Ch.241[Chapter 241] Data Miner

Sir Dominic probably didn’t know, but in Gachaland, objects that cannot be interacted with occasionally appear.

Most are dummy data created by coders and tucked away in corners, but sometimes artifacts and relics from the future appear, offering glimpses into Gachaland’s future.

Just like the sword that suddenly fell right in front of Sir Dominic.

“…A sword?”

Sir Dominic saw a sword that had suddenly fallen from the sky and landed just 30cm away from him.

The blade had the letters “VI” inscribed on it, and upon seeing this, Aaah began to grumble quietly as if something inevitable had arrived.

“Good grief. Another update? I haven’t even digested the last one yet.”

“What do you mean? Update? What does that have to do with this sword?”

As Sir Dominic questioned Aaah’s words, spears, guns, shields, bows, and bracelets began falling from the sky.

Each one had the letters “VI” engraved somewhere on it, suggesting they were related to this update.

“It’s nothing special. I’m just inferring from those VI letters.”

Aaah’s explanation matched Sir Dominic’s suspicion.

“Sometimes objects that cannot be interacted with appear in Gachaland. Like this.”

Aaah strode forward and picked up one of the bracelets.

The ashen bracelet appeared blurry regardless of the surrounding brightness. When Aaah tried to put it on, a red message appeared with intense sparks.

[Warning: This object cannot be interacted with yet.]

“As you can see, warnings or errors occur when you try to interact with them. The central system recognizes this state as a bug, so it dumps them here in Glitchburg.”

Aaah put the bracelet back on the ground.

Sir Dominic stared intently at the bracelet Aaah had put down, but it remained a blurry ash color.

“The VI written here means 6 in Roman numerals, so I guess tier 6 equipment will be coming in the next update.”

Aaah said this while clearing away the surrounding equipment.

Sir Dominic picked up the sword directly in front of him.

Lifting the blurry ash-colored sword, Sir Dominic touched the blade with his finger, just as Aaah had tried to interact with the bracelet.

Sure enough, sparks crackled from the sword, and a red warning message appeared.

“Fascinating.”

Sir Dominic simply stared endlessly at the blurry ash-colored sword, apparently finding these objects intriguing.

“Well, they’re useless for now, so you can stop paying attention to them. I’ll have to be careful not to trip over them during my next speed run. Let’s go.”

It was Aaah’s words that pulled Sir Dominic from his contemplation.

Grumbling about having more things to memorize, Aaah seemed to have found a suitable path and began walking again.

“Let’s go. First, let’s rescue your companion.”

“Understood.”

At Aaah’s words, Sir Dominic looked at the ash-colored equipment once more before following behind Aaah.

However, Sir Dominic was completely unaware of what had just happened when he touched the ash-colored sword.

He didn’t realize that the phone in his pocket had slipped out due to the shock from the sparks, dangled for a moment, and then fallen to the ground as he started walking again.

And so, Sir Dominic’s phone was left abandoned, unknown to anyone.

In this pitch-black, bug-filled darkness.

…

“I have no idea where I am…”

Unryu Hime sighed as she walked through the darkness, relying on a single torch.

Despite having mastered directional training as a kunoichi, never losing her sense of direction even in the most challenging environments, such skills seemed useless in Glitchburg.

“I’m sure I’ve been walking in one direction, but why does it feel like I’m going in circles?”

Hime looked at the painting she had encountered for the eighth time.

It was a painting depicting card packs sold at the card pack exchange, a strange image that played an opening animation when pressed up close.

“…I’ll rest here for a bit. I’m too tired.”

Hime sat on the bench in front of the painting to catch her breath.

“…I wonder where everyone is.”

Hime took something out of her pocket and fidgeted with it.

Of course, her kunoichi outfit didn’t have pockets, but such details were trivial in Gachaland.

Anyway, what Hime took out was an emergency escape button that would transport her directly to Himetotzsaigo Castle if pressed when lost in Gachaland.

