《Rank Zero: Cyberlinks Book 1 (LitRPG)》Chapter 2: Soft Reset
Advertisement
Alec awoke to a splitting headache. Sleep had only come to him in starts and spurts last night. When it did get going for a length of time, it subjected him to heart-racing nightmares. He originally planned to play Cyberlinks all day, but with his character effectively finished, he had no intentions of crawling out of bed at a reasonable time today.
But something persisted in keeping Alec awake. He sat up and listened. His home’s AI spoke to him,
“Incoming urgent call.”
“Block it,” Alec croaked. He told work he had off today. The Core Defense Force hired him part-time as a private instructor at Trestle City’s Reserves outpost. He ran their new urban combat program on a strict schedule, mainly so the job didn’t interfere with his missions in Cyberlinks. Or his sleep.
The AI persisted. "The caller is Mila Stanley," said the monotone voice. "She claims to be your body insurance agent from Civitas Mundi."
Alec’s heart pulsed, forcing his mind awake. He heard about Stellar Link's subscription retainment policies. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he reached for his aug-glasses.
"What do you want?" asked Alec.
The face of a woman appeared in the center of his vision. Her brown hair was cut to a chin-length bob that flared out at the ends. Pointed cheekbones contrasted with her small round chin. Only a few lines around her mouth showed that she was a woman who aged extremely well.
"I'm calling to discuss body replacement. You can’t let this string of bad luck keep you down. You’re too skilled for that." Her tone matched her plastic smile.
Alec sat there for a moment, trying to slow his heart-rate. He rubbed at his neck and shoulders as the tension bulged his veins.
Advertisement
"What's it going to cost?"
Mila's smile fell. "You're looking at just over a million for your current genetic configuration."
Burning heat returned to his skin. He had roughly half that amount. "I have nowhere near that. What if we drop the enhancements? What's a stock body gonna run me?" His specialized body gave him an edge as Hound. The ability to track players without raising his tech-signature. Without it, would anyone even give him a contract? Might as well be the death of his character.
"It's not so much the enhancements. It’s the risk to continue insuring you. A stock configured body would still run you 850,000 dollars." Mila forced a frown.
Alec laughed. "I could just buy a body for a fraction of that."
"Yes, but that wouldn't help you rebuild your credit. Four deaths in a 30-day period has sunk you deep. And not just for your body insurance. This will factor into your available missions. Your only chance to rebuild is to get in a new body with continued insurance coverage." The plastic smile returned. "And start completing missions without dying."
Alec's forearms tensed as he made fists. "You know how much cash I have. I can't pull funds from my world to help." He opened his hands and stared at his palms. "It's time to say goodbye to Terry Locke."
Mila's face sank, and it looked genuine. Probably because she might lose a commission. "There is an alternative path we can take." She stared off at something next to the camera. "We rarely offer this to clients as it puts us in a lot of gray areas, but you've been a good client and a hell of a bounty hunter. To lose you would be to lose a city asset." Some warmth came to her face.
Advertisement
"We call it a Reset. All of your Skill ranks will return to zero, and you will forfeit all Certification Points and unlocks.”
Alec stared out the long pane of windows. Mountains towered beyond the cityscape. In between lay a vast landscape of red sand. Sand that constantly attempted reclamation of dilapidated buildings and the squatter's children living in the outskirts. He pictured their dry eyes surrounded by red crusted skin.
The squatter’s presence expanded along the fringes of the city as jobs came and went, clinging to the high-grav zone. How far could he go as a full-time instructor in the Reserves? How long could he stay in this condo when they decided his skills had no use?
"Now what's it going to cost me?"
Mila made a thin line of her lips. "Only 650,000. You have more than enough assets we can claim to cover the difference. You'll be given a new identity and body, along with some low-level assets to make it look like you've been around a while." She tilted her head. "With your advanced skills I'm sure your ranks will return quickly."
"At that point why don't I just ask the admins to create me a new account?"
The smile vanished from Mila's face. "Because then you'll lose your relationship with us. You'd start from complete scratch with none of your prior assets. With a new identity from us, we can help you build new credit faster." The lines of her face hardened. "If you're looking to quit, you might as well give this a shot just to see what happens. You’ve got nothing else to lose."
Fuck. She had a point. "All right. Do it."
Mila grinned. "Thank you." She glanced off again. "We need a few days to set this up and find you a body. With the slow-moving time in your world, that should be today around sundown for you."
