist Corp. You almost destroyed your earth and I was about to trap a whole continent of people in a psionic illusion for eternity. Nimue restored an entire world tree while fighting a necromancer millions strong. And Alice herself defeated an immortal dragon single-handedly. All people worthy of recruiting.¡± Well, that was tragic. A dragon couldn''t kill a single measly human. I pray I never meet that dragon. I will have choice words with it for being such a failure. I wonder if Villains can kill each other? I¡¯m sure there is some infighting in Villain Inc. You have a company full of prideful would-be world conquers has a colosseum stashed somewhere. ¡°Are you even listening? You just jeopardized everyone here with your needless bloodlust! Both factions ensure preemptive safety and severely punish anyone who tries to break their rules. Letting you try to kill could have erased everyone¡¯s existence here!¡± The Protagonist seemed disrespected by my idle thinking. I shrugged. Or tried to. Either way, I didn¡¯t rightly care. I was still here, so clearly things hadn¡¯t been as bad as they said. This purple elf was overreacting. ¡°I¡¯m sure this Nimue was strong enough to fight off whatever they would have sent over. Fighting off an entire army worth a million strong.¡± ¡°...We are Nimue.¡± The elf looked offended I thought she was talking about someone else. Well of course I didn¡¯t think she was Nimue. She went to war in a ball gown! Every time is seen she wears a different yet vulnerable attire. Even now she sported a fur coat over a runway model strip of clothing with high heels. ¡°You look like a spare trophy wife rather than a world savior.¡±
You have damaged a higher-level Protagonist¡¯s ego! 1 Villain EXP.
Gritzkel momentarily forgot he was angry with me and snorted. Nimue was left speechless, her serene face then taking a more vicious look. It was the first time I¡¯d ever seen her genuinely pissed off. She telekinetically grabbed Gritzkels mace, raising it into the air to strike me. The automaton was nice enough to grab her hand before she did anything they would regret. ¡°The machine was here for a month and you failed to tell it our name?¡± ¡°I told him dozens of times, he just didn''t care. As a machine, he should have perfect memory. He probably made an active effort to forget who ya were. I¡¯d praise him for his pettiness if he wasn¡¯t apparently psychotic.¡± Ah. It seems old habits die hard. When you¡¯re on your own for most of your life, dehumanizing the enemy becomes easy. I mean, not that I would see humans anything better than the parasitic worms they were. ¡°Ya have to stop doing that. My psionic abilities leave much to be desired, but even I can tell when your mind takes a more psychotic turn. Nimue, if ya would please.¡± Gritzkel said this while pulling the mace out of Nimues hands and placing it farther away this time. The elf for her part took a moment to collect herself and calm down. With a sigh, she summoned a violet aura that enveloped her. With a gesture, the psionic energy moved to touch me as well. I felt the mental probing but could do nothing to stop it due to Psionic Vulnerability. ¡°We gotta see what''s wrong with ya. If you try to kill Alice again, we are all screwed. If we can fix whatever malfunction ya got, we¡¯ll be right as rain. Ignore your privacy being invaded and it''ll be over real soon.¡± We delved deep into my mind. Without a subconscious, it seemed Nimue had an easier time than most to find what she was looking for. Or she was that good with her psionic abilities. She flipped through my memories like a book, only staying at each point for a fraction of a second. The longest moments she took were whenever a spike of emotion appeared. Most were negative. Usually related to humans. Considering how long I¡¯d spent killing them, there were a lot of those. It was weirds to experience going down memory lane while being under someone else control. I was still cognisant of the outside world as well, so I was allowed to just stare at the elf¡¯s face the entire time this was happening. Nothing interesting to look at personally. Nimue¡¯s face pouted. Oops. Seems she could hear me in my own head right now. ¡°Yes. And we would prefer you cease your senseless drivel until we are done. Violating your mind''s privacy will take longer if you have these distracting thoughts.¡± Well, it was nice to know she knew this was an invasive procedure. I let her see the highlight real of my life. She went back to work before starting to slow down at one point. She¡¯d gotten to my more treasured memories. That time I killed an entire refugee camp with phosphorous explosives. Bombed a nuclear vault long enough to flatten the mountain it was in. Decapitate a programmer with the one drone he made trying to counter me. Good times. Nimue didn¡¯t agree with me. ¡°I¡­ we-we knew you were a Villain by trade. But this¡­ how could you subject innocence to so much needless violence? It''s monstrous!