[Mission Updated]
Secure the office building and assist any survivors inside.
[Floors searched: 0/3]
[Survivors found: 14/56]
mission rewards will be determined my completeness of the objectives.
Xander frowned , it seemed like the system had some sort of information gathering component. While this information is extremely helpful Xander couldn't help but consider how the survivors might be distributed , he wouldn't know if he had missed someone until he cleared every floor and time was of the essence. He checked over the mission information one more time before deciding to close it , however , as he scanned through the numbers he noticed a subtle difference
[Survivors found: 14/54]
Shit , is that what it means by "completeness"
Xander grew frantic , they had barely started their search and the number of survivors was rapidly decreasing , at this rate they'd be lucky to gather 20 people.
Logic said that splitting up was the best choice in this scenario, but Xander couldn't bring himself to suggest sending more people to their deaths. As he toiled over what to do next, Laura's voice broke through his thoughts.
"We need to cover more ground," she said, her tone steady despite the tension in the air. "We can't continue at this pace. If we're going to survive, we need to move—divide, search the building, and find anyone left alive."
Xander's gaze flickered to her, catching the determination in her eyes. She wasn't just speaking for herself; she was rallying the others, trying to make the decision easier for him. He knew she was right. They couldn't afford to wait, not with the clock ticking down on their chances.
"Okay," he said finally, his voice low but resolute. "But we stick to the plan. form groups of 3 or 4 and don't take unnecessary risks. If you find survivors, bring them back here. We reconvene and make our next move from there."
Laura nodded, already stepping into action, organizing the small group. Xander couldn't help but feel she had accepted part of his burden, and that gave him a brief moment of relief. But that relief was short-lived. He still had his own role to play.
As the only one with a chance of surviving a direct encounter with any of the creatures, he knew he'd have to take the vanguard. Alone. It was his responsibility to clear the way, to speed run through each floor, making sure the others could follow without risk. Every step forward was a gamble, but he had no choice.
Xander's boots crunched against the broken tiles as he approached the stairwell, the faint echo of his steps bouncing off the walls. The air was thick with dust, and the faint hum of flickering lights above barely cut through the stillness. Broken furniture lay scattered around the entrance, remnants of a hasty escape. A metal door hung slightly ajar, the rusty hinges creaking with every slight shift of the wind.
The walls, once sterile white, were now marked with deep gouges and streaks of grime, as if the building itself had been scarred by the chaos outside. A few flickering emergency lights cast weak, stuttering beams down the stairwell, illuminating the narrow, concrete steps that led upward into darkness. The cold metal handrail, chipped and rusted in places, ran along the left side of the stairs, and Xander's fingers grazed it instinctively as he took the first step.
Each movement felt deliberate—his footsteps disturbed the oppressive silence. The stairwell smelled faintly of mildew, mixed with the acrid tang of something burnt. He felt the temperature drop as he ascended, the chill seeping into his bones, and though the air was still, there was a sense of movement in the shadows, like something was waiting in the corners, unseen and unnoticed.
The higher he climbed, the more the dust seemed to thicken, making his breath ragged as if each inhale drew in more of the stale, decaying atmosphere. His eyes scanned the space ahead of him, sharp, expecting danger to emerge from the gloom at any moment.
Those brief seconds seemed to stretch into eternity, each step feeling heavier. Every creak of the stairs, every shift in the air, made him tense, expecting something to spring from the darkness. But nothing came. The seconds dragged on, the world outside feeling more and more distant.
At last, he reached the landing of the next floor, the last step heavy beneath his foot as he stepped onto the cold, cracked tile. The door ahead of him loomed, slightly ajar, a sliver of darkness beyond it. The sense of anticipation, of impending danger, hung in the air like a thick fog, but he was here now.
The other groups seem to be making decent progress
Xander contemplated his next move as his looked at the mission window.
[Floors searched: 1/3]
[Survivors found: 20/50]
"So, the top floor's finally been fully searched, I guess," Xander remarked, his voice shattering the eerie silence around him.
where are the survivors
"This floor's an open-plan layout," Xander muttered to himself, his eyes sweeping over the expansive space. "I should be able to see people."
