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A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Prologue
2100, the Earth… In a physics lab, a female scientist is meticulously adjusting the nodes of a huge machine in the centre of the lab. After every circuit is connected, she exits the glass chamber, sweat and anxiety soaking her lab coat. She pulls a long lever. - Teleportation system activated. Power connection severely damaged, divert to reserve electricity. Charging capacitors will take one minute. Waiting for authorisation. - Authorise to charge. - Authorised. Commencing charge. They are everywhere, going on massive rampages and massacres. Spaceships and smoke cover the sky, and towers grow like mushrooms after rain. Innocent lives fall one after another. Even the strongest and the most intelligent of us feel powerless against them, wielding all types of cutting-edge weapons, equipment and vehicles the current Earth technology is far from being able to rival. Intruders, an alien empire from a faraway galaxy that dominates other creatures across
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 1 - The Package
2050, the Earth… My name is Yuusha, which just translates to "hero". I am a freelancer, mainly doing engineering and technical work such as fixing electronic devices in households. Sometimes I accept projects and commissions. I have a deep passion for science and dream to do something big for this world using my knowledge. But the dream seems very far away. I am twenty-three years old this year. And to be honest, I am completely blind when talking about my future. Although I want to do something big, I do not know where to start. I do not even know what the world needs, because there is probably someone out there having the same idea as mine, who started doing it already. But that is at least what I am thinking as of now. That day has changed my life forever. - Delivery! Maybe my relatives or my friends send me a package because I have no recollection of ordering something online. I receive the package and sign the confirmation paper, then bring it into my living
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 2 - First Mission (part 1)
The clock has shown a big 08:00 on its screen, but I am just too tired to wake myself up after all the hard work. I try to sleep in for a few more minutes before starting a new day. - Yuusha, wake up. It's time for your training phase. We will be targeting places that are easy to attack for you to get used to the pace. - Five more minutes... The customer's order is due tomorrow... Mirai is intolerant of my weird sleep schedule, and she pulls the warm blanket away from me. The morning wind breeze flows through my back. - Cold! Cold! Why must you ruin my precious morning, especially after my hectic work schedule yesterday? - I speak in a sleepy voice. - Well, the only reason that I send this package to 2050 is that the Intruders make their first move sometime this year, and they start setting up bases. We need to uproot the weeds to kill them, so that is why we are also making our moves now. But don't worry, I will choose an easy target for you
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 3 - First Mission (part 2, final)
As soon as we approach the exit, a thick, black wall of smoke covers us. The planes above us are burning the field with fire. There are scattered remains of the planes shot down with the SAM turret, but the number is nothing compared to the army of planes on top of us. - Mirai, what do we do? - Open the arsenal and summon a Gas Mask. I will summon a Frost Gun to cool down our path, then we find higher ground. We run through the thick layers of smoke. The cold beams of the Frost Gun help to extinguish the fire and cool down the temperature a lot, but it still feels hot. After we get out of the smoke, there is a forest in front of us to hide in, and we manage to get away from the bombardment, as well as reach the cliff. We get a clearer view. - The SAM turret is very durable, but we need a counterattack plan. Yuusha, trigger the EMP device. - Yes. - I take the EMP device out and activate it. An electromagnetic pulse pierces the sky. The plane
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 4 - A Literal Lesson
I start the next morning with the sound of a sigh from Mirai, holding her head as if she is worried. The serious atmosphere is slowly taking control of the living room. I take out a cigarette from my shirt, burn its end with a lighter, and give her. - Hey, maybe you have smoked a cigarette once when you are still alive. This modified cigarette has chemicals that help to cool down electronic systems when burned, so for robots, it may feel like a relief feeling. - Thanks. Mirai is reading the collected data from the tablet, which are just a bunch of graphs and numbers dancing and constantly changing. On the left corner of the tablet screen, there is the world map, densely marked with crosses, from green, to yellow and red. - As you can see, this graph here shows the distribution of the Intruders' force on Earth. There are about a million of them, with one Commander. If the Commander has an overall rating of a hundred per cent, and a normal Physical-class
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 5 - Storage Assault (part 1)
It is another day living under the same house with a person, I mean with a pseudo-human robot, and also another day working a freelancer life, and I do not feel a single moment of regret. At the very least, that is what I think as of now... - Yuusha, today, we will continue with your physical training. As mentioned, we will attack this storage, somewhere about one hour of flight from our base. This time, I will teach you how to control a plane. - Mirai instructs me about today's mission while I am trying to finish my breakfast. That is how life works for a person living double lives like me now. Everyday routine, as Mirai says, will start with a training mission in the morning until early afternoon, either 'simple' callisthenic and stamina exercises, or trial missions at real, green-level Intruders' facilities, where I gain simple skills such as weapon mastery, plane riding and strategic planning. Then, I do my projects in the afternoon, sometimes until the evening if t
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 6 - Storage Assault (part 2, final)
A quick update on our current dire situation. The Intruders' aerial vehicles approach very closely to us, and even if the EMP device jams their vehicles, the sheer number of them parachuting and landing on the storage will outnumber us. - Let's come to our main course for today! - Mirai seems to get eager as she takes out two remote-controlled planes, equipped with bulletproof, explosion-resistant layers, laser guns and flares to destroy incoming thermal missiles. I hold one of them and quickly observe the plane. Mirai taps on the remote control icon on my tablet and tunes the frequency of the remote control to match the planes. - Since the automatically-operated drones cannot effectively avoid missiles, we change to manually controlled planes. You know how to play a remote-controlled toy plane, can I presume? - Yep. - Well then, let's rock the field. From the entrance of the storage, there emerge two heavily armed drones. The cameras built
A Backpack, a Gun and a Codex Chapter 7 - Day in the Life of a Hero
- Hi, can you finish fixing this code line by tonight? And this part is bugged, hopefully, you can check it after that. - Yes, Mr., I will check through it and send you the completed version as soon as possible. Thanks for choosing me for your project. It is midday, and I am sitting at my desk, meticulously doing the project I am hired for. The room is filled with a sense of silence and concentration. All that is left are the typing sounds of my mechanical keyboard, the beeping of the system, and maybe the air-conditioning system cooling my room. Besides that, there are rows and rows of neatly arranged books about programming and different stuff sitting on the shelf behind my back, as if they are supervising me. The clock continues ticking, but the important thing now is that I have only a few hours left to send out the files for checking by the customer. In another room, there gives out a more professional vibe. Mirai is carefully analysing the samples we brou
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