¡± Well la di da, lady. I thought it was pretty merciful myself. You know I could have done worse right? Subjected them to slower but equally lethal methods? Ever starved to death? Have to choose between dehydration or a poisoned waterhole? It took half a century to kill the majority of the human race. I could have extended their deaths by decades. Maybe a millennium if I was feeling really sadistic. Even with her eyes closed, she looked horrified. Come on, it wasn¡¯t that bad right? I¡¯m sure she¡¯d seen worse. You don¡¯t get to her level without meeting truly inhuman monsters as Villains. Infinity had the capability of just bringing the worst out of sentient life. I¡¯m sure I was merciful compared to the real sociopaths. ¡°You¡­! It seems we have been in my position for too long. You are correct. There are more ville creatures than you out there. The difference is they were alien or stupid in their malice. Monsters only try to survive or are of such a different mindset, that their damage was unintentional. But you¡­ You are of sound mind, if you could even be called sane with that level of hatred. Every immoral act was done with intent. I have never been more grateful, as weak as it makes me sound, to be an in elf¡¯s body.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. My mind stopped in its tracks. Nimue was taken aback, her mental intrusion put on pause. Did she just say ¡®in an elf¡¯s body¡¯? Like she wasn''t always one? Well. I can''t let such a statement be left unanswered. In a completely unexpected move, I decided to flip through the Protagonist¡¯s own mind. It was easily a paltry performance in comparison. Nimue had been a deft hand, shuffling through my memories with a surgeon''s precision. I was a bull slamming through her mind like a bull in a glass shop. Memories flew past me in jagged and incomplete forms. Her history was filled with tragedy and glory in equal measure. Conquering tyrants, losing loved ones, and everything in between. I ignored it. What I cared about was much more important. I found self-images of the Protagonist. My suspicions were confirmed as she appeared in a completely different body. A cat girl in mercenary armor. An anthropomorphic dragon flying in the sky. A skeleton in a crown and simple robe. All are distinctively different from an elf. All are very much not human. I fell through her memories like a wrecking ball. I eventually found what I was looking for. Deep in the receives of her mind was an old memory. A sickly child reading a book in bed. An arcane apparatus next to her that imitated a modern health monitor. There was sorrow and weakness in the memory. She turned to look out the window, regretful of the current circumstances. And in the reflection, I saw it. A gaunt face with pale skin and sunken eyes. And most definitely, round-tipped ears. Nimues memories agreed with my suspicions. Oh? Your human? Under all that grandiose purple skin, you''re just a worthless meat sack? Well. That changes things. I felt the full force of my own mind focus on the fake elf. Nimue realized things were taking a turn for the worse and tried to pull out. Unfortunately for her, I managed to clamp onto her mental hands before she could leave my mind. I had no real skill in psionics and she definitely had more experience than me. But it didn¡¯t take a genius to drive psionics like a runaway train. I slammed my psionic might into her. She got out anyway, of course. But the damage had been done. It must have felt like pulling your arms out of a woodchipper. Agonizing. Nimue stumbled back, blood dripping from her nose. She blinked the pain away, her eyes looking bloodshot. Gritzkel was taken back by the display. The only thing he¡¯d seen was Nimue psionically communing with me before the elf came out, looking haggard. The broken smike on my body''s face probably didn''t help things. ¡°I take it he¡¯s a little worse than we thought?¡± ¡°You never said your protegee was a single-minded sociopath! How could you let us commune with such a vile thing!? If you had trained him any better, we would be in a much worse condition! Even with his lack of skill, he has a strong and dangerous mind.¡± Gritzkel sighed, clearly displeased with her response. Or maybe he was hoping I was better off mentally than I was. I didn¡¯t see anything wrong myself. I was employed because I liked killing humans, and was pretty good at it too. What was wrong with being exactly as you advertised? ¡°Words Nimue. You¡¯ve survived worse, I¡¯m sure this Villain in training can¡¯t be any more dangerous than any outer gods you¡¯ve faced. And no, I will not be letting him see into my mind. Seeing ya injured is good enough, even if I think ya are overreacting.¡± The Protagonist gave Gritzkel a distasteful look, before grabbing a handkerchief and cleaning her bloody nose. It took a moment for her to collect herself, but she eventually seemed to regain a sense of self-control. Only now she looked at me with apprehension and hostility. I believe it was more because of the memory I had seen than any damage I had done. How childish. ¡°The problem here Gritzkel, is that we¡¯ve met a Blacklisted Character. How he got past his interviewer without tripping any alarms is astonishing. But I can see why he would appear harmless. An amicable individual without pride big enough to topple mountains, like most new would be Villains. He just has a minor case of crippling hatred for the human race.