"Awh, how sweet of her. I will surely cherish her kindness for the rest of my long, immortal life." Speaking with a heavy sarcastic tone, 6 walked into his apartment, throwing himself down onto his couch.
[There is one more thing you should know about this mission before you go.]
Drawing his knife from its sheath, 6 began tossing it into the air and catching it on its way down, flipping it idly.
"I'm listening." 6 said, those his eyes were fixed on the knife flipping through the air, painting an entirely different image.
[All planets with a weak consciousness have one issue in common to keep in mind when accepting missions on them.]
"Well don't just tease me, out with it."
[Without a strong consciousness to communicate with, it is difficult, if not impossible, to verify any information about the history of the planet.]
"Mm, I see. And the alchemy planet has no consciousness to speak of whatsoever, meaning that little issue is even worse."
[Correct.]
That meant that any information 6 had read about the planet may or may not be true.
If it were true, then there was nothing to worry about. But if it wasn't, that meant someone lied or falsified information, which wouldn't be good news however you look at it.
"Eh, it's not like I can really do anything about that." 6 said, discarding the information as he couldn't use it to his advantage.
Without going to the world himself to verify facts, he had no way of utilizing that knowledge, so there was no point in concerning himself with it until it became relevant.
[Just keep it in mind while investigating.]
"Alright, alright. Thank you Trivrium. I think I'm pretty much ready to go now."
As he spoke, 6 decisively opened the mission tab and pressed on [The Alchemical Madman], accepting the mission and choosing to leave immediately, as he was as prepared as he was going to get.
[Remaining mission cooldown: 56 hours, 17 minutes.]
Feeling a vein in his forehead bulge, 6's eyebrow twitched when he saw the prompt that appeared in front of him when he attempted to start his mission.
"What the hell is this?" 6 asked Trivirum, accusatorily.
[Your remaining mission cooldown time. It means for that period of time, you cannot disembark onto your next missio-]
"I know. I know what a cooldown is. I meant why the hell is it there."
[To prevent you from going onto a mission until it ends.]
6 put his fingers against his temples, rubbing away the frustration he had towards Trivrium at the moment.
"Again, I can clearly see what it does. The question is why it does what it does, when I see no valid reason for it to be doing what it does. Actually, it could easily not be doing what it's doing and everything would be peachy."
[No reason?]
"Not the slightest." 6 said, his eyebrow twitching again.
[Before removing much of Trivrium's presence, Trivrium left a specific phrase to use when you asked that.]
"And what was that? If it isn't a good reason, I'm taking this knife and stabbing every single square inch of the ground in this city. I'll go all out too, [Intensified Blood Flow] an everything." 6 gestured with his knife, performing a mock stabbing motion as if he were plunging the knife into the ground.
["Beginner level adventurers cannot be fully trusted to make good decisions, so they have to wait a total of three days between missions to ensure they aren't being impulsive. Did you try not being weak? ^-^"]
For several seconds, 6 did nothing but stare at the emoticon left at the end of the message from the not Automatic Trivrium.
"Trivrium. How many beginner level adventurers do you currently have?" 6 enunciated every word as he spoke.
[One.]
"So this cooldown bullshit is entirely aimed at me, right?" 6 said, his eyebrow twitch reaching an almost comical intensity.
[Correct.]
6 exploded into a string of curses, stuffing as many rude comments and harsh words as he could into every sentence.
He raved for several minutes, scolding Trivrium with grandiose hand gestures and telling her that he would follow through with his threat of stabbing every inch of the ground.
Trivrium had long expected 6 to respond like this however, and as soon as he took his first deep breath to begin his rant, she immediately cut off communication with him until he calmed down.
When 6 saw the message, saying that Trivrium was currently occupied and was not available to speak with, his subsiding rage reignited, launching him into yet another rant.
Mentally, he made a note to call her A-T still, regretting that he had even considered being nice to her.
6 wasn't truly enraged with Trivrium, however, as he knew she did this for more than the desire to annoy him. This was her showing care, and showing that she understood 6 to some extent.
She knew that he would immediately try to head out on another mission, disregarding his own safety or his body's need for rest, and she prepared accordingly.
Even though she teased him, 6 knew she was trying to be helpful to him, which shocked him to an extent.
6 was just a random adventurer on her planet, and accurately speaking, he could justly be called the absolute weakest of them all.
It would be far more natural for Trivrium simply not care for him in the slightest.
Domus planets usually have very pragmatic views towards their adventurers. Care for the strong, don't care for the weak.
If an adventurer was weak, what help could they provide to their respective Domus planet?
Almost none.
Someone like Trivrium, who either treated them all equally, or showed special care for the weak, were rare, and for good reason.
In a universe built on strength, kindness wouldn't last long before it was stomped out like the embers popping off of a bonfire.
Though 6 did hate that Trivrium was babying him.
Over the next 56 hours, as the 17 minutes were quickly used up during his tantrums, 6 spent much of his time exercising and training.
After a kind reminder from Trivrium, 6 remembered somemthing that had slipped his mind in his excitement to go on another mission.
The Carusian salt that he ate would take effect over the next 3 days after taking it, and it was recommended to exercise on the second and third day.
If not for Trivrium, 6 would have totally missed out on the full benefit of the Carusian salt, leaving him with about half of the total intended effect.
He also would've started his mission without the added bonus to his body's strength, and every bit of strength would count if he found himself in an unfavorable situation immediately after arriving.
"Time to go Triv. No excuses this time, or I swear to any living being stronger than you that I'm giving you the silent treatment."
[Tempting.]
"Oh you absolute jerk, just fucking send me on my way god dammit." 6 said exasperatedly.
[Just one more thing.]
"Oh my fucking- what now."
[Palon agreed yesterday to support your mission. She will provide a total of 5 teleports to any location she is aware of on the planet.]
Now this was good news.
Whatever Trivrium did, this would make 6's life much easier.
Though the amount of teleports where limited, only 5, it was still more than enough to get 6 to the various places he wanted to investigate without having to concern himself with traveling across vast distances for it.
The three laboratories/torture chambers that had been discovered were definitely first on 6's list, as he needed to get a personal look at them to have any hope of finding the rest, which was on the top of his list of things to achieve on this mission.
Just after them was the alchemist's hometown, where he created the first victims of his madness.
It hadn't been rebuilt, but amidst the giant sinkholes, much of the architecture was still there, ruined as it was.
Looking through the rubble there might provide some clues, especially if he locates the alchemists childhood residency and the residency he occupied just before he went mad.
6 likely wasn't the first to have this idea either, but there was always the chance that the alchemist would hide a lab within his hometown that had yet to be discovered.
It was something a madman would do.
Just like how 6 thought that after he was the strongest being in the universe, he would find his hometown and erect another museum there, one of many.
Power-hungry egoist often thought in similarly fucked up ways.
6 had no idea what to use the final teleportation on, but he was sure something would come up during the mission.
And definitely it wouldn't hurt to have an extra one stored up, just in case.
He refrained from asking Trivrium about how or why she did that, as he both didn't care, and respected her privacy.
As a Domus planet, she would definitely have her own business that 6 couldn't stick his nose in, though the same wasn't true for himself.
[She also offered to point out locations of interest, but consider that these locations will have been investigated multiple times in the past by others who have accepted the mission.]
"Okay, okay. Thank you, I understand and know how I will use the teleports. Is there anything else you have to add, and I ask this while praying that the answer is no." 6 whined.
[No. Go as you wish.]
Once again confirming that he was ready for departure, 6 disappeared from his apartment abruptly.