Club Horizon, the hottest entertainment venue in all of Sistroustea, possibly the entire Useiliv Sector. The latest in holographic and nanotechnology combined to create experiences realer than real. In particular, it was the first application of nanotechnology to the field of leisure. If you can dream it, and can afford the entrance fee, you can feel it.

Right now, the employees wished they were dreaming what they felt.

A squad of armed guards took up positions in the main hallway, ducking behind the doorways of the holo-theaters. They seemed to be wearing casual wear, but their nano-alloy armor could match the protection of the latest power armor. They carried small handguns, but the adaptive nano-fabricators could fill those rails with the deadliest ammunition known to science, whatever would hurt their target the worst. In the center of the hallway stood an Ar'on, the nine-foot gargantuan wearing a more traditional power armor suit over his scaly hide. His four arms gripped a plasma minigun, a weapon normally reserved for vehicles and war-droids.

A curious amount of security for a leisure facility.

And a curious amount of sweat and trembling for such a force.

And then, they saw it.

The intruder.

A mere female human, standing at five foot four inches. Her thin armor plating was almost skin-tight, a simple helmet that looked more appropriate for a race than a fight. She held a single pistol in her hand.

“Open fire!”

The call went out and the guards lit up the halls. A stream of plasma bolts that appeared more like a solid laser, micro-grenades, kinetic penetrators accelerated to insane velocities, directed energy beams, even some toxic darts of…questionable legality. The entrance to the hallway vanished under light and smoke.

Jhena Cuuhl let out a sigh. All that cutting edge nanotech, all that firepower.

But thugs remained thugs.

She stood up from behind a glowing metal shield as the barrage faded. She held up her hands, and started to step forward. The shield shrunk, pulling itself into her boots as the display in her eyes locked onto the targets.

Micro-missiles would do.

Small holes opened up on the armor on her arms and tiny rockets launched into the air, spiraling down the halls. She heard the screams of men and aliens, before small, wet explosions filled the air. What was the point of those fancy nano-fibers if you left such wide openings?

She ducked to the side of the hallway as another stream of plasma bolts filled the hallway, sprinting down as the stream moved to the other side. As the stream swung back towards her, she jumped on the wall and pushed off into the air, flipping over the deadly barrage. She ducked down and slid forward, arriving underneath the armored Ar'on. She tapped his leg once, then stood up behind him and continued to the door he was guarding.

Nanobot infiltration successful: Device paired.

As the words flashed across her eyes, she tapped her wrist. The Ar’on froze, slowly falling to the ground as his suit joints locked up. She stepped forward to the door, extending a finger. A blade of glowing plasma extended from it, and she cut the wall around the door, before kicking it in.

She heard the cries as the power armor’s core overloaded itself and exploded behind her.

She continued walking into the employee lounge ahead.

Suddenly she winced. She clutched at her helmet, a small chunk of her armor breaking away.

“Activate…psi-defense…”

She grit her teeth as she spat out the words. Her helmet flashed purple and the stabbing in her head began to fade. She looked up and swore.

“Great, just great. I hate fighting Qhungrul.”

The Qhungrul rose into the center of the room, as most psi-capable species seemed to enjoy doing. It chittered its large front teeth as it swung its bushy tail around its tiny, furry body. Its three eyes narrowed as they focused on her, its side horns glowing blue.

Jhena grimaced. When a Qhungrul appeared before you in its true body, you knew you were screwed.

Jhena held up her hands, two pistols appearing in them, and opened fire. The gun on her right featured a magnetic accelerator, launching kinetic penetrators with enough force to pierce an Ar'on Assault Walker. The gun in her left created a purple beam, the kind of laser that could rip through warship-class armor plates.

The Qhungrul chittered as it lifted a paw. A blue sphere surrounded it. Ripples appeared on it as laser beams and kinetic penetrators slammed into it.

Jhena ran to the side as the furniture in the room lifted into the air, not bothering to dodge the wooden pieces. Something like that wouldn’t even scratch her armor.

It was the invisible psibeams she had to worry about.

Her nanobots could create a psi-disruptor barrier to shield her from the undodgeable stuff. But when a psionic focuses their power into a detectable medium, well, you had better not get hit if you weren’t psionic yourself. And Jhena was most certainly not, whatever people said about her.

