Chapter 10

[Cyan]: “So that’s what happened… that sounds more like a horror movie than reality…”

Alice told Cyan that since his disappeared the world has changed a lot, first the world government that had been telling people to [refuse] made a 180 turn and started telling people to [accept] and to do it immediately, then the new kind of rabies that was affecting the animals explode all around affecting almost all animals on the world even the cattle causing a great hunger around the world, almost all animals had now turn into ferocious best capable of ripping off people throats in a second, and while videos of people being eating alive were circulating on the internet like wildfire the news channels started recommending people to be extremely cautious to any and all animal that comes near to them all the while also recommending them that if they have a gun to shoot the animal first and then ask question later, to this degree things have reached in earth, hunger, and death, violence and crime, a place where you need to fight to survive.

The military had intervened in the cities capitals and emergency was declared around the world but pretty much the world government had already crumble without any power to dictate anything anymore. Alice then showed Cyan a video that was on her phone where a military unit had surrounded a dog looking beast and then opened fired with their military-grade assault rifles, the dog still wounded managed to kill several of them before dying in ground due to blood loss, it was a very gore sight watching a video of people being killed by a dog, there were also other videos but Alice didn’t have the courage to download them nor watch them either.

In resume, it was pretty bad out there, in the end, Alice father a military official turned to her and told her to [accept] and leave earth behind, no place was safe as the [Training Tower], they have become the only Place were those monsters could not enter because humans themselves could not found them anywhere or maybe it was just wishful thinking of humans that had lost all trace hope, still she didn’t want to leave her parents behind and run away by herself at all, but her father aimed a gun to his own head and said that if she doesn’t go he would pull the trigger her mother… did the same, leaving Alice with no choice, in the end, she said goodbye to them while holding back her tears with all her strength. This is when she had found Cyan once again,

[Alice]: “Actually my dad wanted to thank you, if weren’t for you I would have [refuse] coming to the [Training Tower] one w…. ago, however after the repeated world government broadcast that this place was the safest and with no other options they… were left with no other choice”

Alice was starting to cry, Cyan could put his hand in her shoulders, even though he wanted to show his support he didn’t how, however, those feelings were transferred to her so that she could cheer up a little by his gesture.

[Alice]: “Let’s forget about that for now, then what should be doing here?”

[Cyan]: “Obviously we got to train”

[Alice]: “Training for what?”

[Cyan]: “I guess you already know the answer”

[Alice]: “It was like that after all…”

Cyan nodded, soon silence followed as Cyan and Alice looked into the void hoping to find an answerer but no answer was found, even though they knew now what why they were here and for what they were training for… that… how you can fight against something that doesn’t even die even with you filled to the bring with lead?.

[Cyan]: “Right, you first need to check your phone and see if you have any messages, also no matter what you can’t lose your phone, after that, you need to check the [Midas] app that should be already installed in your phone and also check your status and inventory… see if you have the [Welcoming Box]”

Cyan couldn’t think into anything else so he instead opted for share all the knowledge he has about the tower, Free Points, Quest, Credits and so on, not to mention never to lose her phone and what the penalty for losing your phone was.

Alice proceeded to check her status first

[Status]

[Information]

Name: Alice Status: Normal Location: [Training Room] Level: 0 Profession: None Sub-Profession: None

[Stats]

Strength (STR): 10 Tier 0 Dexterity (DEX): 12 Tier 0 Endurance (END): 10 Tier 0 Stamina (STA): 12 Tier 0 Intelligence (INT): 12 Tier 0 Free Points: 0

Note: – Cyan initial stats for Comparison.

[Status]

[Information]

Type: Player Name: Cyan Status: Normal Location: [Training Tower] Floor 4 Level: 0 Profession: None Sub-Profession: None

[Stats]

Strength (STR): 6 Tier 0 Dexterity (DEX): 8 Tier 0 Endurance (END): 5 Tier 0 Stamina (STA): 6 Tier 0 Intelligence (INT): 12 Tier 0 Free Points: 0

Alice showed her stats to Cyan while asking him if her numbers were any good or bad, Cyan could only bury his head on the sand for his initial pitiful low stats, he endured the shamed as he explained to Alice what was the average stats for Male and Female, 10’s for Males and 9’s for Females but with the Females having higher DEX than Males, however, that was only the average, her stats were way above the average 9, making Cyan feel like he was being looking down by [Midas] as she saying “That’s only the average the actual stats are higher”, he also explained to Alice what each stat does and how they work in theory, making Alice give a clapping with her hands at the end of his presentation, Cyan didn’t have the heart to tell her that all this information was something he has obtained from Willy and that it was in fact pretty much almost all the information he has right now.

After Cyan explained Alice about her stats being higher than average she could put her chin high up in proudness however Cyan showed her his current stats only to calm her down a little, after all, most of his stats were higher than hers now, of course, that was with the help of the [Midas] and by doing a Quest.

