Syrus stopped his car in front of a bar called “Twisted lips”. It was the bar he frequented since it wasn’t very crowded.
“The usual?” the bartender asked as he wiped a glass.
Syrus nodded. As the bartender poured him a drink, Syrus asked. “Did you become a player? Surely, you’ve done a lot of good deeds.”
The bartender nodded. “I did. Chose a production class,” the bartender replied. “Can’t see these old bones lasting in a fight.”
“I think you’d manage,” Syrus said as he took a sip of his drink.
“Pretty sure most of us are going to croak the moment the second integration happens,” the bartender went back to wiping glasses. “Doesn’t matter how many of those aliens came to help.”
Syrus shook his head in amusement. “They’re not even really here to help. All they see is a potential investment.”
“Nothing new there, kid,” the bartender replied. “At the end of the day, everyone moves for their own self-interest.”
Syrus finished his drink. “See you next time, doc,” Syrus said as he placed down the payment on the counter a got up.
The bartender just grunted in response. Going to this bar whenever something unexpected happens had become a habit for Syrus. The world suddenly turning into a video game counted as unexpected.
As he headed back to his car, Syrus noticed the lack of people out on the street. He didn’t hear anything about a rift near this area, so it made him wonder. But he wasn’t curious enough to investigate and just headed back home.
------
The next day, Tia requested Syrus to meet with her group before heading to a rift. Seeing no issue with it, he agreed and Syrus drove the place they were staying at.
It seemed the government and some major corporations provided a place for all the OD players to stay in exchange for priority responses to rift breaks. Tia’s group given residence in a hotel near several commercial buildings.
“You’re living better than me,” Syrus commented as Tia met him at the hotel lobby. “Is everyone in your group a player?”
“Asides from the kids, everyone is a player,” Tia answered as she hopped to reach the elevator button. “Most are production classes though.”
“Any chance you have monster cores?” Syrus asked.
Tia shook her head. “We don’t have any in hand, but we have access to the system’s shop. We have one crafter at level 25, so they can use the shop,” Tia revealed. “ What do you need?”
“Oh?” Syrus was intrigued by the existence of a shop. “The core of a metal slime, parasite, and a mimic,” Syrus recalled the materials he needed.
“Those should be pretty cheap considering they’re weak monsters,” Tia replied. “All we need is some credits.”
“Credits?”
“Currency used for any service provided by the system,” Tia answered. “You get them by completing challenges given by the system. You get that at level 15.”
With every word she said, it sounded more like the world was changing into a game. It made him wonder what was the point of it, but there was no point in asking, nor did he want to question an all-powerful system.
When they exited the elevator, it only took one turn to reach the accommodation Tia’s group was staying at. When she opened the door, Syrus saw a spacious room where several triple decker beds lined the walls, while on the other side of the room were work benches.
“Is this the native you made the deal with?” an elderly goblin approached them.
He stood around four feet with a bald head and a long white beard. Contrary to Tia and the other goblins who had a small tuft of dark green hair on their heads.
Tia nodded. “His name is Syrus Blake.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Syrus spoke.
The old goblin nodded. “Likewise. I’d like you to meet the others, but most are out and the rest are busy,” the goblin pointed at the ones who were locked into their work benches.
“It’s fine,” Syrus replied.
While they were talking, two more goblins approached them. Both were wearing similar gear to Tia, so Syrus identified them as the two other goblins with combat classes. The male goblin had an axe, while the female goblin had a staff.
“They will be coming with us this time,” Tia spoke. “This is Balkad and Yria.”
Syrus nodded. “Are we heading into a more difficult rift?”
“Yes,” Tia confirmed.
“Let’s go then.”
They didn’t waste any more time and headed to the location of the rift. During the drive there, Syrus found out that Balkad couldn’t talk due to his tongue being severed, while Yria was just shy.
When they arrived at the location of the rift, Syrus expected another isolated rift where only they entered. But this rift had other players going in and out. “Reminds me of the morning market,” Syrus commented as he got out of the car.
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Considering he was the only one wearing normal Earth clothes, he got a lot of odd looks from the other players. “We need to hurry,” Tia spoke as she led the way.
“Why? What’s so special about this rift?” Syrus asked.
“This is called a variation rift. They have a challenge you have to complete in order to clear it,” Tia explained. “As long as the challenge isn’t completed, monsters would continue to spawn, so players use it to level up.”
Syrus nodded in understanding. Upon entering the rift, Syrus saw a jungle with trees reaching so high that he couldn’t even see the top. The only thing he could see above them were a web of vines.
“Ominous,” Syrus commented as they transversed the jungle.
