Current Power Output: 98%. System nominal.
Energen Levels: 100%. Reserve Tank: 99.8%.
Solar Energy Backup: 2%. Inoperable. Please see your technician for repairs or replacement.
Structural Integrity: 72%. Estimated repair time: 59 hours.
Auto-Repair Systems: 100%. Currently operating at maximum efficiency.
Armor Integrity: 92%.
Motor Control: 92%.
Dash Thrusters: 100%. Systems nominal.
Coolant Levels: 100%. System nominal.
Combat Capabilities: 85% overall.
Ice Manipulation: 95%.
Frost Javelin: 98%. Systems nominal.
Armed Phenomenon: 71%.
Recommended Course of Action: Continue running auto-repair. Usage of capsule not required.
...
I've just spent the last few hours taking a nap and running a full diagnostics scan, and my health is looking better all the time. There isn't much I can say about a lot of these.
The two biggest concerns are still my frame and my solar absorber. Regarding the former, the gash in my side is more than halfway fixed... good, but it could still be better. That also leaves all the other damage, so I'll still need to wear my coat in public for a while.
On the latter, while it isn't strictly required for the absorber to be functional, it's still convenient to have working. It's present as a supplement for my Energen tanks. Provided that I'm either out in the sun or close enough to the water's surface for its rays to reach me, it slows down my fuel consumption by as much as thirty percent. And on the off-chance that I run out of Energen, I can shut down everything not required for my day-to-day survival and subsist entirely on sunlight. Very nice to have when I'm off-duty. Plus, any combat I partake in between now and when I return home will most likely be on land, so any edge I possess will be good ones.
I remember hearing some speculation once that long ago, the earliest sapient robots were powered by and large by solar energy. If that's true, then why the switch to a mineral-based power source? Was it because the robots could then be counted on for work anytime day or night?
Of course, there are two major caveats to this setup. First, if I'm someplace where the sunlight won't reach me--like the room I was collapsed in post-Omega--then the absorber's completely useless once it runs dry. As I told my associates earlier, I'd be nothing more than trash if I was without both supplies of power. For another, keeping my combat functions active once I'm reduced to my absorber uses up the energy much more quickly. I would need to take long, frequent naps in sunlight if I wanted to continue functioning.
Much like a cat. Or Gray. Truth be told, I'm not convinced that what few cats I've seen here aren't solar powered themselves. While I was on my way to the Big and Taur shop the other day, I passed by a stray that was resting on its back squarely in a particularly large patch of sunlight... but I'm off topic again.
My coolant levels have fully replenished themselves. Because Heartbreakers, for those who forgot. I'm sure it makes sense in some haphazard way that I'm not getting, but I've got other things to worry about at the moment. I'll get back to my viewers on that.
Some who are unfamiliar with me may wonder what my diagnostics mean by "Armed Phenomenon". To dumb it down some, it's a secondary form I can access in certain situations. If I'm up against someone that I would have difficulty defeating normally--Mr. Two Minus Two himself, for example--then my body shifts and morphs into a jet-equipped manta ray submarine. It boosts almost all of my combat capabilities, with the biggest standout being my speed, which quadruples. The only real problem with it is that it requires a large body of water for mobility's sake, such as that found at the Temple of Ice, but that's just a minor issue at best.
The Armed Phenomenon is usable even at low efficiency, but for it to unleash its full potential, it requires four things: a steady power supply, plenty of Energen, a stable frame, and functional ice manipulation. It's why my prior scans listed its efficiency at 0%: their poor conditions negated any effectiveness the form might have had, despite it being in otherwise decent condition.
Everything else my diagnostics are telling me won't be problematic. 92% isn't anywhere near low enough for my armor to start falling apart, or for my motor controls to malfunction entirely. My ice manipulation and combat capabilities will max out when everything else does, and my Javelin's cursory damage can be saved for last. So all in all, I'd say I'm in 'Good' condition. 'Excellent' is when I'm at 99-100% on all fronts.
...
Back in Drama's office, I'm considering my options.
I hadn't stated as much when I wrote my reply to Celestia, but I left enough of an implication that I was willing to test my abilities against whoever it was she was going to assign. So I have two matches coming up: a serious one against an opponent to be determined, and a not-quite-so-serious one against Bossa Nova.
And as you might respect, contemplating these future events takes me back to the past. Or more specifically, my embarrassing showing against Omega.
Zero was able to best Omega multiple times, with his final victory coming when the latter was being empowered by the Dark Elf. I fight baseline Omega once alongside Fefnir, and... well, you know that story already. Dr. Weil's going to have someone just as strong or close to it ready by the time I get back. If I tried fighting whoever it is as I am now, there wouldn't be enough of me left to store in Drama's cookie jar. I'd probably be justified if I tried labeling him as a force of nature by now.
As long as I'm making comparisons, everything I knew of X told me that he was a genuine force. According to Neo Arcadia's archives, he never stopped improving throughout his entire career. Whether it was through personal advancements, copying weapons from his opponents, or gifts left behind in unlikely places by his long-dead creator, he was able to constantly adapt to whatever environment he found himself in. The only thing keeping him from steamrolling everyone and everything was his own attitude. If he had a choice in the matter, he would have stomped "Elpizo" long before he had the chance to grab the Dark Elf, and the events that led to my being here wouldn't have happened.
