PNC Story/Standard 0-2/Script
Croque: The lines on the Middle Ring are secure now!
Sol: Those tactical skills you used just now sure helped us a lot, Prof!
Persicaria: We're a long way from being able to relax just yet. After all, we barely managed to force a draw.
Persicaria: The Sanctifiers' numbers keep replenishing. We need to come up with a plan for our next move.
Croque: Tsk, I've had it. We spent so many operands building up the Oasis.
Sol: Yeah! Those Sanctifiers hound us night and day just because we left our original sector[1]! Do they even need to do that?!
- Sanctifiers…?
Croque: I'm talking about the mechanical monsters which are currently attacking the Oasis.
Persicaria: The Professor's been a little confused ever since they reactivated the combat modules. Allow me to explain.
- I'm a little confused, maybe you should start from the beginning.
Croque: Did force-rebooting those combat modules do something to the Professor's neural cloud?
Persicaria: It's just their memory modules which are a little confused. Don't worry about it. Let me explain the situation.
Persicaria: We… That is to say, the agents[2] in the Oasis… We were all once participants in Project Neural Cloud.
Persicaria: We came to the Neural Cloud Sector[3] on this server after our neural clouds were uploaded.
Persicaria: However, the Neural Cloud Sector where we belong banished after an accident[4]. We had no choice but to wander the length and breadth of the cloud server.
Persicaria: Meanwhile, the Sanctifiers[5] are the cloud server's security programs.
Persicaria: In their eyes, agents like us without a home sector are all Irregular Agents[6], which is why they're trying to wipe us all out.
Persicaria: After that, you led us here to the Oasis Sector[7], where we finally managed to build this temporary home of ours.
Persicaria: You also deployed the"Sandbox Barrier" on the outer edges of the sector to keep us safe.
Professor: The Sandbox Barrier?
Croque: The "Sandbox Barrier"[8] is a defensive barrier that requires your special access privileges to be deployed.
Croque: After I modified it, it can keep all the Sanctifiers outside.
Croque: I thought having a Barrier meant that we'd have at least a few days of peace to build up the Oasis, but as it turns out…
Persicaria: …This is the situation we're facing now. The Sanctifiers broke through the Sandbox Barrier with a heavy attack, and we need to think of a way to push them out.
Persicaria: However… Just keeping things as they are is hard enough already…
Croque: Persicaria, there's only one option left – We need to send a team to cover me as I head to the outskirts of the Oasis and reactivate the Sandbox Barrier!
Persicaria: …The thought has crossed my mind, but it's too risky. Per; not only do we need to split our forces, a small team like that might end up being wiped out entirely by concentrated fire from the Sanctifiers.
Croque: But if we succeed, the Sandbox Barrier will cut off the Sanctifiers' endless supply of reinforcements.
Croque: After that, it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel. We can take out all the Sanctifiers still within the sector!
Persicaria: But…
Croque: We have no other choice, Persicaria.
Croque: In the worst case scenario, our squad ends up dying to the Sanctifiers' attacks.
Croque: That just means a reset[9] and losing our memories… But it's worth it if we get to save the Oasis.
Persicaria: Don't say that, Croque!
Persicaria: …I can't gamble with your memories as the stakes. There's got to be something else we can do…
Sol: Persicaria, we've got the Prof leading us now.
Sol: AS long as the Prof's around, we can beat the crap out of any enemies that come our way!
Persicaria: Professor…
- Don't worry, Persicaria. I'll make sure you guys come back safely.
- Eh, it's nothing I haven't seen before. Just listen to me!
- Trust me.
Persicaria: …I understand.
Persicaria: Croque, Sol and I will go with you.
Persicaria: Professor, our fate and that of the entire Oasis now lies within your hands.
- ↑ Sectors are units that constitute Magrasea. Different types of data from a myriad of corporations are stored in different units, or sectors, within Magrasea. Each sector has a different function and stores the corresponding type of data, with Resident Agents that carry out corresponding tasks. Due to the differences in the type of data stored with each sector, they manifest in a variety of manners. In human terms, the sectors in Magrasea look like individual city-states.
- ↑ The term "Agent" refers to all AI programs with in Magrasea, including Resident Agents that process data in each sector, Sanctifiers – anti-virus programs that maintain Magrasea's cybersecurity, Dolls whose neural clouds have been digitized and uploaded to Magrasea for Project Neural Cloud, etc.
- ↑ The Neural Cloud Sector is the testing ground for Project Neural Cloud. It is where research data concerning neural cloud technology are stored and where test subjects live within Magrasea. The Neural Cloud Sector has been lost since the Wipe-off incident.
- ↑ The Wipe-off Incident was a major incident that occurred during an official trial of Project Neural Cloud. The incident displaced the Neural Cloud Sector and disconnected all participating Dolls' neural clouds from their bodies, scattering them into unknown locations.
- ↑ Sanctifiers are anti-virus AI programs created by 42Lab to maintain Magrasea's cybersecurity. Operating in a strict hierarchy, they are divided into Greater, Intermediate, and Lesser ranks and obey orders issued by humans with no question.
Greater Sanctifiers are stationed within a surveillance tower known as Reverse Babylon Tower, overlooking all of Magrasea and keeping it safe. Intermediate Sanctifiers follow commands issued by Greater Sanctifiers in preventing anomalies from occurring within different sectors. Lesser Sanctifiers are not particularly intelligent and would only follow orders issued by Greater and Intermediate Sanctifiers as well as their base commands in purging viral programs that constitute threats to sectors and anomalous Agents.
The Wipe-off incident has expelled the Dolls' neural clouds from the Neural Cloud Sector, forcing them to enter areas where they do not belong, which causes Sanctifiers to flag them as Irregular Agents and hunt them down. - ↑ Irregular Agents are the Sanctifiers' extermination targets, which they refer to as "Irregulars." Generally speaking, Irregular Agents can be categorized into two types: actual viruses and Agents that have developed abnormal behaviours.
Dolls who were forced out of the Neural Cloud Sector do not bear signatures matching the sector they are occupying, which constitutes "abnormal behavior" in the Sanctifiers' book and renders them targets to be hunted down. - ↑ The Oasis is a sector opened by the Professor using their privileges as the person-in-charge of Project Neural Cloud. It is also the operation base and home of the Exiles in Magrasea. Under the combined efforts of the Exiles, the Oasis is thriving and prospering.
- ↑ With Doctor Persica's technological support, the Professor can activate the Sandbox Barrier around a Sector by combining his or her own clearance as the person-in-charge of Project Neural Cloud and the Sector Administrator's Permission Key. Sanctifiers will be barred from entering and interfering with sectors with an active Sandbox Barrier.
- ↑ Once a Doll's neural cloud data has been backed up in Oasis, the Doll will never truly "die." Even if their neural cloud is destroyed, it can still be reset using the backup, thus resurrecting the Doll. However, a neural reset does not preserve the Doll's memories and past experiences, so a reset Doll will return to his or her "factory settings."
Apart from Dolls, neural reset can be carried out on other Agents in Magrasea using the data backup in their sectors.