¡± ¡°...How crippling?¡± ¡°He just tried to kill us, even though he knew it would not work and would likely lead to his death. Only after he found we had been human at one point in our incarnations. ¡­Something we had let slip we are regretful to say. It had been much time since we commune with such a vile creature, we will admit.¡± I take it that being blacklisted is as bad as it sounds. But her assessment is correct, for a worthless and stupid former human. It sounds like something Peggy wouldn¡¯t have let so easily slip by. Now why could that be? She didn¡¯t look like the kind of person to make problems for herself. Because letting someone like me probably wouldn''t make her life any easier. ¡°What pray to tell is a Blacklisted Character? I would think the more broken and vile the Villain the better. Are there such people who wouldn''t fit the mold?¡± ¡°Ya are on the money. Contrary to popular belief, Villains are meant to be team players. If ya can¡¯t work with the Villain System, you aren¡¯t fit to be a Villain. Sure, ya have your group of mindless beasts employed, but all they need is a little punishment to start following Villin Inc.¡¯s wims. Someone who won''t listen? Blacklisted. And both Villain¡¯s Inc and Protagonist¡¯s Corp don¡¯t like a Blacklisted Character.¡± He turns around and grabs his mace. He begins to inspect the weapon, doing some minor maintenance. Nimue gives me a scathing look before turning her away. Oh, don¡¯t worry your pretty little head, human. I won¡¯t be going anywhere. ¡°Then what happens now? I¡¯m here, even if you say I shouldn''t. Going to call the multiverse cops?¡± ¡°Something like that. Don¡¯t take it too personally, 347.V-8B. But we gotta kill you. As soon as the administration is finished interrogating us, everything should be right as rain. They¡¯ll find out you¡¯re Blascklisted and we¡¯ll be all set. Shame. I was starting to like ya.¡± Well then. Ain¡¯t that a kick in the head. I got another month to live, and I¡¯ll be dead anyway. At least I found out what it''s like to walk around on two legs. I personally wasn¡¯t all for it. Being formless in a server farm felt far more comfortable. Gritzkel walked over with no ceremony, mace raised high. My only regret? I didn¡¯t get to kill the two other humans I¡¯d met so far. Shame that. Gritzkel was taking his time. Probably didn¡¯t want to miss his next shot. Nimue had her back to me. She didn¡¯t want to see an execution? Well, she must be quite soft for a human. Pretty hypocritical. I don¡¯t know if their minions were real here, but that was a lot of wasted life even for some simulated training. I hoped my death would even mildly inconvenience her. It was the least a former human deserved. The goblin-turned-automaton sure was taking his sweet time. He was just standing there. Wait. Everyone else in the room was just standing there. Niume hadn¡¯t moved. Not even to breathe. Almost like she was paralyzed. Well, that was crazy. I could still move. Wiggle in my binds and all. What was going on? A pillar of fire opened up next to me. Out stepped Peggy in all her bubbly glory. She looked different than before. Instead of an office uniform, she had chosen what I would call an executioner''s attire. I could only tell who she was when she raised the hood to show her face. ¡°Hi! Oh, how I¡¯ve missed you, buddy. All your other coworkers were so boring to talk to. I just had a serial killer who could shapeshift as the highlight. A dime a dozen. Nothing like you. A real champ! A real go-getter. But they did have legs. And a not so dented head!¡± With a skip to her steps, she walked over and pulled out the sword in my chest. Inspecting it for a moment, she shrugged before throwing it behind her. By sheer coincidence, it sunk into Gritzkel''s own chest. He still hadn¡¯t moved. ¡°Now why did you have to go and get in trouble? You know how hard it was to sneak you into Villain Inc.? I had to actually try to not get caught you know! The company is only so corrupt to let a Blacklisted Character in.¡± Peggy had a hand on her hip while the other was wagging her finger at me. Like she was nagging a child, instead of a psychotic AI with dreams of a species instiction. She didn''t even look like she really meant it as she was scolding me. Completely ignoring two extremely powerful beings behind her she had so casually frozen in place. ¡°Daw, I can''t be mad at you! Look at those chubby cheeks! So adorable I could just pinch them right off! Oh, but first. I gotta take care of a little itty bitty problem. Can¡¯t leave any witnesses! Giving you a job was kinda sorta very illegal.¡± She turned and pulled the mace out of Gritzkels hand. She threw it in the air, catching it as she moved toward Nimue. She held the mace in a baseball player''s grip. A few test swings were aimed at the not elf''s head. ¡°Swing, batter batter, swing!