The HQ of the American Dreamer Association had always been blustering with sounds. Sounds of typing, printing machines, regular meetings, and hurried steps. But since the last 2 hours, all noises had seemed to be directed towards the same goal.
Among other departments, the Cyber Security, the DL Registrations, and the Anti-Dreamer were the loudest. The noise that these people were making was harsh and coarse and had a little of fear mixed within it. And yet the commotion had shown no sign of culminating with time. The goal of these brilliant people was still ever distant from the moment they had started the pursuit.
Ms. Wells, known for her composure in tight situations, had a deep frown on her face. This wasn't some random place, and this wasn't some National-Level threat either. To hack ADA and manipulate the data which only man had access to was poking the nerve of the entire world.
Smart people are called smart, not because they can top every exam or have an exceptionally high IQ. No, most of them had such a label because of their skills in logical deduction.
'There won't be another chance for ADA,' Olivia reminded herself of the two words that were on the screen. The sheer confidence of putting out a threat so openly had shown that the culprit wasn't afraid of the Government's reaction. Or maybe he didn't even need to be afraid. The failed reports laying on her desk had proven the point that none could trace this ID's owner. She picked up the reports and went to relay the outcome of their 'little' search. She could have never surmised the turmoil of emotions Mr. Myers would have been going through. He had betrayed the one foundational rule of ADA, and he didn't even get the desired result.
Olivia didn't knock and entered the office. The Director had been standing by the window, watching the hustling and bustling city from high above.
"Sir, we have sent a team from the Anti-Dreamer Department to the location of Dungeon. But this could very well turn out to be a poor decision. I know we shouldn't let go of this situation so easily, but I have a hunch…," Olivia didn't complete her sentence.
"It's only me, Olivia. You can say whatever you want. I won't put a label of traitor or coward on you, you know that."
Olivia sighed, "I have a hunch that it's better to leave this Dreamer alone." The words, by the end of the sentence, were almost inaudible. But the office was spacious. Even if one happened to just stand there with one's mouth shut, one could hear breathing in the other corner. Mr. Myers finally turned to look at Olivia, and she could feel that the Director had aged considerably in the last two hours. The two of them had completely ignored the constant sound of mail notifications and rings of the telephone.
"If I were inside that Dungeon then I would have exited the Dungeon just before the time of Random-Allocation. Given that I don't have suicidal intentions. And as you know, the Dreamer can request to be teleported to any place on the Earth after coming out of the Random-Dungeon. Notify everyone to apprehend the Dreamer the next time someone scans this ID."
'This is opposite to what I had been thinking,' Olivia thought, being aware of the fact that Mr. Myers hadn't gone insane just because of a terrible decision.
"Don't look at me like that. I know what I am doing. I will resign from the Director's position," the Director said. As the ringing of the telephone seemed to become distant, he continued, "And you would criticize my decisions publicly. I want to make sure that the next director will be you. I want no more surprises."
"That's too much to ask from me, Sir. You aren't saying that I should lie that I am not involved in this."
"Yes, that is exactly what I mean." And with that last order, Mr. Myers picked up the call.
*
Dungeon, Prescott (Arizona)
Huff!!! Huff!!!
The lush green bushes and the thick trees around Aldrich had absorbed the heavy panting sounds. Apart from his disheveled hairs and a few tears on his jacket and jeans, one could see no visible injury. But despite his tired look, he seemed lively with a smile on his face. He made sure that no other Crawler was around him. It had taken him two full hours just to take care of a pack of Common Axehandle Hounds.
"With only 10 of them being in the pack, I can't guess if the pack's size was big or small. I think they got a whiff of me as soon as I entered the Dungeon."
Aldrich's hand reached into the void and took out a vial with yellow-golden liquid in it. It was one thing that he had asked Mr. Edwin to buy, the Stamina Potion. He emptied the whole vial with a big gulping sound. A wave of freshness washed over his whole body. The aching muscles had become ready to be put in another round of volley.
"Finally!" He let out a satisfied sound, seeing the string of notifications that had surfaced.
