We ended up talking for quite a bit, with Linda warning me of several more important persons who are working for ASIC. We also decided to start working together - apparently, she's got a mission from the organisation she's working with, and she's expected to keep herself afloat; and it's better to complete quests with a team. And after getting pummeled to the ground by cannon-fodder, I kinda agree with her on that bit.

We decided to live in an old, monsters-infected, abandonned factory, called Midcompany. It may sound crazy, living so close to monsters, but they are robots - and as such, Linda managed to somehow hack them and make us look as if we were their masters (whoever their true "master" is). I was a bit wary the first days, but quickly came to the conclusion that no, they won't backstab me.

We also ended up taking more and more quests, as our ability to fight with our respective weapons evolved. Somewhat. Don't get me wrong, I still suck, and Linda is way better than I am. But now, I am able to hold my ground, and not just win on sheer dumb luck.

"It's been about five days, so I think it's time we tried to do something a little more developped," told Linda after she dropped me in the middle of an empty room, empty save for two deactivated bots - or Bits, as they're called. Linda approached them, and started tinkering with them a bit. "I saw you instinctively do something when we first met, and I want to see if it was just luck, or if you're able to do this thing again."

I was perplexed, and tried to recall anything I did that was out of the ordinary. Turns out that, surprisingly, there was nothing extraordinary in my playstyle that day. Except maybe... "Are you talking about when I was spinning my lance, and it protected me from the monster's scream magic?"

"Yeah, that." Linda got back up, and the Bits came back to life. They looked at me, and one of them started charging something. "And there's no better way to see how it works than with real, life-threatening action!"

Suddenly, the Bit made a screeching sound, and fired a laser at me, that I narrowly avoided. That is a positive effect of all the quests we've been doing : I now am able to move a bit faster, and I can do more than three swings before being exhausted! I know, I know. I'm awesome.

"No no, that won't work. You need to do that spinning thing again!" Linda encouraged me from afar. "You can't just let it sit untouched! Now reflect that laser back, don't just dodge like a moron!"

"A little more warning next time would be nice!" I joked a bit, before focusing on the Bit. It was apparently waiting for me to look at it before charging its attack again, and this time I was ready. I took my lance in both hand, and started spinning it just as the Bit's laser approached me - and to my surprise, the laser not only stopped, but it also was reflected back! Well, not really. It was sent back to the sender's general position, meaning I still missed the Bit by quite a large distance. But still, I somehow deflected a projectile!

Linda approached me, before hitting my shoulder. "You lucky piece of shit, not even a week of training and you already managed to build your first skill."

My first skill? "Wait, is it that hard to... 'build a skill'?"

Linda shook her head. "Eh, not really. Anyone can do anything, or at least they can try to. The difficult part comes with using your skill - more often than not, nooby adventurers decides they want to summon a sea of giant swords from the sky, and the only thing they end up summoning is a small knife because they don't have the strenght to fully do it."

Huh. That's neat, actually. "Personal experience, or just something you saw?"

"Nah, t'was one of my coworkers," Linda snorted. "He's a big talking mouse. Ended up thinking he was way hotter than he actually was, and ridiculised himself in front of all of - well, all of our staff."

"So, have you been developping your own skills, or are you fine with just hitting things?"

"I've been trying something out, actually." Linda's smile became a bit more feral. "I want to inflict every possible ailments available in a single blow. Poison, paralysis... All of them." Then her smile dropped. "Still can't manage it, through. Poison's the only thing I do."

"Well, poison is neat. You'll just have to make it better on the fly, maybe it's easier when you're in a life and death scenario?"

Linda snorted. "Then, you'll have a hundred skills before I finish my own, dumbass."

"Hey!"

It has been two days since the "skill training day", and Linda and I have started taking on more dangerous quests. I found out that as long as you've got the training, monsters aren't really that dangerous - at least, those on the least dangerous zones. There's apparently ten level of danger for each monsters-infected places, and the Guild's quest level is applied accordingly. Some times, stronger than average monsters appear, but they are not common. And even then, they're not that much stronger.

It was a shock when the Guild clerc told me I had "leveled up", actually. I could now take on D rank quests, and my little Guild Card now had a slight, bronze-colored shimmer.

So now, after a whole week of being in Lastation, and not having to pay rent, I was sitting on a confortable amount of cash. 10,000 credits, give or less a few hundreds. It's not that much, but it's making me understand the economy a bit better. And the way I see it, I got scammed by Chika.

An example: technology is so developed in this world that going to another nation in less than ten hours costs less than what I actually have, unless I'm trying to go to Leanbox. Being isolated in the sea is bad for business. That's why it took me 3 days to travel by boat - costs way less than taking a really good cruiser, or a plane.

But food? It's worth hundreds of credits. And a full set of clothes is worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of credits. The reason is simple, nobody is doing these jobs. Farmers, clothers... They're all very rare. Makes sense, gathering materials is hard with monsters everywhere.

