A few hours later, Kai snapped open his eyes.
He had canceled the Dementor's form and was now sitting over a boulder. The surroundings smelled of ash and sulfur, as a cool sea breeze fought a never-ending battle with the heat. It was impossible to tell that there was an ancient town and castle on the opposite slope of this volcano. Wherever Kai turned his head, he could only see raw, wild nature.
Kai hadn't been idling, waiting for Selene to show up. Though she had made slight of the problem, he knew it would need her an excruciating search, time, and effort to stumble upon the egg. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. She could chance upon the last egg in the next second, or not even after a week. There was no way to tell.
In the past week, Kai had asked Chaos about the hiring of team members.
He pulled up the notification to give it another look.
…
[
A Captain of Guard must refer to the following points before asking for a team:
1. The Privilege of requesting team members is available once during a Main Mission. The Privilege Fee is divided into two parts. A one-time Privilege Accessing Fee of 300 Mission Credits and a Privilege Recruitment Fee, for any request about the members' nature
2. Minimum Team Members: 2, Maximum Team Members: 4
3. Price/member: Newbie - 10 MC, 1st floor - 20 MC, 2nd floor - 50 MC, 3rd floor - 100 MC, Party Member - 0 MC
4. The order of team members' appearance in the Random World can be stretched up to 1 week
5. The Main Mission Objective of all the members from the same floor must be the same.
]
…
These five points had solved many mysteries for Kai regarding his Initiation Mission.
Moreover, the biggest mystery of his Initiation Mission wasn't some fact or thing, but a person.
Shae, Kai remembered, sneering. I wondered why such a useless Contestant was there along with other monsters.
Now that Kai could see the 1st point, and from the fact that he could dictate the nature of members by paying a Recruitment Fee, he could tell that his old friend, Arlen Silvas, must have specifically asked for a pretty, blond newbie, irrespective of her Stats in that mission.
It seemed incredibly stupid and creepy to do so. Not to mention, Kai had no way to tell if Arlen had even asked for a team or not.
But when Kai recalled the constant annoyance Arlen had shown and his simpering behavior around Shae, he couldn't help but accept this theory with iron certainty.
No wonder, Kai thought, shaking his head. No fucking wonder that he hated me for flirting with her. Who knows how many Mission Credits he must have paid as a Recruitment Fee to get her on his team? Arlen-oh-Arlen, even I, with all my lust for older women, couldn't have thought of doing so. Tch! Well, that's one mystery solved, I guess.
Another mystery, and of a more personal nature, was the room where Kai had appeared after teleportation. He had always wondered why he never returned to that timeless room in his subsequent missions. The 4th point untangled that mystery for him.
Arlen must have asked for a team two days before my appearance, Kai analyzed. He remembered Arlen had mentioned to him that they had come to the world two days before the Kai and Shae. So, he kept the newbies separated from the experienced Contestants by letting Desmond, Sonia, and Simon teleport into the Random World almost instantaneously, and keeping me and Shae on hold for two days.
It all seemed reasonable to him, but he had deciphered more out of his analysis.
If I am right, Kai thought, tapping his finger on the boulder, then I could have stayed in that timeless-room for max two days, as intended by Arlen. But the moment I stepped out of the room, the System compressed the remaining time. So, I can say that I jumped one and half a day into the future.
Time Travel… Kai shuddered, thinking of that. Not because he had unknowingly traveled through time even before entering the Primordial Tower, but because of his intentions of compressing time at the end of this Main Mission.
By compressing the time, Kai reflected, his brows sweating, I will jump over that much amount of time. The Cost! How much the System will fucking cost me for this service?
Kai gulped audibly, and he wondered if the Mission Credits he had stowed would be enough for the task or not. If not for Chaos putting an unimaginable price on this information, then he would have already got the answer to this question.
I would only know the price just before compressing the rest of the time, Kai thought, nodding to himself, and rubbing the sweat away from falling into his eyes.
Not wasting any time, Kai used his Privilege, as Meg must have been waiting for him to do so in the Primordial Tower.
-/Chaos,/- he called out telepathically, deliberating his next words. -/Assign a team of two members, both from the 3rd floor, including Party member, Morning Mist. Their Main Mission Objective would be to assist me in delivering the last egg to Daenerys Targaryen. Keep them on hold for 1 week./-
Kai gave a last nod to his words, and the notification followed.
…
[
Checking on Party member's status…
Status: Available
Assigning a random 3rd-floor Contestant…
Assigning Main Mission…
Main Mission Assigned
Price: 400 Mission Credits
]
…
Kai paid the price, not without wincing.
…
[
Captain of Guard, Kai Stormborn, your team members have arrived in Dragonseed Inn at the western port on Dragonstone.
They will be allowed to come out after 1 week.
In case you are dead, or unavailable to accept their proof letters, their mission would be deemed successful with no rewards.
]
…
That's quite fast, Kai thought and then sighed.
At first, he wanted to let Meg appear right now on the island. But now he desired to know if his theory that the System would keep her in a timeless-room for 1 week was true or not.
I just hope that Meg would guess my intention and won't step out of the room, Kai thought. Because in that case, she would lose this free 1 week time and would just appear 1 week in the future.
Suddenly, Selene's intangible form slithered out of the ground beside him. She was burned, and her dragon-like white scales were glowing red as if they were of metal, Kai observed. Her eyes were closed, as he had already ordered her to not open her third eye without his permission.
-I need Mana to go on,- she hissed calmly and calculatingly. Then her hisses became dreamy. -I wonder how far could I have pushed myself before dying in your service, master.-
Kai said nothing. He was waiting for one last hiss. And, yes. There it was, more menacing and vile.
-I want to hunt,- she hissed murderously. -Let's start with that red bitch.-
Kai threw a fish toward her and wondered about the mystery named Ghost Basilisk.
****************
Bonus Chapter Deal (applicable for both WN and SH readers from now on):
1. 70 Power Stones per day: +1 Bonus Chapter
2. 90 Power Stones per day: +2 Bonus Chapters
3. 750+ Powers Stones (at the end of the week): +3 Bonus Chapters (can stack over the 2nd point)
**************
Yesterday Power Stone Count: 61 - No Bonus Chapter sadly.
You will get a Bonus Chapter for the day before yesterday, though. So, Bonus Chapter +1