WOAH!!!
I swung my head left and right and left again. Although I wasn't crossing the street, sitting in the food court hall having breakfast, I had to look if any eyes were coming my way. The system cogwheel just appeared like that out of nowhere. I wouldn't be able to explain it's existence should someone ask. Seeing that the cogwheel along with the text box, no one is giving it any attention, not even the little chubby kid. I sighed in relief. If no one has noticed the cogwheel, it means that only I can see it. This is my preferred stance, I certainly want no one to know about this Planer System.
The kid held two biscuits out to me. I dropped my face to look at my plate, on it flat bread and mash potatoes mixed with boiled egg met my eyes. Next to them, several pieces of mutton took a third of my plate while a fair portion had been taken by some tamarind sauce. I especially stared at the mutton chops that were grilled to perfection and felt reluctant to part with it. I made sure to take a good number of pieces, had it not been my birthday, I would've gotten two pieces or three if I pushed my luck.
"Okay," I said reluctantly. Picking up two pieces of the mutton chops, the biscuits and mutton swapped ownership. The chubby kid was smiling like he did something naughty and ran away without saying thanks. The biscuits I held was tossed over to Kizan who sat next to me, I didn't have much hankering for sweets and it was of no loss to give it away.
Kizan asked, "Why you swapped with that fatty?"
"Information." I replied, that's right, the only thing I got that was of use was information. I picked up one of my remaining lamb chops and took a bite of it, the meat marinated with excellence exploded with deliciousness. It made me feel good inside. Glancing back at Kizan, I added, "Looks like something happened. One of the kids went missing apparently, that's why Father Gabe didn't join us for breakfast."
Fatz said, "Shame, who would want to steal children? I've been here for ten years and no one came for me, yet I'm so talented.
"Knowing Father Gabe, he would've gotten the uncles from the neighborhood to look for the kid. Father Gabe must be furious that someone has the odacity sin in God's house, on the other hand, we don't know if someone took the kid," said Kizan.
I agreed with him. Nodding in affirmation, I stuffed my mouth again. Thinking about it, Father Gabe is a strict man. If someone came to kidnap someone that was under his charge, I can only feel sorry for that person. Looking at the textbox that floated before me, unaffected by the world, a hand of mine raised to tap on the cogwheel.
"You know what?"
I stopped myself from reaching the transparent cog, both Kizan and I turned to Fatz. He appeared flustered like he realized something. Swerving his head like a surveillance camera, whatever that was, Fatz searched the room then stopped at area where the fairer sex grouped up to eat. He turned back, looking at me directly.
"I think Cloe is missing too."
I shook my head, this guy is behind with the times. Cloe left two day prior. Urgh! Why did he have to bring her up now while I'm eating. I announced, "Fatz, Cloe left like two days ago."
"Ohhhh!"
"Ya."
Fatz reached out passed Kizan and tapped my shoulder with his plump hand, he said, "Sorry for your loss."
I nudged his hand away from me and gave him a dirty stare. HOW DARE HE... TOUCH ME WITH HIS DIRTY HAND!? I want to scream at him but I can't while there's so many people around. Furiously, I swiped my shoulder with my free hand, now I got two hands dirty because of this fatty.
While Kizan tries to hold back his giggle, I try my best to relax. It's not nice to have... to have too many emotions arising one after another. Someone might say I have more mood swings than a girl when she's on her cycle. Hah!
"Heh! Cloe got adopted or something. She left while no one noticed. I think her friends would know the details."
"You want me to ask?" Fatz suggested.
"No point, I tried to ask them. None of them want to say anything."
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They may not know in the first place or maybe they are just feigning ignorance. I started feeling bitter again. Finishing my last morsel, I stood up and went to the cleaning area. I left my plate behind, I would've washed it, merely, there was someone who is scheduled to take charge of the washing service. Since I have no more prescribed duties here, I casually fled.
Ah, Cloe! She was like my crush. Her skin and shining red hair took me for a spin. When I first laid eyes on her, it was difficult to take it away. Cloe's smile was mesmerizing, when she smiles I felt serene as well and when she appeared gloomy I could feel my heart break. I don't know what I was feeling, was it love? I blinked my eyes, in my mind, it was revealed that Earth realm seems to be expert in these cases. If only the Planer System became active a few days ago, maybe I could've changed Cloe's mind about leaving.
After leaving the eating area, I made my way up the stairs to the second floor. The moment when I confessed to Cloe resurfaced as I walked. I was nervous as well as eager. I could do what my roommate, Bryon, did. He wanted to start a family and managed to get the girl. I let him know of my feelings for Cloe and he encouraged me. Although, I was nervous at the time, I was also eager. When the time was right, I was able to meet Cloe alone, I started to plead my case and she heard me out without saying a word. It impressed me more that she had no qualms about anything I said. In fact, Cloe's cheeks started to redden.