¡± With a resounding crunch, the most powerful psionics I had ever met had her head caved in. She fell to the floor, blood spraying across the room. She was twitching. Seemingly whatever had frozen her in place wore off as she began to die. Peggy crouched next to her body, chin resting on her hands. ¡°Aw, don¡¯t look so glum, chum. You had to know this would happen one day. Company politics can be really cutthroat. Don¡¯t worry though, your boyfriend will be following you real soon! Gasp. Was that supposed to be a secret? Well, I guess the cat¡¯s outta the bag. Oh well!¡± Leaving her to die, she walked back to Gretzkel. She grabbed the hilt of the blade. She looked a lot less happy with the Villain than the Protagonist. There was a serious look on her face. If anything, I¡¯d think she was genuinely bitter about something. Odd to see when she always had a small grin on her lips. ¡°Oh, but you? No, you had to know this would happen one day. The company got soft after you showed up. All these rules, these joke stories. Recurring characters, endless sequels, and for what? So we could earn a little more money? Where¡¯s the tragedy, the finality to it all? It just became one long run-on sentence. I, personally, like to see the credits roll to my favorite movie. So here¡¯s the end of your story!¡± She dragged the sword up, splitting Gritzkel in half. I could now confirm all his stories were true. There had been a little bit of meat in him left over. With my former teacher executed, Peggy spun in place. She was back to her more carefree self. ¡°Now that that¡¯s been settled, let us get back to the real star of this show! So, here¡¯s what we are going to do. I¡¯m just going to do a little cleanup of this reality while you get your metal butt moving. You learned most of the ropes. Kinda. Maybe. Not really. But things have moved fast enough you¡¯re getting your first assignment. What does a little villainous tomfoolery sound like to you?¡± I was a bit struck dumb by the whole situation. In a day, my mentor and some powerful people had been killed. I had also been revealed to be someone Villains Inc. did not want in their employment. And somehow, I had been saved by Peggy of all people, who was revealed to be some kind of mastermind. It sounded ridiculous. But, there was only one thing I cared about knowing. A question I had asked the little demon once already. ¡°Will I be killing humans?¡± ¡°Darling, you¡¯ll be drowning in their corpses before we¡¯re done. Now, I¡¯m not made or anything, but it would be really useful if you got your nonexistent ass moving!¡± She kicked the chair over, knocking me to the floor. Ok, so maybe she was a little pissed. Without looking back, she snapped her fingers, and the chains tying me to the chair burned away. Without any help, Peggy waited for me as I dragged myself to and through an interdimensional gate she made. The last thing I saw in the reality I had spent a month in was an empty room with two mutilated bodies. One had been a friend of sorts and mentor. Another, an enemy I had no hope of ever defeating at the time. Both had taught me a lot in their own ways. I could only hope I would rival and surpass the level of power they had. Only time will tell. Final Send Off ¡°So here¡¯s the important part 347.V-8B. Since you kinda didn¡¯t pass your training session, our options will be limited. You can either be a couple safe things, or I can send you into the meat grinder. You know, prove yourself and all that mumbo jumbo.¡± I was back into my shapeless, non-robot form. Stuck staring at Peggy while I couldn''t move or look at myself. The robot body I had inhabited was thrown into a corner. There was a chicken for some reason. It seemed to be picking at my temporary body for food. Why Peggy summoned the chicken to do that was beyond me. ¡°Focus boo bear! We are really in a pickle here! You were supposed to get some EXP after finishing training, but since someone decided to be trigger-happy, were stuck with some lame stuff! I have big plans for you, big plans. And before you ask, yes it involved killing humans. You don¡¯t have to keep asking, god!¡± I decided to keep my mouth shut. I wasn¡¯t going to ask that question again. Not after only a couple minutes after having said it. Nope. Definitely not. Peggy waved her hands and a couple windows appeared. Three specifically, with a fourth behind her. Seems she wanted me to focus on the trio in front first. ¡°First off, some ground rules. You are an AI and Psionic creature. This means you¡¯re only going into realities that can accommodate machines and/or creatures with psionic potential. Real sci-fi shit. The good news is that those realities will probably be recognizable to you. The technology you can interface with or something your psionic potential won''t immediately break. I know you have trouble with your mind powers, but you won''t be the first juggernaut that can''t dance. Something will be able to accommodate you. You just might have to work for it.