My Scumbag System-Chapter 258: Six Pods for Six Misfits, and One Very Pointed Challenge

Carmen led us into Nexus Simulations, a high-end training facility where every surface looked like it cost more than our monthly allowances combined. The place had that distinct smell of expensive electronics and ozone, like money and lightning had a baby and then raised it in a penthouse. Polished chrome fixtures reflected our faces as we walked through the entry hall while holographic displays showcased various simulation packages with price tags that would make even Natalia’s father wince.

This wasn’t just a training center. It was a playground for rich Hunters who could afford to practice dying without consequences.

"Fancy," I muttered as we passed through security scanners that probably cost more than most people’s cars. The air hummed with the subtle vibration of active barrier Aspects, likely installed by some overpriced security consultant to keep the peasants out. "I’m surprised they even let me through the door."

Carmen flashed some kind of badge at the receptionist, who immediately straightened her posture like someone had shoved a steel rod up her spine. Her eyes widened with something between fear and reverence, which told me Carmen’s guild credentials were way more impressive than she let on.

"Hunter Guild authorization. Training room three," Carmen drawled while seeming to enjoy the way the woman’s hands trembled slightly as she processed our entry.

We followed her down a pristine white hallway that reminded me of a hospital corridor minus the comforting scent of imminent death. Each door we passed had small holographic displays showing different simulation environments in progress. Jungles, urban warfare scenarios, underwater caverns.

Eventually we reached a large circular room containing six sleek black pods arranged in a circle, and they looked like futuristic coffins complete with neural interface headgear dangling from the ceiling above each one.

The metal gleamed under the recessed lighting in a way that was unnervingly pristine. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Alright, puppies," Carmen announced while clapping her hands together with sadistic enthusiasm. "Six pods, six of you. Pair up. Each pod links to your partner’s, so you’ll be in the same simulation covering each other’s backs." She grinned in that way that always meant trouble, and her eyepatch added a sinister dimension to her smile. "Scenario’s randomized. Good luck, try not to die virtually. Though the pain is very real, just without the pesky dying part."

Juan groaned while still looking vaguely green around the gills. His normally lazy expression had morphed into something closer to abject misery. "Can I just sit this one out? I think I’m about to reintroduce my lunch to daylight." He leaned against the wall with his cards forgotten in his pocket for once.

Carmen patted his cheek with fake sympathy, her fingers pinching a little harder than necessary. "Aw, poor baby. Maybe puking in a simulation will make you feel better. Nothing like a near-death experience to settle the stomach." Her eye glinted with mischief. "Besides, I’ve paid good money to watch you suffer today. Don’t ruin my entertainment."

Before anyone could naturally pair off, Skylar stepped forward with her indigo and pink hair catching the blue lighting of the room like some exotic deep-sea creature. She looked directly at me with those bored half-lidded purple eyes that somehow managed to convey complete disinterest and intense scrutiny at the same time.

Her small curvy figure moved with the casual confidence of someone who knew exactly how dangerous they were.

"I’ll take the Stray Dog," she drawled, though her eyes had a calculating glint that belied her casual tone. Her bright red lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. "I’m curious to see if the Number One prospect is all talk, or maybe I just like training with dogs who need to be kept on a short leash."

Everyone turned to look at me. Emi’s antenna hair drooped visibly in disappointment like a wilting plant, and her reddish-brown eyes darted between Skylar and me with barely concealed hurt.

Soomin seemed almost relieved that she wouldn’t have to pair with the intimidating goth girl, her pink twin-tails bobbing as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. Juan just looked like he was mentally calculating the distance to the nearest bathroom and whether he could make it there before his dignity completely abandoned him.

Interesting. Little Miss Bubblegum was isolating me and forcing a one-on-one situation. The question was why. Was she testing me? Or was this something else entirely? Either way I wasn’t about to back down from such an obvious challenge, and Carmen’s smirk told me this was exactly the pairing she’d been hoping for.

The game was afoot, and for once I wasn’t the one setting the board.

"Fine by me," I said with a casual shrug that I knew would irritate her. "Let’s see if you can keep up, Bubblegum. Try not to slow me down with all that eyeliner weighing you down."

Her eye twitched at the nickname.

Good. Annoyed people make mistakes, and I had a feeling I’d need every advantage I could get with this one.

The remaining pairs formed quickly. Carmen grabbed Juan by his collar and dragged him toward a pod while he made a sound like a dying animal, his legs barely supporting him as he tried to resist. Emi and Soomin naturally drifted together, the blue-haired ball of sunshine and the pink-haired mouse finding comfort in their mutual sweetness. They whispered to each other while giggling nervously as they approached their pods.

I approached one of the pods and examined it with false nonchalance. The interior was lined with some kind of neural-responsive gel that would map to my body’s movements, and tiny hair-thin wires crisscrossed the surface while glowing faintly blue in the dim light. A technician in a white lab coat materialized at my side, apparently eager to explain the technology as if I gave a damn.

"The polymer-neural interface creates a full-sensory immersion environment," he rambled while adjusting his thick glasses. "The simulation will read your Aspect signatures and replicate them in the virtual space with ninety-eight percent accuracy. We’ve even programmed pain receptors to fire at approximately seventy percent of real-world intensity for the optimal training experience."

"Any chance of brain damage?" I asked while only half-joking as I eyed the spiderweb of wires above the pod’s headrest. "Or accidentally frying my ability to feel fear? That might actually be an upgrade."

The technician laughed nervously with his Adam’s apple bobbing wildly. "Less than point zero one percent. Probably." He wiped sweat from his brow. "We haven’t had a case of permanent psychosis in weeks."

That was reassuring.

I glanced over at Skylar, who was already climbing into her pod with the casual indifference of someone who’d done this dozens of times before. Her small frame seemed even tinier against the black interior of the pod, but her expression remained impassive and almost bored.

I climbed in while fighting the instinctive claustrophobia as the pod sealed with a pneumatic hiss that sounded disturbingly final. The cushioned gel conformed to my body and enveloped me in a cool slightly damp embrace that felt like being swallowed by a really expensive jellyfish.

A neural interface lowered onto my head while tiny needles injected cool gel into the connection ports at my temples.

It stung for a moment before numbing, like brain freeze without the ice cream.

"Syncing biometrics," an artificial voice announced as blue light scanned my body from head to toe. The sensation felt like a layer of my skin was being peeled away and digitized, which was about as pleasant as it sounds.

"Calibrating Aspect signature... analyzing Thermal Incision parameters... refining power limitations for safety protocols... adjusting simulation variables for optimal challenge... Simulation commencing in three, two, one..."