Chapter 52: Chapter 52 : Ralf vs Hoodlums

Earlier…

While Rei was winning, Ralf was amidst a string of losses. ‘No way I lose here again.’ At nineteen, Ralf stood. His gaze glided past the blackjack table's green fur to the dealer’s card, a four, then to the dealer himself. The dealer was of course an NPC.

Its black and white formal attire was modelled after the uniforms seen in The Money Pouch. Looking around the gambling hall, one would find many more similarities to Moriya’s establishment. However, one thing that wouldn’t be found was the masks each NPC wore. It was a white faceless mask with a single large black circle on it. Every Mental Space NPC had one. They were collectively known as the ‘Zeroes’.

Ralf zeroed in on the Zero before him, giving a harsh glare while chanting ‘bust bust bust’ internally.

The Zero nodded, then with practised motions, carried out its duty. The flipped card turned out to be a seven. Seeing it, Ralf’s heart sank. A moment later, his fears came to pass at a black jack’s arrival.

‘No way! Ten times in a row. I swear this place is always against me. It must be rigged.’ Convinced of the bad blood between himself and the Zero System, Ralf brought up the system interface and scrolled through the code operating in the gambling hall. To his shock and incredulity, nothing was out of place.

It was worth noting, Ralf couldn’t change the code to improve his odds. Making certain changes to the system required both his and Rei’s Mental Space signatures.

He could destroy and recreate the virtual space with different code, but the ‘operation time’ would make it clear that it was newly made. Of course, Ralf could alter this as well, technically. But doing this would be breaking one of the few Mental Space rules.

Ralf and Rei didn’t have many rules, but the few they had, were all regarded extremely seriously. Altering the set times values for whatever reason was a punishable offence. The offender would then have to endure Zero's Cell.

Not wanting to undergo the dreaded experience, Ralf closed the interface and got up.

‘Today’s just not the day.’ With this thought, he headed out. Snapping his fingers, he materialized a chocolate milkshake and brought it to his lips. ‘This gamble didn’t work out well, hopefully, my other gamble fares better.’

Thinking of what the outside situation looked like, Ralf grew apprehensive. He had laid out the groundwork and knew that failure was unlikely. Still, he couldn't be sure; the human heart wasn’t something he could perfectly predict like moves on a chessboard.

‘Hopefully, things work out well, hopefully.’

Feeling his anxiety surge, Ralf took a long sip to stifle its rise, but keeping it at bay was all the beverage could manage. ‘This is no good. Let's do some fighting, that'll keep my mind off it.'

Deciding this, Ralf cast his omni-vision outward. ‘Not that one…not that one…okay, let's go there.’ Locking onto a virtual space a few kilometres away, he flickered out of existence before reappearing at said virtual space.

Entering the dome, its internal rules bore down on his avatar.

…

[Welcome to Hoodlums' Paradise]

Hoodlums make the town of Obang their home. On the streets, on the rooftops, in the buildings, around every corner; they skulk with wickedness in their hearts, eager to unleash it on any foolish enough to pass through these parts.

Will you pass through?

-Yes

-No

…

Ralf smirked at the text before choosing, ‘Yes’. This led to the next window, where he was asked to select between the various modes. There were things like finding a hidden item, running from one end to another, surviving for a certain amount of time, playing with reduced stats, etc. Ralf kept it simple and chose the ‘Kill All’ mode. He was given more options.

…

[Kill All]

 

Level 1: 100 (10-40%)

Level 2: 500 Z (30-70%)

Level 3: 1000 Z (60-100%)

…

Ralf contemplated his decision. ‘Let's dip our toes before jumping in. I’ll start with Level 1 and go up.’

The difficulty gap between the three levels was wide. Starting with the most basic factor, the quantity. The ‘Z’s’ represented the total number of Hoodlums one had to execute to complete the mode. The different percentage ranges were there to indicate the percentage of psionics that would spawn. The psionics that spawned weren’t only restricted to Telekinetics; Onics and Mimics were included as well, though very rarely.

Of course, these were just recreations based on descriptions they had gotten from books, so they couldn’t guarantee accuracy. The Psi Ranks of these psionics varied for each level. At Level 1, they were capped at Rank 3, for Level 2, it was Rank 4, and Level 3, it was Rank 5.

Important to note was that the psionics had stats at least equal to their own, and the non-psionics had their physical stats.

If Level 1 was hard, Level 2, nightmarish, then Level 3 was just nigh impossible. Since Hoodlums’ Paradise’s creation, Ralf had yet to complete the third level, a fact that left him very bitter.

‘Now’s the time to clear that stain from my record.’ Thinking this, he clicked the ‘Level 1’ option. The window disappeared and he was teleported to a random section of the town. Then, the ten-second countdown started.

Ralf bounced forth, eager to put down anything that’d pop out. The countdown reached zero and a ding sounded throughout the dome. The sound caused Ralf's mind to shift into combat mode. His senses spread out, searching for any Hoodlums in range.

It didn’t take long for his senses to lock onto something. Two masked Hoodlums appeared at the intersection up ahead. Spotting Ralf, they wasted no time in drawing their pistols and opening fire.