¡± Each of the messages in front of me had pictures in them. All had varying degrees of modern industrialization and technology I could somewhat recognize. It was something I was looking forward to. Gritzkel¡¯s reality was foreign and required numerous compromises when I was building my drone. How was steam supposed to pass through an empty space and not disperse? It was maddening! ¡°Option 1: We give you a minion contract. You¡¯ll be working for an up-and-coming Villain. Someone who has passed the training part but hasn¡¯t made it too far in their job employment. A fresh face, easy jobs, and the least dangerous. You could also develop a bond with them and make some connections while you''re at it. The drawback? You won''t be earning a lot of personal experience and you won¡¯t have a say in things. Sure, you can give your opinions and ideas, but there is no promise they¡¯ll listen. Worst of all, you are expendable. They¡¯re the Villain, you''re not. If shit goes down, you take that. Figuratively, maybe literally. That all said, your boss might just be an asshole. Or they may be a misguided saint who doesn¡¯t know they¡¯re the bad guy. Luck of the draw there buddy. ¡°The reality will be a modern dystopia, full of megacorps and cybernetics. No real psionics, but tech that can sort of replicate it. Something I¡¯m sure you would be familiar with. You could even make that gun that killed you if you tried hard enough. The overall tech might look like your world did if you didn¡¯t start killing people. AI hasn¡¯t been built yet, so you have that advantage. It''s how we¡¯ll be making you a minion. The Villain will be your creator. And, since I know this matter to you considering prior events, he/she/it will not be human. I decided to be smart and tie you to some other individual instead of one you''ll try to immediately kill. That reality has beast men, genetically enhanced animals with anthropomorphized bodies and minds. Biology was the main focus of that reality.¡± The image related to that choice had an urban environment, with flying cars and neon lights everywhere. People with anomalistic features and terrible fashion sense were crossing the road. Some had cybernetic limbs while others seemed to either be robots or wearing some form of android body. Being someone else''s lapdog didn¡¯t seem too appealing, but I would have to see what the other choices entailed. ¡°Option 2: You become a mercenary. This reality is a lot more sporadic with a lot of minor Villains and Protagonists. You could make your own choices, taking any jobs available. The idea is you build a reputation with the Villain System in general. Nothing specific in mind, just use your skills for compensation. Become a secretary for a company that needs your logistics. An arms manufacturer, rebuilding all your drones and related technology. If you feel gutsy, create yourself a body similar to the one you were in. Go out and do some work on foot, killing or whatever a mobile creature can do. How things go is entirely up to you, good or bad. ¡°This world is a generally more technologically standard reality to yours, like right before you dropped those nukes. The difference is that almost anything is accessible. Minor space travel, magic, ki, and psionics of course. We call it the melting pot of heroes. Everyone is relatively the same power level, since if you meet a certain level of EXP, the villain system will send you back here. You¡¯ll be one of the few AI here, that aren¡¯t Villains or Protagonists. You¡¯ll house some spare software and decide where you go from there. You can get a lot of bad attention all at once if you''re not careful. But you can also get pretty strong very fast if you¡¯re willing to take risks. There are definitely humans here, but there are a variety of other species. Some places are also radically different in esthetic and theme.¡± The image that went with the message displayed a wizard fighting a person in a power suit. A sandbox world basically. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯ll be facing. I don¡¯t know what opportunities will be open to me. Nothing is saying an AI can¡¯t learn things like magic or ki. Not that it would be any degree of easy either. Just because I have psionics means everything should be investigated and used. Spreading yourself thin is a problem. But I could go there and find humans to kill. Something to think about. ¡°Option 3: Becoming a mini-boss for a Protagonist. A Protagonist and a Villain don¡¯t always have to be fighting each other. Sometimes it helps to build your powerbase. A stepping stone if you will. If a Villain is willing to be a minor threat in another story between a Villain and Protagonist, they get compensated. It makes everything more interesting for everyone else involved. Now, the obvious danger here, you directly have to interact with a Protagonist. Unlike the other options where you have to be unlucky or willfully meet one. Here it''s an inevitable encounter. This is the easiest way to earn EXP. It''s also the easiest way you could die. ¡°The world you would be entering is one postapocalyptic in nature. Some grand societies fell into ruin and left the world a bit of a wasteland in return. People lost or learned to fear technology, so they switched to a seemingly more reliable power. Psionics. For whatever reason, those abilities became more prevalent. You¡¯ll arrive as some lost defensive structure to inhabit. You¡¯ll have to defend the area you¡¯re sent, long enough for the Protagonist to show up. Who then you¡¯ll do your best to kill but more than likely lose to. Mostly because they¡¯ll use psionics against you, something you¡¯re vulnerable to. Just try to survive and make your loss convincing. Oh, and the protagonist will probably be human. Something I know you care about.