At Haruka's house, "Who is in this house, come out immediately," a fat man shouted into a microphone. He was in a suit, and behind him were a few more people in suits and a few bodyguards. His tone was very arrogant.
Akihiko and Haruto came out of the house, but despite the ruckus, there was no one around to witness. Both of them seemed to recognize that man and approached him, but they saw a thin, invincible line with a small refractive index, showing that inside was their property.
"Mr. Shimamoto Sachihiko, what a pleasure to see you. I've always admired your speeches," Akihiko overpraised the man as they came closer.
"This place is taken by the government. You are under orders to evacuate your house. You have 3 days to do so," the man stated.
"Sorry?" Akihiko changed his tone instantly. "This is too sudden, and what about compensation?"
"The country is facing a crisis, and you want compensation? You should contribute something to this country. Everyone in this area has already donated their land to the government for the sake of the country; you are the only one left."
That triggered all the pent-up anger Akihiko had for not being able to help his children (Haruka was more important to him than his own son) transition smoothly from teenage to adulthood.
His children were going to dangerous places to protect peace by contributing their part to the country, and this fat man with bodyguards was wasting time here, taking corruption to a whole other level.
"We paid our taxes on time and donated to charity every year on my son's and niece's birthdays. We are law-abiding citizens and constructed this house, and you're asking us to give it to you? Does that sum it up?" Akihiko retorted.
"Yes."
"Fuck you, bitch. Get lost." Akihiko showed his middle finger or at least he wanted to say and do that, but he couldn't risk ruining his public image.
"Ahem! We are terribly sorry, Mr. Shimamoto Sachihiko. I am not the head of my family anymore. My son took over; you can speak to him once he comes." He tapped Haruto with his elbow.
"Right. My daughter took over the position of the head of the family, please come after a few days." They then simply turned around to walk away.
"Am I a joke to you two?" Sachihiko smashed the megaphone on the ground.
Those two turned their heads in seriousness and asked, "Are we a joke to you then?"
"Our children fought with their lives to secure this piece of land, and you want to steal what is rightfully ours? Even if you are the government, we won't tolerate this treatment."
"You, your entire family will be put in jail soon. Just wait for the arrest." He knew he couldn't enter the area, so he gave up for the moment.
Akira and Haruka took off their masks and went to a hotel.
Haruka opened the door, and Akira went inside first. Then he quickly took out the pack of cards and rubbed it on his face with a lot of pleasure. Haruka shivered looking at him.
"Cut it out! It's creepy, Aki. At the age of doing it with girls, you are doing it with a pack of cards?"
"Hehe, then come closer." Akira caught her and rubbed her face with his.
She pushed him away in disgust. "Go and bathe first, you stinky."
After he bathed and came back, which Haruka did before him, Haruka asked, "Just what kind of weapon are you going to use? You are confusing me day by day. First, you got the centerline steel strings, then you got that S-rank needle set, and now you got a pack of cards."
"My fighting style is throwing, what else?" Said Akira. "I can tie the strings to needles and control them with the SSS string control skill. Then this deck comes with a feature of return. I don't have to worry about picking or losing them. You know how much time it will save me?"
"That sounds fun, teach me."
"Maybe after you reach SSS rank." Akira fell on the bed with a satisfied smile.
Haruka quickly walked on her knees to him on the bed and held his arm like a child asking for ice cream. "No, that's too long. Teach me now; otherwise, I won't let you sleep."
He pulled her, and she fell on the bed at his side. "Tomorrow E-rank dungeons will spawn. We have to prepare to go wherever they spawn."
"Prepare? Don't they just spawn everywhere like F-rank?" Haruka asked.
"No, that was only for F-rank. From now on, dungeons will spawn randomly at random times. If we plan correctly and act quickly, we might get rewards from 2 to 3% of E-rank tower dungeons."
"Just 2 to 3%?" Haruka looked disappointed.
That caught Akira off guard. "Hey, we didn't even raid 0.5% of F-rank tower dungeons together in Japan."
"Teehee, just kidding." Haruka bit her tongue cutely. "By the way, we are still level 1. Is there still a title we need to get with level 1?" She asked.
"No, but we have been overpowering all monsters, so I want you to experience facing a monster stronger than you. So let's stay at level 1 for some more time."
"By the way, I forgot to ask you, why did you sell all the materials?" Haruka asked.
"Actually, the price for those materials is too high. Their value will fall by at least 90% in the coming days, never to rise again. With tomorrow's E-rank dungeons, more powerful resources will come into this world, so they will be a waste if they pile up in our inventory."
"What is the use of VIP status?"
"I asked you to rest, but you are unloading your questions now? But I will tell you.
From now on, dungeons only spawn at different time intervals, players can overcrowd dungeons. If we have high status, the player association will let us enter them first. That's why we grinded like there was no tomorrow for the last 3 days.
The association doesn't know about this yet. They brought out the VIP status for giving other benefits, but after dungeons spawn at different times, they can first take control of it and sell it to other organizations. They still don't know this, but they will soon implement it this way once they see dungeons spawn at different timelines."
"Wait, won't organizations have more money to bid? We can never outbid them. Are we planning to build an organization too?"
"Too much hassle," said Akira, "I just want to be with my family and play as much as I want with my childhood friend. As long as I become the strongest and you become the second strongest in the world, that is enough for me."
That uneasy feeling he had before kicked in when he said that. 'What the?' He wondered what it was, but he knew exploring it would take a lot of time and energy, so he didn't let it get to his head.
"It will never be enough because I will be the strongest," Haruka said competitively.
"Then you have to get more crystals than me."
"You didn't answer my previous question though." Haruka insisted.
"They will send us in for free. You wonder, won't they make a loss, but no because this will urge the organizations to get VIP status.
An organization member with 4th-level VIP status will get the right to bid even if we are there. But If he is 3rd level like us, as we are two and he is one, we can go in free as solo players. He can also go in free, but he can't take anyone with him.
That's why I got it for both of us. Even if there are 2 with 3rd-level VIP status who want to bid, we can still enter as solo players and they can't bid, only when they are more than us at an equal status, they can bid.
Once they bid and win, the dungeon totally belongs to them. They can also get a higher status than us, and then even one person is enough to start the bid. Once some organization wins the bid, only the people they allow can enter from then on.
Of course, one can always enter without permission, but they will obviously become criminals.
But we don't have to worry about them outclassing us because getting that status for a few people will be a huge loss for organizations and when one person owns one dungeon, the same person cannot bid for another dungeon.
So if they want to get more than one dungeon, they have to pay for more than one person's VIP status, which will be a huge loss as they also need to process the materials for profits."
He looked at her, and she was already asleep. While pulling the bedsheet over her, he said, "You can't even handle that explanation, how did you manage those 12 years of suffering?"
He fell asleep quickly, but Haruka opened her eyes. '12 years of suffering? Is that even considered a nightmare anymore? It's more like you saw the future or came back in time.'
Haruka finally managed to get a clue about Akira's odd behavior.