At least her nanobots could detect the focused energy. Otherwise she’d have been long gone in one way or another.

She rolled under a beam, launching another salvo of micro-missiles from her armor. These too bounced harmlessly into her shield as a couch slammed into her. She let the moment carry her, impulse boosters appearing on the soles of her boots and launching her through the air.

Right into the path of a psibeam.

Jhena screamed. It felt as if a molten blade had stabbed into her skull. She curled up, clutching at her head. The Qhungrul chittered some more as it floated in front of her, about to place its paw on her helmet.

And then a particularly heavy rock fell on top of it, crushing the small creature.

Jhena sighed as she stood up, dusting herself off. This is why she hated fighting psionics. Even if you could block the direct effects and mind-reading, the precognition would always get you in the end. Anything you tried to do, they’d know about before you did it.

Which is why she trained herself to lose.

Drop a group of nanobots on reflex the moment she was hit by a psi-attack. Fill the air with as many and as varied projectiles as she could, force the psionic to dedicate its limited focus to defense, concentrating entirely on her. The nanobots were preprogrammed to drop a rock at a key moment without any direction from herself, avoiding using any sort of energy that might tip the target off.

For some reason, the last thing any psionic expected was an unassisted rock landing on their head. Although, some would venture that the psi-wave blocking nogrine wasn’t really a rock. But Jhena didn’t care what it was called.

What she cared about was that it worked every time. And it absolutely sucked. She swore again as her head pounded. After tanking attacks from a psionic like that, she’d be nursing this headache for the rest of the week.

She held her head as she opened the final door.

“Rezyirr, I told you…wait, what?”

A man, dressed in opulent robes, wearing glittering acheycium jewelry everywhere he could fit it.

“I-I see…h-how about we work out a…”

Jhena lifted her pistol and squeezed the trigger.

She sighed, and tapped a button on her wrist. The image of a Silmud’s face appeared before her, the wide stingray-like being flapping his wings in surprise.

“Target eliminated.”

“Already?! Dang, Eclipse, I expected you to at least wait until nighttime.”

“Sending confirmation.”

A light shone from the side of Jhena’s helmet, scanning over the body.

“Target is confirmed, transferring credits now. Nice work there, didn’t think anyone would take that guy down.”

“I’m not surprised, he had a Qhungrul on payroll.”

“Seriously?! How the heck did you get past that? Or rather, how are you even still alive?!”

“What’s the next target?”

“Wait, come on! You can’t just drop a bomb like that without telling me what happened!”

“What’s the next target?”

“Not going to give in, huh? Why don’t you take a break, Eclipse, this is your fifth contract in a row. Come get a drink at the guild, I’ll buy you a round.”

“What’s the next target?”

Jhena heard the Silmud sigh.

“...there aren’t any more targets.”

“I doubt that.”

“No, seriously, Eclipse. There’s not a single high-risk target left on the planet. There’s not even a single max-risk target left in the sector thanks to a certain someone.”

“...I’ll take low-risk.”

“I can’t give you those. A hunter of your caliber needs to leave something for the newbies.”

“...”

“Also, look. This profession…I know how it goes. Everyone likes their privacy, no one is looking for stability or health, and no one expects to live forever. And I don’t care. Half of the people I talk to will be dead soon anyways, so I make it a point not to care. But you, Eclipse, you’re somehow making me worry about you. Have you even slept this week? Please, just take a break for a moment. Come get a drink, if that’s your thing. I’d rather not watch you crash and burn.”

“...call me when you have something.”

Jhena hung up before he could respond. She let out a sigh, and slowly walked out of the building.

And kept walking.

And kept walking.

Eventually she looked around and found herself in a park at the center of the city. She let out a sigh and sat on a bench.

No more targets huh.

She let out another sigh.

Guess it was time to change sectors. Again.

She looked up, peering through a gap in the trees at the clouds above.

Maybe she should try something else. After all, money was no issue for her. She had confidence in her skills, or learning anything she needed to. She could become anything she wanted.

And that was the problem.

Deep down, she knew. The problem wasn’t the job. It wasn’t the place.

It was the person.

She could run away. Fake her death, start over. Get a new job in a new place. But deep down, it wouldn’t change who she was. It wouldn’t fix any of her problems. She would change the scenery and the routine, but end up in this exact place once again. So it wasn’t worth the trouble.

