"Ugh…"
I groggily rubbed my eyes, forcing them to open up. Vin's glaring eyes were the first thing I saw after opening my eyes.
This gave me major deja vu vibes. Back in the swimming pool, Vin's face was the first thing that appeared in my vision.
"Look who decided to wake up. Good morning, sleeping beauty." Vin said sarcastically.
"Cut me some slack. Those pterodactyls were enchanted. Getting rid of them was necessary."
"I figured that much. I am just teasing you." A smile appeared on her face.
Slowly, I sat up and took a look at my surroundings.
"Uh, why are we in a utility shed?"
Vin and I were sitting inside a small utility shed. Various power tools, cleaning supplies, and disinfectants were present around us.
The roof of the utility shed was barely eight feet tall and a single light bulb illuminated the entire area. The bulb must be powered by solar energy since electricity is no longer available.
"Because this place is safe. I didn't want to enter the building alone. I basically dragged you around the building until I found this in a corner. I have been waiting here with you for who knows how long."
Without replying, I took out my phone to check the battery. Without any usage, the phone's battery was still alive. It didn't serve any other purpose except to show the time.
"Vin, how long have you been waiting here for?" I asked in a serious tone.
"Uhh, a couple of hours I think? I don't know." Vin shrugged.
"Well, three days have passed since I was knocked out. Today is the sixth day of the apocalypse. The seventh day is about to start in 2 hours." I replied grimly.
…
Vin was stunned by the sudden revelation. She peered at the screen of the phone to confirm the time.
"But it felt like a few hours…" she murmured.
Though it seemed like she was telling the truth, I knew she was hiding something. Spending three days in a utility shed without any food was not possible.
No matter how Vin's base stats were, she needed food to survive. Perhaps a skill helped her to pass the three days.
'Blue, is there a specific term to check the status of other things?'
< Yes. Michael needs to look in the direction of the creature or human he wants to view the stats of and needs to think or say 'Author's Description'. Using a name is easier than trying to conjure up a window through your thoughts. >
'Thanks.'
I stared at Vin's shocked face and said. 'Author's Description' inside my mind.
[ Trying to find the data on the target. ]
[ Error 404: Data on the said target does not exist. Please try again later. ]
Well, that is new.
This was the first time an error occurred while I tried to view the stats of a person I knew. No information was present on Vin's stats.
Hmm, this made sense to me. I never wrote Vin's description so it made sense that her status didn't appear.
If the skill pulled the status from my novel, many statuses might not appear to me. Blue's talk about NPCs and extra characters made sense to me.
The entire population consisted of countless extras from the novel. I could easily access the status of this majority while the remaining minority remained hidden from me.
'It does say try again later. Maybe gathering some information might help in this.'
With that thought, I decided to get up. Vin recovered from her shock as well and stood beside me.
"I don't know what happened but I am sure I have been present here only for a few hours. I am not lying."
"Well, you are the one with [Lie Detection]. Don't worry, I believe you." I reassured her.
With help from Blue, I will investigate Vin later on. Currently, entering Valencia Hall was our main priority.
"Let's go. There is someone I need to meet here."
"Who?"
"You will see."
Together, Vin and I exited the utility shed. The backside of Valencia Hall stood ahead of me. The backside of the building lacked proper care considering how numerous vines were present on the building.
The white color of the building faded with time and the backside was left unpainted. A small wooden door was present in one corner of the building, leading to its inside.
"Going through the backdoor is better. We will attract less attraction inside." I suggested.
"I agree."
Together, we decided to use the backdoor to enter the building.
One might wonder why entering the building was a must. You only needed to enter the safe zone to pass the scenario and even if you didn't do that, surviving outside the safe zone was possible.
|| The new scenario for those in the safe zone required them to gather inside the building and participate together. As long as you were present inside the safe zone, the Entertainer in charge of the scenario teleported you inside the building.
This was a major requirement for the second scenario which put humans against each other.
For the purpose of entertainment, it was necessary for the Entertainers to gather the maximum number of humans in one location. ||
It was simple. You had no choice except going inside the building if you wanted to survive.
Most of the survivors who reached the safe zone automatically ventured inside the building due to curiosity. Some were forced inside by the Entertainer regulating their 1st scenario.
'Hmm, its such a complex system. Though they are streaming and regulating, they haven't properly set up the streaming channels. I guess they will start that from the second scenario.'
Currently, the apocalypse on Earth was being broadcasted by all the Entertainers at once. Though different Entertainers regulated different areas of the city, individual streaming was yet to start.
Once that happened, each Entertainer controlled a particular channel. Higher beings would have to enter their channels to view particular areas.
It was similar to joining the live stream of a gamer on MeTube or Bwitch platform. Multiple people could be playing the same game but your favorite player belonged to one channel only.
< Michael still has to check the system messages from earlier. > Blue reminded.
'Ahh right.'
I remembered the messages I dismissed earlier after fighting the pterodactyls.
Conjuring them up wasn't tough considering how I didn't cross them. Yes, you could either cross the messages or minimize them for the future.
Whenever I forgot to display any system notifications, I simply said that the character had minimized the window to avoid distraction.
=
[ Congratulations! You have made it to safe zone. ]
[ You have met the clearing conditions of the first scenario. Rewards will be given once the time limit is up. Please proceed inside the building in the meantime. ]
+
This was the scenario passing window. I crossed it since it wasn't important to me.
+
[ 'Pterodactyl has been killed. Reward: 100 glens ]
[ 'Pterodactyl has been killed. Reward: 100 glens ]
[ 'Pterodactyl has been killed. Reward: 100 glens ]
[ 'Pterodactyl has been killed. Reward: 100 glens ]
[ 'Pterodactyl has been killed. Reward: 100 glens ]
+
Tsk, only 500 glens. The rewards for killing those annoying beast should have been higher. This soured my mood.
'Hmm, one more window?'
+
[ Numerous 'Viewers' are interested in you. The 'Viewers' want to become your supporters. ]
+
Interesting…
Viewers. They went by many names but all those watching the scenarios through the streaming platforms were called 'Viewers'.
They went by many names. Gods, Immortals, Devils, Constellations, Akumas, Saints and many other names were used to refer to them.
In the end, 'Viewers' was the main name given to the watchers and enjoyers of the scenarios. If a Viewer decided to support a creature, their title evolved to that of a Supporter.
As for the person who chose the Supporter, they were called 'Blessed'. The exact meaning of the word shouldn't be applied to all those who chose supporters.
The Viewers looking at me wanted to become my supporter. This meant that I managed to gather the interest of the beings from higher realms.
Perhaps I might receive a strong supporter who could help me match Ray's level. Matching the main character was a dream for me.
"I wish it was that simple…" I sighed.
"What?" Vin asked in a confused tone.
"Nothing. Just talking to myself. Don't mind me."
A lot of things might change if I got a supporter. However, becoming a 'Blessed' one might result in many restrictions being imposed on me.
If the thoughts of a Blessed didn't align with the Supporter, conflicts arose and ended in a bad situation.
'I guess I still have time before that.'
Unlocking the backdoor, I dismissed the system message. If the current portion of my thoughts were written in a novel, it would be marked as an information dump chapter.
Well, information dumps are necessary. They also provided some necessary word count so there was that.
I entered the building and another window appeared in front of my face.
+
[ Welcome to the main Safety Zone ]
- No killing.
- No stealing.
- Breaking the rules will result in immediate death.
- Please wait patiently. The Second scenario will begin soon.