System Supervillain, Chapter 155

Chapter 155 – Admin

I left the Russians to their business. They were going to have plenty to do in the coming days, since the planet wouldn’t conquer itself. That was part of the reason I agreed to haul the gates along, after all. Destroying a world was easy, if time consuming. Conquering and colonizing one was hard work, and I had better uses for my time.

Instead, I led Hoarfrost and my ladies into the Rhuk. As I stepped inside, I called out to the AI. “Nemesis, contact Web Mistress, and see if she has time to pop over for some Administrator discussion.”

“Of course, Iceblade. Web Mistress says that she is taking care of something on Srusk 4, but that she will be here in five minutes.”

Hoarfrost frowned as she looked at the speaker that Nemesis’s voice had come from. “A true AI?”

I nodded as I continued walking towards my room, leading Hoarfrost through the ship. “NemesisSpark is a valued member of the team, as well as the main operating system of the Rhuk. Prefers to go by ‘it’, as gender is a ‘fleshbag social construct’, which it has no interest in taking part in. It wasn’t only humans who lost friends in the invasion, but if you want more than that, you’ll have to ask them directly.”

Entering my suite, which had a small sitting area, I took a chair and motioned for Hoarfrost to take the other one. “So, a quick run-down on the Administrator job. First, you have to understand that, while you essentially get the ability to change anyone or anything as you please, by directly editing people’s status screens, all the changes you make will be logged. Also, I’ll note that the job is ‘Local Administrator’, which implies higher levels of organization, or supervisor roles.”

Hoarfrost frowned. “And, from your tone, I take it you don’t know who these supervisors are, or where they are. More importantly, you don’t know what kind of powers they might have, beyond what the ‘Local Administrator’ would. Which is why you haven’t used your abilities more, since the System came online.”

“Precisely,” I nodded, but before I could say more, a scream of dial-up internet echoed through one of the nearby speakers, and Web Mistress appeared next to me. “Ah, Web Mistress. This is Hoarfrost, who has volunteered to take up the Local Administrator position for the Srusk system.”

Web Mistress turned to look at Hoarfrost, even as she sat herself in my lap, snuggling close. “Ah, I was wondering who you would get for that, brother-master, since you promised to take the newly-made ‘Frost Gel-nak’ away from here. They would not be accepted by their former kin, after all.”

Hoarfrost’s mouth dropped open in surprise, but it soon transformed into a grin. “Brother-master? Oh. Oh, my. I haven’t seen something like that since the fey courts!”

That got my attention. “So, the fey courts are actually a thing?”

“Yes, though they are not on this plane. I know you’ve met Lucy Morningstar. You know her father, right, and where he lives? Same idea with the courts. There are ways that they can cross over, but it isn’t easy. My father was part of winter, and took a human lover, which is where I came from.”

“But you spent time in the Winter Court? Did it not have the System?”

“No, it did, but fey being fey, they found a way to work around the safeties keeping those who don’t have the System from going to places with it. Nothing spectacular, of course. They just use their glamour to hide an individual from the System long enough to cross the border into the fey realm. After that, the System integrates them, like it did with everyone on Earth. Of course, the fey needs to be pretty powerful to pull that off.”

Web Mistress giggled. “Somehow, it doesn’t surprise me that the fey found a loophole to the System’s safeguards. But I think you were going to tell her about the rules, brother?”

“Right,” I nodded. “The rules are simple enough. You can edit individual status screens, changing them as much or as little as you like. However, adding or subtracting points is logged, and flagged for review, as are any edits that are done without consent, a help ticket, or an alert from the System. So, you can’t just give yourself an extra hundred XP without the System making note of it. That said, once we make the alterations to add you as an administrator, you’ll be able to edit your own status screen, allowing you to better tailor your abilities to what you need.”

Web Mistress chuckled. “One example of the changes you can do would be with my brother, here. When the System came online, he had an artifact that put a compulsion on any woman he touched to have sex with him, but put the same compulsion on him, as well. Very problematic, especially when going out in one’s ‘civilian’ identity, as you might expect. I helped him change that so that it would no longer affect him as badly, and was a bit more subtle than encouraging women to try and climb him like a tree in public.”

A blush went to Hoarfrost’s cheeks. “Oh, yes, I can see how that would be a problem.” She coughed once, and then very clearly tried to change the subject. “So, I could change things around, to smooth out some of the rough edges on my abilities, but adding points to myself, or taking points from someone I don’t like would be likely to get someone reviewing my actions, and possibly cracking down?”

“That’s what we believe, based on the information we’ve found,” I nodded. “The good news is that this is also a protection for you. Another administrator on the same level can’t just come in and rewrite you, turning you into a loyal subject of the Gel-nek Empire, unless you open yourself up to it.”

“They tried to do something like that to you, huh? And I’m guessing that’s how you dealt with whoever the original administrator for this system was?”

“Exactly. See, help tickets can be addressed by any Administrator in the system. So, what they tried to do to us was get us to open a ticket, which would have allowed them to basically own us completely. Naturally, we declined. On the other hand, the Administrator in this system accepted, when I promised to save her mate and children from all you bloodthirsty Russians.”

“Heh. Yeah, I can’t blame her, then. So, any other warnings?”

