CHAPTER 4
March 12, 2019
9:10 PM
1
The flight takes about fourteen hours to reach the border of Greece. Hendricks was still trying to cope with the situation while Damion grabbed two glasses of soda.
“Here, have something to keep you occupied,” Damion said. He offered Hendricks a cup and sat back down. “Seems not that much has changed on this plane.”
Hendrick’s face is all soaked in sweat, “Sorry. Give me a second.” He stood and walked to the bathroom.
“He is going through it,” Helix said
Damion nodded and took a sip of the soda. “Sigh of relief to be honest. Just like the old days vibe. That’s Bullshit. He seems like a normal person but secretly is weird. Especially when there is no clue given that he would be here. If it was someone else I would get that vibe.” He grabs another sip of soda again. He glanced at the glass. “Hmm. Am I tripping, but why do drinks now taste more vivid?”
“Maybe. Probably because of the enhancements when we merged.”
“Interesting. I wonder how food will taste like now?”
As he took one large gulp finishing the glass, Damion heard a bell-like sound as the last sip dived into his mouth. Hmm, a notification. He opened it while holding the glass.
High Quality Soda: +10% stamina recovery
Duration: 48 H
Fascinating. He exited out of the newly gained boost and went to the I.E.P. interface:
* * * * * * * * Overall
* Skills
* Knowledge
* Currency
* Inventory
“Inventory… could that be?” Damion murmured. He pressed on the option revealing arrays and rows of slots. But the contents in his backpack aren’t included. He puts it on, and a new different tab opens. It shows a whole list rather than slots. He sees at the bottom border where it has a weight limit. Ah. So that is what it is. Physical bags or what we carry depends on the weight limit. Damion didn’t mind being that is more logical in his perspective. He returns to the inventory tab.
“I see that is interesting.” He murmured to himself. He heard footsteps behind him. “Ah, welcome back. So feeling better?”
“Yea, much better. Had to puke.”
“Jesus. Well, at least you are better now.”
“I think this is obvious, but do you not feel any mental stress?”
Damion shook his head. “No.”
“As I would have thought. You never showed those feelings, or maybe you do…”
Damion interrupts. “I do. To be more specific, during the corporate job days. Since we disbanded and lived in civilian life, it was boring to the point where I got anxious in the office, especially being a loner.”
“You are a loner? That is unbelievable. No one to talk to?”
“I have one roommate. She also works at the same company I was at.”
“Really a boring life. Did your roommate know you have left?”
Damion nodded, “I left a notepad, so she at least knows that. She doesn’t know my past. The only thing she saw was me rescuing her friend at the office. Then I fled back home and packed all the stuff. And here I am.”
“I’ll end it there. Your life sounds miserable.”
“Yea, no kidding.” Damion chuckled. “But hey, my old personality is starting to come back, so that is a relief." Damion stood from his chair, "I’m carrying my stuff and going to my room.” He picks up his two duffle bags and the backpack. “I’m gonna be busy, so anything trivial will result in no response.”
He heads through the stairways near the cabin and lounge, leading to a few doors. He enters one of them and arrives at a vacant room with a bed and utilities. Damion tossed the duffle bag on the bed and sat near the portable desk.
He let out a deep breath. “Phew. Finally,” he murmured to himself.
“You don’t like this guy. Your brain vitals are more relaxed now.”
“Oh damn. Internal thought probably. I still can’t trust that guy, and thank god he is not coming with us. If he comes, I’ll make him not.”
“Alright then. Well. Are your eyes feeling better?” Helix asks in a concerning tone.
“Yea, thanks. Now I guess we can go over what happened. Now that I’m merged with the I.E.P. Does that mean you do too?”
“Indeed,” Helix pulled out the I.E.P screen to the table. “Since I.E.P. is now in the system, you can now interact with the features before I.E.P. outside of your visual heads-up display.”
Damion leans back in relief. “Finally. At least if there are times my head gets annoyed, this will be perfect.” He grabs his backpack and unzips it, only to find a whole large void inside. What the. “Uh Helix, where did my stuff go?”