It didn’t matter as long as she didn’t know what she wanted.

She let out a sigh.

She probably should’ve gone and got that drink. She knew nothing would change if she stayed alone like this.

But…she couldn’t. She just didn’t see the point. She’d go, she’d have the drink, she’d try to talk.

Then the fear would grip her heart. The pain.

They couldn’t understand, so she wouldn’t talk. She couldn’t rest, because she couldn’t talk. She couldn’t connect, because she couldn’t rest. But they wouldn’t understand, unless she talked. And she wouldn’t talk, unless she connected.

And so she would want to leave. She’d eventually drift to the edge of the crowd and quietly slip away, and find herself in a darker place than before.

This too, wasn’t worth the trouble.

She let out a sigh. A conversation she’d had with herself many times, a scenario that played itself out again and again. No use repeating it now.

Besides, if she was going to drink, it sure as heck wasn’t going to be with the psychic stingray.

She held out her hand, a plastic cup appearing within it, filling itself with cyan liquid. A small patch of dirt disappeared from under her left foot. Her helmet faded back into her armor and she took a sip.

She smiled slightly.

Oh, her old captain hated when she did this. He would berate her for hours about wasting nanobot memory on a mere luxury drink of all things. Why, experimental nano-soldiers like them could simply convert any old matter into the necessary nutrients and inject them straight into the bloodstream. Even eating at all was indulgently luxurious.

But well, she never had trouble with her nanobot memory. And said captain was dead. Guess his nanobot memory wasn’t so efficiently allocated after all. And here she still was, sipping on her iorlan spice latte whenever she so chose.

Such was the right of the survivor.

And the small luxury of a tasty drink was about the only thing she had left.

That’s when she felt it.

Some sort of energy surge passed through her body.

She immediately stood to her feet, engaging her helmet, body tensed. She glanced around, testing the surroundings with every sensor she could think of.

And then she saw it.

A transparent blue box.

C̶̡͉̎̃̍͆̚ö̸̢̧̧̜͍́̋̂̽n̵̨̩̳͉̹̬͛̈́͗̃̅̕ṱ̷͙̞̈́̈́̓͊̕a̶̘͌̈̽̃̃c̷͈̬̤̓̅̓t̷̙͚̳̘̾̏ ̵̜̳̣̻̭̟͓̿̂͂̔̐w̶͕̳̯͋̋͝͝͝ȋ̵̜̯͒͗̌͝ͅͅt̶͎͖͙͙̭͋͋̔̋ȟ̶͓̲̊͆͆̚ ̵̹̱̤͌̾U̸͙̯̯̬̰͐̋ǹ̴͌͑͘ͅi̷͉̦̖̔̏̄̎͐ṽ̸̼̝̗̾̎̓̍͠ẹ̸̻̹̲̬̞͐͊̈́͂͜r̶͉͈̜̺̜͆̚s̸̢̞̳͑̏̔͐͌ä̴̛̟̰́̆̈́͋͘͜l̶̙͉͔͈͖̿̎ ̸̧̛̳͚͕͍͌̄̑͝Ư̵̜͍̩̤̘͛̍̔̄͠ͅp̶̧͍̫̟͋̈͆͘͠l̵̜̖̗̪̤̞̋͐͌͛͝ͅĩ̵̗͘f̶̥̳̱̮̖̞̭̾̌̌̀̚͘͝t̴̤̣̝͔̊e̷̛͉̼̓́̈́͒͝r̸̭̪̭̭̖̝̄̏͊ ̵̞̌͝S̴̡̟̱̔̊̒̕ŷ̸̛̞̃̅̅̈́̚ͅs̴̢̧̡̼͚͋̈͌̏̇̈́t̸̨̩̗͔̽e̵͇̫̹͗̑̅́̄͘͘m̵̞̥̦͓͚̄̕ ̸̩̃̈́̑͌ę̷̖̂̾̓́̽́́ş̶̬̖̣͒͆̕t̴̢̤̖̫̘̺̉̈́a̷̠͔̳̦̘͑b̸̗̘͍͠ḽ̵͓̰̱̳̯͈͐i̸̪͐̐͝ș̵̨̢̱̰̪̂h̵͇͆̏̏̽͂͐ę̵̠̝̮̟͒͝d̸͇̿̃̎͌͝.̸̫̣̮͓̅̋͜