[…
You have killed 1 Common Axehandle Hound
ExPs obtained: 120
You have leveled up
You have obtained 6 Attribute Points
You have obtained 1 Skill Point
You have killed 1 Common Axehandle Hound
…
…]
"This differs from the other games and systems that are mentioned in many MMORPGs. Usually, after throwing so many grenades accurately, I should have gotten a Skill related to it. And yet there is no such thing mentioned by the 'Record'. I guess the rumors of the rarity of Skills in this System are true."
No one had mentioned any Criteria online for obtaining Skills other than their Class-specific Skills. The only thing widely known was that Skills drop as the rewards from killing Crawlers. But even then there was no mention of the nature of such Skills and their Rank. It's like the upper level of Dreamers deliberately controlled the information. Who would have thought that there would be someone that could create Skills?
Aldrich eyed the 3 blue crystals in his hands. These were the Mana Cores he had got from the Crawlers. He could feel nothing special about them other than their ethereal presence. He put the crystals in his backpack and focused on the task at hand.
"Let's wait a little more. I should first assign those piled up Attribute Points."
Yes, he had a high Perception, but even then he wasn't so self-conceited to believe that he could handle the rest of the Crawlers with just the Grenades. He willed for his Stats window to come up.
[…
Record of Aldrich
Time Left: 33:30:00 hrs
Status: Healthy
Level: 5 (1200/1500 ExPs to next Level)
HP: 140/158
SP: 97/107
MP: 895/895
Rank: Common
Class: Generalist
Title: NA (1)
Attributes -->
Strength: 5
Defense: 4
Agility: 6
Vitality: 10
Perception: 100
Correspondence: 15
Unassigned Attribute Points: 24
Active Skills -->
1. Metacreativity: Lvl 1
Skill Points: 4
Passive Skills -->
1. Shared Vision
Inventory --> (6.5/10)
…]
Many things had caught Aldrich's attention. First thing he had noticed was his Stamina Points, which hadn't recovered even after using a Stamina Potion. The Stamina Points were related to the tiredness of the Dreamer, but its use wasn't limited to this. The Stamina Points were consumed whenever a Dreamer had exerted any kind of force. It didn't matter if you were running, exercising, or fighting for your life. The direct result would have been a decrease in the total number of Stamina Points. Though it was a blessing that, unlike HP and MP, the rate of self-increment in Stamina Points was quite high. One would only need a rest, directly proportional to their tiredness, to get their SP back. And yet it was crucial to have the SP bar full at all times during a Dungeon raid. Why?
The answer was quite simple. Unlike the Mages who consume MP for their Skills, the other Dreamers consume Stamina Points, or a combination of SP and MP to use their Skills. And a place where even the lowest Level Crawler could have turned out to be deadly. The idea of not being able to use a Skill was quite terrifying. But the more important thing for Aldrich was to find out what had been going on with his Title, so he focused on the (1) displayed there.
[…
You are eligible to obtain a new Title
Generating Title Quest…
Title Quest (optional): Kill 100 Common Ranked Crawlers
Title Reward: Enemy of Crawlers
Do you want to initiate the Quest for this Title?
…]
Aldrich thought about it for a moment, but he couldn't find any reason to say 'No'. As much as he knew, Titles were a big boon. One could find most of them with their Title-specific Skills. Titles were also known to provide Bonus Attribute Boost when equipped.
"Yes."
[…
Title Quest had been initiated
Title Quest (optional): Kill 100 Common Ranked Crawlers (10/100)
…]
With that done, Aldrich had analyzed where to assign his Attribute Points. To take full advantage of his Perception, the most important thing that had felt to him was Strength and Agility.
"Assign Attribute Points…"
[…
…
HP: 199/199
SP: 300/300
MP: 895/895
…
Strength: 15
Defence: 8
Agility: 15
Vitality: 11
Perception: 100
Correspondence: 15
Unassigned Attribute Points: 0
…
…]
Aldrich wasn't an alcoholic, and he wasn't a narcotic user either. But for research, he had tested the effect of these things. Now, if one were to multiply that feeling by ten, then one could guess what he had been feeling. Every part of his body felt more powerful, sturdier, and in tune with each other. It was almost like someone had broken apart his body and had restructured it with better material. But the word that had come to his mind was completely different.
