Following his intense battle with Wilfred Regis, Blake's fame skyrocketed to new heights. Images of him riding his Scorch Dragon, with his trench coat billowing out behind, were plastered across screens all over New Meridia.
He had unwittingly become the hottest up and coming Challenger, capturing the attention and admiration of the people of the city.
In the hours after the fight, Blake found it increasingly difficult to conceal his identity from the public. A simple hat and sunglasses no longer worked as a disguise.
Though he kind of liked it, the newfound celebrity status brought with it a constant feeling of unease, as he was no longer able to blend into the crowd.
The Atlas security force had to escort him back to his apartment, to stop him from being mobbed.
Blake made time to sign whatever was put in front of him though, pocketing a hundred or so credits from each person who wanted his time and attention. He would need as much money as he could to level up his monsters over the coming days.
This sudden shift in his life was both thrilling and unnerving, as he was now constantly in the spotlight.
Now he was someone, and everyone wanted something from him.
With newfound fame would also come a heightened level of scrutiny from both the public and his adversaries, particularly City Lord Clay Atlas. He couldn't ignore the gnawing worry that his newfound fame might complicate his mission. Or it might make it easier to achieve – he wasn’t sure which just yet.
That night, Blake lay awake in his apartment, his thoughts turned toward leaving the safety of his apartment and finding a way to his secret lair. There was so much he wanted to do.
Sleep proved elusive as his mind raced with plans for the days ahead.
He needed to become stronger, amass more credits, and devise a strategy for the ultimate confrontation that loomed over the horizon.
Eventually he did fall asleep, and as morning dawned seemingly in an instant, Blake was greeted with three new work orders. Just like the previous days, one of the orders involved participating in that night's duels.
His opponent for the evening would be Natalie Jenkins, a Rank 3 challenger whom he had never encountered before. The prospect of facing a new adversary filled him with an excitement he hadn’t expected.
Thanks to his recent victories and the profits from signing autographs, Blake's credit balance had increased significantly. The possibilities of how to invest his gains seemed endless, and Blake felt a surge of giddiness at the prospect of exploring his options.
He contemplated acquiring new cards to bolster his deck or upgrading the facilities within his Monster Summoner’s Lair. He smiled when he thought about what the people of New Meridia were calling him now – The Monster Maestro.
Blake examined the other two work orders that had to be completed before midnight. Both tasks involved venturing outside the city to eliminate specific monsters at the behest of the City Lord, Clay Atlas. He found it interesting that both of the work orders came directly from the City Lord, rather than say a farm or the city’s security force.
One of the monsters that Blake was tasked with defeating was called a Stoneborn Colossus, and it could be found in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the East.
The second monster was something called Erda the Cataclysm, and Erda could be found to the north. The word cataclysm conjured imagery of fire and brimstone. Likely a fire element monster then.
Either way, Blake would destroy both of them and collect the rewards.
Distance no longer posed much of a challenge thanks to his Scorch Dragon. The prospect of flying again got Blake excited.
Humming to himself as he prepared some breakfast, Blake mentally prepared to set out on his mission to eliminate the two monsters lurking beyond New Meridia's borders. He was going to make some big gains today.
Both of these work orders would deposit an extra 4,000 credits into Blake’s account each, and they were all marked as having a difficulty of Rank C. They weren’t supposed to be a walk in the park for a regular Challenger of his rank.
For Blake?
For his monsters, two C Rank hunts would be nothing.
So far his advantage seemed to be unique. The only thing close to it he’d seen so far was Clay Atlas drawing a card, which summoned a powerful suit of armor that moved around of its own accord.
Blake wasn’t sure whether that suit of armor was a regular power card that operated independently similar to the Stone Sentry card that Blake had seen before, or perhaps Clay interacted with the system in a way similar to Blake.
What if Clay could summon monsters as well?
Blake tried not to let the worries haunt him as he took to the streets. People began pointing their fingers and whispering the moment he stepped out and made himself known.
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The attention had been momentarily intoxicating the night before following the thrill of battle, but now being mobbed started to get on Blake’s nerves.
Blake wondered if it was all part of some grand design. Blake thought back to how all of this had begun.
He was on a technology cleanse retreat at the urging of Professor Monks, from Denver University. Professor Monks had enthused about how differently people felt after a week without any kind of device or screen to lose themselves in.
No social media, and even though newspapers were low tech and old school, they weren’t even allowed those. At the retreat there had been a strict rule against influence from the outside world. Blake had quite enjoyed it until he realized that the world had ended while he was at the retreat.
The fact that everything ended up this way with Blake being completely cut off from everyone for a week, and then suddenly being thrust into this system and having to catch up, just felt like it was too much of a coincidence to just be a coincidence.
He had managed to level up quickly and defeat enemies that should have been beyond his capabilities, because of how this System interacted with him.
It almost felt like there was something stopping him from beginning his quest for power at the same time as everyone else.
