Chapter 98: [98]: The Chained Admin, A Deal in the Dark
Instantly, a wave of profound understanding flooded his mind! He didn’t have spells but he now possessed the raw ability to freely alter his own physical mass without needing a localized server to process the math.
Sebastian wiped the black sludge from his chin. His dark eyes locked onto the endless floating graveyard of the Juncture.
"Alright," Sebastian whispered. He felt his body grow infinitely heavy and then as light as a feather with a mere thought. "No magic. Just math. Let’s go break some rules."
Drifting through the Juncture was like being stuck in the world’s most depressing loading screen.
Sebastian stood on a massive floating chunk of asphalt. It looked like a piece of an old highway that had been violently ripped from a modern cityscape. The faded yellow lines offered the only splash of color in the chaotic void around him.
He coughed and his chest rattled violently. He spat another glob of black sludgy code onto the asphalt. It immediately sizzled and ate a small hole into the pavement before dissipating into static.
"I really need to find a pharmacy," Sebastian groaned as he leaned heavily against the twisted metal railing of the highway chunk.
The Void Toxicity was slowly chewing through his base files. It wasn’t ticking down a standard health bar. Instead, it felt like a cold creeping numbness that was steadily turning his internal organs into dead pixels!
He needed a safe zone or a filter and he needed it fast!
But navigating the Juncture was very tricky. Without his flight spells, he had to rely entirely on his newly compiled [Concept of Mass].
He looked at a floating island of ruined fantasy architecture about a mile away. He focused his mind on his own body. He didn’t cast a spell. He simply edited his physical parameters and dropped his mass to near zero.
He felt impossibly light. A strong sneeze could have easily sent him into orbit!
Sebastian bent his knees and jumped.
Because he essentially weighed nothing, the kinetic force of his physical synchronization launched him across the void like a bullet! He sailed over the mile of empty space in just a few seconds.
As he approached the ruined castle, he flipped the script. He forcefully increased his mass to two tons right before impact.
CRASH!
He landed feet first on the stone courtyard and his heavy boots instantly cratered the floor!
"Nailed it," Sebastian muttered as he adjusted his torn leather coat. "Who needs an airplane when you can just bully physics?"
He walked to the edge of the courtyard and looked out. And then, he completely froze!
Floating in the deep purple smog of the void directly below him was something that completely defied logic.
It was a colossal ten story tall corpse!
The giant was clad in jagged black armor. But it wasn’t floating freely. It was pinned to a massive towering pillar of bronze. Thick crackling chains made of pure golden code were wrapped tightly around the giant’s limbs and throat to bind it to the metal!
"Holy hell," Sebastian whispered. His deadpan demeanor slipped for a fraction of a second. "They definitely didn’t have that in the starter zone."
As if hearing his whisper, the giant’s head slowly shifted in agony.
The massive visor of its helmet cracked open. Two eyes burning like dying red suns locked directly onto Sebastian’s tiny form standing on the floating castle.
A voice exploded inside Sebastian’s skull! It didn’t use audio waves. It bypassed his ears entirely and grinded against his mind like tectonic plates rubbing together.
"ANOMALY. YOU REEK OF EARTH."
Sebastian winced and tapped his temple. "Volume control, big guy. I already have a headache. What are you? The local welcoming committee?"
"I AM A PRISONER OF THE GRAND DESIGN," the entity’s voice rumbled. "THE WARDENS CHAINED ME HERE TO ROT. YOU HOLD THE AUTHORITY OF A SOVEREIGN. FREE ME WHEN YOU HAVE ROOT ACCESS, AND I WILL POINT YOU TO SANCTUARY."
Sebastian stared at the towering chained god. He crossed his arms and was entirely unimpressed by the dramatic presentation.
"Yeah, no," Sebastian called out casually. "I don’t do quests that start with freeing someone so they owe me. I’m a landlord, pal. Payment upfront. Give me a destination now or enjoy hanging out with the space dust."
The giant’s glowing red eyes flared with a mix of anger and sheer disbelief. It had likely spent centuries waiting for a savior and the first guy to show up was haggling over terms!
"YOU ARE ARROGANT FOR A DYING GLITCH," the Titan noted as its eyes tracked the black sludge leaking from Sebastian’s coat. "BUT PRAGMATIC. VERY WELL. SEEK OUTPOST RUST. IT IS A GRAVEYARD FOR THOSE WHO HID FROM THE EXECUTIONERS. YOU WILL FIND YOUR FILTERS THERE."
Before Sebastian could even ask for a map, a localized data packet forcefully shoved itself into his green UI.
[Coordinates Acquired: Outpost Rust.]
"THE SYSTEM IS TERRIFIED OF YOU, DRIFTER," the chained Admin whispered. Its voice dropped into a conspiratorial hum. "THEY WHISPER OF THE FIRST GLITCH. THEY WILL SEND THE WARDENS. YOU MUST..."
KRA-KOOM!
The empty space above the Titan violently tore open! A massive jagged bolt of red lightning erupted from the void and struck the chained giant directly in the chest!
It was an anti-virus protocol. The System had detected the unauthorized data transfer!
"GAAAAAAHHH!" The giant shrieked. The sound physically warped the floating debris around them.
The splash damage from the red lightning cascaded outward and arced toward the floating castle where Sebastian stood.
"Ah, shit!" Sebastian yelled.
He instantly dialed his mass up to fifty tons and dropped to the floor like a lead weight! The red lightning scorched the air directly over his head and vaporized the stone turrets of the castle.
When the lightning faded, the giant’s head was slumped forward. It was smoking and entirely silent. The punishment algorithm had forcibly silenced it.
Sebastian slowly pushed himself up from the cratered floor. He brushed the pulverized stone off his shoulders and looked at the new coordinates blinking in his interface.
"Outpost Rust," Sebastian sighed as he looked out at the endless hostile void. "Sounds like a wonderful vacation spot. Let’s go see the locals."