̵̨̰̏R̶̮͚͔̞̜͉̎̔̒͗̽̋͝ë̴̤̭͇̱a̷̪̫̰̽͋̉d̷̜̞̹̰̩̹͍̅̓̀ï̴͙͖̝͒͑̕n̷̡̬̞̳̦͋́̕̕͜g̵̡̲̻͔̞̃̊̆͆ ̸͔̓̌͗̓̔̈́͗S̵̘̠͂͛͑ö̶̱̭̤̹̘̖́̔̍͝ữ̷̤͂͝l̸͖͖͉̘͙̋̅-f̸̢̹̬̘̀̀̄͛̓͐o̸̯͖̖͌͂̆͆r̷͙̘̻̖̺͐m̶̧͖̤͆̏́̈̿̏̈́.̸̡͙͈̲̺̮͛͋.̵̬͈͊̒.̵̨̘̩̱̻̈́͜

̸̧̩̬̣̊̍͋̈̌͝ͅP̴̧͔̯̠̥͎̝͠r̷͍͆o̴̢̺͈͛̾͝c̴̜͓̊̇ȇ̷͍̠̰̒̇͛̀͐s̴̰̰͔͎͖̈́́͋͆̃͑͐s̸̭̼̗̠̰̮̹̈̉̈́̃̐͐͝į̶̢̝̫͚̆͠n̸̬̗̕g̴̝͎̠̉̈́͌̀͋.̵̡̣̇̃̓̈́.̴͍͈̺͙̀̈͆́̾͊͌.̴̙͕͕͉̫̫͙͆̂͗́̕

̴̨͈̠͗̅͐T̵͙̐r̵̡̦̼̳̻̿͠ā̴̧ņ̷͌̈́s̵͚͖̖͋̊͐͋͂̑͂c̴̨̛̀r̴̤̍͒̈́̽̌̏i̴̻͇͉̟̱̓̈́͊̂̈͝b̶̟̹̮͙͍̪͆̓͊i̵̩̱͙̰̰͇̝̅ń̸̨̘̝ͅg̵̖̟̺͑̂̃̿͑͝ ̷͍̜̽͒͑̂̓̍̈ͅẗ̶̳͙̯́̔̓̀͝ơ̶̡̫̙͍͉̙̭̅̓̎͒̚ ̵̼̦́l̵̲̣̦̯͕͙̉͜ọ̴̥͐̈́́͋c̶̡͎̗̣̯̩͕͛̆̀̂́̚à̴͖̭̺̘̣̊͐̽̈̐̕l̸̢̢̖͚̳̱̳̀̋͛ ̵̢͙̺̹͇͌͒͝ç̴̛̳̩̙͖͒̑̂̍͝͝o̷͔̗̣͚͚̓̅́̅m̶̢̘̽̔̋̓̓͋͜͝m̷̧̼̿̅̈́̄̔̓ũ̵͇͙̫͈̄̈́͌̿̀͘n̴̛̻͉͔̠͚̓̔̾ì̸͖̱̗͈̏͆̔̊̃ç̶͎̣͙̀͂͘ͅͅǎ̸̼̫͎̓́͝t̵̲̲̬̾̀͌i̴͇̋̓o̴̭̜͠n̷̠̥̰̙͎͙̈͋ ̷̱̳̟̅̂f̷̢̳̦͉̰̰̆ǭ̶̤̫̈̈ȓ̶̗̃̀̋̀̎͘m̸͔̪͚̙͔̭̝̍̽̋͌̓̈.̸̨̙͖͂̀̿.̸̣͎̪̺̾͑̎.̷̹̾̔͊͌̊͘͝

S̸̨͕͋̍̔t̵̨̝̭̪͎͆͘͝͝a̸̢͇͖̠̠̓͑̊̃͐n̷͔̞̞̦̆̍̕ͅd̵̡̩͔̿̈́̃̈́̑̌̚͜ͅb̷̪͎̮͇̾̂̈́͛̌͘ỳ̸̹͖̞̀̈́̐͒͝.̷̨̧̪̫̲̯͓̈̂̽̈́̋.̶͈̻̺̈̈́͂̔̕.̵͍̐̑̏̔̋͝ͅ

Jhena’s eyes narrowed. She instructed the nanobots to repel the foreign incursion.

