It took a minute to shake off my horror at the idea of immortal corpo overlords. Finally, though, I asked the important question.

"So… if the people who are 'lucky' enough to mutate get the ability to accumulate Essence, where does that leave the rest of us? Because I don't think everyone does what I did and gets bits of different eldritch creatures to replace their body parts."

"Well… no. I mean, I had my arms replaced too, remember? And I got a single point of Essence from that, nothing more. Hasn't grown or changed since then, like my father predicted it wouldn't. The only reason you got to ten units was… well, erm, the whole… experiment incident," she mumbled, looking away.

I wasn't sure, since I really wasn't an expert on all things emotional, but I thought it was guilt that I heard underlining her voice.

"You know I don't blame you for that, right? That was all your father."

"Yeah. I know. I was just following orders, right?" she asked sardonically, but she did send me a wan smile.

And she was looking at me again, so… yay?

"Anyway!" She shook her head, continuing in a much lighter tone. "Unless you get very lucky with the mutation you go through, passive absorption of Essence isn't very effective, either. There are guides. Exercises. Information on how to sense it and start consciously absorbing it."

That, finally, made my heartbeat pick up in excitement. If Essence really could do all those wonderful things to a person's mind, then I wanted more of it. After all, my mind had cleared up amazingly after I'd eaten the flesh of that failed shadow.

Or, as I was now realizing, after my Essence pool had increased.

Granted, it promptly went to shit afterwards when the good doctor lopped my limbs off and stuck the 'Unseen Stalker' arms to my shoulders, but that was neither here nor there. What truly mattered was that Essence had obviously helped once, and it would hopefully do so again.

Preferably before I did something unfortunate. Like claw Amelia's face off for startling me.

"Do you know any of those… exercises?" I didn't bother hiding the hunger in my voice as my eyes eagerly zeroed in on hers.

Unfortunately, Amelia's expression went carefully blank. I barely managed to catch a twitch of some dark emotion before her face shut down.

"No." Her voice was ice. "My father does. But I already mentioned he didn't like me learning anything other than what he decided I should. That included harnessing and growing my Essence pool."

My fingers tightened a little on the scrolls I was holding, forcing me to relax very carefully to avoid cracking anything. I felt a flash of hatred for the man. He'd really beaten down his daughter every chance he got.

"Well, um, here. One shadow-free scroll for you." I offered her old scroll to her, idly tapping my fingers on the other as it booted up. Shadow Buddy's eyes blinked at me from the screen. "You know… I had the shadows steal everything on your father's private servers. And I do mean everything. It wasn't as much data as I was expecting, but I figure you had access to the rest at some point or another, yeah? So, maybe Essence data is included among his private files?"

I didn't expect the stony expression to melt away from Amelia's face so quickly, but it sure happened. I had to admit I was a major fan of the vindictive smile that replaced the emotionless mask.

"You're right! I had a ton of the more important data saved up anyway, so that's not a problem. I wonder…"

Flicking her scroll on, she brought up the many files I'd stolen and tapped right into the first one. We both froze. She then cleared her throat and looked away, her cheeks flushing.

The file had brought up a diagram of my body in full, exacting detail. Everything was there. Data on my musculature, bone composition, blood make-up, everything.

Including a simulation of my fully naked body blown up across the screen.

I just kind of… blinked. Then I dragged my eyes up to Amelia's face as she did everything in her power to avoid eye contact.

"This is my data," I pointed out, somewhat pointlessly, just to watch her squirm. "The data I know you were modifying to mislead your father. So… why in the world are you all flustered around me when you've already seen this much?"

And she really had seen everything. I mean, my intestines were definitely not my most flattering feature, but there they were, in the slice-through diagram.

"Shut up! It's not my fault! And it's not like I'm used to — Listen. Let's move on. You don't need to see this."

"No, no, this is fascinating. Just how much data did he have one me?"

"I mean…" She managed to meet my eyes, but she still looked uncomfortable. "I know I told you he wasn't recording anything for security purposes. And that's true. But he has a bunch of scanners and stuff installed in all of his experiment rooms, and that's not counting those operating platforms of his. You were pretty much being scanned and analyzed… constantly."

I hummed, scrolling through the rows and rows of info. The jargon made no sense to me, but I could read the labels easily enough. Each of my block B test runs, where I died again and again, were listed out right there, with all the physiological changes I was going through at the time. The data from block A, where I encountered the shadows, had even more details attached to it.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

Then there was the data from my 'operation', where the doctor's sensors had focused on my brain in particular. I didn't like the implications of all the recorded shifts in my brain's makeup. If I was reading the scans correctly, my brain had been rewired at least twice during that procedure. A whole section of it had even partially melted at one point, only to reform miraculously in a different configuration.

I clicked out of that in a hurry. Same with the 'live scan' footage of the procedure. Watching a replay of my torture was a bit too macabre, even for me.

"Honestly, how did he not know something was up with the Shadow Runner package the second he had me hooked up to these scanners?"

"Because I was there. I told you, he relied on me heavily. I wasn't really a person to him, you know. I was an extension of him, because he made me and shaped me how he liked. A tool, really. He probably still thinks you kidnapped me or something, because he's convinced I'd never dare to turn on him," she scoffed, but the hurt in her voice was clear.

