Marcelo and the others had already moved the luggage from the broken car. The punch had left a deep impression on their minds.
They all knew, that armored vehicles like this UAZ, aren't supposed to be just bent or cut through. Even with drills and cutters it is pretty much impossible. Even accidents at the speed of 100 miles per hour could cause nothing but small dents. Only heating lasers like the ones in path blockage could be used to blow off engine modules.
Marcelo for once thought, what if that hit landed on his body. He shivered at just the thought of it. Without a 'Health Bar', it is impossible for someone to survive such an attack. It meant that, nothing below level 60 can survive his onslaught.
'It's good I backed down, or young miss would still go but the one being dead would be me.'
They had already prepared to move, and they weren't worried at all. Her cousin was with her and that bullhead would walking on her fingertips. They were just waiting for them to come over.
After about half an hour of their departure, Marcelo and others felt some movement coming from the forest. It was two people walking towards them, holding each others hands. A young man, with a smile on his face and dishevelled hair. A vest and a pair of shorts with all of his body covered in dried blood. It gave him the look of a murderous beggar. And beside him, holding his hand was a girl. She seemed to be just walking down from the stairs of heaven. Her golden giving lustre to the green leaves, and her blue eyes amplifying the views beauty. She also had a smile on her face, but far smaller as compared to the guy beside her.
The two contrasting figures, showing extremes while holding their palms together walked towards them. They were none other than Titan and Natalia.
Titan controlled his facial muscles, to stop himself from smiling and asked the five of them, "Where's Deryl?"
Marcelo, being the leader of the group answered, "He hasn't arrived yet."
Natalia then said worriedly, "He left before us, didn't he?"
"Don't worry Natly, he must be looking for the fish that escaped." Titan replied.
"Speak of the bitch and here he is." Titan turned around, and a figure materialized near the path.
"Yeah, badmouth me all you want. We'll talk later about that. Currently we have a situation, there are people that know, that I and Titan are with her. We need to go faster." Deryl, looked at them and said.
They left one of the UAZs right there, and started driving towards their destination. In one car, Natalia, Deryl, Titan and Marcelo, while the other four were sitting in the other. They kept going, as Titan and Natalia sat at the back while, Deryl and Marcelo sat at the front. Titan and Natalia kept talking, and then Deryl joined in the stories. Talking all sorts of adventure he and Titan had in other VR Games. They were enjoying their time like normal teens, except for the fact that their talks were too weird for normal teens, everything else was alright.
Meanwhile, in the other car, without obstruction of Marcelo, Kik kept wondering about things. He was relatively new to the group and didn't know much about the Universal Skynet. He was bewildered by the fact, that those two who weren't even half his level, were that strong. He kept wondering for the reason but couldn't find any. He was just a commoner, before joining the 'Princess Guard'. Thus, there were many things he didn't have the knowledge of.
Upon thinking by himself, he couldn't find any relevant answer and gave into curiosity by asking the brown guy named Spur. "Hey, why are those two so strong? I mean they aren't even half our level. Although we can't proceed to further levels, they shouldn't be this strong, right?"
Spur was annoyed at the fact, that this guy beside himself didn't know such a simple thing. Then, he thought the guy's a commoner so he might not have known. Sighing about something he asked Kik, "How many hours did you live in your initiation."
"Uh, it was about eight hours. Does it matter?"
"Hmm, eight hours is a good score for the army. And yes, it matters. It matters a lot because, if it didn't then there would be no difference, in this and other VR Games.
Your spiritual body and mental network is tested, extensively during the initiation. And not just consciously, but subconsciously as well. Subconsciously you can last for only a few hours at most but that also matters a lot. But if you last well consciously, you are given more points by the Universal System. These points are decided by the numbers. It is not a test of merit, but a test of checking you capability. Even if you die with just one beast, the system lets you fight subconsciously using instincts of human beings. It just gives you less points.
Those points are assigned to your character and you can't change them. They are fundamental points and are denoted by 1 for each person, but the real values vary. Thin of those points as multipliers which are assigned to everybody. And since, yours is eight hours. You also have a multiplier which is high compared to lower timers."
"Oh so, you mean they lived for more time than us?"
"Heh. More you say? MWU is hiding the news, but they spent far more time than us."
"By how much, do you know?"Kik got even curious, as he wanted to compare himself to those two.
"I don't know. But I know one thing for sure. For someone to be that powerful, one would need to be above forty hours mark at the least. As once I met a 30 hours mark kid, and he wasn't even close to the strength of these two. Also, remember. Once, the MWU President said, the Universal Skynet doesn't grade you, it gives you your status, and all else depends on you. Although it is laughed as a joke after two defeats of humanity, but I still believe in it."Spur said, and was lost in his own thoughts.
The guy named Kik, shut his mouth after hearing this. He remembered the horror he had, upon fighting like that. Covered in gore and green blood, while stepping on rotting flesh. Squishing them all with his feet. Falling over in the filth, and then rising again to continue. He had lost all his strength by the sixth hour mark, but he was considered as an eight hour guy, due to his subconscious strength. His parents were very happy, that MWU army of Universal Network had asked for him to join. He could never dream of becoming the part of the 'Princess Guard', but just 8 hours of his life, had made him jump to this level. Although he had to work a lot to reach here, but without those 8 hours, he wouldn't even have the chance to work like this.
He now wondered, 'What if the words of Old president are true? Can I have so much power up? Do I just have to hunt more, or do I have to do something else.'
He was still at level 39, and just had the strength ti fight the monsters in the same level. He always felt that this was the end of the path, but now it felt like it might not just be the end. His thoughts being just a soldier for life shattered and gave rise to ambition. A fire had been kindled in his heart and a feeling of admiration rose towards Titan inside him.
'How powerful would he be, at my level? No matter how far you are, I will chase behind you. This is a chance given to five of us by the Princess to be under this person, and I need to go through with it. I need to chase and keep up to him."
Just as he was thinking all this, faint blue particles, flew from him towards Titan. They weren't fast but caught up to Titan within seconds and vanished. Neither him, nor Titan noticed these blue particles, but Deryl caught a look of them while he was turned back facing Titan. He didn't notice where they came from, but he clearly saw them vanishing into Titan. He thought of something that his father had told him, and with smile he let it be. Their talks continued throughout the journey.
Few hours later, the cars stopped. There were coconut trees, sand and light blue waster as far as the eyes could see. No monsters could be seen anywhere. Only huge white structures, which looked like skeletons of very beings were visible.
Titan and the others got down from the vehicle. Marcelo looked at the water, and then all around the beach.Then he spoke to his men in black suits.
"Guys, let's go. Fortify the cars, the tides will be coming any moment now. We need to cover up before they come."
The four guys started moving, and took on their roles. There was one less car to fortify, so it take much less time.
He looked at Deryl and Titan momentarily, and murmured, "Western Earth Coast is here, let's see what you can do."