'Stephen... Huh...' Soren thought to himself, as he slowly returned back into the real world, before taking off the helmet and lifting himself up to stretch his stiff body, while Lucas was gathering his equipment once more and Nora was gathering some leftover trash, presumably from their own dinner.
"Done for today as well...?" *groan*
"Yup. Feel free to rest for however long you want..." *groan* Lucas stated tiredly, as he yawned as well.
"So, what will be the schedule for tomorrow? I'll need to mentally prepare myself." Soren asked cautiously, while tidying up the couch.
"Probably just messing around with the realism setting or something. I'll think about it later, once I get a nap, right after taking care of the data. Anyways, good night."
"Good night Soren."
"Good night and be careful at night." After splitting ways with the two of them, Soren immediately locked up the front door and crashed on his bed for the night, as the fatigue and drowsiness lulled him in a deep sleep for the rest of the night, until his biological clock woke up his body at seven in the morning, after years of waking up at the same time and following the same morning routine of waking up, washing up and eating his breakfast, before starting his shift at the Resting Ground. While eating his breakfast, he usually checks on the morning news for the major families, price changes on products and anything else of note that intrigued him, but this time, he was completed focused on a morning news report on NN24 that covered the newest development in BCO.
"As of now, the highest stat total is 37 with Boras III being the forerunner, while Loving Moving Novice and DaylightOrc4 are following very closely behind him with the stat total of 36. Of course, since it's a heated race for the first city to unlock the dungeons, every major guild and player is fervently grinding for the chance to establish the first guild in the game and to establish their footing in the world of BCO. On our next news, we have a complete list of all available magic spells that become available at any level 10 magic proficiency, thanks to the Galea Guild's efforts and their generosity. Through continuous effort and training, anyone can now learn any of the displayed spells, but they are still continuing their efforts to obtain every available weapon skill as well." The news reporter stated calmly, as they presented the list of all of the new available magic spells.
Fire Proficiency Level 10: [Combust] Channel your mana to cause a small explosion. Has a chance to cause [Burn]. Lighting Proficiency Level 10: [Bolt] Channel your manner to cast a fast bolt to stun your enemies. Has a chance to cause [Stun]. Earth Proficiency Level 10: [Ground Spikes] Raise earth spikes to impale your enemies. Water Proficiency Level 10: [Water Shot] An empowered [Bubble Shot] that can knock back the enemy. It will always cause [Drench]. Wind Proficiency Level 10: [Wind Slash] Perform a swift slash that can damage enemies from a distance. Ice Proficiency Level 10: [Icy Wind] Blow a stronger cold wind to slow and weaken your enemies. Can cause [Chill] or [Freeze]. Bless Proficiency Level 10: [Light Weapon] Enchant your current weapon with the [Bless] element. Attacks can cause [Destabilize]. Curse Proficiency Level 10: [Dark Break] Empower your next strike with the [Curse] element to debilitate your enemy. The attack can cause [Weaken], [Blind], [Mute] or [Fear].
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"When did they even manage to obtain it, let alone compile and publish all of this information?" Soren muttered, as he scanned the skills in front of him and wonder the amount of time they spent, just to obtain all of this information, as well as the reason of publishing it in the first place. Although he didn't know much about the guild itself, he knew that the guild was under a noble family's control, since only nobles or high-profile individuals would be mentioned on NN24, like the three families that the major cities are named after, or the Aureus royal family, which is the royal family that united the world, after the third world war.
Through a bit of quick searching on the internet, Soren managed to find the noble family that supported the Galea Guild, but there wasn't as much information as he would have liked. The noble family that supported Galea Guild was known at the Andersen family and were known for owning multiple electronics companies, including the company that made the coffee coolers, which was putting the remaining coffee shops out of business lately. Despite them owning the company that created those coffee coolers, he didn't care much about it and was more focused on trying to find some clues that could help him piece together their actual front, since he knew that the majority of the noble families had a fake front for the common populace and their actual front could only be found by thoroughly going through their official websites.
"Rule of threes... You guys could have been a bit more creative." Soren commented smugly, as he found the hidden link towards their actual front, after solving a puzzle that required him to press three different spots on nine different websites. Once he entered it through incognito mode, he quickly got his answers and closed the site as well, to avoid being tracked by staying for too long.
"I guess their fake front might as well be their actual front... Seriously, I'm impressed with the fact that there's someone who only sells old illegal reactor components. I figured they would be selling drugs or doing human trafficking as well, not obsolete components." Soren commented incredulously, as he massaged his temples and wondered about their agenda, before giving up completely, since he didn't have enough clues and any further attempts would only lead to unnecessary headaches.
"And with that, we conclude our morni-" *bzzt* Once Soren closed the TV, he swiftly made his way towards his coffee shop and on his way, he came across a murder site that was blocking his way towards the shop. To him, murder sites weren't anything new, since the outskirts of the city are a good dumping ground for corpses and has become completely unfazed from seeing the police pop up at a random alley, with police tape blocking the entire alley. As Soren was about to walk away, a police officer approached him and started asking him the routine questions about anything connected to the crime, such as any unusual circumstances, his alibi and anything else that could be useful for their own investigation.
It didn't take long for Soren to finish his questioning, as he had no connection to the murder site and his alibi was rock solid and was let completely free by the officer. After that, he made his way towards the Resting Ground, albeit through a detour and slowly went through the day, serving coffee to his morning regulars, resting during his break and lazing during the afternoon, since barely no one ordered coffee during this time and would usually spend it by either watching his usual entertainment shows, or by going through the news channels for any noteworthy updates.