Limitless, John Gold [best novels of all time .TXT] 📗

habit of burning his sketches as soon as he makes a mistake. And that happens with some regularity.

Hawk’s squad is next. They have exceptional fighting skills, they’re great at analyzing any situation, and they can turn a normal group into a veritable battle machine. His fighters combine unique abilities and spells. When they try to take me by force, I kill them all, doing the same when they come back to apologize. I don’t like being treated that way. It’s only after the second time that I stop hunting them and agree to a shaky truce, concerned mostly that Hawk treat me as an equal. That’s the only way we can have a working relationship, and I achieve my goal.

The first two hundred and fifty people turn out to be Hunters to the man. They all show up after hearing each other talk about it, as the continent I’m on is the best spot for them to work on their skills and levels while also looking for unique trophies. They’re also the cream of the player crop. Yes, regardless of the difference in levels, we respect each other as having gotten to the center of Tanatos on our own, rather than with the support of the gods or clans. The Hunters don’t have a problem with my massacre of the gods, and they don’t mention the angel cities I destroyed, the valleys full of demons, and the six giant fortresses. As far as the locals are concerned, I’m a pariah responsible for thousands of deaths. Most of the players are offered quests that get them helping the local peoples avenge the damage done to them, but it’s a unique time when I feel relatively safe and can grow as a person. I spent my entire life prior to Project Chrysalis in the orphanage, and I’ve been alone for most of my time in the game. But my need for communication with other people has grown along with my intellect. Here, I’m back in society, where one conversation is worth a thousand hours spent among the other anonymous engineers in the infonet. The Hunters are interesting to talk to, each of them opening up a new perspective on the world. For example, Hawk tells me how the reputation system in the game works.

“Your reputation is your renown, your business standing, the goodwill you’ve fostered, and it can take different directions for each of the guilds and organizations. For example, you could have thousands of dead intelligent creatures on your conscience, you could be wanted in dozens of countries, baronies, and kingdoms. That’s negative reputation. It doesn’t have anything to do with us, but locals know about it. Did you know that the killer guild has a special contract out for you?”

“They want me dead?”

“No, they want the person to find you and invite you to join them. But that’s not all! Cities all have their criminal elements that hide or lead double lives. For them, you’re perfect for their dark deeds, murders for hire, and things like that. The scale and nature of your reputation matters, too. For instance, you picked up quite a bit of infamy when you destroyed Airis Castle eleven years ago, and then there was killing the gods, your secret resurrection, running away from the clinic, breaking into one of the most maximum-security prisons in the world, and breaking back out of it. Then, you showed up for the trial, and people noticed you hanging out with Ekron. I don’t think I need to mention your attack on Leon. Anyway, everything you do is associated by the locals with everything you’ve ever done. Rumors spread, picking up new, juicy details. But then, you show up at a new city, and they don’t let you in. They say you’re too ugly. Your reputation is zero, which you would think means they’d be fine with you.”

“So, the totality of your individual actions gives rise to rumor, and that serves as a modifier for your reputation. Opinion can be prejudiced in your favor or against it, while doing quests can boost your reputation quite a bit thanks to those rumors.”

“Exactly. Take us, for example. We all have positive reputations, with dozens of cities, villages, and fortresses saved. My squad doesn’t accept quests we aren’t 100% sure we’ll be able to complete. Well, basically, so, we might show up in a new city, and they’ll hand us a unique or legendary quest right out of the blue. That’s why we spend so much time on our reputations.”

Hawk isn’t the most vivid character among the Hunters, though he’s the one who takes charge of the group that’s forming.

The next five months of my life are spent in this way. I sense everyone around me having fun hunting the raid bosses we summon, though I’m the only one who can summon anything stronger. Just for them, I summon the strongest creatures I can from the astral. It’s a fight to the death every day, in other words. Regardless of the fact that we already have three hundred people ranging from Level 5000 to my Level 10000, what else would you expect from a Level 10000 raid boss amplified ten times? There’s lots of unique loot with each victory, oceans of fun, and the experience of working together with the upper echelons of the Hunters. We’re loving it.

Femida and Ekron show up in the eleventh month, Reiji a day later.

I’m sitting in the crown of my tree, which the Hunters call the Tree of Worlds, next to the portal ring, when I sense that something is off. A silence has fallen, the birds have stopped singing, and the only sound in the air is a light breeze. Then, Femida sends me a message, telling me that some guy decided to duel all the Hunters one by one. He’s currently dispatching Ekron in her Satan visage. The poor girl had two of her four arms ripped off, and then she got sent flying off past