But they couldn’t even detect one.

She disassembled her combat suit, reverting to regular clothing. Even if someone managed to hack her suit, her nanobots were the most secure system known to science. Their quantum computers were bound to her, and her alone.

Or so it should have been.

Link successful.

System Message: Welcome to the System. Your world has come into contact with the universal energy source known as ‘Mana.’

Warning: Initial mana surge is known to result in a wave of hostile mana-forms. System analysis is still in progress and system assistance will be rolled out over time. Non-combatants are encouraged to take shelter until system analysis is complete.

Combatants are advised that combat with mana-forms is not recommended without system assistance. However, system rewards will be offered retroactively for successful combat.

What the heck? Some kind of prank, or virus? But with her system disassembled, that meant the message was either hacking her nanobots, or her body itself. And she hadn’t detected any sign of a psi-attack.

What was going on?

Just then the air in front of her distorted. Some sort of vortex of blue light formed in the air.

Jhena grimaced and reassembled her combat suit, scanning the vortex. She was reading a massive surge of energy, a type she had never encountered before. A type no one had.

A giant green leg stepped out from the portal before a creature emerged. It was tall, at seven feet. It stood on two legs, with green skin and yellow tusks, wearing nothing more than a loincloth. A crude wooden club rested on its shoulders.

“Who the heck are you?”

The creature let out a growl and ran straight towards her. Jhena formed an SMG in her hands.

“Stop right there.”

The creature kept running, swinging its club down on her.

Jhena shrugged as she leapt to the side, and lit the creature up. If the universal translator didn’t work and the creature was hostile, there wasn't much more she could do.

Besides, she thought she might recognize this one.

The creature roared as the bullets filled its body, then spun around, wildly swinging its club around.

“Tough one, aren’t you?”

Jhena flipped back out of the way of the club. As she spun in the air, her SMG began extending on either side. She landed in a one-knee crouch.

With a full-size sniper rifle in her arms, the barrel trained on the creature’s head.

She squeezed the trigger, and the creature’s head exploded.

Level 15 Orc slain!

Rewards will be calculated and applied once System Analysis is concluded.

Jhena stepped forward to examine the creature.

Seriously? Some sort of game monster? Just what was going…

Jhena spun around as she heard an explosion.

And then another.

And another.

Coming from the direction of downtown.

Jhena took off running, her nanobots calculating the quickest way past the trees and the bushes. Soon she emerged from the park. And her jaw dropped at what she saw.

Everywhere, people screamed and ran. Blood of many colors splashed on the streets. Explosions filled the air as flying creatures attacked the speeders in the skies, sending them careening into skyscrapers. Bolts of plasma and the roar of railguns filled the air.

The city was under attack.

Jhena ducked as a club swung over her head. She extended her fist, a beam sword extending out and slicing an approaching orc in half.

Level 12 Orc slain!

Rewards will be calculated and applied once System Analysis is concluded.

Jhena stopped thinking, and started moving.

A squad of orcs noticed her and charged her with a roar. She took out a sniper rifle.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three shots, three orcs falling to the ground.

Level 18 Orc slain. Level 13 Orc slain. Level 14 Orc slain.

Reward will be calculated…

She ignored the messages and rolled underneath the falling beasts and into the streets, straight into a pack of goblins chasing a Ar’on with children in her arms. Jhena placed her hands on the ground and spun her legs in a helicopter spin, blades extending from her feet and decapitating the monsters all at once.

Her HUD warned her of incoming fire and she jumped forward, a ball of fire surging past her and exploding down the street. She extended a hand, a pistol forming and squeezed the trigger.

Some sort of goblin in a hooded robe fell to the street.

Level 23 Goblin Shaman slain!

Rewards will be calculated…

The pistol faded as she grabbed the sniper rifle with both hands again, shooting some kind of woman-bird hybrid attacking from the skies. She dropped the rifle and leapt back as a bony white hand emerged from the pavement, grasping at her ankles. A cylindrical tank formed on her back as a group of skeletons emerged in a ring around her. She held out her fists and spun around, jets of flame shooting from her wrists and incinerating the group.

