National PVP Rule: Carry the Newbie for Five Matches

"I-I'm done, please let me off..."

Ellie had climbed onto the tiger's back. No emergency brake, no station—a full-throttle dopamine rollercoaster.

Thinking about how things had spiraled like this made my teeth grind. Damn that brainless Alek... because of that idiot...

"How about we go with 'Core Snatch' for the rules?"

Ellie splashing water on the red-hot grill did nothing to cool the spectators high on fresh dopamine. If Alek hadn't gone down so pathetically, she wouldn't have had to step up at all...

But hypotheticals were pointless. The grill stayed hot for another ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reason.

"Huuung... everyone, are all Netdivers such smooth talkers?"

'Agh, stop egging them on...!'

Ellie squeezed her eyes shut. Messages poured in like shooting stars, flooding the chat. The traffic swelled, threatening to burst the tiny server.

Among the blazing chats, one group stood out—high-level hackers.

Ellie had hacked the simple password lock on this puddle-sized server the moment she joined.

'Ugh... why's this ancient crawling out from the depths...'

So she clocked it instantly: Tiara had hacked Alek's brain-core in a flash. A feat no mid-tier hacker could dream of.

But even Ellie—and the vet hackers—couldn't figure one thing...

Squeeze. Ellie shook her head, eyes still shut. Spilled milk. The moment that blockhead Alek threw himself into the monster's jaws, Ellie getting eaten too was inevitable.

'Better this way. Better to take the hit early.'

Even cutting ties with Alek, she'd need merc links for gigs. No merc teams with someone who bails on partners...

So Ellie stepped up, knowing she'd lose.

"B-Brat acting all big...! T-Time for a lesson!"

Ellie yelled, conquering fear. When the backer's unknown, think ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠'What if I were Alek?'—play dumb's best.

Heh. The monster in kid's skin grinned. A greedy smile, pleased things were going her way.

Ossaaaak...!

The Outernet's sky-high fidelity wrecked Ellie's desperate act. But true to her elite hacker spine—surviving between Mega Corp and City gov whales—she straightened up.

"F-Fine... deal. Same terms as Alek, my partner! But gimme time to pull my core!"

"Heh hehng. Sure."

'Gambling without my say-so...!'

The unauthorized betting ring opened. Ellie bit her lip scanning the status window.

'Master-Mind' thrashing in the Outernet abyss—a massive bet board rubbing against her. Stars sensed the off vibes and bailed fast. Pros clocked it.

Of course, true heavies just shone silently, risks be damned.

'Let me out too...!'

Ellie fought tears—escape button confiscated 'cause she's a duelist. Crisis is opportunity! Even force-fed, chew and swallow.

"Urghhh...!"

She deployed every combat core—even ones unused raiding Mega Corp servers. Central brain-core heated; she groaned.

Self-buffs like 'High-Speed Thought', 'Combat Assist', 'Security Boost' first...

"Short-circuit, Overheat, Infection Amp, Synapse Block..."

"Eek...! M-Match start! Now!"

Tiara ducked her head, muttering Ellie's core funcs. Ellie couldn't hold—started the fight. All close-quarters, 1v1 cores out.

Tiara dashed forward lightly. Ellie didn't slack despite no speed or barrier cores on the girl.

Frontline access-block cores hacked one by one. Security-plastered barriers and denials smoked and popped.

"Shit...!"

Tiara's nasty side shone: closing like a merc, feigning core-by-core destruction. Ellie guessed it was mindgames for the next round.

"Heh hehng."

No—better that than other abyss tricks or setups. Even if rigged, better to 'Alek-gate' it.

"Synapse block and overheat on the same circuit? How?"

Tiara—the ridiculously named monster—glared sharply down at Ellie.

"H-Hng... eek...!"

"Like mixing coffee and booze. Right, or wrong?"

Up close, Tiara looked pre-teen. Yet her eyes gleamed with killing intent and greed.

Tiara straddled collapsed Ellie's chest, peering between her legs at the terrified face.

"S-Spare me... please...!"