"I'll login then. Goodbye"
"I'll personally see you when you get back. Thank you." She cut the connection.
Alec laid back down though he didn’t intend to fall asleep. Maybe his gaming career wasn’t fucked.
Advertisement
- In Serial23 Chapters
Nowhere to Run
Nina is a young priestess that just started her journeys in the Highlands, in a faraway land. But everything falls apart when greater forces are scheming and unknown men are suddenly after her. She will have no choice but to resort to her wits, make unexpected allies, and navigate her way through unforgiving lands in order to survive. Will she be up to the task? Greetings, reader! First of all, thank you for taking an interest and read my story. This is a story I've been working through all my life. But since I'm a first-time writer, I wanted to start with something small. This is just a small part of something much greater that hopefully one day I'll be able to translate into words as well. I will try to make it interesting as possible but please bear with me. Please understand that English is not my native language, I worked really hard to write in English the best I could. So please if you find any typos and grammar errors let me know. I'll try to upload new chapters as soon as I can. Although I had originally planned to deliver a chapter a MONTH, I think the real estimate would be a chapter EVERY 3 MONTHS since I also have to earn the daily bread. Cover picture made by me. The background picture is from Google but I modified it enough from the original. The story is also available on Wattpad, Inkitt, Scribblehub, and Webnovel.
8 215 - In Serial29 Chapters
My Universal beast system
"Wha...are you!?" Asked a Hero with a terror filled expression on his face. No matter what he does, nothing seems to work on the being in front of him. Hearing his question, a tawny yellow coloured beast with a majestic face reminisced. "Me? I am a Lion, what else?" "Lion?" Confusion apparent on the Hero's face as he didn't know what a Lion was…. (Story can be dark) New Update(March): I am having an exam, rare updates of chapters for a while. Please understand.
8 83 - In Serial15 Chapters
"Without You". Reincarnated as a Troll Alternative. 2018' NaNoWriMo
Having reincarnated in a post-apocalyptic medieval world, an unlucky Earth teenager finds himself in the body of a Troll. Hiding in a poisonous meadow, he is attacked by adventurers hired to slay him. After winning by a paper-thin margin he succumbs to his troll instincts and commits taboo. By doing that he receives a special ability and the universe splits into two parallel realities. In one of them he treads a path that takes him closer to the light and his former human side. But that is another story. What if the ability he received was one that pushed him further away from what is human?
8 225 - In Serial13 Chapters
Demonic Arts
As he, right hand of the Demon Lord, was cast into the swirling abyss by the one he served for a millennia, the one he sworn his loyalty to, there was only one thing on his mind: revenge!After enduring the endless pain, he finally awoke, only to find himself being born again, even worse: as a human!Cast into the mortal planes, plagued by the shackles of revenge, he vows to become strong enough to take his vengance and never experience such betrayal again.Join Owen, as he challenges the heavens!
8 159 - In Serial28 Chapters
Unique Mahabharata✔
#2 in tale. (28.06.2021)#56 in time. (28.06.2021)#38 in epic. (28.06.2021)#218 in time travel. (28.06.2021)#24 in Mahabharata. (06.08.2021)#10 in abhimanyu. (05.08.2021)#62 in arjun. (28.06.2021)#15 in dwarka (05.08.2021)Sometimes those things happens which we can not even imagine or have seen.This thing happened with khushi.Khushi - A simple, beautiful and bubbly girl whose life only revolved around her studies and parents. She was going to Mumbai with her parents happily but something happened which changed her whole life.Instead of landing in mumbai, she landed in Dwapar yug. Her whole life changed in a blink of an eye. And she marries Rajkumar abhimanyu. How she will convert the Mahabharata into Unique Mahabharata.Why she landed in Dwapar yug???What is the mystery behind this???What role is she playing in Mahabharata era???How she marries abhimanyu???Let's go to the journey of khushi how she will stay in Dwapar yug. [[ Words count 10,000 - 15,000]]***My first wattpad story.Zillions of grammatical mistakes.
8 236 - In Serial10 Chapters
desire | lucas sinclair
y/n is on the hawkins volleyball team, she is a pretty, popular, and smart girl. she's friends with the popular basketball player, lucas sinclair. she wants to be friends with lucas's friends, but they won't let her join their party. how will everything work out with y/n?----- she/her pronouns for y/n- contains language and violence ----#2 - lucassinclairxreader #8 - lucassinclair----
8 109