Exia/Story

Spoilers!*"Your greatest villain Drake shall warn you, SPOILERS AHEAD!"*The following article or section contain **spoilers!** Viewer discretion is advised.

Overview**Story**VoicelinesGallery

## Behind the Scenes

###

Cheon Ji-seon

###

Lexi Fontaine

###

Sumire Uesaka

## Description

A genius hacker. Her advanced intellect makes it difficult at times for her to identify with normal people.

Her insatiable thirst for knowledge and incredible powers of analysis have led to her taking on the role of the primary gatherer of information in the Ark.

Exia's mental supremacy is also reflected in gaming, as she quickly ascends the leader boards in whichever game she plays.

Lately, perhaps due to boredom, she has taken some pleasure in taking inexperienced players under her wing.

### Nikke Backstory

A hacking wunderkind from Protocol. No one can hold a candle to her when it comes to video games.

## Story

### Background

In her past life as a human, Exia was a brilliant person with analytical skills few could match. Her communication issues and her love of video games made her unpopular with her peers, leading her to being ostracized from others.

### Main Story

#### Chapter 7

As part of the investigation into the mysterious bullet given by the Pilgrim Snow White, the protagonist and Counters tap Exia for information, but even she can't find anything in the legally-available databases. However, there is an old munitions facility up on the surface whose scanning equipment might be able to identify the bullet's composition, so she directs them there.

### Event Story

#### Miracle Snow

Exia has dressed in a "Rudolph" costume as part of a Final Quest PvP event being held at the Outpost Amusement Park for Christmas. Not even fellow gamer Maiden is able to break her uncontested winstreak.

### Character Story

#### Episode 1 - A Pro in Crisis

While spending a relaxing day in the Commander's room together, Exia has completed a game she got recently in just 20 hours. Switching between talking to him normally and texting him, she admits to now being bored. After sharing that he was aware of a multiplayer game called "Final Mission Online" that was coming out today, she realizes she forgot she had preordered it. After the two downloaded it, they decided to work as a team. Exia chose to be a fire mage for the class's high DPS despite believing Neon's philosophy on firepower to be silly. He was ultimately designated as the tank since there will be some sections where he will be needed. Despite not loving how he doesn't seem to get a say in how he's allowed to play, the two split up to create their characters.

Three hours later, she asks to know how Noob specked his character since a dragon boss will be spawning in soon. Requesting his aid, the two face this powerful foe head on.

Five hours later, while taking on another powerful enemy, the protagonist is killed by a bolt of lightning. Exia is confused as to why he dies so often to the point she considers that he's doing it on purpose, but she is determined to improve his performance no matter how long it takes.

Having played the game for an additional seven hours, the two are sound asleep even though it's 6:50 in the morning. The commander slips off his couch during his slumber with his controller still in his hand only for Exia to end up laying on top of him making it difficult to breathe. He decides to ~~let her sleep~~ wake her up so he doesn't suffocate, but has no luck so he continues to play the game. In order to be more useful to the gamer, he decides to grind levels and equipment while she's still asleep.

All that hard work has awarded the protagonist a fancy looking sword. Excited to show his partner the fruits of his labor, he proceeds to shake Exia until she wakes up. His prize came as a huge surprise to her, but with this powerful relic in their procession, they were truly undefeatable. This weapon can not only make up for his lack of gaming prowess, but can help them reach the Celestial, a feat only the top 0.01% of players can achieve.

After an unknown amount of hours later, Exia has become the top player on the server. Having nothing to do yet again, they agree to continue to play to help lower-level players increase their strength. Before they can however, the two of them get kicked. After they reconnect to the server however, they are horrified to discover someone hacked their accounts and stole all of their loot. Needless to say, she did not take this well. Wanting revenge, Exia swore to take more than just equipment from whomever robbed them.

#### Episode 2 - Who Did It?

Determined to recover their stolen in-game goods, Exia has been busy tracking the hacker's IP address. He suggests contacting the developers, but her pride as a hacker herself won't allow for anyone to help. Her search resulted in two accounts the perpetrator uses. With this, she can gain access to their personal account and she can deliver some justice. Having gotten the hacker's phone number, she asks the commander to contact the individual and negotiate with them for their stuff back, to apologize on an official channel, and to never play the game again. If they don't accept their terms, she intends to meet this person in real life, something Noob will have to handle as Nikkes aren't allowed to hurt humans and because she hates social interaction. Fortunately, it seems their opponent is a 15 year-old girl, so she's not worried about either of them being in physical danger. After the Exia gives him the hacker's number, he calls it to begin negotiations.

This person, who goes by "Lucy", pretends to not know anything about who stole their gear. After he threatens to take this matter to a higher authority (whether by telling her parents or by suing her in court), she claims her pet cat accidentally messed with her keyboard while she was in the bathroom. Neither of them believed her story since it's been illegal to own pets since the First Rapture Invasion. Since they couldn't settle things peacefully, it's time to use brute force.

At around 19:53, the two reached Lucy's home address, an alley that doesn't seem like a place a 15 year-old girl would live. While they both have their suspicions, Exia hacks into the back door so they can enter. The two proceed to break in.

#### Episode 3 - Exia's Preference

Now inside the hacker's home, the two begin to look for her. However, the two have no luck in the places the protagonist suggests, but Exia does discover a small medal. With no sign of Lucy, they seem out of options. That was until he heard some rumbling from the kitchen. The source of the noise gets startled and makes a break for the nearest window, but gets captured by the commander. Turns out, the disturbance was caused by a cat. While she partially believes Lucy now a bit, the odds that one of the 20 cats that reside in Ark happens to be in the hacker's location would be very slim. She realized that the two fell for a trap and as if on cue, Poli and Miranda show up looking to investigate a report of someone illegally possessing a cat. While Exia tries to explain to them their situation, the two are arrested anyway.