Unfortunately, my hopes didn't mainfest. Cloe said that she was leaving the orphanage, that took me by surprise. How old was she? Sixteen plus and she had the option of getting adopted still! She didn't tell me who came to take her away, I was too flabbergasted that I didn't ask. The only thing Cloe left me with was her apology and then she disappeared from my life. There was nothing left for me, without Cloe, my sense of belonging diminished. Thinking about it, after leaving the orphanage there would be nothing for me on the outside, it was then that I decided to enter the army.
I found myself back at the storage room on the second floor, I didn't hesitate to enter. Finding my way through the dark room, I climbed the ladder to the floor above then, went to the roof. I sat down and viewd the clear sky. Why was here again?
"Right?!"
I almost forgot that I came here to view the quest in private. As soon as I remembered the Quest, the transparent cogwheel showed itself as if for the first time. When did it disappear, I couldn't tell even if I was asked.
QUEST FINDING THE LOST ORPHAN RANK E
A CHILD FROM CHURCH OF LORD GOD DIMITRI HAS GONE MISSING. TO REPAY DIMITRI'S KINDNESS TO YOU, YOU'VE SET OUT TO FIND THE MISSING CHILD.
OBJECTIVE:
● FIND CLUES TO THE KID'S WHEREABOUTS.
● BRING THE CHILD BACK SAFELY
REWARDS:
● ACCESS TO CLASS CHANGE BEFORE REACHING LEVEL 15
I stared at the interface and read the quest I was given. Looking at the reward, I remember that part of my profile had a section called Class. It was unavailable. From what I can infer from the quest, it looked like I had to reach level fifteen in order to get a class. Classes was something that greatly defined VRMMORPG of the Earth world. For some reason my understanding of it feels different, the Classes in that world were more of a dream and didn't reflect reality. Yet, the Class played a major role in molding society.
"Alright, now I just got to find that kid. Maybe that chubby brat knows something," I wondered.
Before starting my mission, I had to do one last check. I opened up my Inventory.
INVENTORY ITEM OPEN GOLD 4 PLANER POINTS 24
"WOAH!"
I was caught of guard. The first thing I noticed wasn't the Item or the Planer Points, it was the Gold. Heh! It goes to show where my priorities are. I just thought about the gold and put a hand in front of it, a single metal coin appeared in my hand from nowhere. I thought about the other coins too, in no time, I had four golden coins in my hand. With this, I'm practically rich! Hehehe!
"I can't be too greedy for wealth. I should give half to Father Gabe... no, I can't do that. How would I explain how I got the money in the first place?"
Planer System, did I always have this money?
System: No. It is an accumulation of daily rewards. Rewards come at random. Probability of zero rewards are high.
"I see."
I'll be getting rewards like this everyday, why would I bother doing any work. I was smiling an evil smile when the Planer System finished speaking, revealing to me that I can't have an easy life. Does this have to do with plane compatibility? I wondered.
There was nothing I could do about that. I pushed the coins back into the interface and the gold disappeared. I did that at random, it made me happy that it worked. I followed up by opening the item section but it was empty. Then quickly, I checked out the log. It seemed to record the things I do. It was of no help as there was too much gibberish for me to look through.
"Alright then." Without anything else to do, I got off the roof and went back inside. The main priority was to find that missing kid and bring him back home. Not because I wanted to open up the Class section.
Back in the dark storage room I used {Inspect}, many pop up texts came to be, this included the hidden cookies belonging to that one kid. Nothing else looked useful, hmm... maybe that rope. A long rope sat on the edge of the shelf way above my head. It was up high, probably to prevent any of the children from making some nonsensical uses of it. I placed a foot on the lower shelf and used it to propel myself higher. High enough to grab some part of the rope at least.
"Urp!"
"Gocha!"
I managed to get the tail of the rope. Pulling it down, I acquired the rope. It was of considerable length. I said, "Inventory!"
The Planer System screen manifested itself just as I desired. The Inventory section opened up, it flashed again and the Item section opened up. There wasn't a need for me to touch it in the first place. The System happens to know exactly what I want. I gathered the loose rope and held it in front of the interface. The rope disappeared without a hitch and an item filled the Item section. It was amazing.
The storage room was still pretty dark, the only light present came from the Planer System interface. I realized that this thing might be useful in dark places and I'm the only one that can take advantage of it.
I left the storage room right after. My next destination was to find the chubby kid again. Hopefully he was still stuffing his face with the food he got from me. I marched off the second floor, I think I scared the people who were walking in my direction, they quickly moved out of my way. Maybe because of how fast I was walking, it seemed like I was going to find someone to bash.