“It’s still there. You need to use the I.E.P. to get your stuff now.” Helix directed the screen back to the inventory menu. “There should be a new tab called Backpack 1.”
He tapped on the tab, revealing all the contents in his backpack. A little annoying. Damion getting irritated, “Does this technically make the backpack useless now? Since I have an inventory.” Damion asks, and a help message appears:
Help:
As you level up every level, your inventory will increase +2 per slot. This makes the virtual inventory system far more superior than traditional inventory.
Would that make it risky because of its technology. What if somebody hacks it. Damion thought of the potential drawbacks.
Following your concerns, the I.E.P. is a one to one. All goes with you. Due to that, hacking is not possible.
For example, if you lose Helix, I.E.P. will remain functional as normal.
“Thanks, Helix. If you wrote that.”
Damion placed all his items in the inventory, including the duffle bags. He also noticed a different header above written “Weapons:”
He placed the stack of his weapons on the table and clicked the weapons header, popping down its separate arrays of slots. He slides the stack towards the screen, dissipating it once he lets his hands go. His weapons all appeared under the header. “Nice.”
“One more thing. If I have to use a backpack or a bag, does it measure by weight or quantity?”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“Weight,” Helix answered.
Ok, that’s not too bad, but I prefer virtual instead now. Now all that sorted, Damion exits the inventory screen and taps on the skills menu.
Just like the inventory screen, the skills have the same layout. Damion sees four occupied slots and clicks the first one, opening a separate interface. He swipes to the left with the interface showing every obtained skill.
“Helix or I.E.P. Can you please zoom out?”
Damion’s Skill Menu:
Slash
LV: 1
Increase ATK by 5% for 5 minutes(stackable up to 3 times)
Pre- Hellbringer
LV: 1
100% chance to inflict fire on enemies
Increase Critical by 1% for 30 seconds(stackable up to 2 times)
Cooldown: 8 Seconds
Helix Thrust
LV: 1
+8% to Physical DMG(stackable up to 4 times)
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Weapon Bond
LV: 1
+25% Iryoku
Any equipped weapon gets a 10% buff to its dmg and ammo.
Applies to any item as long as it is a weapon.
“Thanks.” Damion responded and viewed the four skills he has given. Another help message popped up:
Help:
Your initial skills are originally based on your recent qualities before being implemented into the I.E.P.
In order to gain more skills, the user can either gain knowledge from either any medium from what the environment gives or unlock various buffs in the Knowledge Menu.
“I saw no limits. Does that mean?” Damion asks Helix.
"Yea. The number of skills is infinite and organized into a personal library, including your discoveries."
"What do you mean? Do you mean two libraries?! In my head?"
"Not even exaggerating. Click the knowledge tab and find out."
Damion is dumbfounded and did not expect how much information he can hold now with the I.E.P. system in place. He opens the I.E.P. and selects Knowledge. The virtual shelf appears on the screen. "You said two libraries. I only see one."
"Hard swipe to the right," Helix said
Damion swiped to the right now viewing a hallway leading to the unknown. "Ah, I see, so the two shelves with the left being just now and right is the second one."
Just how much data can I fit into this thing? He thought and curiously asked what if he needed to find something scenario.
"Well, Go back to the first shelf. There should be one book."
Damion swipes right, returning to the original shelf. Hmm, that wasn't there earlier. He taps it, causing it to highlight.
"Grab it."
"What do you mean?" Damion confused
"Grab it. Reach your arm in." Helix raises his voice a bit.
He reached towards the screen and saw his hand next to the shelf. "Woah." Damion extends his arm for the book. "Do I just pull out?"
"For Christ's sake. Treat it like you are in the library."
Damion pulled it towards him, and a book followed his grip out of the screen. Unreal. He was astonished.
Putting the book on the table, he flips to the first page, revealing a skill tree representing the shape of a hand. Damion can tell the bottom is the wrist, and the lines separate as it moves up, resembling each finger. He sees a shining light at the bottom end, clicking it zooms directly toward the option. An info box displays at its side:
I.E.P. access through mind control:
Grants the user faster transmission time through the I.E.P interface with mind control, boosting its efficiency and communication
Cost: Free
P.S: Enabling this skill will initiate the beginning of seeking more knowledge and further progression of skill trees.