Slipping past the gunshots, Ralf darted in, looking to get close. Halfway there, Ralf’s attention was split even further as two more Hoodlums appeared on the row of rooftops at his sides. The one on Ralf’s right took aim with his machine gun and began opening fire, and the one on his left, a Rank 3 Telekinetic brandished two real knives and dove down.

Ralf hit the brakes, causing the knife-wielder to zip past his front. Just before hitting the ground, the Hoodlum kicked off the air, doing a front flip, before twisting its body Ralf’s way. It then did a backward slide for several meters before dashing forward.

‘Impressive,’ Ralf couldn’t help comment as he watched the smooth sequence of movements.

It was a familiar sequence - or rather, it was one that originated from him personally. Not only this, the follow-up stream of slashes fell in the same vein.

All of the Zeroes’ movements originated from either Ralf or Rei. They programmed many ideal movements, tactics, and responses to take in response to Rei and Ralf’s avatars' actions.

The action the Zero took in the end, was decided by a random generator value. The range of actions wasn’t static. Rei and Ralf updated the move list continually, to the point where a standard punch by Ralf or Rei’s avatars could prompt nearly a hundred different actions.

So, memorizing every combination was impossible. And this was made even more impossible when taking into account the drastic individual difference between Zeros, from their form, combat style, weaponry, and whether they were psionic or not.

Also, while it couldn’t be called truly self-learning, the Zeroes evolved with increased data. Using the extensive battle data generated by the two, it registered the success rate of certain actions.

It then shifted the odds of its actions based on these statistics. With time, they’d continue to get harder and harder to defeat, which was ultimately the point. These virtual spaces were training meant to push the duo past their limits. If the Zeroes were just paper tigers, there would be no point in fighting them. Still, with this being said, as far as their code went, these Zeroes still weren’t enough to make either Ralf or Rei sweat…well one on one, that is.

‘Can’t drag my feet, getting surrounded isn’t fun. Let’s take care of these four quickly.’

Seeing the initial two gunners reloading actions synch up, Ralf pounced. Sliding under a slash, he zigzagged towards the intersection avoiding the machine gun fire and thrown knife.

At his speedy approach, the pistol wielders rushed to cover. But this wouldn’t save them. Unleashing two Slicing Strings, he had them slice through the building’s corners. Moving unopposed, the strings of death went on to slice the two Zeroes into neat chunks.

Ralf wasn’t satisfied with this though. He knew from experience what to look out for and followed up with two Psi bullets. Only after seeing both projectiles puncture their heads did he finally write them off as opponents.

Not resting a moment, he leapt skyward, avoiding the knife wielder’s backstabbing attempt. Zooming through the air, Ralf flung out a Psi rope to his left, then after ‘hooking’ the end onto a piece of space, he kicked off the air to perform a quick 180-degree loop.

Losing no momentum, Ralf performed multiple Air Flickers, deftly slipping past the streams of metal unleashed by the gunner. Ralf knew not to fly too high for too long, so after a quick spiralling trajectory, he made his landing and Flickered towards the gunner.

Ralf’s Slicing String once again whipped out. Instead of the Hoodlum, he aimed for the building they were standing on.

*Slice*

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The diagonal cut made itself felt after a small delay. The building began sliding towards the ground. The Hoodlum ceased its firing as it was forced to leap to the adjacent building. The building segment crashed down, sending smoke debris everywhere.

Swoosh!

Ralf’s figure tore through the smoke and appeared before the gunner. Keeping away from the barrel’s sights, he closed in. With a single slash, he managed to decapitate the Hoodlum. But the Hoodlum hadn’t wasted its final moments. While taking aim with its right hand, its left moved to the grenade at his chest and pulled out the pin.

Seeing this, Ralf instantly understood that the grenade in question must have an incredibly short fuse for this tactic to work. He couldn’t escape the blast zone in time and his defences weren’t sturdy enough to tank a point-blank grenade blast. Not wasting his energy doing these futile actions, he immediately thrust his Psi into the grenade itself in hopes of forming a makeshift pin.

‘Ah, made it,’ Ralf thought, half surprised, half relieved.

Crisis averted, Ralf once again focused up. He ripped the grenade off the Hoodlum’s corpse and with a turn, snatched up the falling machine gun before taking aim at the knife wielder.

Ratatatatatata!

The knife-wielder took evasive manoeuvres. Ralf added to the Hoodlum’s troubles as Fated String was whipped out. After avoiding it twice with its flips, the Hoodlum was caught in its grip with the third. With its momentum stifled, Ralf’s gun locked onto the Hoodlum before opening fire.

Knowing that it couldn’t dodge, the Hoodlum quickly severed the string with a Psi bullet then lowered itself, making itself as small as possible before materializing a thick curved circular shield at its front.

The bullets came crashing into the shield a moment later, but the Hoodlum’s angling efforts served it well in dealing with the bullets…but the grenade was a different story.

After sending it over, Ralf dematerialized the Psi pin and…

*Boom*

The Hoodlum attempted a last-ditch Flicker, but it was futile. Its body was blown to smithereens. Confirming its death, Ralf’s Psi Sense was quickly pricked at. He turned to his right.