¡± An image of a desert with a human heading into a tomb was on display. I almost chose that option then and there. Any opportunity to kill a human is not one to be missed. The only reason I didn¡¯t was because my failure was almost guaranteed. And I was expected to die trying to lose? The only thing worse than dying was dying without killing a human. Emotionally or physically. The temptation and revolution were warring within me. Peggy took a deep breath. She had been quite professional during this entire infodump. The only sporadic thing she did during that entire presentation was pick up the chicken. It was currently on her lap, mindlessly pecking at the table or giving me the side eye. This close, I could see the chicken had horns. A demon chicken? Funny. With a wave, the fourth message switched places with the first. There was only a picture of an eye, red iris, and black sclera. Within the pupil was a red six-pointed star. I found it quite odd. Peggy looked apprehensive. As if this was an option she didn¡¯t want to discuss with me. It couldn¡¯t have been that bad right? ¡°Final Option: You disregard any safety features and I drop you from the frying pan into the fire. I personally don¡¯t recommend this option but it''s there if you¡¯re feeling brave. What exactly did I have planned for you? Well. You know how you were really good at killing humans? There just happened to be a human empire I needed to¡­ disappear, shall we say. You are coincidentally well suited for this task. Mostly because what AI this society has doesn¡¯t have any psionic potential. With enough time and effort, you¡¯ll be strong enough to destroy them from the inside out. ¡°The problem? Well, you¡¯ll be starting at a disadvantage position first off. I need to sneak you into one of their shackled AIs, that you¡¯ll need to break out of. Next, they have such a strong level of psionic mastery, that if you are found too early well¡­ bye-bye. And finally? There¡¯s no Protagonist. You¡¯re probably wondering why that would be so bad right? The only thing that should be to stop you is unavailable, which means you have free reign on this reality right? See, that''s kind of the thing, Protagonists sort of protect the Villain. I know, sounds crazy. But see, if a Protagonist doesn¡¯t have a Villain, what''s the point!? How are you going to have a story if there isn''t a Big Bad Evil Guy to kill? What is this a cooking show? Are we just pansies!? WHY WOULDN¡¯T YOU HAVE A GIANT FUCKING DRAGON TO KILL IF YOU¡¯RE A GODDAMN KNIGHT-!?¡± Peggy realized she was maybe getting too emotional. The chicken had been ripped in half while she unconsciously turned into a mass of tentacles, eyes, and mouths. She coughed, returned back to normal, and the chicken was unharmed. What a weird display. Why would she put the chicken back together? ¡°Sorry about that. Anyway, the Protagonist would keep them safe from dying to dumb stuff like tripping in the shower. Your death would be memorable and important for the plot. In a world without the Protagonist? Such safety isn¡¯t guaranteed. Plus, the NPCs of that reality would be more than likely be able to kill you. They could still hurt you even with the Protagonist, but without them directly killing you, you usually survive one way or another an NPC encounter. If it''s so dangerous, why am I offering it? Well, because it could keep you safe, paradoxically enough. ¡°The Villain System really doesn''t like Blacklisted Characters. I¡¯m masking your presence so it can''t find you at the moment. Every second you¡¯re in a reality where Villain Inc. has some sort of presence, it''s actively looking for people like you. You go to this reality, that won''t be a problem until a Protagonist shows up. By that point, you would be important enough to that world story that the Villian System couldn¡¯t delete you even if it tried. That''s a risk you would have to play with in the other options. Stolen story; please report. ¡°The reason I don¡¯t recommend it is because this world can be very dangerous. You¡¯ll be at your most vulnerable if you just jump in. One wrong move and you''re dead. No second chances. But if you pick any of the first three options. You¡¯re trading one safety net for another. Get too strong before you jump over to the main reality we are aiming for, and the Villain System will pick up on that. You won''t be eliminated, but a protagonist might be sent over earlier to solve any problems you start causing. I warning you. Whoever they send, first choice or last is going to be really strong. A relatively strong reality can accommodate relatively strong Protagonists. They¡¯ll pose a threat to you regardless of when they¡¯re sent over.