He got silent for a bit, and now he’s exerting a strange aura, Clara Dominguez thought, watching Alan still sitting on the ground, eyes shut. Blue energy had suddenly surrounded him. “Alan?” she called aloud.

He opened his eyes, and something resembling a round spirit not bigger than his head came out of his back. It sprouted short, baby-like limbs, and when its head came out, it took the form of a skull with blue shining orbs as eyes covered behind goggles. Its clothes resembled a maskless yellow hazmat suit.

Thoughtform successfully created!

“I’m Aaron. Nice to meet you Alan,” the spirit said with the voice of a preteen boy. “Just name your Unique Skill aloud and I will be able to help you.”

“Ghost in the Machine,” Alan said, before standing up.

“An Anima,” Clara muttered, focusing the camera on him. “An Anima-type Unique Skill!”

“Aaron, tell me what we can do to help the NPCs?”

“Scanning,” Aaron said, adjusting his goggles. “Out of the 11 NPC allies, 3 have been eliminated. Here is a list of the current battle participants. Allies’ average level: 20… Enemies’ average level: 33.”

“Can we buff our team?”

“You are already buffing them thanks to a Team Aura. It grants them a 5% increase to their overall stats when ‘Ghost in the Machine’ is active. Do you want to name the Passive Aura?”

“‘Extended Guarantee’! But it’s not enough. What else can you do for them?”

“We could rearrange their stats. But only if they accept the changes. It will remain effective while I remain active.”

“Show me.”

A large system screen appeared in front of him, listing every single NPC ally, including Bella, and a summary of their status.

What the hell is this?

“What is this Vitality Wind, Rock, and Fire? I only know normal Vitality.”

“It is called Wind Vitality when a User or NPC excels at speed and agility, Rock Vitality when they had fortified their bodies, and Fire Vitality when they specialize in dealing astounding damage to their enemies.”

“Can we change them all to Rock Vitality?”

“What stats should be lowered?”

“Agility and attack. They won’t need them.”

“Requesting Permission. How should we call this Active Skill?”

“Modding.”

From the battlefield, Fabio received the System Notification. “Excellent idea, Commander,” he said, instructing the rest of the NPCs to accept the request.

Bella did it too, trusting her master.

As Alan watched their stats changing on the virtual window, he shouted to the Party Chat: “Don’t let them fight! Disarm them and restraint them!”

“Alan,” Clara called, concerned when watching a male NPC getting purposely stabbed in the stomach to capture the enemy’s sword. “This won’t end well again.”

“True. Aaron? What can we do to stun the enemy?”

“We could use the electric spell Zap to immobilize them for a couple of seconds. Scanning... Only two of our allies know the spell.”

“Can you teach the others the spell?”

“We could copy the ability from one of our allies and install it to the others. This would only be valid as long as I’m active, though.”

“Do it.”

“How should we call this--?”

“Browsing!”

“Downloading... Complete... Installing… Complete.”

“Guys, use Zap and give them a good shake!”

From his place, he witnessed the multiple flashes of electricity. The most skilled NPCs would send bolts of electricity out of their hands, while others would emanate sparkles from all over their body before rushing to hug their opponents and electrocute them.

“We have lost 2 more allies, Alan.”

Yes, but these last move had helped us disarm the enemy and paralyzed them long enough to apply a Full Nelson on them.

“What should we do next, Alan?” Aaron asked, floating beside him.

Alan shut his eyes and turned to Clara’s drone camera.

“Oh, something you want to say to our spectators, Alan Warden?” she grinned, excited.

Ricardo Silva has failed me, so I’ll have to depend on the other best one.

“Yes.” He gave a deep breath before shouting. “Jane Andersen, where are you, you short bitch?!”

“Jane Andersen?” Clara muttered, trembling. “As in the Administrator of Conduct? It’s just a coincidence, right? You would never offend an Administrator in a--”

A humming sound was heard at her back.

“TURN OFF!” a girly voice cried, shutting down the drone camera. She then closed her portal and glared at them.

“She’s here!” Clara hurried to get behind Alan’s back. “Just to be clear, I, her manager, do not condone the use of the word bitch in our live--”

“SHUT UP!” Jane Andersen cried, making her voice sound louder than a lightning explosion. “Was it funny, Alan Warden?” she asked, half-smiling. “Did you enjoy your little show while it lasted?”