On the other side of town, he could see five Telekinetics encased in Psi Planes flying in V-formation, heading his way. Focusing on them with his enhanced vision, he could see each plane sporting several machine guns and even grenades, ready to rain down on him.

This was bad enough, but there was more. From his rooftop, Ralf caught sight of dozens of Hoodlums in rapid motion, darting through the streets, climbing up buildings, grouping up in formations, and taking tactical positions.

Seeing the flashes from the scopes in the distance, Ralf smiled a wild smile.

‘Come, let’s dance.’

***

Minutes later…

What was the difference between one zero and a hundred? Mathematically, it was none, but in the Mental Space, it was a very different story.

Slashing, stabbing, kicking, punching, shooting, throwing, joint locks…

Ralf’s cognitive abilities and imagination were pushed to their very limits as he battled the Hoodlums.

With his attention split between dozens of threats, he had to navigate the chaotic battlefield all the while dealing with the Hoodlums’ endless stream of multifaceted attacks.

Still, as hellish as everything was, Ralf couldn’t be more comfortable. A tumultuous battlefield was his second home. Brandishing every trick and technique available, he chipped away at the Hoodlums’ numbers.

23

45

65

87

99

Ice Walk!

At his stomp, the Psi coating the floor turned frictionless. The charging Hoodlum’s balance collapsed as it helplessly skated across it. Ralf didn’t let this moment slip by. Utilizing both physical brawn and Psi, he unleashed a devastating slash that decapitated the Hoodlum in one motion.

Ding!

((Congratulations! Level 1 Cleared.))

With the message, the sound of bells jingling rang out and colourful lights flashed in the sky.

Achieving victory, his soul danced with joy as usual. Though once done, Ralf’s expression couldn’t help but turn bitter. Taking in his current condition, one might understand why. His entire figure was soaked in blood, and only half belonged to his opponents.

A long gash was carved into his chest, his left eye had been blown off, and his right arm and left leg were stumped at the joint. And these were the major injuries, a dozen other small cuts and holes now adorned his body. Speaking in terms of HP, he was in the low single digits. He had barely scraped through.

This wasn’t the norm; the last three times he did Level 1 ended in him getting torn clothes and a few cuts, that’s it. It wasn’t like Ralf was having an off day, or particularly unlucky, the difficulty of Level 1 had just spiked significantly.

‘It’s several times harder, hard enough to be a Hell’s Dungeon, and this is only Level 1.’

Ralf recalled the last few minutes. Of all additions made, the most important was undoubtedly the use of union techniques. Union techniques were simply techniques that were done by two or more psionics in conjunction. Union techniques had always been present, but Rei had upped the quantity and quality to absurd degrees.

The one that troubled Ralf the most was what Rei referred to as the Champion Formation.

A trio of Telekinetics formed up. One of them was designated as the Champion, while the others would be the supporters. These two wouldn’t fight, instead, they would use all their Psi to construct the Champion’s weapons and armour, allowing the Champion to use the entirety of their Psi for movement, perception and offence. These supports were guarded by a team of non-psionic gunners. To make matter worse, there was four of these Champions and they always stayed together.

Ralf had a hell of a time dealing with this arrangement. And this was all while avoiding the usual tactics, like long-distance sniping, carpet bombing, and tunnelling.

But he found a solution in the end.

Entering the town hall, he let his Slicing String run wild, destroying all pillars, then, timing everything properly, he slipped out as the building crashed down on the Champions.

Thinking back to the scenario, Ralf’s face soured. ‘If not for the Hoodlums’ unreal bloodlust, that tactic would have never worked. I’d still be fighting or maybe even dead. We’ll have to correct that, not every opponent we encounter will be suicidal. I’ll create a caution stat and randomize it. But that will come later.’

With a thought, his damaged body and the crumbled town were restored to their previous pristine state. Ralf’s gaze moved to the interface that had been beckoning his attention. ‘Let’s see how far we can go with this,’ his eyes narrowed as a fierce light swirled in them.

While others faltered before a daunting task, Ralf’s prideful soul revved up in response. He welcomed the challenge. Bulldozing through sturdy walls brought him great satisfaction.

‘... thrust a vanta coated Psi string into the ground and have it explode, shifting the dirt below my opponent…hmm, an unconventional sound attack using vanta coating? Can that work?…’

The cogs in his mind rotated at high speed as he prepared for the upcoming tribulation. After a minute of brainstorming, Ralf finally settled down.

‘Okay, that should do. Level 2, here we go.’ His hand moved to the interface but paused just before hitting the button. The Mental Link had suddenly connected.

At its establishment, all thoughts concerning the virtual space vanished from Ralf’s mind as the more pressing issue took front and centre.

[[…]]

Rei’s initial silence caused Ralf’s heart to sink. Rei extended his silence for several seconds more as a form of payback, before finally relieving his other self.

[[Ralf, come over, mom’s calling you.]]

Hearing these words, Ralf’s eyes lit up. Everything had worked out as he hoped. A great joy engulfed his being. Putting all other thoughts aside, he rushed to the outside world.

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