"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" Yuuta asked for the third time when they arrived at Miki's place.
Miki shook her head.
"All right. I'll be heading home then."
With a parting wave, Yuuta bid farewell to Miki. He immediately turned around to head home when he received a tug on his sleeve. Turning around yet another time, Yuuta sensed that Miki was holding on to his sleeve for some odd reason. 'She's probably scared after what happened back there. Well, I can't blame her.' Yuuta said to himself.
"Um~ thank you. And please be safe." Miki bashfully said before running towards their gate and closing it behind her.
"Um, sure. She didn't even wait for my reply." Once again, Yuuta looked up, lost in thought. Aside from Miki's confusing actions, he was also baffled by what happened earlier. Even though he didn't see everything, he more or less perceived what happened through his hearing and enhanced senses. No matter how much he thought about it, he still couldn't explain it.
"I'll be surprised if those people are somehow connected with the Lucid Dream Server. I mean, more like, I won't be surprised anymore. First, there were unexplained deaths that occur every time I hear that notification in my mind. And then there were those mysterious people. Are they filming something nearby? Does the concept of heroes exist in this world?"
The more questions he asked, the more confused he became. In the end, Yuuta decided to just drop everything and head home as quickly as he can. 'If Miki's words were true, then I'd be able to find everything out for myself once I finish all those initial tests. I guess it's time to speedrun those tests. I'd have to be mindful though. I need to maximize the rewards I receive or else I'd totally be behind the other beta testers. And I'm already behind as it is.' He said to himself.
.....
Since the second test was man versus society, Yuuta realized that climbing up the social ladder is what would make him pass the test. And his hunch was right. As soon as he got the managerial position for the fast-food joint, he immediately passed the second test.
But now, there was the hidden quest to think about. Yuuta assumed that every test has a hidden quest that would generate additional rewards once he passed all of them. That's why he didn't want to rush the test as much as he could.
Nevertheless, because of the urgency of the times, he had to rush through the hidden quest. That is if he could discover it as soon as he can.
'I do know the premise of the second test right now, so maybe that thing might work.' Yuuta said to himself as he opened his eyes, finding himself where his in-game character and Maya live under the same roof.
Yuuta looked around and he wasn't able to find Maya anywhere. That's why he headed straight to the DcMonalds for his shift.
When he got there, he did the usual routine of supervising the new employees and also assisting them with their job. Although it was boring, Yuuta had other things in mind so he wasn't that occupied on the job. There was something he needed to try as soon as his shift was done. If it were to work, then he'd be able to get to the third test with no difficulties.
The hours flew by so slowly that Yuuta thought he would die of idleness but just when he was about to take a breather inside the staff room, the clock read 8 pm. Finally, he could now move on to the next step of the plan.
"Good work, manager," One of the new employees greeted as she entered the staff room.
"Good work. By the way, do you know where the main branch of DcMonalds is? I need to talk to our Chief Executive Officer." Yuuta casually asked.
"Sure, if you looked from the window on the left side of this restaurant, you'd be able to spot the largest building around. That's the main branch of DcMonalds."
"Thanks, I'll be heading out then." Yuuta waved his hand in farewell.
The employee bowed down towards Yuuta as he exited the staff room. She doesn't know why Yuuta was keen on meeting the Chief Executive Officer but she decided not to ask any question. Of course, there's a huge chance that their CEO won't meet up with Yuuta since he didn't set a schedule. But then again, she wondered why Yuuta was persistent on meeting him.
[Name: Iwasaki Arisu
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Class: DcMonalds Worker
Level:0
Stats: N/A
Description: The new employee of DcMonalds who filled in Yuuta's previous position. Although it was her first time working at a fast-food restaurant, she always tries to do her best in all aspects of her work. She's taken quite an interest in the manager, however. After all, rumor has it that he obtained the managerial position after just a week or so. Her hobby includes journaling and making scrapbooks]
Yuuta rubbed his eyes to reconfirm that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. Just like the panel he saw in front of Kirisaki Maya, he also saw the same panel in front of Iwasaki Risu, the new employee at the DcMonalds where he was working. But not only that, every person he met has the same panel in front of them.
Compared to before, the second test seemed to look more like a game. Now, anyone he sees has the same type of panel that reveals a lot of information about the person.
"Does this have to do with my 'Sight' Skill?" Yuuta asked, bewildered. "So my sight skill just grants me everyone's bio-data? Now that's a very powerful skill. When it comes to combat, it is useless though."
Still, even though it seemed useless at first glance. Yuuta knew that such a skill would prove useful before combat. If he were to observe the enemies, there's a huge chance that he might discover their special moves, skills, or fighting style before they even fight against each other. The only problem is, he hoped that he could go head to head with them in terms of physical strength.
Yuuta took a long time getting used to the panels that appeared near anyone's vicinity. It's a clear depiction of wearing your identity on your sleeves since Yuuta could clearly see who the people around him were. If he were to come up to them to strike a conversation, he assumed he would actually do a pretty good job since he knew a thing or two, literally, about the stranger.
After at least an hour of walking through the city streets, Yuuta finally found himself in front of the building which was deemed to be the main branch of DcMonalds. And as luck would have it, the Chief Executive Officer of DcMonalds was just about to enter the building.
At first, Yuuta thought that he was just a regular employee, but after seeing his description, he realized that such wasn't the case at all.
[Name: Toudou Katsu
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Class: DcMonalds Chief Executive Officer
Level: 5
Stats: Strength 10,Agility 10, Vitality 0, Fatigue 200
Description: New CEO of DcMonalds after his father was killed due to a poison he concocted himself. Now that he has inherited his father's company, he has risen atop his other competitors after embezzling money and bribing officials. Those who had caught his evil deeds were either killed or kept silent through the power of money. Now, standing at the top of a literal food chain, he is powerful enough to even suppress his employees' right of speech. Recently, he killed his secretary just because he was jealous that she was already engaged.]
'W-what's this? Is this a sick joke?' Yuuta asked himself, trying to figure out what to do with what he read. In fact, right now, he wished that everything he read would be erased from his mind.
Yuuta quickly ducked behind a wall when Toudou Katsu, the CEO of DcMonalds, turned his head in his direction. Luckily, Yuuta had fast reflexes and Toudou didn't notice him.
For a good few minutes, Yuuta stayed where he was, trying to come up with the most plausible solution to his problem. With the help of the information he gathered just from seeing the CEO alone, he knew that he can come up with the best course of action to dominate the second test.
Just like what Miki told her a few minutes ago, something was definitely going on both in real life and in the Lucid Dream Server. Right now, he's running out of time, that much is a given. But before he could find the truth behind everything, he needs to finish the three tests first and obtain maximum rewards from them.
Yuuta doesn't know why but that's how he always approached every game he played. And right now, he knew that there's all the more reason to do this since Lucid Dream Server is drastically different compared to other games. Even though he wants to finish the tests as fast as he could, he knew that he can't rush it since the consequences would greatly affect the future gameplay.
And adding to that, playing the game as slowly as he can- will enable him to gather more information and unlock the secrets of the game— secrets that are only known to a few dreamers.
Well, that's IF the Lucid Dream Server really has something to hide.