Hmm... now if I was told that I could go back in time and meet one specific person, his creator would have been it. How in the world did he have the foresight to hide one of his upgrades in an enemy tank before it was even built? Very clever.
There was one other person spoken of in hushed tones that we Guardians were taught to remember. I was always impressed by this one's accomplishments. He was built specifically to drive that generation's hover vehicles, and he didn't disappoint. He passed every test he took, drove up the morale of everyone around him just by existing, and could be counted on for anything. If you needed someone to watch your back during a high-speed chase, he was your best bet for getting out alive and in one piece. Surrounded by Mavericks and in need of a rescue? He'd blast away every enemy with his bike's cannon without so much as singeing your hair. Wanted a chaperone for someone's date? Sure, he had free time. He followed orders, respected everyone, was respected in turn, and never lost hope even in sticky situations. He was an absolute ace.
So it was that when he gave his life helping X take down a Maverick stronghold, everyone mourned his passing. If the site of his burial hadn't been lost to the ages, I imagine that there would still be people visiting his gravesite to this day. He has simply earned that much respect.
Though one has to wonder about his name. Most non-civilian Reploids have designations with some sort of meaning behind them. I was named after a sea monster or some other aquatic creature, for example... history's iffy on that. Maha Ganeshariff's name and appearance are references to an ancient and mythological elephant. The list goes on.
The ace that we all hold in high regard? His designation was "Green Biker Dude". What kind of self-respecting name is that? It sounds like the sort of name that I would give...
...him...
...
I've been doing a really good job of zinging myself recently, haven't I?
Personal degradation aside, here's the point I'm trying to make. I don't have X's adaptability, or Zero's unrelenting skill, or G.B.D.'s everything. I might be one of X's "children", but that doesn't mean that I inherited his talent for getting stronger over time. I can only do so much on my own.
There's an expression you're probably familiar with: "Go out there and give 110%!" It's used to encourage and challenge others to work hard, to do their very best at certain tasks. What it doesn't mean is that they can break their limits. No matter who you are, eventually you will reach the point where your body refuses to get stronger or perform any better than it already can. When you push yourself to try and surpass yourself, you're not really overcoming your limits; all you're doing is trying to find out what exactly your limits are. Trying to break your limits in the truest sense only leads to pain, misery... possibly death, depending on how moronic you are. This isn't fiction where the protagonist can casually overcome their deficiencies via pure willpower and grit.
The same is true for me. My limits were set in place the day my conversion into a warrior was complete. Metal, hydraulics, and ice can only carry me so far. I might be superior to any of our creators in a physical sense, but I have clear limitations that I cannot overcome. I can be creative with what I do have all I want, but it may not be enough, whether I'm fighting Zero or Weil's forces.
Which leaves me with only one option: it's time for some upgrades.
But how? I don't have access to however it was X's creator was able to provide him with new equipment. And I might be familiar enough with my designs and weapon that I can perform maintenance on myself if circumstances are dire, but I'm no true mechanic or technician. Linking up with fresh equipment and parts would require me to shut down and rely entirely on another's hooves. In addition, just to reiterate: at least three hundred years behind the times. Home computers haven't been invented here yet, never mind the sort of technology that would ensure everything went smoothly.
If I had to, I suppose I could scrounge around and locate the materials I would need to craft all of the components of a computer. I have enough working knowledge of hardware and software both that I could figure something out. But even if I were able to create a new operating system entirely from scratch, or whip up new hardware on my skill alone, it's not going to solve my real problems: getting myself stronger, and getting myself home.
I'd really rather not have to rely on shortcuts, but it's looking like I'm going to have to rely on magic for this one.
Before I resort to anything like that, however, let's call up my blueprints and combat specs. I've been over these on several occasions before, but now it's time for a more in-depth look at what needs improving. Who knows? I might have missed something along the way. Comparing specs to current self now. Full scan triggered...
HELMET
All functions are linked to unit's processor through the head. Only unit designated "Leviathan-01NA" can make use of these functions. Functions can not be utilized if helmet is not worn.
Jet Propulsion: Powerful, quick and easy maneuverability through water. Maximum safe speed is 130 knots.
Defense: Offers limited cranial protection.
Jellyfish: Additional defensive measure; will ward off anything that touches it when activated. Password Locked. Currently inaccessible.
Subsurface Radar: Scans surroundings in a fifty-kilometer radius around the user in order to track points of interest and enemy targets. Most effective underwater, but can be used above ground with vastly decreased range. Password Locked. Currently inaccessible.
OPTICS
Normal: Allows for the equivalent of 20/20 vision in humans, with an approximate 150° range. Can discern color. Has most of the same basic weaknesses as human eyesight, with the exception of contact sensitivity.
Deep Sea: Enables easier navigation of the ocean floor. Extremely sensitive to light. Warning: usage beyond what is intended risks optical damage.
Hunter: Allows user to see invisible objects. Shuts off vision in one eye as a tradeoff, limiting range. Password Locked. Currently inaccessible.
Lock-On: Become immune to changes in perception. Password Locked. Currently inaccessible.