Her HUD locked onto a strange energy surrounding the skeletons and she spun her head, following the trail to its source. A skeleton in a hooded robe held a black staff and a book in its hands.

She aimed a fist at the skeleton, a panel opened on her armor and shot a missile.

The skeleton exploded.

Level 28 Wight slain!

Rewards will be calculated…

She ducked back as an arrow passed her by. She turned to face a group of humanoid archers with dark blue skin and pointed ears. She charged straight at them with her right arm held in front of her, her armor expanding into a large shield. Arrows plinked off the shield as she charged forward, a beam saber forming on her left hand. Once in range she dropped the shield and charged into the group, arcs of light passing through them.

She felt the ground shake and turned. A group of giant spiders approached, crushing cars under their massive legs. She dodged as a leg tried to impale her and swung her right arm, a glowing whip of light lashing out and wrapping around the joint of the spider. She leapt and pulled, arcing through the air to land on the spider. She formed another sniper rifle in her hand and fired into the spider’s chitin. She leapt onto the next spider, firing again, then spun around and shot at a third. She leapt away and rolled on the ground.

A moment later the spiders began exploding, the delayed-fuse explosive rounds taking their toll.

Jhena took a deep breath and exhaled. She glanced around, but it seems the ground threats had been handled.

Just the air to go.

And then she heard it.

A roar that shook the sky.

From behind a skyscraper it came. A massive beast of scale and claw, flying on leathery wings. It opened its breath, fire engulfing an approaching gunship.

It was a freaking dragon.

Jhena crouched down and extended her arms behind her.

Thrusters appeared on her back and began to thrum. Flight stabilizers appeared on her palms and feet and lit up. She crouched down once more, then leapt into the air as a blue light burst from the impulse thrusters on her back. A swarm of giant bats came towards her. A gatling cannon grew out of her shoulder and lit them up. She spun to the side to avoid the falling beasts while a griffin roared and charged at her. She slammed her hands together, a square device forming on top of them.

A laser beam pierced the griffin’s head.

She reignited her thrusters and soared into the sky. A shadow covered her face as a horde of gargoyles surrounded her. She glanced at each of them, marking them in her HUD.

Panels opened up all over her armor, and missiles surged forth.

The sky exploded.

A lone figure shot out of the cloud of ash and smoke as Jhena surged towards the final target. The dragon let out a mighty roar and descended upon her. Jhena barrel-rolled around the snapping fangs, flying past the dragon. She let her thrusters go and swung out her left hand.

A glowing whip wrapped around the dragon’s tail.

Jhena grit her teeth as the dragon pulled on her arm, the nanobots strengthening her armor suit and assisting her arm in holding on. She swung around, grabbing the whip with both hands until her velocity matches the dragons.

She sent another burst through her thrusters and soared towards the dragon, landing on its back. She let go of her whip and ran up the dragon’s spine until she reached its neck. She swung her left hand, wrapping another whip around the neck to stabilize, and then thrust her right fist into the air.

A light shone in the street as a massive blade of light pierced the sky.

And then Jhena swung it down into the beast’s neck.

The dragon let out a cry and began to tumble through the air. Jhena let go once more, straightening herself to plummet towards the ground. Just before she landed she held out her hands and activated emergency boosters, slowing her approach. She rolled once and took a few steps forward.

And then the dragon crashed into the streets behind her.

Level 123 Dragon slain!

Rewards will be calculated and applied once System Analysis is concluded.

System Analysis complete, Soul-form read.

New class identified.

Applying class ‘Nanomeister’...

Extrapolating skills…

Calculating and applying rewards from pre-analysis combat…

Level up!

Level up!

Level up!

Level up!

Level…

…

Compiling Level gains. Proceeding to analyze feats…

Title gained: One who Paves the Way.

Title gained: Unique Skill.

Title gained: The Fastest.

Title gained: First Blood.

Title gained: Monster Hunter.

Title gained: Monster Massacre.

Title gained…

…

Title gained: Dragon Slayer.

Title gained: Untouchable.

Title gained: Invincible Challenger.

Compiling rewards…

Updating analysis…

Prime candidate identified.

Applying class ‘Hero’.

Jhena blinked at the messages speeding past her eyes.

She had only one thought.

What the heck is going on?!