Once they were a good distance away from the entrance of the rift, Syrus summoned Gluttony. The summoned creature activated his skill and attracted all the monsters nearby. Purple apes jumped down from the trees and began clawing at Gluttony, but with how high his constitution stat was, the apes barely did any damage.
Tia and Balkad made quick work of the monsters, while Yria casted some sort of buffing spell on everyone. Even Syrus felt stronger when the buff was casted on him. After killing all the monsters and incapacitating a few to let Syrus finish them off, the group continued deeper into the jungle. Additionally, all the mana stones were fed to Gluttony.
“Are we going to complete the challenge?” Syrus asked as he stared at the panel at the corner of his eye.
Challenge: Find the heart of the jungle
“If we find it, there’s no harm in completing the challenge,” Tia replied.
“Isn’t it some unspoken rule to not complete it and allow others to level up?”
Tia shook her head. “Nobody is that nice,” Tia said. “Nobody would pass up on the reward for a variation rift,” Tia stated with Balkad nodding in agreement. “Some challenges even give items or skills as rewards after all.”
Syrus stifled a laugh. “So much for good Samaritans.”
The group continued hunting down monsters to gain some levels and mana stones. At some point, the group decided to take a rest. During this, Syrus noticed that the Gluttony had been getting less stats from the mana stones. At first, one lowest quality mana stone gave him one stat point. Now, five was needed for one stat point.
“I didn’t expect this...”
Syrus thought Gluttony would turn into an absolute beast pretty quickly, but it seemed it would take some time to achieve that.
“What are mana stones used for?” Syrus asked Tia who was cleaning her sword.
“The most common use is fuel for any magical equipment,” Tia answered without looking away from her sword. “While some, like you, use them for their skills.”
“Then there’s no point in holding on to them this early into the integration,” Syrus figured with Tia nodding.
Your perception has been acknowledged
You gained 1 point in magic
A familiar message appeared in front of him. It seemed figuring stuff out like this was rewarded by the system.
After a while, the group resumed their adventure. They encountered several different monsters like the apes, giant frogs, giant snakes, a tiger, and giant pigs. Syrus stayed out of the fight for most of them, but they still made an effort to let him have a few you last hits.
Other people would have had their pride wounded by being carried like this, but pride had no place in the world right now.
Eventually, Syrus reached level fifteen and gained access to some features of the system.
Congratulations
You now have access to the challenge feature
Hidden challenge completed: Create your own unique Unit.
Reward: Skill: Villain’s pursuit
Syrus perked up at the reward he was just given.
Villain’s pursuit – trace anything you have designated as a target
“Set the heart of the jungle as the target,” Syrus said, then he saw a trail of purple energy leading somewhere.
“Is something wrong?” Tia asked, noticing that Syrus was staring intently at a certain direction.
Syrus smirked. “I know where the challenge item is.”
------
Eliza expression continued to sour as each call was dropped. They had a photoshoot scheduled today, and Syrus didn’t pick her up. Normally she would be fine with it, but the agency kept calling her because nobody could reach Syrus.
“Did that bastard go into a rift?”
-----
Using his new skill, Syrus and the three goblins began heading to the location of the challenge item. As they got closer, the number of monsters they were encountering began to increase. It got to point where they resorted to using Gluttony as a meat shield, and the summoned creature embraced the role whole heartedly.
“For my lord!” Gluttony roared as he activated his taunt and caused all the monster to come rushing to him.
With so much chaos happening all at the same time, Syrus did his best to stay out of the way and take care of any monsters he could manage. By the end of it, he got three more levels and decided to distribute it to his other stats this time.
“We’re getting closer.”
When the trail of mana finally ended, the group was surprised to find that it led to an ordinary looking sapling.
Tia shrugged. “The system never made any sense to begin with,” she gestured for Syrus to grab the sapling. “Take it.”
Syrus nodded and approached the sapling. When he pulled it out of the ground, a panel confirmed the completion of the challenge.
You have completed the challenge: Find the heart of the jungle
Reward: All stats plus 5
Syrus whistled in approval. He noticed that Tia and the others seemed to be looking at a panel in front of them as well.
“We also got a reward for completing the challenge,” Tia spoke.
“Stats?”
She nodded. “10 stats distributed randomly by the system,” she said. “You probably got more since the system gives rewards based on contribution.”
A rift appeared near them, giving them an exit. “Are we done?” Syrus asked.
Tia nodded again. “Everyone inside must have received a message about the completion of the challenge. The monsters will no longer respond, so once they’re done and everyone leaves, the rift will close.”
“What’s the plan after this?”
“Rest. You gained a lot of stats in one day. You need get used to it first,” Tia said. “Expect a few stuffs to get broken in your home.”
Syrus raised an eyebrow.