BODY
Armor: Standard-issue Guardian Armor, with minor modifications to shape. Provides limited protection, but should not be counted on for blocking all types of attacks.
Ice Generators: Allows for the manipulation and control of ice in its most malleable form to be shaped as the user wills. Most effective usage is through the Frost Javelin, but similar results can be attained without it at the cost of time and effort.
Dry Ice Mode: Allows for the generation and use of dry ice to be shaped as the user wills. Can not be used through the Frost Javelin, only through direct contact via the hands or, if necessary, the feet. Password Locked. Currently inaccessible.
Overdrive: Sharply boosts all capabilities for up to thirty seconds. Emits an aura around the user that freezes everything in a meter radius. Once energy is expended, this function is locked for twenty minutes to allow the user to cool down sufficiently. Password Locked. Currently inaccessible.
Inventory Space: Used for carrying items and weapons recognized by internal hardware. Slot #1: In use by Frost Javelin. Slot #2: In use by Armed Phenomenon equipment. Slot #3: empty. Slot #4: empty.
BOOTS
All functions are linked to unit's processor through the feet and ankles. Only unit designated "Leviathan-01NA" can make use of these functions. Functions can not be utilized if boots are not worn.
Dash Thrusters: Triggers a momentary speed boost of up to 74 MPH (119 km/h) for short distances on land, and an extra 10 knot boost underwater. Can be used in quick succession with no drawbacks, but is affected by decreased motor control.
Ice Skates: Allows complete freedom of movement on surface ice and other slippery surfaces. Boots do not morph into actual skates, but they can still be treated as such.
Double Jump: If in mid-air, gain extra height equal to 80% the height of a normal jump. Can also be used to jump across the surface of water without submerging. Password Locked. Currently inaccessible.
Frozen Aerial: While in mid-air, create icy platforms beneath the unit's feet to traverse gaps. No more than three platforms can be active at a time, and each will dissolve after ten seconds. Password Locked. Currently inaccessible.
...
It wouldn't be too difficult to imagine the entire theater jumping off its foundation as it was rattled by Leviathan's shocked yell.
...
I'm sure they heard me screeching all the way in Canterlot, but I don't care. Seriously, WHAT IN X'S NAME IS GOING ON HERE?! Was I always this powerful? Did I have this all along and just didn't know?! 'Overdrive'? 'Frozen Aerial'? What even is this?!
...
Wait, wait, wait. Hold up, hold up. Calm down, girl. Let's think about this. "Password Locked. Currently inaccessible," I say to myself as I read over the scan one more time.
To the best of my knowledge, I have never possessed any of the abilities with that label. As I said prior to starting my scan, I've been through these enough times to be overly familiar with what I possess. Having something be available to me, only to be told it was password protected? Something is wrong here, because I know for a certainty that I didn't own any of that. There shouldn't have been anything there that would need that label applied to it.
And from the looks of things, my system agrees. I'm getting red flags popping up across the board and notifications in my HUD that I need to speak with a technician or programmer post-haste. At some point in my existence I've been tampered with, and my brain has just now realized it.
As far as I know, I didn't have any real enemies of my own in Neo Arcadia. Or to specify, none that hated me personally enough to want to make me less capable. Only our most trusted staff is allowed entry to our domains, and those that we hire are required to go through rigorous background checks to ensure that we're not getting anyone who would compromise our ability to keep the peace. So who does that leave?
The average citizen is right out. If anyone tried, there would have been alarms going off all over the place.
My support staff is out of the question, too. They might have been a rag-tag group of random, nameless Reploids and weaker humans who were good with technology, but they legitimately believed that what they were doing was for Neo Arcadia's greater good and wholeheartedly supported the regime. And I'm fairly certain that a few of them were fans of mine; I've walked past their workstations a few times and noticed that they had vid-screen images of me where they normally would've put pictures of their loved ones or friends.
I can't blame Copy X or Dr. Weil, either. For all of his faults, the former knew that we were loyal to him and treated us with respect as long as we carried out his orders. The latter wouldn't have been around due to his exile, and if he'd come anywhere close, the entire city would have been up in arms; us Four knew of his crimes all too well. I suppose he could've done his work while Fefnir and I were incapacitated, but there's too many things wrong with that for it to make sense. Thirdly, he seems like the type who would program all Reploids to be his attack dogs if given the chance, and I'm clearly under no obligation to follow his directives.
So who does that leave? Who would have the authority and enough security access to tamper with either my blueprints, myself or both directly, and possibly even the other Guardians too?
...
I feel like I've just been hit with a thrown sledgehammer. "The Judges," I breathe, leaning on a wall to keep myself upright.
Us Guardians were well-acquainted with the Eight Gentle Judges. They were a set of Reploids that had worked with the real X where judicial matters were concerned since before the Four of us were created, second only to him in power. After Copy X came into power, they helped "determine" whether or not certain Reploids were Mavericks and passed judgment on them. And in fact, within hours after Copy X's destruction was reported, they unanimously nominated Harpuia to become the city's new ruler.
We'd had mutual trust and respect for each other, and I'd like to think that they wouldn't try anything to negate that trust... or at least I would've said that months ago. I don't know all the details, but I was able to glean enough from my interactions with X, Phantom, and Harpuia that the Judges were in Weil's non-existent back pocket the entire time. Whoever it was that created the Judges were never discovered, so if Weil had been the one to do so, that would explain a great deal. The fact that Omega was sent to space instead of executed, among other things...