(Which is why I ended up losing three quarters of our total money to buy a set of new, cheap clothes. That way, I had two sets of clothing, and I was wearing them out slower. Also, I look cooler in these new clothes. What can I say, a red jacket under a dark purple combat suit suits me more than a plain, boring white shirt under a tired, worn-out brown jacket.)

(Linda was pretty angry about it, until I told her the last quarter was hers, and the five next quests's money were all for her. Well, what was left after we bought the food.)

So, an invaluable artifact protecting this very dimension? Well, risking your life to steal a part of it in several of the most protected places in the world is apparently worth a bit less than two sets of the most expensive clothes money can buy.

When I find Chika back, I'm renegociating our deal.

"See ya later!"

Linda left to go to a meeting of some kind with her crew. She told me something about a "mascot" thing that was channeling ASIC's power into the land. I really don't understand exactly what ASIC is, actually. Some times, it sounds like an evil organisation hellbent on world domination. Other times, it looks like an eldritch entity far beyond this world, sucking energy from cultists.

So, as Linda left for the morning, leaving me instructions to go back at Rebeat Resort once the afternoon started, I decided to spy the Basilicom. It was finally time to start the planning of the greatest heist in this world's History! I obviously didn't read this world's History, so I do hope it hasn't been tried before, because being the first will make my job that much easier. I looked at the giant building from the street, entered several towers just to be able to watch it from other angles. Hell, I even went to several rooftops, and ended up going as far as wandering inside the Basilicom itself to have a look.

The staff was definitely suspicious of me now, but it doesn't matter, because they'll have forgotten about me come tomorrow. I hope so, anyway.

From my little sightseeing, I caught three things. First, there's also an Oracle in this Basilicom, named Kei. I think. I heard some dude call her that. And Kei doesn't let anything go unchecked. She seems to have managed to clone herself, because she appears to be everywhere at once.

Second, the Basilicom's sixth floor gives way to a balcony outside, giving a passage around the whole tower. And, near a certain point, there's the rooftop of a building, something like 3 meters lower and 2 meters away. If I play my cards right, I may jump to the roof of this building (the "Megastore Nowa", original name), and then find a way to the streets. I hope I don't fail my landing.

Third, I'm late to my appointment with Linda. Oh, and fourth I guess- a group left the Basilicom, and is now approaching me.

"Hello there, old man! My wifeys and I were wondering if you knew where we could find a Treasure Gem and some Hematite?"

Wow, does this red-haired, definitely chinese brat looks conceited- I want to punch her. "Maybe next time you want to ask someone for help, you shouldn't insult them to their face, brat."

"I'm not a brat, elder! I'm actually-"

Luckily, before it could devolve into a shouting match, the pink-haired girl that was carrying some kind of massive needle (and wasn't that a surprise) held the brat back, as her miniature decorative dragon started to lift his head to look at me. It looked cool, and slightly creepy I admit.

The probably-leader of the group, a brown-haired girl with way to much cellphones and a really cool blue jacket, then excused herself for her group, and asked again if I did know where to find the items. As I didn't know, we left each others - I needed to run all the way to Rebeat if I wanted to avoid being late.

Still, I don't look that old, do I?

"Dude, you're like an hour late!"

"Yeah, well, terribly sorry that I got held back against my wishes by a brat and her teammates!"

You guessed it, I didn't make it in time to our meeting. Linda's eyes focused on me, and her tone became a bit more sarcastic. "You're telling me it took you an entire hour to shake off... What, four, five people?"

"Well, put like that, maybe I only lost a couple of minutes to them. But still!"

Linda shook her head, and looked at me right in the eyes. "Gyone, you know I like you. Really. But you're a lost cause."

She turned back and started leaving, before I came back to my senses. "What do you mean, a lost cause? Oy! Come back here!"

You know, maybe this place isn't so bad.

We ended up training my skill, which I named "Twinkle Star" because for some reason, whenever a projectile is reflected, a giant, white star appears at the point the projectile hit.

I am now able to follow up the intense spinning with... A jab. Sure, it may sound weak, but at least now I don't have to get back to position myself properly before hitting back. The move is way more fluid. Which means it's better.

Linda also brought a cheap, useless gun, showing me how it worked. Apparently, bullets were outlawed, because of their absurd power against humans, and production was stopped. Apparently, for some reasons it couldn't even damage monsters, but it could kill a human quite quickly. Since then, all guns were modified to only shoot concentrated beams, or pulses, or things of energy. Not only did that work against monsters, it didn't hurt humans as much. Newer guns were deadlier and more powerfull, but by then some blacksmithes made melee weapons that reached an absurd level of power. There was apparently a hammer that could shatter boulders in one tap, a sword that could cut through steel, and more.

In short, weapons mattered as much as the wielder in this world. Also, guns do not kill.

