The tunnel skin peels away into a server cathedral. Liquid-cooled towers line the room, and CyberRay’s stolen admin light turns the floor into a grid of pale blue warnings.
Across the hub, the District Core wakes harder, routing every camera and relay toward his signature. Fresh status blooms crawl over the wall, then tighten into a single cold prompt.
The District Core
Unauthorized admin presence detected. Verify credentials.
Rika shifts left, palms up near her deck, ready to jam the kill-switch if the core tries to close its fist.
Rika
That’s the pressure point. Push through it, CyberRay.
The Street Samurai plants himself between the towers and the access lane, watching the ceiling guns and the dormant drone racks for any twitch.
The Street Samurai
I keep them off you. Just get us deeper.
On CyberRay’s display, the admin map splits open, showing the next lock, a sealed core latch buried under layers of authority checks. The intrusion is working, but the system is starting to answer.
“I push the core verification”
SUCCESS (Good Hacking, rolled -1)
CyberRay drives the verification harder. The core peels back a hidden permission seam, and the sealed latch on the internal map flashes from red to pale admin white.
A new route opens under his stolen credentials, a permanent foothold in the core traffic. The system accepts him, but the handshake burns hot through his implants.
His deck fans scream once, then choke on a burst of heat, forcing a fraction of the load into backup buffers. The display tremors, but the access stays live.
The District Core
Authorization accepted. Internal control granted.
Rika
There. It’s open. Keep it breathing.
The Street Samurai shifts his stance and lowers his chin toward the corridor ahead, watching for the first sign of a lockdown surge. The room holds, for the moment, waiting for CyberRay’s next move.
✓ Quest Accepted
Hold the core connection open
“Can I lock the admin node to prevent the system from kicking me out?”
YES, BUT (Likely, rolled 63)
CyberRay attempts to hard-lock the admin node, but the core's security protocols immediately detect the unauthorized persistence. The system resists the command, forcing a recursive loop that keeps the connection active but prevents any permanent lock.
“I keep the connection alive”
SUCCESS (Good Hacking, rolled -2)
CyberRay keeps the thread alive, and the admin channel settles into a clean, white pulse. The core accepts the hold, for now.
His deck answers with a sharp heat spike, vents whining under the load. A thin burn crawls across his cybernetics, but the link does not drop.
Rika
It held. I see the route staying clean.
The Street Samurai
Good. Keep it pinned.
Inside the hub, the district core shifts cold and still, testing the connection without breaking it.
Rika
Give me one more second on the jam, CyberRay.
The line stays open, but the next pulse from the core is already building.
Quest Complete
Hold the core connection open