Tiara's hands went to Ellie's ears. Ellie skipped last-ditch counter—rushed memory backup to her personal server. Praying nothing vital was there.

Whoosh! Sweet breath grazed her nape; Ellie blacked out.

Status window blinked before Tiara. The girl pondered briefly, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠glanced down—and startled. Gulped, then answered.

"Y-Yeah, sure."

In the Outernet's deep abyss, stars glimmered. The hagfish-lure lights cast thicker shadows.

A hallucinatory shadow—like a devil's finger—gripped and shook a star mid-center.

Tiara deeply questioned if this massive beast she rode... was truly a tiger.

Turning, she saw Ellie between her legs—peacefully asleep in defeat, form fading.

Of the two idiots on the tiger, one bailed cheap. The remaining girl clenched her trembling fingertips into fists, bluffing bold.

"Next!"

Theia, having hijacked a gov boat for a leisurely escape, headbutted the sharp-dressed guy peeking at Outernet mid-drive.

"Kugh!"

"Hey, John Felix! Keep eyes on driving? Drift in the sea and you're first overboard, tin can."

The awkwardly handsome man rubbed his dented metal arm, suppressing pain signals.

"...Auto-pilot, duh. I get you're cranky sans catalyst, so check this, Theia."

"Who said cranky! Hmph! What's this?"

Cheeks puffed, sprawled at the boat's stern, Theia snatched the tossed tablet one-handed. Stared bored—John added late.

"Your daughter's mess."

"Huh?"

Sharp eyes went wide. Gripped tablet two-handed, glaring through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at one girl amid Outernet.

Her clone, Tiara—fist raised under dazzling starlights and abyss monster gazes.

"Ueh?"

John pressed his eyelids at his brain-fried owner's noise.

"Wait, didn't we just launch Tiara to the City? How...?"

"Beats me. Your kid—you'd know better?"

Theia eyed deep-abyss tentacles groping toward Tiara, parting Outernet seas.

"...She's not my kid. Just a clone."

PVP dev national rule. Newbies get carried first five rounds. That cushion lets you ease the PVE-different system down their throat smooth.

PVP can build concrete walls if done right—I'd dug deep once.

But watch that 'if done right'. PVP ops are a bitch.

Normal users grind skill, exploit bug-skill gaps, become gosu. Toxic ones trash the scene—devs gotta ban.

"..."

Toxic example... forfeit spam.

A star from lower skies manifested before me.

"Ten times your personal server's capacity. Join our corp."

"...Decline."

"Regrettable. Master-Mind, I concede."

Suit guy self-shutdown his core, form dissolving.

"..."

"Y-Yeah, sure."

Status window now emoting. And slinking up from depths—hagfish-lure stars.

I was fucked. This game's PVP rule hit: first five vs scrubs. How it applied unknown...

Two straight rounds... foes scouted then quick-forfeit.

Last one self-nuked core despite no-surrender terms to dodge me.

...Power hiding ain't easy.

Act or not, skill leaked. Even felt tentacle shadows underfoot—night-sky stars (viewer sibs) all fled.

"Ah. Miss Dorothy."

Sure, forfeit buffs ballooned my compute—but enough bare-core to surface past tentacles? Doubtful.

Survive first.

"Next opponent?"

No panic or fear—once acting, commit. Menhera adaptation mastered emotion-hiding.

Fool status sis too?

Blub. Blubglub. Glub. Grrk.

"Ah..."

But shattering hopes, from abyss floor:

Splat. Splat. Dim non-star lures flickered on one by one.

Status sis—Master-Mind?—menhera-spouting, tentacles twitching up... crack. Crrackle. Crunch.

Menhera status blackened crimson, tentacles shattering sea-wall moments away.

All stars gone, just underfoot lures swaying... familiar voice.

"Hold up."

Snatched my fortune, suicide-showed before me, every bullshit—yet escaped me to shore. Sorry-scary. Grateful-annoying.

"Theia..?"

Bodysuit gleaming, sharp-eyed woman materialized arms-crossed, bored.

"I'll challenge you."