Mentally exhausted, Hime considered pressing the button but eventually put it back in her pocket.

Glitchburg was an extremely anomalous place even within Gachaland.

As such, it was questionable whether the emergency escape button would work properly.

Hime decided to save this button for the absolute last resort.

“I’m back to square one. I still need to find Sir Dominic.”

Hime ruffled her hair in frustration and sighed again.

At that moment, a chilling voice growled from behind her.

“Don’t move.”

The mysterious presence wrapped an arm around Hime’s neck and pressed a sharp needle against her.

Hime felt a chill run down her spine at the sound of that voice.

As a kunoichi, Hime had exceptional senses.

Although her mind was currently preoccupied, making her less alert than usual, this mysterious presence had still managed to get behind her undetected.

A skilled opponent.

Hime swallowed hard as she felt the coolness of the needle against her neck.

“Move and I’ll stab this hacking tool right into your neck.”

“Hacking tools are useless now. The central system neutralized them.”

Hime calmly addressed the presence behind her.

The fact that they had only threatened rather than immediately attacked meant there was room for dialogue and negotiation.

At least, that’s what Hime thought.

“Is that so…? Tch.”

The presence behind Hime threw away the syringe.

It must have been made of glass, as it shattered with a crash in the darkness.

“But I still have other things. For example… this.”

The mysterious figure aimed something else at Hime’s neck.

Hime had tried to break free while they were throwing away the syringe, but with her high agility but low strength stats, she couldn’t escape the grip.

“This is very old, but all the more potent for it. It’s a ‘hacked account ID.’ And not just any—one created by the original Mountain Bridge Marsh.”

“Eek!”

Hime couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

How could that still exist? Weren’t they all disposed of?

Hime panicked at the thought.

Hacked account ID.

To understand its danger, one needed to understand the concept of IDs.

An ID was a number assigned to pioneers, an access code necessary for everything from implanting drawn cards into androids to building and renovating bases, recording achievements, and reviewing past stories.

If this ID was lost or disappeared for any reason, all of a pioneer’s progress would vanish—that’s how important IDs were.

However, some pioneers wanted an easier start.

Such people sometimes bought or received IDs from retiring pioneers.

Of course, Mountain Bridge Marsh wouldn’t miss out on such an important matter.

Mountain Bridge Marsh illegally hacked and stole others’ IDs or sold IDs built from scratch through hacking to pioneers. Naturally, such activities were sanctioned by the system.

As pioneers’ awareness increased and systematic sanctions against these illegal programs were implemented, buying hacked IDs became rare, but unused illegal IDs still remained.

If hacking tools were like cheating during a card game, hacked account IDs were like fraud committed before the game even began.

Unlike hacking tools, hacked account IDs were still subject to bans.

Realizing this, Hime tearfully asked the mysterious presence why this was happening to her.

She couldn’t understand why she was being subjected to this.

“Why are you doing this to me…?”

“I have just one question. No, actually, two questions.”

The mysterious presence behind Hime pressed the sharp object closer to her nape.

“You’d better answer correctly. Otherwise, I’ll use this hacked account ID to—”

“Okay! Okay! I’ll answer properly!”

Hime cried out desperately, feeling the cool sensation against her neck.

Her ears and tail stood on end in response to the threatening presence.

In reality, there was a considerable distance between Hime’s neck and the weapon, but she was startled by the menacing aura.

“Good. How cooperative of you.”

The mysterious presence chuckled.

“Alright. First question. Why did you come down here?”

“W-well—”

Hime began to stammer out a response to the mysterious figure.

…

Behind them.

Something dark and sticky stared at Hime and the mysterious presence before slowly moving through the darkness.

Taking advantage of the confusion, this entity slipped behind the frame with the card pack painting.

After completely hiding behind the frame, the dark, sticky presence peeked out slightly, observing the situation.

Watching intently as the mysterious figure held the chaotic piece of data in their hand.