We trained and completed all the available quests available at Rebeat. I could definitely notice that there were fewer monsters here than the first time I was here. At the Guild, the danger level dropped from two to one, which meant "available to recapture" apparently. I noticed several people that were definitely not guild members were trying to repair everything they could, and the entrance to the infested zone looked cleaner than it ever did.

But, as we prepared to leave, I noticed from the corner of my eyes the group that held me off at Lastation.

"Hey, Linda, look over there. Those are the girls I told you about. The brat and the others."

Linda's face paled, before she looked at me, panicked. She shakily took a breath, and hid us behind a railing. "Gyone, did you say you met them at the Basilicom?"

I nodded. "Yeah, they were leaving as I was getting ready to come here. Why?"

Linda seemed to think for a second, before she could visibly come to a conclusion. "Then that probably means the Basilicom is compromised. You remember when I told you about the ASIC member that posed as a CPU Candidate?"

It was my turn to get pale. "You don't mean..."

"Yes." Linda nodded. "We need to take them down, and then I'll call my crew so they can get them. We apparently can't rely on the government anymore."

Just what I needed. I sighed, and readied my lance. "Ready when you are, partner."

Linda looked at me, seeming a bit surprised, before she took out her iron pipe. "Then let's go... Partner."

We rushed them from behind, and I took great pleasure in knocking out the red-haired brat, while Linda managed to knock out both the syringe freak and the leader-type in one hit.

Sadly, the two others dodged, and managed to get their weapons out. The purple haired, meek-looking girl, and the black-haired girl wearing black clothing, with a bigass black gun.

"What the goodness!" exclaimed purple hair.

"Heh, we got the underlings with barely any efforts at all." smirked Linda.

I nodded. "Yeah, maybe we can do this after all."

"Who are these guys?" asked... you know what, that girl is bathing in her main color way to much.

"I don't know the guy, but the girl's name is Underling, I think. She's an ASIC minion."

Hearing that, I got a bit pissed off. "What the hell are you saying? We already know that you're the ASIC lieutenant! Stop trying to twist my head with lies, you fraud!"

"My name's not that! Call me by my real freaking name, you broads!" shouted Linda at the same time.

All Black turned to her friend. "Nepgear, what's this idiot saying?"

"I... Don't know, Uni. Is it possible ASIC brainwashed him into thinking we were the bad guys?"

I drew a blank face, before getting into position. "Well, whatever act you're playing, it won't work. I can see clear through your lies."

Linda looked a bit shocked, before she nodded and took her position as well. "Thanks, dude."

The now-named Uni and Nepgear seemed to argue a bit, before Nepgear transformed, as Linda told me she would... Followed shortly by Uni.

"What the hell, man?! Is this a freaking joke?" shouted Linda.

And I won't lie, I kinda agree with her. How unlucky is it that the two girls that we don't knock out are those supersoldiers ASIC leaders Linda told me about?

I smiled bitterly. "Well, then I guess it falls to us to be the punchline."

"N- No way! We're beating them into the ground! We can do this!"

A barrier made of light appeared, separating us from the outside world, surrounding all of us.

"Oh, hell..." whispered Linda. "They somehow summoned a Boss Event."

"A what?" I whispered back. She couldn't answer, before words appeared in front of us.

[BOSS FIGHT]

[ASIC LEADERS : NEPGEAR & UNI]

Author's Footnote :

Training montage! Not really, but I needed a way to explain things and set up everything for the first boss fight of this fic. So I decided to just do a minor timeskip, and get to the plot after a last bit of training, shown to the viewer this time.

Also, some worldbuilding I guess? I don't think skills were ever explained in the game. And I've totally made up the Boss Event. I wanted title cards to directly appear in the world, that's the way I found. Allow me to indulge myself a bit, please. They also are necessary to progress the plot.

I swear.

Also also, I know many of the characters are a bit OOC. Ok, all of them are. But I just don't know how to write them well. (I actually don't know how to write well at all). I'm doing the best I can. I have the Neptunia wiki next to me to make sure I'm not doing something horribly bad, so I know RED is one hundred percent OOC. Or at least 50 percent.

Thanks (again) to VolcanicFlare, Chrome Fate and Ent for explaining the issues with the disappearing chapters! And thanks for reviewing in general, too.

Rewiew time ~

Ent : Nah, Part 1 is about him being misled by absolutely everyone into doing dumb stuff for their benefits. Not evil- Linda understood early on that she needed to be careful about what she does as an ASIC member, Chika's quest isn't really evil but more misguided, and if fighting the protagonist makes you evil, then almost all the protags are evil themselves.

You know what? "Misguided" and "dumb stuff" actually explains it very well.

Also, he doesn't believe he's gonna casually doom any nation- despite everything, this is still an Isekai scenario. He still believes he has some kind of plot-armor.

As for the reasons, yeah they're weak, but it begins with "I don't know the law" and panic, continues with the "in for a penny, in for a pound" mentality, and it ends with pride getting in the way. And you have to remember: there's enough things happening in the base game for him to understand at one point that he's being manipulated by basically everyone.

Thanks for the review!