People of astute minds have a completely different view of seeing the problems.
"Evolution."
Aldrich was sure about this. Only this word justified that feeling, and only this word could answer all the questions at once. "Hmm, not completely there yet. I wonder how many Levels one could evolve out of the Human Being's shell," he said, looking at the top of the 150-170 ft. tree.
He crouched down a little, and built up strength in his legs. The muscles of his legs writhed with joy and pleasure. With a sudden burst of strength, he jumped up to the highest bough of the tree. Even with the sudden stoppage, he hadn't lost his footing. He inspected all around and found the thing he had been searching for. On his right, at the far end, there were dark clouds gathered around a hill. The dense flashes of lightning seemed to be a pit of snakes. As the thick forest wasn't particularly mountainous, the hill had stood out with its terrifying surroundings.
Aldrich was quite familiar with the thing that had been occupying that hill. As it had snatched the life of quite a few Dreamers.
"The Boss Crawler," he took a mental note of the direction and came down on the ground.
Running wasn't an option in this place, so with quick steps, he headed over in the hill's direction. But he could enjoy the drenching humidity of the thick forest for only a few hours. His Divine Sense, an unofficial term for the detection range because of the Perception, caught a disturbance in the nearby area. The disturbance was so fast that he couldn't even see its appearance, because he didn't need to use his eyes to see it.
A 'Black Blur' or a 'Black Scar' was the best way to describe it. But he knew how dangerous the things had become when even with his Perception he couldn't get a good look. But he got to see the incoming arrow.
SWISH!!!
The momentum of that greenish-black arrow had almost approached a bullet. Aldrich slightly leaned to his left, and the arrow flew by towards the tree behind him. But he didn't hear any sound of the collision. When he turned around to look, there was a twig stuck in the tree's trunk. And vapor of greenish-black color was emanating out from the point of contact. He realized the arrow wasn't an arrow at all but a twig which someone had thrown at him.
The situation had turned out to be even more dangerous than he had thought. Soon three more 'arrows' came flying towards him, but as soon as it had launched them, Aldrich had already made a run towards the source. The Agility Stat showed its effect, and the twigs missed their target by the breadth of a hair. And yet when he stepped on the branch, the attacker was already gone. Someone was hunting him, and if he didn't kill it first, then this venture would really turn into a suicide.
Arrows upon arrows were being avoided by him, and he could see the Stamina Bar emptying visibly. Aldrich realized he wouldn't be able to catch it if he didn't think of some solution soon. As his mind calculated at an unimaginable speed, he could only see one sure way to catch that thing. He stopped all movement and focused his Divine sense on the next arrow. The moment he got a view of the tip of the twig, with all his strength he dashed towards it, using different branches as stepping platforms. He had already taken out A Mana-Shockwave Grenade. Just as the thing was about to disappear and the arrow was about to pierce him, he got to see its appearance.
It looked like a chimpanzee and yet was not completely like him. Its size was too small for being a chimpanzee and its arms were too long. The only thing that had resembled the common animal was its body structure, black fur, and face. But even then, one couldn't have said that its face completely matched a chimpanzee. For, like a cyclops, it had only one eye. A single huge red eye was almost popping out of its skull.
Aldrich raised his left hand, and the arrow got stuck after piercing the palm, and he threw the grenade. The Crawler was so fast that it just ducked and the grenade flew right by him, even when they were so close. He could almost see a mocking grin on the thing's face, but a similar mocking grin had also come upon Aldrich's face.
BOOM!!!
The grenade exploded behind the Crawler, and the Shockwave sent the monster flying right towards him. Even with the speed that it had shown, once it was in the air, it couldn't do anything. Aldrich had already made a fist and with a strength attribute of 15, he punched the monster's face with all the momentum.
SPLACH!!!
The head of the monster exploded right on the impact. But before he could rise after being thrown away by the shockwaves, the sight of three more such monsters greeted him. All three eyes were gleaming with murderous intentions.
[…
You have killed 1 Common Agropelter
ExPs obtained: 250
Updating Title Quest…
…]