The Judges themselves don't strike me as being able to tamper with me. Neither my interactions with them nor their official records told me that they specialized in computer programming, hacking, or Reploid design. However, there are ways around that: it wouldn't be difficult for them to covertly seek out someone in Neo Arcadia who was skilled in that sort of thing and either force or bribe them to do the deed, providing them with any permissions they would require. And if the programmer was a Reploid, there was nothing stopping them from killing him or her afterwards to keep any rumors from reaching Copy X.
The most difficult part of it would come from a delicate balancing act: dumbing down our abilities and power enough that we would be unable to oppose Weil if he returned, but not so much that we couldn't mow down anyone who looked at us funny and keep the city adequately safe. Most likely this was done when we were first turned into combat Reploids, as I can't imagine myself needing most of this stuff in my original occupation. Fooling those responsible for maintaining us would've been difficult, but not impossible. My team was good, but not perfect; if they found any of this extra equipment during routine maintenance, they probably assumed that it was responsible for what we were already using and didn't give it another thought. Serial numbers and the like can be disguised from all manner of scans if one knows how, and if the blueprints had been altered appropriately...
It probably would have raised too many questions, caused too many risks if they'd tried to discard, throw out, or otherwise dispose of the parts. High-quality parts just sitting around gathering dust, or being sent to the incinerator? Word gets around, and people would think. Any person with more than half a brain--little Ciel, just to name one example--would be likely to come across the parts and wonder why they weren't being used. Instead, they were stored in the least obvious hiding place: inside ourselves, hidden behind a password and memory blocks potent enough to prevent even that from being detected. Ingenious, dreadfully so.
Speaking of the blocks, I am wondering what it was that broke them and allowed me to learn that the hardware was available. That can wait for another time, though. I'm too incensed to dwell on it too deeply.
I could name instances where these locked abilities would've been useful. Dry Ice Mode could have done some serious damage to Omega, or at least to that outer shell he wore. The Subsurface Radar could've been used to keep better track of Zero during our fights, warning me whenever he was about to strike, and...
...and it's really sinking in now what they did to me.
All this time, I thought I'd known what I could do. What about the others? What sort of abilities could Harpuia, Fefnir, or Phantom have been able to utilize had they only known? What was locked behind doors that they had no way of learning of?
Errrugghh...
I sink down to the floor, removing my helmet and setting it aside. My face drops into my hands. Doctor. Weil. He himself didn't plan this, but the Judges were loyal to him and would do anything to support his ambitions even while they pretended to be X's left hand. What they've done to us, to me, because of his directives... I don't have the words for it. X in Cyberspace, I think I'm going to throw up...!
That's the illness, and getting home and giving Dr. Weil all of the justice he deserves is the remedy. If Zero can't do it, I don't think anyone's going to complain if I do it myself.
...
I take some time to steady myself and haul back the urge to get sick across the floor (because seriously, what half-processed Energen looks like is something that no biological being needs to know about). This is another one of those times when I'm envious of humans: at least they have tears they can shed if they feel like having a good cry.
With some effort, I bring my mind back to here and now: I've got a fight ahead of me sometime, and I need to be ready. Steady as she goes, Leviathan. Focus. You can do this. ...Therrreee we go, girl. Treat yourself to a cookie. ...Or not, since you can't eat them. Rephrasing that, treat somepony else to a cookie.
Now then, given the choice between magic and technology, I'll take tech any day. These things I've got locked away seem like my top choices; I have them, might as well use them. Let's see if I can't crack these passwords. Flexing my processor, I direct an inquiry regarding the requirements for breaking the protection.
Password must consist of exactly 2,000,000,000 characters utilizing the CCSID 437 character set. The password is different for each ability.
"Kyahahaha..." Wow, okay. They really didn't want us getting our hands on all of these in a timely fashion. Two billion characters, and I have around 240 choices for each one. Well, I suppose I should devote a subroutine to cracking the codes, because there's no way I'm going to be doing that consciously.
...And having that subroutine clear away the "password denied" message before it reaches my HUD would help, too. I don't want my vision to be flooded with those.
Alright, the subroutine's complete. I'm going to sic it on the shield around my boots' Double Jump and see what happens. In the meantime, I'm going back to sleep and shutting off all non-essential functions. I've got nothing to do, so I see no point in staying awake for any of this. It's best if I just let it work.
...
Well, after I take care of one more letter. I've got curiosity to sate, so where did I put that Heartbreakers wrapper? Let's get this mystery cleared up once and for all.
Ok So I've NEVER played any of the Megaman/Rockman games but damn these Judges and Doctor Weil sound so paranoid if they have a 2 billion character password to limit Fairy like that
Another crossover with the X series had the Light holograms be the result of an AI network so there are possibilities for upgrades to be hidden in weird places.
11134618
I like to think that's just the Judges telling whoever did it to "take no chances". I can imagine the culprit setting up a program that would calculate a password by selecting from the character set, then continuing on until it hit the two billion mark. Then it would repeat the process for each upgrade until its job was done, then just delete itself.