“Not a ‘trouble from on high’ warning, but more of a ‘help you sleep at night’ one. Once you’re an Administrator, you can look up anyone’s status page with their name, including costumed names, or if you are close enough to see them. That includes the basic status screen, as well as the full detailed listings, including all their disadvantages and so forth. And it also lets you see system logs on them. Depending on how far into the logs you get, you can see how many times someone went to the bathroom in the last week, or how often they masturbated, including timestamps.”

Web Mistress nodded. “It is bad enough when it is people you don’t know, but, looking in on the people you know? That kind of thing gets very uncomfortable, very quickly. So, this isn’t a warning of the kind of trouble you can get in with higher-ups, but more of a warning that you should keep from poking too deeply into things you might not want the answers to.”

“Ah, one other thing,” I mentioned. “If you do go looking at someone, and you see they have some kind of disadvantage that really sets you off, like, say, they are a pedophile or a cannibal? Make sure that any punishment is done with your ‘normal’ abilities, rather than your administrator abilities. Better still, contact someone else, and let them handle that part of things, maybe even pointing them to where they can get evidence to rope in the authorities. You don’t want to be setting yourself up as judge, jury, and executioner for everything.”

“Because there’s so much filth that, if I started trying to clean everything up, I’d basically become a worse monster than the ones who killed Moscow?”

“Exactly. Which is part of why I said a villain was better for the Administrator role than a hero. We know when to turn away, and just let things slide. Not because we approve of what is going on, but because we know we can’t fix everything. Doesn’t mean you need to just let people get off with things you won’t tolerate in front of you, but don’t go trying to heal the world, or anything like that.”

Hoarfrost nodded slowly. “I get it. I’m not as young as I look, you know. I tried helping, back when the tzars were in power. I could help a few, but everything else was too big, even for someone with my abilities. Worse, once I started helping, people started expecting me to do everything for them. So, I dropped out of sight for a few decades, only coming back a few years ago.”

“Yes,” Web Mistress nodded. “That was part of the reason we decided to keep the business of Iceblade being an Administrator secret for so long. And why very few people know I’m an Administrator as well, even though it is common knowledge that we’re a team. Harder for people to whine to us.”

Hoarfrost too a deep breath. “So, what happens now?”

“Now,” I said gently, “you need to consent to our editing your status, to give you Administration privileges. This is one of the few times we can actually give points, so it does need a firm consent. You’ll be able to give others the same rights, but you should be careful of who you give such power to, otherwise it will be your mess to clean up.”

“I understand. Same reason you sat me down for this conversation, instead of just doing it. Because an out-of-control admin is a problem that needs to be solved, and only another admin will be able to deal with them, right?”

“Right. You won’t be able to affect each other with admin privileges, unless one of you opens a help ticket, but the damage they could do before you manage to take them down? Nasty. Worse, if they have some sort of power which can strip your free will away, and make you their obedient slave? One that doesn’t rely on editing your status through their admin privileges? That’s still fair game. So, as you gain XP, you’ll want to invest in Mental Defense, which protects from mental attacks, and Power Defense, which protects from things that would drain your abilities, like your EGO, which helps you resist mind control. Especially if you intend to be more out in public than we’ve been.”

“No, I was never really a ‘plays well with others’ type on Earth. Doubt I’ll be doing much better here in Srusk. But I’ll still look into more defenses. And, just to be clear, you’re not going to add anything in that will make me your servant or slave?”

“No,” I shook my head. “Though it is a good thought to ask first. You haven’t done anything to me or mine, after all. I will not change anything except adding Administrator privileges, unless you ask for it.”

“Very well. I consent to be changed into a Local Administrator. Let’s do this.”

Basic Info

Name

Hoarfrost

Aliases

Rudavina Svetla Denisovna

Height

1.65m

Weight

58.4 kg

Eyes

Grey

Hair

Blue

Base Points

400

Total Spent

610

Max Disadvantages

200

Disadv. Used

200

XP Earned

10

XP Used

10

“All right, Svetla,” I said, noticing the slight flinch as I said her name, but that seemed more out of habit than actual surprise. Probably related to her fey heritage. Names were supposed to have power with them. “The basic administrator package is fifteen points. That’s split between basically getting ‘database access’ to the System itself, and a Knowledge Skill that will give you the basic knowledge about the System and its intricacies that most people never pick up on.”

I added fifteen XP to her status, and then started making the changes, giving her the Knowledge Skill (The System) at a 15- roll for 5 points, and the System Access (Administrator) perk for 10 points. Looking up from the interface, I chuckled. “Anything else you’d like me to touch up while we’re editing your reality? After I lock in these changes, I won’t be able to get back in to your status unless you allow it.”

“No,” she shook her head. “I’ll make any further changes, myself. It is weird enough having someone say that they can alter everything that makes me… me. Letting them do it goes against my nature.”

“Perfectly reasonable,” I nodded, and finished up the changes, closing out the interface. It was good that Hoarfrost was sitting down, because the sudden onslaught of knowledge nearly sent her to the floor. When she looked accusingly at me, I just shrugged. “You got off easy. I had a few million error messages and help tickets going off in my brain when it happened to me. By the way, you’ll want to adjust your notification settings, so that you don’t get constant migraines when shit goes wrong.”

“Y-yeah, I’ll get on that.”