Alan did not flinch. Instead, he pointed to the sunk town. “Why haven’t you done something about this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is indiscriminately attacking an entire community okay for the Administrator of Conduct?”

“Oh, dear...” Clara muttered behind him, making Jane chuckle.

“For a moment, I forgot you’ve been MIA. You, there. Why don’t you tell him before I drag his ass to oblivion?”

“Alan,” Clara started saying, “since a year ago, the Administrator of Conduct announced she had loosened what can be considered punishable.”

“That, after two full years of teaching you all some manners and dealing with your shit.” She paused to snicker. “It’s okay. The worst offenders had been dealt with by now. I can’t remember when was the last time I caught the last rapist or serial killer, and there is no one in all The Novus that doesn’t know what the Anti-Bad Behaviour System does. Except you, I suppose.” She looked around. “This kind of little skirmishes are permitted.”

“Little?”

“It will teach you perseverance and adaptation.”

“Do you expect us, Users, to constantly fight each other once we get out of The Novus?”

“No. What this teaches you is that we won’t be able to babysit you at all times. If you can’t deal with your own shit, what do you expect to do against third parties?”

Third parties? In space?

Alan pursed his lips, glancing at the restrained Users.

Although she may act cold, she keeps keeping an eye on everything. She came here immediately. He stared deep into her eyes. You care in your own way.

“What do you do with the constant offenders?”

“You mean the really bad guys? I put a collar on them, irremovable while inside the system. Once this is all done, the cryopod will install one on the User before letting them go, as an extra precaution.”

“So, you don’t imprison them?”

“Imprisonment it’s a very archaic way to deal with the rotten apples. The collar works as a better punishment, you see. It prevents them from getting over 100,000 gold. It electrocutes them as soon as they try to behave badly again, and it tells everyone that sees them what they really are inside.”

“If you put collars on them, would they be able to live a normal life?”

Jane Andersen glanced at the captured citizens, squinting. “Why would I…?”

Alan stepped forward to whisper to her. Clara could do nothing but watch.

“Why should I believe such bullshit?”

“I was MIA, remember? Connect the dots.”

Jane’s young face expressed disbelief, before changing into a grimace, followed by an angry frown. Finally, she parted her lips. “Who else knows about this?”

“Ricardo Silva.”

I don’t have a reason to lie to her. I had to bet on her for the sake of these people. I must follow this bitter decision to the end.

“It doesn’t affect me to put a collar on these people. I can remove them whenever I want.” She nodded, jumped down gracefully, and hovered inches before touching the ground, barely making a sound. She then strolled to every each of the affected, enraged Unus’ residents, and with a single touch on their heads, a red collar appeared on their necks. “You have been restrained by the Administrator of Conduct, Jane Andersen. Sentence, indefinitely. Your penalty will be not being able to leave this place.”

After watching them all getting sleepy, Alan cried joyfully. “You did it!” He jumped down, dashing towards her. “Thank you so much, La--”

Jane swiftly turned to him and touched the tip of his nose. “Collar,” she whispered, putting one on him too. “Sentence, one week.”

“Oh, come on! What for?!”

“For calling me you know what on live-stream.”

Alan watched Aaron disappear, and he suddenly felt dizzy. “Am I getting sleepy too?”

“I think is the fatigue from using your Unique Skill,” Clara said, helping him stay standing.

“Wait! This isn’t over yet! The User that did this is still there!”

Jane looked at the distance, where a giant black beast was fighting something resembling a blue firefly. “Fine, I won’t leave yet. But I can’t restrain her until you take her down.”

“Excuse me?” Alan said, shaking his head. “W-what do you mean?”

“I have to touch her to put a collar on her, dummy.”

“Yeah, but you’re an Administrator. You can surely defeat her in a blink of an eye.”

Jane snorted before folding her arms, looking away. “We, the Administrators, don’t have combat power.”

“Huh?!” Alan and Clara cried in unison.

“Not everyone knows about this, so keep it a secret, understood?!”

I suppose the developers established this restriction so they wouldn’t abuse their power.

“So everything relies on Amelia now,” Clara said.

“There is someone else helping us,” Alan added, suddenly feeling reinvigorated. “Someone that hasn’t been affected like the others. She is still fighting.” He opened his Menu Interface to check his friend list, where Ashley Yates was still online. Location, Unus Town.