Granted it wouldn't stop someone who was truly determined, though. Getting rid of the passwords will take time, but it will still happen. Yay for computers.
I'd also like to point out that none of these "hidden upgrades" and such happened in canon. This is strictly an in-story thing that I came up with because I felt that it was too soon in the timeline for Leviathan to acquire any sort of magical upgrades.
11134649
Ah I see still though Paranoia sure is a hell of a drug
11134649
You willing to divulge any info on how long it’ll take to unlock the upgrades? Or are just going to put them as surprises every few chapters or so?
Hmmm now that I think about it. Would it be a little to Deus ex machina/ @ss pulley to have an ability unlocked in the middle of a fight and have it be the one ability that Fairy needs to win said fight? Or would that be more along the lines of dramatic tension?
Oh and look at that I’m rambling along in a comment again.
11134728
I'm tempted to make it so that the upgrades would unlock after she wins a fight, honestly, given how the Mega Man games generally work. How that would happen I don't know yet, but it would make some sense given that there are eight upgrades.
I do feel that just having it suddenly unlock during a fight without warning wouldn't be very good writing. I've always been a big fan of foreshadowing, so I like having things build up to a certain point.
11134743
You know I kinda feel silly now. Idk why I didn’t think of the ability’s unlocking AFTER a fight. Given that this is coming from the Mega man/rock man series.
11134748
Eh, these things happen to all of us. Don't worry about it.
Some of those abilities sound like stuff Wily designed.
11134844
Amusing coincidence, that.
Wow. So assuming the passwords are random (and if the one who set them is smart they are) there are more possibilities for a password than there are quarks (particles that make up proton and neutrons) in a googol cubed universes. Good luck Fairy!
It would be funny if the entire password was in emoji.
That gigantic "WHAT!?" really cracked me up!
i think you should use more megaman songs
11135081
I'll do what I can, but I make no guarantees. It's not always going to be a given that a song from the franchise is going to fit a given situation.
X has Infinite Adaptability.
Zero doesn't understand the concept of giving up.
Harpuria has the greatest Storms.
Fenrir is on (literal) fire.
Leviathan can Cold Snap you from across the room.
Omega Is Bullshit incarnate
Vile Exploded.
Model A can be Everyone.
G.B.D. was the Exellence.
And Phantom was the Ninja.
Wieil can get Bent. Fuckin' Ouroboros lookin' Sonnova...
11135155
All that, and I'm not the biggest fan of Ouroboros either. (mutters something about 'regenerating spike blocks' and 'bottomless pits')
Was it meant to seem like Fairy was talking to us? the way she was talking was like she was talking to someone else.
This make sence, some of those abiletys is what you get in th zx games and I allways wondered where they came from.
Headcanon accepted.
11135259
Yes and no. It's a bit complicated, and it ties into an idea that I'd like to save for near the story's end. Sorry, but that's all I can share right now.
11135295
hmmm *taps chin with a hoof* "I COULD see her telling her story to some foals in an Epilouge, and this a reference to or hint to it. And Fairy being by stories end still stuck in Equestria. *giggles* How about Fairy as a school teacher? LOL just kidding!
Interesting…. Just 8 characters with only 38 alphanumeric options is effectively unbreakable by brute force (some few thousand years). I wonder what hope she’s going to have? The number of possible combinations will number greater than the number of atoms in the universe. She’s going to be better served analyzing the software and seeing if she can decrypt the passcode…. Assuming it hasn’t been hashed, of course. That’s the reason breaching passwords is guess-and-check: Hashing.
That said, even if she doesn’t have access to do that, if the check function doesn’t run in constant time/power, she can build a heuristic model of it to “guide” her guesses towards the accurate one- the basis of the “powerline” attack against electronic locks (ex. Safes)
11134955
Googol cubed…. You mean 10^300, right?
11135515
Indeed. I just thought googol cubed hit harder. The number is a little (relatively) over a googol to the power of 22.32.
11135533
So... 10^2232, because (10^100)^22.32 = 10^(100*22.2). Now, if it was something to the *power* of a Googol...
In any case, now that I'm in front of the computer, we've got 2*10^9 entries multiplied by exactly 256 options for each one (Unlike ASCII, CCSID 437 does not have 0-31 reserved for nonprinting control characters)... Technically code point 0 is the 'null character', but other than that and 255 ("non-breaking space" that is a space but acts like it's not one), every other code point is a printing character... and we have to assume that passcode, with a fixed string length, is not using a null-terminated string. This means, for all intents and purposes, it's a 2,000,000,000 byte number.
10^4,800,000,000 possibilities for that passcode. Technically 2^16,000,000,000 but let's keep it base 10 for readability.
10^100 is a Googol.
10^12 Floating Point Operations Per Second (FLOPS) is within an order of magnitude of the maximum capability of modern equipment.
10^9.3 bytes (2GiB) is the length of the passcode.
10^2.7 passwords per second, or 500 passwords per second, could be tested assuming only one operation per character, which would mean storing it in plaintext and almost stupidly easy to breach by other means. Let's assume 5 operations per character from a flimsy hash algorithm- 10^2 passwords per second.
10^4.47 passwords per minute. 10^6.24 per hour. 10^7.62 per day. 10^10.18 per year.