A. Accept B. Decline
Damion clicks accept, and a cool breeze blows his back briefly. The gusts passed by him, knocking down some decorations.
SMASH!
“Shit.” The wall-mounted shelf shatters and all the shards lie scattered across the floor. As Damion is about to stand up to check the damages, the skill tree unlocks the following four options.
Mighty Will
Increase Stamina and DEF 150 and 85.
Cost: 1 Skill Point
Bruiser I
Increases ATK by 90.
Boosts Normal ATK by 15% and Skill moveset dmg by 2%
Cost: 1 Skill Point
Sharpshooter
Increases Critical by 50.
Boosts Critical Rate by 2.5%
Cost: 1 Skill Point
Soul Apprentice
Increases Iryoku by 120
Boosts Effectiveness by 5%
Cost: 1 Skill Point
Hard to choose. Damion sat for minutes, considering what option he should pick. In his honesty, all four are beneficial in his opinion. One either makes him more durable, aggressive, and focused, while the last option, he doesn't know what Iryoku means.
"What's Iryoku?"
Help:
Iryoku - The power defining a Seelenkrieger’s spiritual capabilities and control in order to cast various abilities for their own benefit.
After reading the info box, Damion chose the fourth option, Soul Apprentice. This time he felt a burning sensation rising from his feet to his chest. It’s pleasant, kind of like when finding someplace warm to distance away from cold conditions. However, the sensation isn’t instantly going away as Damion expects.
“Your internal temperatures are increasing exponentially.”
“How High?” Damion starts to sweat profusely
“One Hundred fifty degrees. No signs going down without intervention.”
Damion, hearing the temperature, saw the small fridge mounted on the wall across the room next to the door. He ran to it and yanked the mini fridge off the wall, tearing both doors open. Starting with the freezer, he pulled out frozen bottles of water. The ice inside the bottle melts as he opens it, making it melt into a liquid.
He eventually ingested all the frozen water bottles. Damion feels more bearable but still boiling on the inside. He drank all the soda and more water. Does this room have a bathroom? He becomes distraught and spins around. There is a separate room parallel to the bed. Damion ran into it and barged into the shower turning it on full blast in the cold.
It will be a whole hellfest if I can’t find a way to control this. Damion thought as the steam emitted from his body towards the walls and nearby glass surfaces. The cold water flowed across his body, nullifying leaking heat and cooling down his body. He didn’t take his clothes off as his instinct precaution by keeping the clothes soaking wet, prevents him from overheating again.
A few minutes passed, and he exited the shower, still soaked. He heads to the sink and wipes off the moisture from the mirror. He stared directly at the reflection briefly before leaving the bathroom. Now that’s out of the way. One more left to go.
Damion sat back down at the table and opened the currency menu.
"I.E.P. Gold?"
He sees the menu divided into two and reads through what it displays.
I.E.P Gold Exchange Rates:
1 Gold = 5 USD
= 4 Euros
= 1,000 Yen
=100 Yuan
= 5,000 Won
Currency Converter:
__ I.E.P Gold ↓ -> __ USD ↓
Monetary inventory:
500 Gold
7250 USD
⚠ Warning:
Do not use various currencies as equal to each other in order to exchange for I.E.P. Gold. I.E.P Gold doesn’t follow the consistency of the economies in the real world for translation to various at once. It follows a one currency-to-one currency exchange.
Help:
To gain more I.E.P. gold you have to do more missions and events. Leveling up earns the user I.E.P gold as well and every level has a different amount and increases as progresses. Another way is exchange the real currency into I.E.P. gold.
Well, that wasn't as bad as I thought. Damion thought there would be too much information pouring in at once. He went lying down on the bed. “What the heck am I gonna do for the next twelve to fourteen hours,” he murmured.
He pulls out his phone and scrambles the internet, finding articles and sites about Mount Olympus and Greece. He reads and learns about the subject for the next few hours and eventually dozes off.