The Over-Break System

”Sticks and stones, Geralt, call me what you will, but it won’t affect me.” Rolling his eyes and tapping on his Watcet, Cynrik activated the HoloTv, and several clusters of camera angles appeared on the screen.

”Huh, what do sticks and stones have to do with anything? Cut out the nonsense and explain why and how you can access cameras posted outside the building.” Massaging his temples in exhaustion, Geralt moved past Cynrik’s strange use of branches and rocks and demanded answers for what he saw.

However, when Cynrik heard Geralt not understand his seemingly well-known phrase, he frowned and looked at Brance and Selene.

[[I, uh, huh, didn’t realize that wasn’t a saying here.]] Brance said while rolling his lips inward.

[[Come to think of it, we use a lot of phrases and slang from Earth…yet no one seems to question it. For you two, it makes sense since everything you say gets auto-translated by that skill…but what about me?]] Drumming her fingers on the armrest of the couch she had claimed, Selene fell deep into thought.

[[Your guess is as good as mine. But, weirdly, my [Language Proficiency] didn’t kick in there. Or, maybe it did, but since there is no saying matching Sticks and stones may break my bones, it ended up going over Geralt’s head.]] Cynrik stated while kneeling and withdrawing two decent-sized coffee tables from his inventory and positioning them on either side of the entertainment center housing the HoloTv.

”This is nothing; wait till I get everything set up. For now, y’all can keep watching around the outside of the building.”

”You still haven’t answered my question. There shouldn’t be any viable connection channel allowing remote access to the building’s security cameras.” Getting frustrated at how Cynrik was dismissively ignoring him, Geralt snapped his fingers to get the young man’s attention.

”Sigh, fine, ruin my surprise; those cameras don’t belong to the building’s security team. While you were napping like a child, I sent out Vii and Sie to covertly place them at strategic locations. And before you bitch about me breaking the law in some way or another, no one saw them. They were completely invisible between my stealth skills, Rimsfel’s Light Bending, and Gabby’s sent removal skill.”

Animatedly waving his hand while setting up several pieces of technology on the table, Cynrik finished his statement by pointing at the two Ravens nestled up on the couch where Selene was lounging.

Sielu was in her lap, and Viisaus had turned one of the end pillows into a small nest after dragging it beside Selene so he could get pats.

Exhaling loudly, Geralt looked from the two birds and one girl being lazy toward Head Dean Rimsfel, who shuffled about in his chair uncomfortably in the kitchen.

”You were out for a few hours, Headmaster, and the kid spent the entire time doing so many random things that even I lost track of what all he was trying to do. When he asked me for some help, how could I say no? He did save our asses back there, so I at least owed him that much.” Trying to defend his technically illegal actions, Rimsfel ended up looking away in embarrassment.

”Hah, you have both of them wrapped around that scheming finger of yours, Cynrik. I am beginning to feel that you really are some demon who steals people’s souls.” Geralt complained as his eyes moved toward Garrison. In response to the Headmaster’s gaze, Garrison adverted his line of sight and busied himself with the napkin on his empty plate.

”Tsk, it’s called Charisma, and I don’t force anyone except my faction members to do anything against their will. And in the case of MyrkLys, I demand their loyalty and obedience. Regardless, I asked nicely, and Rimsfel helped out. Even if he hadn’t, I had a few different ways to set up the micro-cameras undetected with or without his added layer of stealth.”

”However, the cameras were only stepped three of my fortification. The first was hijacking all the systems attached to this condo. That was the part that took me the longest time to complete since they have insanely high-level security systems.”

”Setting aside basic ones like oxygen, fire protection, and Mana expulsion, there are over 40 different operational protocols to keep everything running smoothly for guests during their stay. Most of which are the basic quality of life stuff, like water purification or heating and cooling.”

”Still, I wanted everything under my control, no matter what function it served. Then there are the intruder protections, such as guard droids, which I wanted since they can exhibit Tier-4 capabilities. You may call it being overly cautious, but I felt uncomfortable having robots in the house which could turn on me and kill me in my sleep if someone gained control of them.”

”All of the programming stuff falls under the umbrella of objective one. Objective two was a bit easier to complete. I changed the locks from encrypted digital key codes stored in our Watcets to a dual-factor authentication protocol. Instead of simply using a digital keycard to unlock the doors, you must complete a biometric and Mana Signature Scan, which I recently developed.”

The entire time Cynrik spoke, he never allowed Geralt or anyone else for that matter a second to interrupt him. Even then, his hands never stopped moving as he set up two more Encrypted HoloTvs on either side of the original one that came with the condo.

Once finished setting them up, Cynrik transferred control rights to all three HoloTvs to Brance, who followed up by booting the two new ones on and swapping over to even more angled camera feeds.

Between the three devices, the entire 15-meter wall was transformed into one large movie screen with around 50 different camera views, all monitoring different strategical positions inside and outside the building.

”The kid has some crazy work ethic, Geralt. He has yet to slow down for longer than a minute or two to stuff some food into his mouth. Even that was forced on him by that girl Selene.” Saylin chided as he watched Cynrik bounce back to his feet and toward the control box on the opposite side of the room.

”Cynrik, how sure are you that no one can trace the feed on these cameras to you? Putting up surveillance equipment is highly illegal without specific permission and permits. You can face 20-30 years in prison if found out.” Ignoring Saylin and following Cynrik with his eyes, Geralt tossed out.

”Considering every camera is a one-way feed, and I am using multiple dummy ISP converters on top of half a dozen VPNs, there is no chance of finding out it’s me. I am in control of things now.”

”Not only that but since everything I am using was crafted by my hands, and the parts were purchased through proxies and dummy bank accounts, there is zero chance of even backtracing the devices themselves.”

”As far as any outsider can tell, they don’t even exist. Nothing transmits a visible signal; everything goes through too many advanced protocols to hack into. Even if someone tried, all that would happen is they would get into an annoying long, and convoluted loop of a maze, putting them back where they started.”

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