Modern equipment, against a weak hash algorithm, could check a maximum of about 15,000,000,000 of those passwords each year.
And of course, 10^4,800,000,000 / 10^10.8 =... 10^4,799,999,989.2 years to check them all. For every order of magnitude more powerful Fairy's processors are than modern graphics cards, subtract one from that exponent.
I sure hope that routine isn't trying to brute force it, because that's going to be impossible.
That is, after all, about 10^4,799,999,979.06 times the age of the universe.
Now, there's a possibility the hash algorithm in play actually reduces the data footprint of the password- which means hash collisions are guaranteed, and the number of passwords you likely need to check is dictated by the length of the hash result (which doesn't seem to go over 512 bits in the current day, far easier to store) rather than the actual password... and THAT is actually conceivably completable within a few hundred times the life of the universe for equipment that is a few orders of magnitude more powerful than modern stuff!
11135507
11135612
I doubt I'll be getting into it too much during the main story, so I'll try to talk about it a little bit here.
First off, that is absolutely staggering to someone who failed algebra in college. I took some computer courses, sure, but the more advanced stuff I've just never had a head for. Suffice to say I am not a programmer, despite my best attempts at remedying that (I've had a small degree of success in the past figuring out C++ and Visual Basic, but little to no success with stuff like Java, COBOL or RPG IV).
Now then, for the in-universe canon.
The password system that was installed in Leviathan has two major flaws built into it. First, it's not going to block her subroutine from trying to access it after a handful of failed attempts at guessing the password. It's allowed to try as many times as Levi wants it to.
Second, while the system obviously isn't going to directly answer any inquiries along the lines of "what is the password", the subroutine is still allowed to play Mastermind with it (in a certain sense, anyway; I'm only familiar with the game because of Nethack). First, it generates a random password from the allotted set and submits it to the system. When the attempt fails, the subroutine asks for--and is provided with--a list of which characters are at least in the right place. The list is analyzed, the correct characters are locked in place, and all others are changed to the next one in the set. The new password is then submitted to the system. Lather, rinse, repeat until the correct password is submitted, at which point the upgrade becomes permanently accessible and the subroutine stops running.
(Hopefully the above is plausible, and explains why Levi's reaction to discovering the requirements was little more than vaguely nervous laughter. As I've already stated, I'm no programmer; they say to write what you know, but for stuff I have trouble comprehending even at my best, I'm forced to resort to artistic license. It's the sort of thing that ruined one of my past fanfics already (it's not "Gormless", FYI), and I'm not anxious to repeat that mistake. So with that in mind, computerneek, I'm very happy that you're offering your feedback. This is stuff that I've never thought about before, and I'm happy that I have the chance to at least try to learn something new. )
These flaws were deliberately placed into the system by its original programmer(s). Levi guessed correctly when she figured that the Judges had gotten someone to do it under duress, but she has no way of discerning that the programmer(s)---just to be spiteful to those who were forcing them to betray Neo Arcadia---left several contingencies in the event that the system was discovered. The chances of that happening were very small, but still within the realm of possibility, and they felt it was worth it if it meant that the Guardians could achieve their full power (which, of course, never happened for Levi's 'siblings').
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Meaning, each "password" is actually a set of 2,000,000,000 passwords strung together...
Yeah, that kind of system is possible. It's more than a little stupid if you're trying to keep it secure- but the whole point was for the security to fall flat, wasn't it? It also means that, if she analyzes her databanks well enough and in the right spots, those passwords are stored in plaintext, maybe encrypted but definitely readable/retrievable.
With this system, her chance of getting the right password doesn't improve the first time. As a matter of fact, the first trial still has a full (1/256)^2000000000 chance of success... But if she's done it smart, since each character can only be one of 256 unique values, she will breach each password in at most 256 passes. We're talking milliseconds on modern equipment... Well, probably seconds/minutes, because 2GiB is a lot of data to pass around, but that's the choke, not processing power.
You could easily boost the pass count (and processing time) by having the check system only report pairs, triplets, quadruplets, or whatever else that are correct. That starts pushing it back into exponential territory- though you have to be careful, it doesn't take long to start pushing years to solve by brute force.
You could easily have:
The timeframes provided are using the prior estimate of 100 passwords/sec (there'll be fewer operations in actually checking it, but the overhead of the comparison operation will fill that CPU time handily). Also note that those "w/ partial entry" don't divide evenly into the required number of entries, requiring the final entry to be either larger or smaller- if ANY block is larger, the overall password will have a time complexity of the largest block. If you use one of those, 2GiB wouldn't be an ideal password length, since it would force you to use special cases.
Now, since the difference between them is hardly two and a half orders of magnitude, you can easily "fudge" it to take whatever time you want. Two orders of magnitude is well within the range I would expect for processors capable of realtime self-awareness- and that range is big enough you can easily just chop a few decimal places off any of these numbers and pick that one to make it take right about exactly as long as you want.