Alarm bells rang in his mind as a chilling silence settled around him. It was too quiet. If everyone on this floor was dead, then where was the thing that had killed them? The creature he'd faced before couldn't have been the culprit—there were no signs of destruction, no mangled bodies, no bloodstains on the walls. It was as if the very air had swallowed up the carnage, leaving nothing but an unsettling calm.
A sense of unease crawled over him. I'm missing something. Based on what he'd seen so far, it was fair to say that the office building was acting like a dungeon, and the creature he'd fought had likely been a mini-boss. But a dungeon wouldn't just leave an empty level behind. Something was seriously wrong.
His footsteps were slow, deliberate. The floor's layout was simple: an open-plan design with rows of desks and low cubicle walls that created long sight lines. The stark fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting a sterile, almost lifeless glow. It wasn't just the silence that unnerved him; it was the stillness, the unnatural way everything seemed suspended in time. It almost felt like the building itself was holding its breath.
Then, a shift. A barely perceptible sound—a light scraping, almost too faint to register. Xander's heart skipped a beat. He froze, straining to listen. The noise came again, this time louder, closer. Something's here.
His eyes swept over the floor, trying to locate the source, but there was nothing. Just empty desks, motionless chairs, and the dull hum of the lights above. His breath came in shallow bursts, as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He was no longer alone.
A sudden movement caught his eye—just at the edge of his vision. Xander's pulse quickened. There had been no creature in sight before, but now, something unseen was moving in the periphery.
The scrape came again, followed by a low, almost imperceptible hiss. It wasn't a creature he could see, but he could feel its presence in the air around him—a silent, deadly force that was stalking him, just out of reach. His instincts screamed for him to move, to retreat, but the only way forward was through this unnerving calm.
Then, a slight shift in the air—a whisper of movement behind him. His muscles tensed. Too close. He spun around, the rebar raised instinctively, and just in time. A glint of motion streaked across the space in front of him—a blur of shape and color—but it was gone before his eyes could fully track it.
For a split second, all Xander saw was the faint distortion of air, a ripple like a heat wave crossing the room. It was barely there, but he'd caught it.
There's something wrong with the shadows.
He didn't hesitate. His foot slammed down on the floor as he surged forward, swinging the rebar in a wide arc, trusting his instincts more than his eyes.
The sound of metal slicing through empty air was deafening, Xander sensed something rapidly approaching him , in this moment he activated time stop.
[Xander Knox]
Time : (1099/1100)
Strength : 3
Constitution : 3
Intelligence : 7
Agility : 5
Innate abilities : Time stop , Time skip , Temporal shift , ???
He was alone now, but he wasn't safe yet.
Xander's gaze flicked around the room, every detail frozen in place—but there was no trace of whatever he was fighting. The stillness of time gave him an eerie clarity, and yet, the absence of the creature only heightened his growing sense of dread. He could see the faint shimmer where it had been moments ago, but it was gone now, as though the creature had never existed at all. The air remained thick, and the unsettling absence of sound only made his heartbeat louder.
His fingers trembled slightly as he reached out, feeling for any disturbance in the air—anything, anything that could give him a clue. His hand passed through the space where he'd last seen the creature, but there was nothing. No texture. No resistance. Just the empty, oppressive stillness of the room.
The color drained from Xander's face as the implications of the situation sank in. His breath quickened, and a cold sweat slicked his skin.
How am I supposed to fight something that I can't even see or touch?
He keenly observed the remaining time he had left,
Time : (1030/1100)
I still have 17 minutes
He had to come up with a plan in the next 17 minutes , easier said than done but what other choice did he have.
He pulled up all the currently available panels from the system
[Xander Knox]
Time : (1000/1000)
Strength : 3
Constitution : 3
Intelligence : 7
Agility : 5
Innate abilities : Time stop , Time skip , Temporal shift , ???
[Mission]
Secure the office building and assist any survivors inside.
[Floors searched: 1/3]
[Survivors found: 20/49]
Unclaimed reward:
"You can't see me" : An item that renders you're level of existence slightly lower.