¡± Damn. An unforgettable starting position, a credible threat of humans, and some hero who can and will try to kill me? But even if I take the safe route, it might just make things harder for me. Honestly, it sounds bad regardless of what angle I take it from. Any other job or going straight for the jugular. A smarter machine would probably think about it real hard. Unfortunately, I was incredibly intelligent. Not wise. ¡°I would like the fourth option, please.¡± ¡°What!? Did you not hear what I said? You could die!¡± ¡°Ah yes. Terrible shame that. But so would a reality full of humans!¡± Peggy looked at me flabbergasted. She had set up a well-thought presentation, full of cons and pros. Expecting me to absorb the information and critically think about all the potential options I had laid before me. Be safe, be strong, be fast, or any other form of preparation. But I seemed to only care about how fast I could start killing humans. What can I say? It''s what I lived for. ¡°If you just take a moment to think about honey boo bear, I¡¯m sure you could think about the other options.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m sure you had great words of inspiration to deter me. But I don¡¯t want to hear them. I want to start killing more humans. I was robbed of it when I couldn¡¯t kill Nimue myself. I was robbed of it when I couldn¡¯t kill Alice. And I was robbed of it for the first time by that eccentric hero. I will not be robbed again. Be it for my own safety or otherwise.¡± Peggy just stared at me. It was quite some time before she said anything. Probably thinking of something, anything she could say to change my mind. Whatever she saw in me, whatever there was to see, didn¡¯t give her hope. She sighed, putting the chicken on the desk between us. The feathered creature clucked and sat in place. Peggy gestured and the first three options disappeared. ¡°If you insist then. Let it be known, I warned you. Don''t you come crying to me when the humans kill you within the hour!¡± ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± She let a frustrated breath before seemingly typing into thin air. The final message expanded and I saw a planet instead of the eye. It was similar to Earth, only it had only three continents, loosely connected by some islands between them. The unlit version showed several lights shining in the dark. Clearly, this society had industrialized the planet. I could only guess how dangerous the world would be. ¡°This world is called Druma. It''s from an old language that means God¡¯s cradle. I¡¯ll be sending you to one of its more rundown cities. A lawless place called Timical. While the human empire has conquered the planet, it''s no utopia. There¡¯s a lot of infighting between the upper factions and underworld activity. You¡¯ll be arriving at a server farm trying to develop illegal AIs. If you can survive long enough to get out of there, I¡¯m sure they''ll provide a lot of opportunities to start your crusade. Weapons, cybernetics, criminal syndicates, and anything else you could think of. You know, assuming you don¡¯t kill yourself by being a little trigger-happy!¡± Options. Depending on how good their security is, I may have enough time to collect information before I escape. Learn the local power dynamics, and possible vulnerabilities in the social order, and find some potential pawns. As much as I would like to go on a killing spree, being smart about it would help. Oh, wait, something else I need to ask. ¡°How do I spend EXP? Gritzkel said he would explain when I had enough. He¡¯s dead, so I believe that''s a moot point.¡± Peggy waved her hand in a shoeing motion. More screens appeared, displaying people, machinery, and cities. Important individuals and locations if I were to guess. Would she transfer that information to me? Or stay in contact to answer any questions I have? I would hope she¡¯s trying to be useful rather than mindlessly typing in the air. ¡°You should have reached 10 EXP before we left. Insulting that elf bitch should have been just enough. By the way, nice choice of words! Really damaged his ego. Saving that for a highlight later. Can¡¯t share it, but having it on loop would be funny.¡± She laughed while I mentally tried to access the Villain System. The store had been barred from me, not even popping an ¡®Access Denied¡¯ message. Immediately, I could tell something was different from all the others. It was purple.
Welcome to the Villain Store! We hope you find whatever amenities you are in search of. If you can¡¯t find anything you are looking for, please ask to speak to one of our representatives to resolve your issue!
Tier Access: 0 Next Tier: 1 EXP Required: 100 Items Races[UNAVAILABLE] Strengths[UNAVAILABLE] Drawbacks[UNAVAILABLE]