Then of course, with those times, triples or smaller will be susceptible to brute-force attacks on modern equipment, and even quadruples susceptible as well on the next generation. Groups of 5 will probably be approaching the susceptibility range for her processors- but beyond doubles or triples (not sure which but definitely before quads), it starts becoming more economical to play like a real hacker: Breach the program, harvest its password hashes (the Judges would never have let him store it in plaintext), build a hash table for far less investment (for triples and below, the hash table would be smaller than the password itself- and anything higher than that, she would never be hashing the same thing twice), and plug-and-play. Doing this is far, far faster, since modern processors can spit out as many as 1-10B hashes per second, for a weak hash algorithm our distressed programmer would have used, such as MD5 or SHA-1. As mentioned before, for a 38-item character set, just 8 characters is considered 'secure' on a stronger hash function. Most password managers generate pseudorandom passwords as long as they think they can get away with precisely to take advantage of this exponential time requirement, and to render your password factually unbreachable- if you use long, complex passwords like those made by a password manager, you don't need to change your password every so often because even if they do steal the hash, they're never getting back to the original password! That's actually why I hate "change your password every ___" rules, they encourage the use of weak passwords that will be breached in seconds after the hackers acquire the hashes.
If you're wondering what makes it weak, it's the speed or lack thereof; a secure hash function is computationally expensive, making it take exponentially longer to build hash tables. With this technique, for MD5/SHA-1, the above times get reduced by about 7 orders of magnitude (difference between the single-pass hashrate and the rate of hashing the whole thing)- so it'd only take around 600 years to breach the octuplets, and anything below sextuplets takes short enough (~3.26 days for sextuplets) to be flimsy. The reason small passwords would take constant time to hash is that hash functions only accept data in chunks of a certain size- usualy 64-512 bits- and the password has to be 'padded' up to that size. Thus, hash complexity is linear on how many such blocks your password occupies... and an 8-character passcode will be 64 bits, so you can expect exactly the same hash performance anything below it, almost no matter the algorithm. (There are a few with 32-or-smaller-bit 'word's, but only VERY few. MD5 uses a 512-bit 'word'- 64 characters.)
The main enemy of that approach, aside from password length, is what you call "salt". Namely, if you're going to hash passwords "abcd", "1234", and "password", you could hash them straight... or you could add a "salt" to them, and hash "saltabcd", "salt1234", and "saltpassword" instead. Salted passwords like this aren't any harder to breach (if they breach your password database, they've got your salt too)- however, the advantage to using salt is that it forces the hackers, or in this case Levi, to build a whole new hash table anytime the salt is different, buying you more time to change the password.
Time that the Judges just don't have, since they're not around to change it, but having a unique salt on each one will keep Levi from solving them all at once by that method. That said, she also wouldn't be getting any 'password denied' messages, since she'd only be entering in one password: The correct one... after howevermuch processing was required to reach it.
Oh, and you're not alone. I failed ... Well, it wasn't algebra, exactly, but calculus in college.
I don't know if you can tell, I have a bit of a habit of editing and rewriting my comments for sometimes as much as an hour after posting them. But that's generally reserved for the long ones, like this one...
Edit much later: I'm not sure why, but last night, I messed up. Her chance to guess the correct password the first time remains unchanged at (1/256)^2B, rather than (1/256)*2B. The chance just comes up by leaps and bounds after each attempt- decrementing the denominator in the base, specifically, rather than by just decrementing the resultant denominator of 256^2B.
I did read this on the day it came out. I just haven't reviewed it until now. First my thoughts. So Leviathan has powers and abilities she did know about and has to find a way to unlock them. Sounds like she has a lot of work ahead of her.
Also, this is just an idea. A simple one that might help Ebony cover her fear, though just a little. Say that Ebony was in danger, I haven't thought of what kind of danger, and her family is unable to save her. However, Leviathan is closer and saves her instead. I'm not saying it should help overcome her fear completely but helps Ebony at least talk to her without forcing herself to do. Again, just an idea. I'm sure you have plans of having Ebony get used to Leviathan within time, but I just wanted to share something.
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I'll try to take your suggestion into consideration. Thanks.
I like that a number of the locked stuff is stuff from the ZX games, makes some sense.
CCSID 437
Is this a reference to CodePage 437?
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Bingo.
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The one true encoding.
Uh, wow. Yeah, even in a "merely" 8-bit space, a 2 GB password in a isn't getting cracked by idle time while she takes a nap. That's the kind of order of magnitude where even the exotic comparisons that end in the phrase "in the universe" fall apart so epically that you almost need to invent a whole notation just to usefully describe the scale.
Leviathan would have more luck attempting to breach her own software. Hell, she'd have more luck learning actual magic to reinvent these functions from the outside (and if she's been getting tingles of heartsongs that's actually a nonzero possibility!), but she's probably more likely to lean toward "hacker hacking herself" than "use weird eldritch space horse mojo to just do the thing instead".
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You might want to read the conversation I had with computerneek in these comments when you get the chance. Just putting that out there.
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For what it's worth there's a LOT of possibilities for maniacal Kyahaha in Levi hacking herself. The sort of stuff that starts with "what if I ran myself in a VM and tried to debug the assembly?" and only gets sillier from there.
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True, that.
