Crossroad of Destiny

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* GL
* TW

## **Main Background**

Challenge Tower

> *"This is a chance meeting between two people in the real world. A genius looking for excitement amidst ordinary work. However, maybe this was the destiny of history, and can't be changed... maybe this was fate, and no one could change the course of history..."*
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> -Quest Info (unofficially translated from Taiwan)
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**Crossroad of Destiny** is the 45th Standard Regional Ultimate Wizard quest released for the Taiwanese version of Crash Fever, albeit at Spectre difficulty.

The quest takes place long before the events of the game, back during the very earliest stages of the China Branch's development while ALICE was still relatively new.

Somewhere in the real world outside of ALICE, a woman plays a competitive video game on her computer. After getting annoyed by some other players, she decides to quit and play a different game. She finds one that she hasn't played in a while, and notices that it has a brand new game mode. She decides to check it out, and notices that it is multiplayer only. The woman notes that all of her friends are currently offline, so she hopes that she can match up with some good players.

The woman notices a new player, which happens to be the person who would become the adapter in the future. The woman plays with the other players for a while, and happily bids them farewell when they are done. She realizes that she played past midnight, and she reminds herself that she will have work that she will need to do the next day. She heads to sleep, and begins to dream.

In her dream, she has memories of her being in school, where other kids found her odd and avoided talking with her. She then has a flashback to the start of her current career, where a man praises her IT skills and says that they have a plan that they would like her to help with. She asks what is in it for her, and the man points out that they can give her a platform that would provide her lots of challenges and offers her the role of Senior Engineer. The woman readily accepts the position.

She wakes up at 8:00 AM, remarking that it was a weird dream. At 10:00 AM, she has a headache, complaining that she only got 3 hours of sleep. She has two energy drinks, and heads off to work. Once there, she mentions to herself that the place is quite weird as everyone just goes by a codename. She turns on her computer, and it shows her own codename - Xi. After a retinal scan, she checks what she has to do. She is told that she needs to fix some bugs, and she remarks that it shouldn't be that difficult, though other engineers had worked on it for 2 weeks and couldn't fix them.

4 hours later, Xi declares that she fixed all of the bugs, over 40 of them. She remarks that it's just like playing a quest without a boss at the end. She then mentions that she found something interesting in the code that they seemed to try to hide - something known as the G Prototype Code. She asks if the board knows the real value of the code, as they just hid it there as if they were hiding a diamond in a tin can.

Xi analyzes the code, and notes that it causes backdoor attacks and server crashes. She states that it isn't as harmful as she thought it would be, but the coding structure that it is made up of is decently coded. She ponders how it will be developed, and remarks that it could become quite a legendary tool after some adjustments to it were made. Xi continues talking to herself, and keeps looking over the code.

The next day, at noon, Xi checks her task for the day - a stress test of a port scan and detecting a DoS attack. She notices an email from her superiors, and expresses her annoyance. The email mentions that there would be a new technician that would be coming in to assist with security checks, but she just asks why they would do that. There is a knock on the door, and Xi goes to answer it. She realizes that it is the technician mentioned in the email, and directs them to their workspace. She tells them that there will be another stress test soon, so they will need to get ready.

At 13:00, Xi tells the technician that the stress test is beginning and to check her procedure. She remarks that this will be quite easy for her, and thus a boring task. The technician expresses some concerns about what she said, and Xi, surprised, asks if they don't know about her. She frowns, and takes a look at the technician's file. The file mentions that the technician is from an outsourcing company, and Xi remarks that it was a good thing that she didn't accidentally leak any information. Xi tells the technician to forget what they saw, and they get to work.

As Xi works on fixing the server attack, the technician calls out and points to a node under attack. Xi mentions that she didn't notice it at first, and notes that that node was not supposed to be part of the stress test. Xi then logs onto the China Branch, and quickly realizes that she forgot to set the appearance of her virtual avatar. She complains that the default appearance looks so bad, and makes a mental note to change it once she gets outside.

A few minutes later, she manages to locate the intruder into the system. She complains for a moment that the intruder's appearance looks much nicer than her own, but she then focuses on the matter at hand. After a quick battle, Xi manages to drive the intruders out. The stress test concludes shortly afterwards, with a notification popping up in front of Xi. She remarks that, while they tried quite hard, it was easy for her. She starts thinking about what she would have done had she been in their positions instead, but then remembers that she is still using the default avatar and says that she is sick of it.

Xi then tries to log out, but is unable to, much to her dismay. Xi opens up a communication with the technician, mentioning their name - that being the same name as the person who would become the adapter - and asks if they can hear her. The technician responds that they can, and mentions that they had found some errors between the system servers and device. Xi states that it was likely a bug that arose from when she closed the node, and asks the technician to reboot all nodes that start with 400. The technician tries, but gets an error. Xi notes that it seems quite odd, as she should have adjusted them all. The technician mentions that parts of some of the nodes are not functioning, and Xi laments that the other engineers always seem to make this mistake.

Xi then gets an idea, and suggests to the technician that they have a competition to see who can fix the most bugged nodes - she will start from node 400, while the technician will start from node 600. She says that it will be a race to see who can reach node 500 first. The technician accepts the challenge, and the two get to work.

30 minutes later, all the nodes have been fixed. Xi asks if she can log out now, and the technician nods. Xi then logs off, and unplugs the device. She remarks that it was quite a close race, as she had almost lost as the technician was just one node behind her. The technician shrugs, and Xi mentions that the match was quite intense for her. She states that the technician made her day, and offers some of her energy drinks. She remarks that one day the technician might win, and she'll buy them a coffee when that happens. Xi then advises them to go back and practice some more.

Xi then asks if the technician finished the report, and begins to ask them what they thought of the job before she stops herself. The technician looks at her confused, but she just says that this isn't the right time. She then tells the technician that they can leave once they upload the report. Once they do so, they bid farewell to each other, and Xi remarks that if she sees them in a game she might just send a friend request, as it might make things more fun. She continues on with her own work, with a bit more cheer and happiness than before.

After a few months had passed, Xi ponders on how the Main Branch is doing, and how the technician was doing. She finds out that they are already working for the Main Branch, and thus might not end up as a friend in work to her but rather a competitor. She states that, regardless, it should be fun. Xi starts up a new game, and notices that the technician was also in the game, so she decides to send them a message to surprise them.

Later that night, a horrific car crash happens. A woman, heavily wounded, angrily tells the other passenger to get out of the car and to call an ambulance. The woman, as the severity of the situation dawns upon her, asks if this is really where she will have a "Game Over". She remarks that there are dozens of bugs, and that this is such a horrible game.

## Counter Units

The Regional Festival counter unit to this quest is Xi.

## Quest Overview

* [Prologue]
* [Spectre]
* [Epilogue]