NOTE – Cyan Current stats

[Status]

[Information]

Type: Player Name: Cyan Status: Normal Location: [Training Room] Level: 0 Profession: None Sub-Profession: None

[Stats]

Strength (STR): 16 Tier 0 Dexterity (DEX): 18 Tier 0 Endurance (END): 15 Tier 0 Stamina (STA): 18 Tier 0 Intelligence (INT): 12 Tier 0 Free Points: 18

Alice opened her eyes wide and she read through Cyan stats.

[Alice]: “I didn’t know you were this strong, and your stamina is very high even though I had never seen you running for too long, you also have so many Free Point, you are saving them for later right?”.

[Cyan]: “Actually this was after doing a single Quest, so they weren’t like that at the beginning, and like you guessed Free Points can be used for later when increasing your stats is harder”

Cyan had to admit in the end that his stats were actually not his initial stats, after all, there was no reason for lying to Alice and her stats would also increase as much as his stats have after she starts doing Quest on her own.

[Alice]: “So it is was like that, then what this Tier 0 besides my stats is”

[Cyan]: “that…I don’t know”

Cyan could only lower his head, he was planning to ask that to Willy next but…

[Alice]: “Then is there a way to find out?”

Cyan eyes light up as he nodded.

[Cyan]: “Yes that’s right, there is a way to find out, you can write a reply to [Midas] and ask her about it, or you can also use your [Midas] app and go to FAQ sub-menu and read it”.

[Alice]: “One question though… what it is [Midas] and why you keep calling it her?”

Cyan froze for a second, he didn’t know when but since he woke up this morning he started thinking [Midas] as she, it was weird as he didn’t have any basis for it and he only felt it that way.

[Cyan]: “[Midas] is the sender of the text message and She is the one controlling [Midas], as to why I call it a She I actually don’t know why, but I feel [Midas] is She for some reason, if you look over there you will see her logo write all over the place, don’t you think that logo has the shape of a person?”

[Alice]: “Wait that does not make sense, you said [Midas] is a She and then She is controlling [Midas]? How that makes sense?”

[Cyan]: “I guess you are right… that doesn’t make sense at all”

Cyan brush off the incongruity feeling he was having in his mind and urged Alice to check her inventory instead.

[Inventory]

Credits: 2000

[Items]

Welcoming Box [Week 3 Edition] Ticket for entry to Floor 5 to 7 x30

[Equipment]

School Uniform

[Cyan]: “it is different”

[Alice]: “What is different?”

[Cyan]: “The [Welcoming Box] it seems to be a weekly base box, so it should have other things, why don’t you try opening first.

[Welcoming Box](Week 3 Edition)

000 Credits Ticket for entry to any Floor x10. Energy Drink x10 Energy Food x10 2 Free Point

The contents of Alice [Welcoming Box] were pretty much the same as Cyan but doubled probably due to [Midas] Balancing.

[Cyan]: “It is pretty much the same as mine but everything is double, [Midas] likes balance things for Players, you STA is not that low so you don’t need to use the Free Points right now like I did and used them later”

Alice nodded and put all the contents of the box inside her inventory, another difference was that instead of receiving 1.000 Credits from the “Welcoming Message” like Cyan she received instead 2.000, and the same happened with the 10.000 from the box, Alice have now 12.000 Credits into her name, Cyan also took the chance and explained her about the Tickets and how they are used for entering a Floor.

[Inventory]

Credits: 12.000

[Items]

Ticket for any Floor x10 Ticket for entry to Floor 5 to 7 x30 Energy Drink x10 Energy Food x10

[Equipment]

School Uniform

[Cyan]: “As for the Credits Floor 1 to 4 are free to enterer, but you still need to pay for your food in Floor 3, normal food cost 100 and special food 500, their difference well you can ask [Midas] about that later… as for the [Energy Drink] and [Energy Food], those are to be used while training more than being used as a proper meal”

Cyan could only awkwardly tell Alice the things he knew while also realizing all the things he didn’t know. Alice nodded while she tried to memorize all the information Cyan was sharing with her, unlike Cyan that had Willy repeating over and over again so he could memorize it with no problems Alice could not ask Cyan to do the same thing like a robot.

[Alice]: “This is like RPG game right?”

[Cyan]: “Did you ever played RPG games before?”

Alice blushed while answering

[Alice]: “I saw you playing once in your PPSD so I got interests and I download it and played for a little bit”

Note: PPSD, People Personal Smart Device AKA a Phone.

Cyan face became a little red after hearing Alice reply however she was very curious about the Tower and Cyan was full of knowledge she lacked making her fail to notice too much about Cyan current status.

[Alice]: “Then is there any Shop where we can buy… weapons right?”

Alice paused a bit before saying Weapons, of course in the RPG she has played you would try to equip your character with the best weapon of the game for killing monsters faster, after all that was almost 50% part of the game.

[Cyan]: “There is an [Shop] in the [Midas] app but is gray out so you can’t open for now”

[Alice]: “Then what we need to do to open it?”

Cyan could not admit that he hadn’t thought of that so instead of replying again that he didn’t know the answer so he took out his phone and asked to [Midas] herself.

Reply: “What I need to do for opening the [Shop] in the app?”