Hmm may I suggest to use a different reason for the lockout? Cooling down means heating up the outside... so it's counterproductive... [And it really sound "wrong" for a ice master to need to "cool down" ^^;;;]
I'm guessing that here it should be affected but I'm wondering if what you mean is that using this repeatedly decreases motor control as in rendering her movement more erratic.
uh... bruteforcing a password two billion bytes long? Any way you dice it it's going to be practically impossible. A key 256 BIT long is going to take something like TEN times the current age of the universe with a system going at ten BILLION keys per second.
The flaws you are describing... The first one is irrelevant we are talking about a number of combination that is so high that stopping you after a certain number of trial is not really relevant.
the second... that is that it gives back the character in the correct place... is really really bad...
Just to say... you submit the first password of ALL A. Then you replace all the wrong A with B. and so on for all the 240 symbols... and in 240 trials you get the password... an error like that is something to be expected by someone who know absolutely NOTHING of encryption and security. Being Deliberate yes... it may work especially if the judges are somewhat of an idiot... "Here are the passwords for Leviathan systems. Each one is TWO BILLION characters long. Please be careful in not losing them as otherwise it would be impossible to bruteforce them"
This makes a lot of sense in a way, if these four originated from X, then in some way they had to had abilites similar or unique upgrades best suiting for them... only to be hidden within enough red tape to create a city made out of the stuff.
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I didn't know how else to word that. I mean, ice user or not, having an ability that would release all of the body's restraints has got to generate a lot of internal heat. Got to give the hardware some recuperation time, right? ()^_^
I don't know why I keep getting thrown off by the difference between 'affect' and 'effect'. I'll go and fix that. As for what I meant, the decreased motor control actually impacts how well the dash thrusters can operate. Things like lowered speed, things of that nature. Remember back when Levi was running from Drama and the others early in the story? If her motor control was working just fine, then the flier would've been the only one able to keep pace with her. Instead, Levi had to resort to tripping them up to get them off her back.
Putting a note here for anyone who thinks of reading this chapter's comments first before saying something themselves: Please read my conversation with computerneek, and do it carefully. Don't just read my comments, but their's as well. The discussion clarifies exactly how Levi's counteracting what's been done to her, they show the chances of getting it done in a reasonable time frame, and they show why it's even possible for her to restore them at all.
In retrospect I went a bit overboard making the passwords that long, but there's nothing I can do to change that now. I'll try to include the critical details from the discussion in the story proper when it becomes plot-relevant, but for now, remember these two things: #1, yes I know that brute-forcing the password normally takes an eternity and a half, and #2, there's method to Levi's madness. Thank you. 😔
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And it occurred to me just now that if Levi's Overdrive is any indication, Harpuia and Fefnir would probably end up with electrical and fiery auras respectively... but what sort of effect would Phantom's aura have?
It's fun thinking about these things.
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About the password thing… as stated it’s quite strange that Leviathan says just “let’s chuck a subroutine working on it”. The flaw there IS something glaring especially when compared to the strength of the password. What I mean is that when presented with something like a two BILLION character long password the first reaction should be “Let’s see if there is any flaw, because a brute force is not going to happen” and FINDING that flaw should also elicit a response on the order of “well either they got the most incompetent programmer EVER or somebody really wants me to unlock this things”. And… a passive subroutine is not going to be creative enough to get that flaw out…
For the “cooldown” after the boost you can either go with recharging capacitors, or compressing cooling gas that’s used to freeze the area.
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I'll try to address that first part in the next chapter, but I make no guarantees.
As for the second one, I have to be very careful as to how I handle this. Obviously, having the Overdrive active's going to cause some of Levi's hardware to run pretty hot. What I'm not clear on is exactly how hot it's going to be, and whether or not the method used to reduce the temperature afterward runs the risk of thermal expansion. (My science grades weren't as bad as my math ones, but they're still not something to write home about.) Thankfully, it'll be quite a while before we reach the point where the ability becomes available, so there's time to hash that out.
I'd actually had the latest chapter finished and ready to post on Friday, but I was stalled by my own forgetfulness (left my flash drive at home) and the need to wait for someone to finish something (you'll be seeing what it is in the next chapter's notes). Guess it was a good thing I wasn't able to post it, huh?
Interesting, she has enough interface to attempt a crack but not enough to decompile the password checker code... Unfortunate.
The phrase is "up in arms" as in "active, armed, and ready for a fight."
Megaman X/Megaman.EXE crossover confirmed!
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I don't know where my mind was at when I typed that. Consider it fixed.
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Well that'd be an interesting crossover lol.
Offhand her armor could be enchanted to be armor more effective
So, I have little to know knowledge of the Mega Man/X/Zero/ZX timeline, but from my understanding this story takes place after Fairy's last appearance, but she was never confirmed to be dead.
My workaround is that Fairy continued to live after that battle and upgraded herself, or had others do it for her. Another threat appeared between the Zero and ZX series, and the result of that battle sent Fairy to Manehattan in her damaged state. However, her memory was rolled back to helping Zero. Essentially, her body is much older than her mind, but she only realized it after discovering the anomaly.
This would also help her with her dream of restoring the oceans on Earth. She already did that, or made great progress during the time that her memories are missing.
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...Hmm, that could probably work. Not sure how yet, but it could. Trying to piece things together in light of what I've written up until now might be a little tricky, though. I'll have to think about it and see how viable it is. Thanks for the suggestion!