The next morning Adam's door was knocked on vigorously, when he answered the door he met Richard beaming at him. "Hope you had a good night's rest , newbie?"
"Put on clothes and come out in at most five minutes. Remember the familiarization I mentioned?" Adam remembered that particular moment when Richard said there was going to be some familiarization.
"Good" he nodded then sauntered off.
Closing off the door, Adam retreated into the safety of his door. The interior was at an impressive five star standard with plush pillows, a cushy comfortable queen sized bed and rug that swallowed his foot in its entirety.
The moment he claimed the door, information was uploaded into his consciousness, informing him about the perks of the door. It could be expanded according to how much his achievements were worth. Right now it could be made as big as quarter the size of a medium category stadium. It could also be made into any terrain and built in as diverse of ways, as long as the imagination of the owner was capable of.
Another function was that various tools could be materialized in the realm with no cost, the exception were organic substances apart from normal plants and tools that necessitated complex energy sources. Whatever was conjured in the room could also not be brought out of it.
Adam opted instead to rest instead of testing the gimmicks of the room, the resulting room a copy of his room at Atlanta.
Soon he was back at the lounge, it was not really a lounge save for the wide space but that was what it was being called. He noticed Richard with his trademark attire and a woman, Korean he noticed her nationality immediately. She was dressed in a pink tank top, black cargo pants and bright pink Converse sneakers.
She glanced at him, looked him over once, then she continued with what she was doing. Writing inside a diary with her legs resting on a table positioned amidst four comfortable leather chairs arranged in a circle.
Three of the chairs were occupied, Richard, Yan and a man in white top, light blue jeans and a mop of light silver hair.
Adam made himself comfortable on the empty seat in his new attire. An armless blue top and light blue jeans.
Satisfied with the gathering, Richard clapped twice, directing attention to him, clearing his throat exaggeratedly he began.
"As the defacto leader of our small group and the oldest member here, it rests upon me to inform you about this place."
Except for the lady among them, both newbie's ears perked up at this. Satisfied at the attention, Richard continued.
"For all my time here, I have gone through eight dives. A dive is a foray into unknown territories with nothing but basic language mastery and a mission if you might.
It takes ruthlessness, determination and vast amount of luck to survive" his gaze carried a serious look as he looked each newbie square in the face. "Survival is not guaranteed, for we fight against the world we find ourselves in, the world's will and the schemes of other participants."
"Yes" ,he confirmed "there are other groups like ours, personally I have encountered twenty different groups. Some hostile, others neutral while some are outright murderous."
That sent Adam's mind whirling, just how many participants are there?
"My former comrades before your arrival were annihilated in the last dive. Only Yan and I remained. We didn't survive because we were the strongest but only due to blasted dog shit luck. It was a ridiculous lucky ritual that enabled our survival." As he said this, a shift in mood came over him, which was gone in almost an instant.
"Good thing you are awakened already, you don't need to spend essence points on
that." He smiled.
No one interrupted as he continued, Basically, there were all sorts of pathways to being powerful. Awakening is a process by which the soul is enlivened to the mind, the process sends a feedback that manifests an ability or more. This was a solid route to the top as the latent potential in the soul could be tapped at higher realms for the individual to grow more powerful. Other routes can also be added and it isn't only awakened that participate in dives. Those with no awakening are dumped into the world during a dive, although they are mostly liabilities to old timers but sometimes they might also be of help, depending on the circumstances.
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Unsurprisingly, essence points could be spent to awaken, the price increasing by a lot if the individual however chose not to awaken at the first opportunity.
Newbie's pack, Richard called it.
"I wasn't awakened at first, I went with strength enhancement. It was short term but I didn't regret it. It wasn't until my seventh dive that I managed to purchase an awakening. I got discounted because I was close to awakening but that is up to my reserve of essence points saved over several dives."
Shaking his head in mirth "but it was worth it, the awakening took me past the middle threshold, putting me on par with those at the top."
He explained the levels of powers and how insurmountable the gaps in between are.
After telling them most of the basic knowledge, he looked at the newbies, expecting questions.
The other newbie with silver hair raised his right hand in the air.
"Yes, ask away," Richard answered.
"How do we integrate with the worlds we dive into?" A reasonable question, Richard praised in his mind.
