A loud screeching sounded in the sky above them. The serpent, about to drop him into its mouth paused and it instead had a horrified look. The eagle was shockingly three meters long and its wings spanned five meters from wing to wing.
Its talons appeared metallic. Its beak appeared to be enforced with steel. It had eyes similar to the serpent's. A flap of its wings were enough to blow away some loosely held trees and break few branches.
The talons were opened and held on the serpent close to its head. The talons seemed to pierce into the serpent's tough skin. The serpent wriggled in pain and tried to fight back helplessly.
Marx was still held by its tail. He watched the war with an obvious victor. The serpent lost in ten seconds and it went still. He had thought that he would be free after it was dead but it appeared that he was now part of the eagle's food.
The eagle flapped its giant wings and lifted the serpent effortlessly. The eagle soared into the sky and reached the cloud level. Marx was held by the tail of the serpent and he dared not look down.
The eagle was moving at a super speed and he could see where it was heading. Above the mointains. He was glad he got to visit many places before he died. He could feel them dropping.
He cursed when he saw the eagle was not slowing down even when about to land. He thanked God for the serpent protected him from the friction and also damage that would happen if he was dragged at such a speed such as breaking his spine.
He closed his eyes for he felt like they would pop out if he did not. They were slowing down and he could tell they were about to land. Well, the eagle stopped abruptly and the rest of the serpents body was flung forward.
Marx felt the serpent tail uncoil from him and he was also flung meters away. He rolled and he felt his chest ache. He could tell he had some broken ribs. He coughed blood when he stopped.
He raised his head and saw the eagle's nest. It was almost twenty meter wide. The serpent was all over the nest and its tail was outside the nest. On the nest were almost ten eaglets.
They were probably new borns and were hen size. The family feasted on the serpent and soon, the serpent was no more. Marx regretted not running away when the family was feasting on the serpent.
He could see the hungry look on the eaglets. To think that they were still unsatisfied after feasting on that serpent. He could tell that it was a few tonnes heavy. The eaglets turned their eyes to him.
They then looked at their mother as if asking why she had not given them the appetizer first. The mother seemed to reply to them and they nodded in understanding.
"I am not a dessert!" Marx shouted when he saw the eagle flying at him.
It did not even use its talons and bit him. Marx thought that this was the end. There was probably nothing that would save from this mountain. Even luck couldn't. The eagle laid the dish infront of the kids.
Marx accidentally glimpsed at the countdown and he felt releived. He was never going to disobey the system ever again. He saw the eaglets all bite at him at the same time.
"Goodbye cruel world."
[00:00:00]
He could only imagine the eagles pecking at the empty air. If he could describe his experience, he could say it was thrilling and frightening. He knew that the next time he came here, he would not be that lucky to have the countdown save him.
***
He shot his eyes open and glanced at his surrounding. It all appeared to be dark at first but he got used to the darkness and realized that he was in his room. Also, he could hear the birds chirping outside.
This could only mean that all that he experienced was nothing but a dream. It was a good bad dream. He could also feel that his ribs were not broken. Could it be that he had been dreaming all along?
[Complete the following missions;
Run for ten kilometers_
Do 100 push-ups _
Do 300 sit-ups _
Suitable punishment to be metted incase of failure
[03:12:18]
Marx at first could not understand why it was three hours rather than six but he realized that he had slept during mission time. It appeared that the system wanted him awake very early.
He was about to stretch but realizing yesterday's punishment, he could not afford to waste a single second. He kicked the blanket and stormed outside the house like it was on fire.
He was glad when he saw the notification .
[Distance ran_ 30 meters]
Seeing this, he did not stop and hurried outside the compound. He ignored the calls from his mother. He ran towards the village border and headed in the direction of the fallen city.
Since he realized that the system was serious about taking away the boosts, he decided to take advantage of the punishment. If he could tap into the feeling he had when he was being chased, he would have an easy time running.
He concentrated on the feeling and forgot about his tiredness. He even forgot to look at the screen. He stopped when he heard the system's voice. He had realized that it spoke to him whenever he was not concentrating.
[Mission set A completed.
Distance ran_ 10km
Number of push-ups _
Number of sit-ups _
[2:09:17]
He stopped when he heard the notification. He sat down for a while but he stood up instantly. It was better to do the rest of the exercises when he was still in the mood.
He started doing sit-ups as the system counted. Whenever he went halfway , it was not counted. He finally completed the sit-ups but he felt like his chest was burning up. He was taking in as much air as his lungs could hold.
He rolled and lay in push-up position. He started doing push-ups without counting. He had developed a certain trust in the system that it would stop him from exceeding the required number.
As expected, the sysyem alerted him when he reached a hundred.
[Congratulations. Mission set 1 complete.
Ran _ 10km
Push-ups_100
Sit-ups_ 300.
Rewards;1. Boost in physical abilities by five times. [;2.]. [;3.]
Choose between the above boxes.]
Marx was thoughtful for a while and decided on box number 2.
[;2. Limited access to knowledge stored in the system for ten minutes.
;3. Access to system features for five minutes.
Reward 2 has been granted.
[00:09:58]
Marx hated the countdown part of the system more than anything else. It would start counting even without confirming whether he was ready.
He was also not sure what knowledge he required at the moment but he was struck by a question he had noted when he was registered.
"So, how come I am user number 999 when I understand that I am supposed to be the second user?" He asked.
[User not eligible for this type of information. ACCESS DENIED!!!]
Marx was horrified by the red exclamation marks that appeared on the screen. Could it not just tell him calmly?
"Can you tell me where you are from?" Marx asked. He had realized that there was a probability that it was not made by humans.
[ACCESS DENIED!!!]
"F*ck your limited access! I should have chosen box three," Marx was irritated by his limited access.
[00:08:01]
"F*ck! What is the story behind your name?" He asked. He was also expecting access denial.
[Entropy Seeker is the name given to me by my creater. Entropy means the the amount of disorder a system can have. You could wonder why have me named Entropy Seeker but you still will not understand. ACCESS DENIED!!!]
Marx felt like if he could hold it, he would stomp on it until it was all crushed. He was now wondering why it was going through great lengths to hide its history from him but it had left him a clue.
Well, it was not like he could understand all that information without proper knowledge. He decided that once he set out to seek revenge, he would study any information about the universe that he could acquire.
He understood maybe the entropy topic was complex and with his current knowledge he could not understand its explanation. He was also realizing that he could not access higher information if he lacked the basics.
He ended up asking about electricity and how computers worked. He was glad that he had access to that information. He also asked how electricity could be generated and he was given various methods.
He realized that he could power up a laptop but it could not work without various programs and it could be close to useless without internet. What was internet to begin with?