Virus Cores (Games Tetralogy)

Virus Cores (ウィルスコア) are a type of Key Item in the Games Tetralogy. These items are not something regular players of The World are able to acquire under normal circumstances. The bearer of the Bracelet can use these items to unlock Protected Areas.

Lore

Virus Cores are extracted from some monsters using Data Drain. These are called Carrier Monsters, and they have the potential to mutate into Data Bugs. There are two kinds of Carrier Monsters: those who failed to become Data Bugs, and monsters undergoing the rewriting of their data. Carrier Monsters leave behind Virus Cores when they are data drained, but are otherwise indistinguishable from regular monsters. As The World becomes more corrupted, the rate of Carrier Monsters that successfully mutate into Data Bugs increases. This eventually leads to Virus Cores becoming easier to acquire in the later volumes, where they appear in Breakable Objects and Treasure Chests.

Morganna created Data Bugs by merging corrupted data with the pre-existing monster data within the game. This corrupted data is what constitutes the Virus Cores that are extracted from Carrier Monsters.

Types of Virus Cores

There are 26 types of Virus Cores, each of which is assigned a corresponding letter of the alphabet.

Virus Core	Infection	Mutation	Outbreak	Quarantine	Total
Virus Core A					8
Virus Core B					16
Virus Core C					4
Virus Core D					4
Virus Core E					15
Virus Core F					9
Virus Core G					15
Virus Core H					17
Virus Core I					10
Virus Core J					13
Virus Core K					9
Virus Core L					3
Virus Core M					6
Virus Core N					2
Virus Core O					6
Virus Core P					3
Virus Core Q					3
Virus Core R					1
Virus Core S					0
Virus Core T					1
Virus Core U					1
Virus Core V					1
Virus Core W					1
Virus Core X					1
Virus Core Y					1
Virus Core Z					1

Acquisition

Virus Cores A-L are more common and can be farmed to unlock specific Protected Areas. The type of Virus Core generally depends on the Server, and the Size Category of the monster, though there are some exceptions. Virus Cores M-Z are only acquired through progressing the Story.

A-L

A-L

Server	Small Monsters	Medium Monsters	Large Monsters
Δ Server, θ Server	Virus Core A	Virus Core B	Virus Core C
Λ Server (Level 30 and Lower)	Virus Core A	Virus Core B	Virus Core C
Λ Server (Level 31 and Higher)	Virus Core D	Virus Core E	Virus Core F
Σ Server	Virus Core G	Virus Core H	Virus Core I
Ω Server	Virus Core J	Virus Core K	Virus Core L

M-Z

M-Z

Virus Core M
Virus Core N
Virus Core O
Virus Core P
Virus Core Q
Virus Core R
Virus Core S
Virus Core T
Virus Core U
Virus Core V
Virus Core W
Virus Core X
Virus Core Y
Virus Core Z

Notes

Totals based on tally by GameFAQs user silvodia, MysteryCorgi verified the factuality and categorized by volume.

References

General References

• Bandai America, Inc. .hack//QUARANTINE Part 4. North America Release. PlayStation 2. CyberConnect2, 2004.