"First of, a day before each dive, we are given information about it. Sometimes there are options to choose between some worlds with their difficulty ratings displayed, other times, there would only be a single world to choose.
The thing is, as soon as we arrive, an identity is made for us most of the time. Other times, we have to create one ourselves, but there won't be suspicions that we do not belong."
"Even if we try to tell them, it would be something else that gets registered by them." "Sometimes, that becomes a cheat, other times it is disastrous".
Convenient. He also asked questions about what could be purchased and the ratio of basic points to advanced points and essence points.
Basic points couldn't substitute for advanced points. While a thousand advanced points would equal an essence point.
Throughout the exchange, the only lady amidst them continued scribbling away on her small diary, no one disturbed her. Mostly due to Richard warning them both not to get on her bad side.
"That ends it for today. Tomorrow we examine your combat skills and how good of a grasp you have on your abilities." Richard announced as he sat up from the chair.
"It would be wise to peruse the Monolith. But make sure not to purchase any upgrade that would not synchronise with your awakened abilities. You can purchase whatever you want, you earned it after all. And save for a soul upgrade if you have one in mind."
He was gone before the two could react.
The moment he left, Yan crushed her teeth on an apple that appeared in her free hand, the right one didn't pause its writing activity. She paid the newbies absolutely no mind at all except a furtive glance which they didn't even notice.
The ambience suddenly turned awkward. Yan noticing the sudden silence, dropped her scribble tools, sat up straight and said while looking them both over.
"My name is Min Yan, been here for six dives."
"There will be time to catch up if you survive your first dive."
Satisfied with her friendly reminder, she left her seat and went over to the Monolith. Once she got three meters near it, she stopped for several seconds. Then she left, with a bag slung over her back, filled to the brim with fruits. The hidden meaning was that three meters was the range they could communicate with the Monolith.
Silently Adam pondered his current circumstances, he wouldn't settle for anything less than striving to be the strongest, capabilities were proportional to strength in the end. The strongest would surely survive, that was his train of thought. His musings were interrupted when he noticed a shadow before him. He had completely lost himself in thought that he forgot there was another presence here besides himself. An habit he acquired on planet earth.
"Hi, I am Zero", he said, offering his hand up in a handshake. Seeing him up close Adam noticed as he shook the palm offered. His face was blank of expression, just like a statue's.
"Since we're from the same batch, we should get more familiar with each other's capabilities, it will make things easier. What do you say?"
"That is alright by me". He nodded his head. Then Zero continued as he explained his abilities.
"I can appropriate and tether fate to myself or other things, this means I can directly assume the fate of an object, a person or a concept for a period of time."
"This includes their habits, abilities, and lots more. Although I have the choice to drop what I don't like about the fate I am assuming."
"The only drawback is that my assumption would be weaker except it is a concept."
A pretty powerful ability, Adam imagined the sceneries he could make use of that ability. It is a flexible and powerful ability in the right hands.
"Your ability is powerful," Adam praised. Of course, he had noticed that although Zero's door contained only two motifs, the smaller of the two motifs was larger than his, likely the achievement was of great importance or effect, he had no clue. But this guy was probably stronger than he was.
"I am a psychic, telekinesis, telepathy are both my main expertise. I can also sense what exists and transpires within a certain range from me"
"Impressive, you should be very capable with your ability."
"Someone said psychics possess one of the strongest potentials. Each challenge they overcome makes them stronger."
That statement was unexpected to Adam as he failed to wrap his head around the implications of Zero's words. Zero noticed this as he commented, giving him an amusing look, the only shred of emotion that graced his face. "You really need to check out the Monolith".
He had already begun moving towards it even as he completed his statement. Adam decided to tag along.
As they were almost within three meters of it, Adam asked curiously. "I got an A grade for my difficulty rating. Even so, I almost died. What was yours?"
"Oh that, it was just a S grade". Zero didn't even turn back as he answered, stepping fully into the three meters radius as he went still.
Shock and incredulity swept through Adam's mind. His rating of Zero's strength went up two notches in his mind. He had played some video games and he knew how high difficulties were. If A grade is similar to hard, then S grade would be impossible.
Recovering from his shock, he similarly stepped into the three meters radius.