Slowburn charm: An item that slows down a nearby area.
Warp ring: An evasive item that uses time energy displace the user in space.
[All magic item effects vary based on attributes]
"System , is there anyway to get a more detailed description of these items?"
"Full item descriptions are only available after claiming the reward. However, I can confirm any questions you have about items," the system's flat voice rang out, its tone indifferent and detached. The message was clear—Xander still something to cling onto.
"Can any of these items help me fight whatever's in this room with me?"
"The item "You can't see me" has a negative effect that could be useful to you"
Still as vague as ever
At this point, it was a gamble—whether the system's idea of "useful" aligned with his own. But what other choice did he have? Escaping would be easy enough, but as he glanced back at the mission screen, Xander noticed something : the search hadn't registered this floor yet. That meant he wasn't done here.
Xander sighed as he made up his mind.
[You have selected "You can't see me" as your item reward]
As the words flashed on the screen, a soft shimmer appeared before Xander, and the item materialized into existence. It was a necklace, delicate in design, with a small, smooth stone set at its center. The stone seemed to catch the light in a strange way, as if it were made of something fluid and shifting. The moment his gaze lingered on it, however, the details began to blur, like an image seen through a fogged glass. The necklace's edges, the texture of the stone, and even the chain itself became hazy, harder to focus on the longer he stared.
Xander blinked, rubbing his eyes in confusion. No matter how much he tried to concentrate, the necklace refused to stay still in his vision. It was almost as though the more he tried to analyze it, the more it receded into some unseen space, slipping further away from his perception.
What kind of item was this?
The air around him seemed to grow thicker, as though the very fabric of reality around the necklace was warping, blurring. His mind raced. This... this wasn't just an item. It was as though it had a nature of its own, one that defied the basic laws of perception.
Instinctively, Xander reached out, his fingers brushing against the stone. For a moment, his vision flickered—he felt a brief, disorienting pull, like his senses were being pulled into another plane. Then, just as quickly, the feeling vanished, leaving him standing in the same spot, uncertain of what had just happened.
He hesitated, uncertain of what he'd just triggered. This wasn't just about invisibility—it was as if the necklace itself existed on some plane that could slip through cracks in the world. Could it make him... less real, somehow? Would it hide him, or was there something more? The possibilities were endless, but the danger was clear: this could either save his life or be something far more dangerous than he realized.
He pulled up the new item description
["You can't see me"]
Item type : pendant
Grade : Unknown
[Effects]
You can't see me :
Reduces users perceptibility to others. User becomes harder to detect, making it difficult for enemies or creatures to focus on , hear , or track the user. The users presence is somewhat muted in the perception of the world around him, allowing him to slip through crowds, sneak past enemies, or avoid detection in tense situations.
You can't sense me :
While user becomes harder to perceive by others, he also loses a degree of his own awareness of the world around him. His senses are dulled as his existence becomes less real. He can no longer easily discern the movements or intentions of those around him.
I can't exist :
User stops existing.
System guidance : This item will allow you to interact with different things
Xander's heart skipped a beat as he processed the first and second effects. The pendant was powerful, no doubt about that. It could make him nearly invisible to the creatures and enemies in the area, allowing him to sneak past them or avoid detection altogether. But there was a heavy downside. Losing his own awareness of his surroundings was dangerous—he wouldn't be able to sense or react to movements and intentions as he normally could. If he overused it he would essentially become a passive observer in his own environment, lost to the world around him.
interact with different things
Xander could guess why the system suggested this item as being useful , it seemed his current enemy could not be interacted with in his past state , but with this item it seemed like he had some hope because of the You can't sense me effect.
He swiftly put the pendant on , a soothing sensation radiated from the part of his chest it made contact with. Information flooded his mind , it seemed that operating such an overpowered item isn't exactly simple , he filtered through the data looking for what he needed to do to activate effect 2. Warnings suddenly flooded his vision , cautioning him to the negative impact of You can't sense me and I cant exist , it seemed things were going to be troublesome.