"I feel so light yet a lot more powerful today," Frank observed as he headed home. He thought it was as a result of the adrenaline rush when he confronted Muro. Then it dawned on him! He levelled up!
A notification had rung out while they were in the hall at the centre. He, however, didn't bother to look at it because he had Muro's matter pressing in his heart. He now checked the message. It was as he had guessed.
{CONGRATULATIONS! You have evolved to Primary 2. You are now Ordinary Subject – Intermediate}
[Your authority is unlocked]
[More abilities unlocked]
[Personal Monster Vehicle unlocked]
{N.U.R.O Government awards you 100 credit points}
Frank browsed through the notification and smiled.
"Finally I break through from beginner tag!" His efforts had paid off. When he took the government mission to BlockFarm Forest he gained a lot. The entirety of his combat skill had increased, particularly his swordsmanship. He checked the status again to affirm. Other than his general attributes increasing to 110, this skill was now at level 10. The monsters he killed besides the task also earned him more than 600 credit points! Then what was more pleasing to him was that he would no longer pay for his rides!
It felt good to be an intermediate. He could feel a strange power within him.
Later after supper he went to the porch outside for practice. He took out his sword.
[Frank, would you like to use auto generated weapons]
"What is that Zu Shi?"
[As an intermediate you can now use weapons stored within you. One of the authorities you have is to summon weapons from your SpiritCube. Would you like a display of the SpiritCube?]
"Oh yes! Go ahead." Things were getting amazing!
The wristwatch shone and a screen displayed a three dimensional image of a cube. It was a compressed image if what looked like a storage room. Inside he could see a few items neatly arranged on the sides. Three blade types hang in the wall in front of him. Three circular silvery balls sat on a shelf and he wondered what they were. They were also gauntlets, bodysuits, masks, bottles with medicinal substances, a flash light and a detector.
[You can access the SpiritCube manually as you do now or instinctively enter it just like accessing a virtual shop online. This is your storage space. It is expandable with costs.]
"This is good! I won't need to carry weapons around any longer!"
[That's right]
"Okay, let me see what these silvery balls do," he said.
[Dragon fireballs activated]
The name baffled Frank. Yet he concentrated on getting the items from the SpiritCube. The screen disappeared in front of him. He felt a little tingling sensation in his arms.
[Concentrate and conjure up the balls into your palms then hit a target with them]
Listening to the PDA he realized what he was to do. Slowly he raised up his right palm mentally struggling to bring out a ball from it as he imagined. Sure enough a small silvery ball appeared on his arm. It was rather small compared to what he had seen in his storage cube. It had hints of small sparks of fire. However, before he threw it off to a target, it suddenly vanished.
"What just happened?"
He tried several times until he could now get the fireballs faster from the SpiritCube. With each attempt the ball grew in size and more lit. When he threw it off towards the fence it fell and exploded.
Bang!
He could feel its power increasing as he continued practising. No physical damage was made because training in this mode was all illusionary.
After a while, chose the short blades and practised his sword slashing skills until he felt the improvement in his arms. Then he dropped the blades back in the cube and started physical enhancement practice. He performed sit-ups and press-ups for a while, stretched all his limbs then tried to kick-strengthen. It was close to midnight when he was done.
Early in the morning Frank got up ready to set out on his second mission. Since activation, he was now remaining with three days in which to find his mate, Noel.
"Zu Shi, location?"
As usual a screen appeared and a voice as well describing to him where he was to go. This function had not been allowed to him while he was a beginner. As an intermediate, his authority allowed Zu Shi to display more details about his missions. After analysing the map and taking more guidelines and warnings from his PDA he set off.
The monster vehicle he summoned was a mountain Eagle! This monster bird was so huge yet very fast and could access any terrain. It soon brought him into the middle of the mountainous region Northwest side of their cluster. This is where Zu Shi said his mission would begin from. He recalled the monster bird and started exploring the area on foot.
Frank was on high alert because he knew dangerous beasts lived in that area. This was his first time in a highly unsafe zone of the cluster. He trudged on however, with little attacks until he reached a cave. The cave was destined in his mission sheet. He cautiously entered the cave with his flash light on.
The inside turned into a tunnel that headed deep into the mountain depths. Frank made the flash light to soar above his head, like a drone as he took a blade on one hand and ignited a fireball on the other. He felt an ominous feeling as he tweaked deep into the pits of the mountain.
Flap!
There was a sudden flapping of wings as a flock of bats emerged just in front of them. Frank stopped and readied himself for attack. He had expected this to happen. The bats started circling him and occasionally tried to sweep down to him. He could see that they were clawed. He wouldn't want to be torn apart by those creatures. Quickly he started hitting them with his dragon fireballs. The balls landed with great impacts. The power they displayed when in actual use was unprecedented!
It took him only a few minutes to get rid of the monster bats.
"Wow! That was fun!" he exclaimed.
"In deed!" A female voice said. Frank raised his head and looked into the darkness ahead. Instinctively he increased the brightness of his flashlight and he could now see over a bigger diameter.
"It was fun in deed!" A very beautiful woman emerged from the shadows. Frank looked at her. She was not Noel!
"Who are you?" he asked, pointing his blade towards her.