For just a second, I was tempted to do something colossally stupid and ask about her mother. But not even I was that insensitive, pre-trauma or after it.

"Well, consider my curiosity sated. Maybe I'll have you guide me through whatever happened to me in that lab later. For now, though, what do you think we should prioritize learning about?"

That earned me an odd look. But whatever had thrown her, Amelia shook it off quickly.

"You know, this is all my father's stuff. I'll have to actually go through the data before I can tell you what's in it. I'll be on the lookout for stuff on Essence, though. We really do need to figure it out. For now… I think we can go back to the data I had access to, for a bit, if you really trust me to dictate things?"

"You know better than I do. I'm kind of lost in this mess, really. Remember, I'm a street kid who just started to learn about netrunning. I'm pretending to be competent and relying on the weird eldritch instincts I now apparently have. You're the scientist here."

Her lips twitched into a small smile. Then she took a deep breath and nodded.

"Thanks for trusting me. In that case…" She scrolled through files with her fingers almost as quickly as I could manage using my eyes. "I think you should look at these three files first."

I hummed my agreement, then connected my eyes to the scroll. It tried to keep me out, citing a lack of user registration. But, seeing as Shadow Buddy had already cracked the device wide open for me, I was able to pull the data to my eyes anyway.

"Oi, you're not supposed to do rude shit like that," Amelia hissed, pulling her scroll protectively against her chest.

"Sorry, sorry. Starting to develop bad habits. Listen, you can keep me out pretty easily. I'll guide you through it in a bit," I promised as I clicked on the first of the three files. "By the way, you haven't added me to the register for the apartment yet. I've had to hack everything just to use the basic amenities."

Amelia rushed an apology and said she'd add me immediately, but I wasn't listening. I only had eyes for the file in front of me.

Subject Name: Shadow Runner

Classification: X class memetic hazard

Basic Subject Information:

The 'Shadow Runners', as they are commonly classified, are extra-dimensional entities discovered shortly after the fall of Terra. We do not have the exact date for the first encounter with the creatures, because almost all records from that era are now lost, precisely because of the Shadow Runners.

After the Terran Collapse, humanity was almost driven back by the abominations that surged out of the rift. Some hunted inexorably, some twisted mortal flesh into monstrosities that inspired madness, and some devoured people's sanity outright. We still had one advantage, however: the netspace. The ability to coordinate and communicate with flawless ease, bringing our full might to bear. For a time, it looked like we might just turn the tide and drive the creatures back.

That's when one of the creatures infiltrated this bastion of humanity.

All those who witnessed the fall of the Terran netspace firsthand lost their minds. Most of their lives followed shortly due to suicide. Even those who were sedated and subjected to every known mind treatment, both standard and experimental, still fought to kill themselves once awakened. They did, however, all rant about the same thing: The Weeping Eye.

The Eye formed inside of the Terran netspace without warning, birthing Shadow Runners shortly after. They were named as such because they mimicked the abilities of netrunners so closely, even if none of our people could stand against them.

We lost control of the netspace within days. For the first time since its launch in 1993 of the old calendar, the internet collapsed, fully and completely. Since our communication and data transfer relied entirely on the internet, the Terra Empire went silent. Planets were left adrift. Space vessels were left floundering. The sheer loss of life was staggering as Shadow Runners dealt the greatest and deadliest blow to humanity ever recorded to date.

It wasn't until the creation of nodes that we dared try to establish communication on that scale again. Even so, countless worlds are still lost to us. Their coordinates are floating somewhere in the old Terra netspace, available only to the Shadow Runners.

The horror of the creatures only grew when we realized they could 'infect' netrunners, twisting them into physical versions of the monstrosities. Thankfully, Shadow Runners are as ineffectual in the real as they are deadly in the netspace. The creatures seem confused by the limitations of the flesh. While their ability to infect and convert more victims remains a threat, they are still among the easiest extra-dimensional entities to subjugate.

I swallowed thickly.

All of a sudden, I was really not sure if my 'brilliant plan' to cover our escape by unleashing the shadows on the megabuilding was the right call. Doubly so because all the shadows in the lab had spent a ton of time in the real. I had no idea how that would reflect on their deadliness, but it wasn't likely to make things easier for whoever had to clean them up.

With some trepidation, I eyed the other two files.

One of them was titled 'Unseen Stalker', which I recognized all too well. The other, however, was tagged with 'Demented Medic', which didn't sound familiar at all.

"What's the 'Demented Medic' file about?" I asked.

Amelia was silent for a while as I kept scrolling through the mountains of Shadow Runner data. I had just come across a potentially interesting section titled 'Noted Behavioral Patterns' when she answered.

"That would be the kind of creature my arms came from." She managed to say it casually, but I caught the flash of panic on her face. "Give it a read, please. I'm not as affected by the arms as you are by your cybernetics, but that might be because my father didn't let me install the package yet. He wanted me to 'get used to the passive effects' first."

That didn't sound quite right. It also brought another question to mind.

"Amelia, when exactly did you have your arms installed?"

"Oh, that? About a month ago. Father was not happy when he lost the chance to experiment on those gangers, so…"

She trailed off like it wasn't a big deal, but my mouth suddenly tasted like ash.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.