Message Midas: “Nothing, the Player [Shop] will automatically be opened for the Player during the 4 weeks of training on the [Training Tower], Cyan is advice to keep….”

Cyan didn’t need to read the rest of the message to knew what it said however that didn’t matter to him as he got the information that he needed right now.

[Cyan]: “It seems the [Shop] will be opening on the fourth week of training for each Player”

[Alice]: “I understand, then what should we do now?”

While Alice asked what they should be doing next Cyan was trying to talk to Willy and see if he could ask him more questions about the Tower and that he was unaware of, that was because unlike him Alice was full of questions about the Tower and that made him realized how little he actually knew, while Cyan was typing into his phone Alice made another question seeing that her first question was ignored.

[Alice]: “Are you asking [Midas] again?”

Cyan nodded, Alice's voice held and a hint of jealousy that Cyan didn’t notice as he was focus writing a reply to Willy, however, Alice had another idea.

[Alice]: “It is ok if I ask her too right?”

[Cyan]: “Yeah there shouldn’t be any problem, but [Midas] repetitive messages are a pain to deal”

Alice started writing to [Midas], meanwhile Cyan got a message

Message [Midas]: “Cyan is awarded 1000 credits for tutoring a Player for 1 hour”

It just dawned on him he had been talking with Alice for 1 hour already, and that also made him remember that he was here as her tutor, at the same time Alice got almost the same message.

Message [Midas]: “Player is awarded 1000 credits for listening Cyan tutoring for 1 hour”

Cyan could guess these messages weren’t actually from [Midas] they actually came from Willy because it said Cyan instead of Player and not to mention the rewards should be given by the end of the week and not right now so obviously this was Willy’s doing, Alice, on the other hand, blinked a few times after she read the messaged and then show it to Cyan while asking him what was this about.

[Cyan]: “This morning there was an announcement form [Midas] saying that a Tutor program has being put in place for this week, then I got another message saying that I was assigned as your Tutor that’s why I knew you were here so I came to find you right away”.

Cyan show Alice the messages he got this morning and how he had found her using the [Map] that was showing her like green dot sitting next to a blue dot, Alice was surprised by this as she wasn’t aware of this, but when checked her Quest she found that she had two of them.

[Quest](2)

Start your training (In progress) … Become a Player Student (In progress)

[Become a Player Student]

Become an excellent Student (1 week remaining) [1] Listen to lectures [2] Increase your stats … [9] Locked (unlocks after completing 5 tasks of the list)

[Alice]: “So [Midas] did that?”

[Cyan]: “Yeah, it also surprised me a lot, I was told there are a lot of [Training Tower] around and ending in the same Tower is quite difficult and then being assigned as your tutor can only be called a great coincidence”

[Alice]: “….”

[Cyan]: “Alice?”

Hearing her name Alice returned to her senses.

[Alice]: “Yes you are right it is a great coincidence”.

Alice deleted the question she wanted to send to [Midas] and instead wrote.

[Reply]: “Thank you”

After that, she got a reply

[Midas]: “Alice is advice…..”

Alice could only giggle to Willy reply.

[Midas]: “…”

Cyan explained to Alice that in fact, he was trying to talk not with [Midas] but with his friend Willy.

.

.

.

[Cyan]: “It is no use, I keep getting the same reply over and over again, what about you Alice?”

[Alice]: “I also got the same message too, I think we should start training, right it says here that I have a quest [Start your training], this is the one you did right?”

Alice opened the Quest and showed it to Cyan.

[Quest]

[Start your training] (In Progress) [1] Run 1km, in 10 minutes (Tap to start)(Track Area is required) [2] Locked (unlocks after clearing the previous task)

Cyan wanted to go to the [Rest Area] first but after reading Alice Quest description he notice that she could only do this Quest in Floor 5 unlike him that could use any Floor, in fact, most initial Quest will have a requirement of going to Floor 5, 6 or 7, however when Cyan thought of going to the [Rest Area] again his body started to shake and his face grow pale.

[Alice]: “Cyan are you ok?”

[Cyan]: “…Yes…I am ok, let’s go to Floor 5 and do the Quest”

Alice nodded.

[Cyan]: “Right, when you were teleported here you were you using your School Uniform?”

[Alice]: That’s right, I thought it would be easier to found other students if wear something that can identify me, you are also wearing your uniform so why do ask?”

Cyan could only bring his hands to his face to scratch the itchiness he was feeling.

[Alice]: “Besides these clothes are good for running too”

The West High School that Cyan and Alice were going was school that focused on making comfortable uniforms, so students could use for running while enjoying their student’s lives without the stiffness an uniform would bring so they could be proud of wearing such School Uniform instead of having to frown every morning, wearing their School Uniform could only be said a good choice, however Cyan always felt that his school has given up something very important along the way, by making Boys and Girls dressed in the same Uniform.

[Cyan]: “It is nothing… You are right it is a good choice for finding you”

[Alice]: “Sigh even though you cheated in the end anyway”

[Cyan]: “Still there is the chance we can find other students by wearing the uniforms so don’t give up so easily”