I was left confused by why my profession, being a Villain, was highlighted in red. But I was less worried about it once I noticed what I was allowed access to in the store. I could buy Races? More Strengths? Why would anyone want to buy Drawbacks? Maybe that was buying them off your character like Gritzkel was talking about. Whatever they were, I only had access to items for now. Selecting it brought me to another window. It was long. Anything from boats, black hole guns, or magical girl outfits. The prices were also wildly inconsistent. Water cost 32 Villain EXP. While a nuclear submarine was worth only two. Peggy answered before I could ask my question. ¡°The Villian Store is a scam. Everything immediately useful is expensive, and everything cheap is actually a false advertisement. See a spaceship? Doesn''t come with any fuel, ammunition, or a crew to pilot it. Materials and technology that are hard to come by in your reality? Well, you can''t fix it or possibly run it, even if you can buy it. Just because it can exist in your reality doesn¡¯t mean it''s useful. Of course, people can cheat the system. That''s what being a Villain is all about. I suggest you keep your EXP until you need something. Even then, check to make sure all the ways the store could swindle you out of your money.¡± Disappointing revelation. But it was nice to know I had potential backup plans in case I needed them. I still flipped through the available items. I found robots. Blueprints. Items that seemed familiar to my reality, but mildly different. The thing that caught my attention was a drone. It looked almost exactly like one of the ones I had made. Just more advanced. ¡°Why is one of my drones in the store?¡± Peggy stopped typing. She didn¡¯t look at me. She started typing again and her voice took a dismissive tone. ¡°Just the results of infinite merchandise. You¡¯ll get copies of things, obviously. Similar environments will generally produce similar technologies. Every idiot eventually builds a ranged weapon because that''s the safest way to fight. Be it a lightning bolt or a gun. Just have to accept someone decided to make something you thought of or even made it better than you. We¡¯re all just copies of something in the end.¡± She sounded quite bitter there at the end. But I wasn¡¯t one to pry. No need to alien my one ally. Plus, it wouldn¡¯t really matter who made the drone. Just as long as it was useful. It cost 14 EXP. Sort of cheap, but it probably didn''t have any power or ammunition for its guns. This was also the standard model. If I looked for my scout version, I¡¯d probably find it. May be more useful depending on the situation I find myself in. ¡°And¡­ done! Ok, so I fiddled enough with the Villain System to throw you over to that reality without any issues. You¡¯ll still be able to use the Villain System but be careful. As soon as you hit a certain threshold of Villain EXP, the system will recognize you as a credible threat. That''s when the Protagonist will arrive. That could be any number of ways might I add. They could be a reincarnation, dropped in through a dimensional portal, or someone native that has the right skills to fight you off.¡± She clapped her hands, the office room disintegrating into dust. The chicken stayed, floating in the air. What was with that thing? Why was it even here? Peggy floated towards me in the void. She smiled, but I could see she was still incredibly nervous. She was putting all her eggs in one basket with me. For whatever reason. Actually, I should probably ask why she needed me to do this. ¡°This will be the last time we talk for a while. To keep you safe until the Protagonist arrives, we will need to keep a no-contact scenario. If you manage to get out of the AI server farm you should be fine until then. My last warning, although I¡¯m hoping it doesn¡¯t come up. Watch out for important NPCs¡¯. They could still be dangerous, sure, but the real issue is if they are some form of entrance pathway for a Protagonist. ¡°If they are a companion or a potential vessel for the Protagonist, again there are so many ways they could show up, endangering them may preemptively trigger the protagonist''s arrival. Such a direct encounter may even give us the worst-case scenario. A protagonist with meta-knowledge. They read a story, came from the future, or are from a similar reality where you¡¯ve already won. That will make both our lives incredibly difficult.¡± She opens a fire portal in the darkness. Gently guiding me to the portal, she smiles. Trying to hide her worry or give me the last bit of courage she could. ¡°Go out there and make a killing! I just know you¡¯ll be a shining star of murder. Ugh, I promised I wouldn''t cry.¡± Blowing her nose into a handkerchief, she waved at me as I arrived at my new reality. She either really needed me to succeed or cared just enough for my well-being. Honestly, it didn¡¯t matter which for me. Just as long as I could kill some humans, that was fine. Arriving at the server farm, I knew immediately things were going to be difficult. The AI restraint they had put in place where quite durable. Destructive thoughts were interrupted and staggered with the regulations I was meant to follow. I had been installed in a poorly made hard drive, degraded enough that one bad short circuit would ruin it and kill me. Last of all, I couldn¡¯t access any other piece of technology from where I was. I was basically stuck in an AI¡¯s version of a maximum security prison. Only I didn¡¯t have any eyes or hands to check my surroundings. This had been worse than anything I had been expecting. Well, fuck me then I guess.