He wasn’t sure whether it was the will of some higher power, or maybe The System itself, but it certainly felt far too coincidental.
As Blake ventured into the Wilds once more, he felt a deep longing for his friend Harry. He missed the way Harry would effortlessly crack jokes in the face of adversity, lightening even the rainiest moods.
And he missed the camaraderie they shared, the lively banter that would bounce between them, creating a bond that had only grown stronger over time.
The bond had been stronger than Blake had realized at a time. Although, he figured that went for most people.
You never really appreciate people before they’re gone from your life.
The moment Blake left the city gates, he summoned his Scorch Dragon to oohs and ahhs of the gathered soldiers at the gates. Blake’s existence was still a novelty to them, though he thought his presence might soon inspire fear rather than wonder.
At least in those who stood by Clay Atlas.
Because in its essence, what he and the resistance group from the Wilds were talking about was the conquest of the city and deposing the big man in charge. Whether it was a good act or not didn't really matter to those who supported Clay Atlas.
If their plan went off without a hitch, and Samuel Jackson took over the city, lots of people loyal to Clay Atlas would suddenly find their cushy positions of power taken away.
That would make lots of people very angry, even if everything went without a hitch.
And Blake had yet to even figure out a way that he could get Samuel and the others into the city without rousing the suspicion of the Atlas security force.
Randall and David would be allowed into the city to help fix the water treatment plant, but what about the rest of them? There had to be a way they could be smuggled into the city.
Blake would need to investigate that when he returned. Was there some kind of vulnerability in the sewerage system that he could exploit?
Blake decided to fly over the location of the scout camp marked on his map to confirm they were actually there. He hoped Samuel hadn’t given him a fake location, but Blake had a feeling that the old man was telling the truth.
The location was between two targets, so Blake decided to take care of the massive rock monster – the Stoneborn Colossus – to the east first, then circle back around to fight Erda the Cataclysm off to the north. It would be the most efficient path that would give him the greatest amount of flight time.
From a considerable distance, Blake could already spot the gargantuan rock monster. Nestled between two gently sloping peaks of the Rocky Mountains, there lay a ridge of jagged rocky outcroppings, entirely stripped of foliage. At some point in the recent past, trees must have covered the area, but the stone behemoth had trampled them to nothing.
This monstrous creature, resembling a blend of an elemental spider and an insect, left a wide path of destruction in its wake. Its massive legs crushed anything in its way, flattening the once-verdant landscape into a barren wasteland.
The sight was both an awe-inspiring and terrifying glimpse of the raw power of the creatures that roamed this changed world.
The confrontation with the colossal stone beast would have been a harrowing ordeal had Blake been forced to face it on the ground.
Would have.
The battle commenced with disintegrating rays blasting from the Scorch Dragon's eyes and mouth. They cleaved through the creature's stone legs one by one, causing it to lose its balance and tumble down the side of the ridge.
As the behemoth fell, a rockslide erupted, devastating the countryside.
With pinpoint precision, the Scorching Dragon unleashed its super-heated death ray upon the stone monster's exposed chest.
The first pass did not pierce the creature's thick exterior, but the Scorch Dragon persisted. After half a dozen passes, the monster's chest finally cracked open. The fractured exterior crumbled away.
As the anima dissipated into the air, the stone monster's remains collapsed into lifeless rubble.
Triumphant, Blake and his Scorch Dragon soared high above the battlefield, surveying the destruction below. The Scorch Dragon received a massive influx of experience, which took it all the way up to Level 10.
As Blake reflected on the power of his monsters, he began to ponder the potential for growth within the creatures birthed through the monster synthesis process. He couldn't help but wonder if these combined creatures could ever evolve further, or if the fusion of two cards was equivalent to reaching the apex of a third-stage evolution monster.
Blake's Stone Golem had undergone a transformation into a Stone Slasher Golem when it reached level 5, which had increased its deadliness to a massive degree. It piqued his curiosity about the possibility of further evolutions, or if the requirements for additional growth might be even more demanding.
Blake put delving deeper into experimentation on his to-do-list. He would also need to decide whether to allow any monsters he planned to fuse to reach their final evolution before proceeding with the fusion process.
Both the Flame Gazer and the Fire Drake, which had combined to form the Scorch Dragon, were at the second evolutionary phase of their respective cards.
He couldn't help but wonder just how much more powerful the resulting monster might have been if he had waited for both cards to reach their third evolutionary stage before fusing them.
However, that was a concern he could address further down the line. He needed the power of his Scorch Dragon right now.
He needed power to deal with Clay Atlas as soon as possible.
Upon leaving the site of the defeated Stoneborn Colossus, Blake’s system notified him of 4,000 credits being added to his account balance. Blake then set the location of the scout camp as his next target, and a map marker materialized within his field of view.
As they soared through the sky, Blake felt as if he’d reached a new power level. Things that would have killed him a week ago were a trivial challenge now.
He only hoped he would grow fast enough to take on Atlas when the time came.