After being brought to the station, an officer was trying to question them, but Exia was trying to hide herself behind Noob. The officer and Miranda attempt to present a calm presence, but she was still too startled to respond to them. Eventually, she became more comfortable when she shared she knew the basics of Dark Net transactions, something they thought most citizens wouldn't know. While the officer mistook the two as siblings, they agreed to talk to the commander since she was acting shy.

After half an hour later, Exia was ready to leave, but the protagonist reminds her that they are still being questioned. To wrap things up as quickly as possible, he tells them that Rapi and Neon need his help and hopes they buy the excuse. The officer agrees to accelerate the questioning so he can provide assistance. After ten minutes, the questioning process is finished and the two are allowed to leave with Poli and Miranda sending them on their way.

The two were glad to finally be out of there, but he can tell Exia doesn't interact with people well. While she was trying to hide it, he admits he noticed she never made direct eye contact with anyone. Since she was confronted by a detective she never met before and was surrounded by even more strangers, she considers that her ultimate nightmare scenario. He figured that if she was able to write a memo instead, she would've been more comfortable, something she agrees with. She felt they were ignoring her, but she refused to elaborate what she meant but attributes the reason why to a long story he wants to hear. Since she has nothing to hide, she has no problem sharing her tale.

Before she became a Nikke, Exia was a quick learner and can analyze situations better than most. Despite that, she had trouble communicating with others so they could never understand her. She was bullied for only ever playing games and eventually she decided to seclude herself from others almost entirely. She wishes talking to others was as simple as with him, but Noob assures her that he enjoys her company. His sentiment makes her feel very lucky.

#### Episode 4 - A Process of Interference

Having been duped and arrested by the hacker's antics, Exia is even more enraged than before. She has spent the past few days digging up as much as she can on their enemy. She learned they work for the Central Government. She figured that they also were monitoring them after the two entered the abandoned house and confirmed as such upon tracking the person who called in the report. The place they visited was a temporary location for a government official who works for the AI Research Institute. Its owner is not the hacker because he wouldn't have been able to access the Wildlife Agency to kidnap a cat to frame them. There is only one person that has the power to access both organizations and can operate from the Research Facility; ~~Andersen~~ Enikk herself. The two still don't understand why she would go out of her way to do all of this towards them, so Exia suggests the two head to the AI Research Institute to get some answers and if Enikk is broken, to fix her. Despite how dangerous this mission sounds, she is certain her hacking skills will keep them safe.

After infiltrating the institute, the two are discovered by Privaty who was surprised to see them. The two share why they were here to see Enikk, but she informs them they don't have clearance to enter so she won't let them, but if they come back and get it, she will gladly assist them. Still having work to do, she heads off. Since the direct approach failed, Exia hacked the institute's security system so they could explore safely. She's confident in her abilities and in the end, Privaty is going to take the blame for them whether she wants to or not since she got her identification credentials while they were talking. With the path clear, the two head to Enikk directly.

#### Episode 5 - Infiltration! AI Research Institute

Having accessed the monitoring room, Exia managed to gain control of the main monitor so those in charge of security will be distracted so they can sneak out of sight. Their next challenge is to move through an armory guarded by an android. After she caused it to reboot, the two booked it to the next area before it could finish.

The two finally reach Enikk's chamber who attempts to activate the room's security system, only for Exia to hold the AI hostage and threaten to use a USB to infect her with a virus. The two finally make their demands clear after she tries to deny her wrong doing. She admits to hacking into two accounts to steal their loot. They also force her to explain why she has been targeting them, but while she states she isn't authorized to do so, she spilled her reasoning after more of the hacker's threats. Messing with the two of them allowed the AI to improve her safety performance. Challenging the best hacker in the Ark proved to be the most logical method of achieving this. She deems her mission a success since her safety performance increased by 35%, up from 5% the previous year. While Exia berates the AI for tormenting her for her own reasons, Noob can see she appears to be happy about it. After Enikk shared she became elated being called the "best hacker in the Ark", she becomes embarrassed, but turns the conversation towards Enikk repaying her for all she has done to them. She offers to give them four legendary weapons and 1,000,000 crystals, a suggestion that makes Exia consider licking her metaphorical boots. Having gotten what they wanted, they let Enikk go and head home.

Things return to normal not long after their battle with Enikk. Because of what she gave them, Exia has become too powerful and is now bored again. The protagonist suggests starting from scratch, but she would rather quit the game entirely than do that. She does like his idea to flaunt her wealth by offering 10,000 of her crystals to the winner of a fighting tournament they will host. She saunters over and sits on his lap so the two can watch the carnage. After feeding her some cookies, the two are ready to start the show.

After an unknown amount of time, Exia passes out only for the two of them to be discovered by Novel. She figured the commander had to endure hours of the gamer using his lap as a seat until she eventually was placed on the sofa. The detective questions for how long the two were like this, but this doesn't shock the Ark gaming addict. That answer doesn't satisfy Novel. He's the only person Exia has ever opened up to before to the point they act as if they are physically connected together. Before Novel can explain why she is so defenseless around him, he asks her to return the gamer to her room since he developed a leg cramp after being her cushion for so long. Since she is not good with heavy lifting, she decides to leave, even after his pleading, to let the lovebirds have their privacy.

## References

Notes

References
1. ↑ Exia's character story."