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Chapter 08: Rude (by Scion)
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The night of pain and weird phenomena and realizing ended... the new dawn of morning came with Rex not getting even a cent of sleep.
Sprawled on the sofa were the twins. On the carpeted floor is the neatly folded Doctor Martinez.
Rex went down his room to see the newly arrived Manang Fe, with the groceries and the eggs, rice grains, and a new dishwashing liquid.
Seeing the new carpet then glancing outside to the folded old carpet that was once the one spread out inside, Manang Fe gave Rex a meaningful glance.
"It was an attack... last night." He defended.
Hearing this made Manang Fe sigh and she went up to check on Rex's physique like a worried nanna.
"How bad was it this time?" She asked. Though there was still her stiff and stolid personality, Manang Fe's question made Rex's heart warm and he smiled, shaking his head.
"Same as before." He said and then went down to sit at the side of the table, arranging the plastic bags and taking out the things to cook. "I'll help you prepare breakfast for these guys."
"Pft. These dickheads... they know I was coming this morning so they actually stayed overnight. Hmp. If I know better, they only want to eat and then they will leave almost instantly."
Rex chuckled and then shot an eye to the sala. He lightly laughed again and then spoke, "Manang Fe is a really good cook but she will not permit those who are pretending to be asleep to eat her cooking."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the three sleeping adults quickly shot up to their feet and then went to help in the things laid on the table.
Manang Fe lightly beamed a smile and then began to give orders to the four men. The house was cleaned and the foods were cooked almost twice as fast.
After the meal, the three adults really did bid their farewells but Manang Fe only raised a brow before the three adults began to clean the kitchen and wash the dishes. Manang Fe secretly shot a wink at Rex that he found to be enough reason to laugh slightly.
Only when the house chores were done that the three escaped in full speed.
Seeing Doctor Martinez escape like a teenager who did some mischief actually lifted up Rex's mood.
He told Manang Fe his plans for the day and the old maid gave her warnings as Rex went up to take a bath. In the bathroom, he took his time to bathe in the cold water. He was actually still sober and he can't help but think of the things that happened last night.
Because before he lost his consciousness midway the therapy, he was still able to discern that there was a Box that had a metallic feel to it.
After he lost consciousness, he was brought in a dream-like state where he felt a connection with a 'something' that was tangible in the real world.
But because he was unconscious, he could only treat it as a dream and not actually mind it.
And yet, as soon as he woke up last night, he felt that tangible connection with that something getting further and further away. That feeling... was like his connection with his weapons back in Terroa... a very profound feeling of something important to you is connected via an imaginable force made by man.
In short, it was the same feeling as the [Invention] items in RPG: Terroa. That was the kind of feeling he felt last night.
Alas, that feeling was only short so he wouldn't be sure if his conjecture was right or not. All he could do for now is to sleep... log in... and then make his way fast towards Alexandria.
In a particular time, Siva logged in.
*****
As soon as he opened his eyes, he was inside Volt's Cyclone parked in man-made icy cave.
Siva walked out of the Cyclone and saw two men who bid him a wave of a hand.
"G'Morning." Thorn said. Introductions were already over between all of them so there was no need to say them again.
"Yo." Volt followed.
Siva nodded as if not to actually mind them. He spent a few minutes looking around their man-made cave before looking at the [in-game time] clock.
"We've been hiding for almost three days now. By my calculations, the search parties might already be ahead of us if not waiting for us to appear for an ambush."
Hearing Thorn's words made Siva nod. He too had the same thoughts as him.
Rex sat down on a silent corner and then opened his inventory. He pulled out the bags that had the goods stolen from the capsule shop in Dragona. Inspecting the contents, although it was taken in an unruly way, he still couldn't help but beam a smile.
"Well this is quite a harvest." He murmured.
There were Hover Bikes, Hover Boards, Drill Cars, Ice Trucks, a hundred or so centipedes, Polar Tents and even Villas –to his delight, bed warmers, comms devices, standalone warehouses and other expensive storage facilities for storing perishable monster items and resources, and... by virtue or not, he even got himself three Harvesters!
Harvesters are vehicles –machines meant solely for harvesting minerals and resources, or anything useful that's existing on its database or anything specific that's programmed for it to harvest.
Shops in the Xargoal Mining Cities are prohibited to sell these items because, as their cities' names imply, they are minor cities with the sole purpose of mining and distributing minerals they mined to the world.
Even to the cities in the nearest 24hrs distance from the Xargoal Mining Cities, this item is still prohibited to be sold.
Their primary tools on harvesting these minerals are these so called Harvesters.
But of all these, perhaps, Siva's greatest gains was the capsule with the name of Akhenaton.
Approaching from curiosity, Thorn and Volt chuckled as they saw the three Capsules with the image of the Harvester on its label.
Thorn said, "We can use these Harvesters to harvest some Ice Crystals or Water Stones in the mountain."
Hearing the excitement on his voice, Volt added, "It might be better to use these harvesters on places where people are least to come. Set up a gathering point, then let it do its job for the next... few months perhaps, if not years..."
Siva thought of these suggestions and then he raised his head to look at the two, asking, "We can use one on this mountain. Set this cave as a gathering point and then leave it here for some time to accumulate the minerals. We can then gather these minerals after some time has passed."
Rex, though he still had his deal with AG, actually had no way to refuse the help of these two.
He owed them his escape back in Dragona and they asked nothing else in return but to accompany him on his mission to save his brother in Alexandria.
Siva had no doubt about the personality of Volt because he knew him from across his house. But this Thorn, he had an air of authority in him. Not just the one he developed inside the game but his knowledge and his demeanor had an air of someone who grew up surrounded by politicians his entire life.
He didn't quite trusted him but since Volt trusted him, he had to put his trust as well... for now.
Siva chose to use one of the three Harvesters in the man-made cave they excavated before they logged in.
He pressed the button and threw it off in the ground five meters away from them. With a poof and a few dust clouds scattering after a flash of a bluish white light, a one meter sized mole-like mechanical Zooid appeared in front of the three along with the [pole] for setting up the gathering point.
Volt looked at Siva, "Well?"
Siva picked up the [pole] and then set it up in the middle of the cave that's now empty from Volt's Cyclone. After he punched the pole in the icy floor, a panel showed up in his vision and a series of options and commands for the mole-harvester arrayed itself in order of priority.
"Set the scan for the whole mountain domain." Said Thorn and Siva followed the suggestion as he began to swipe the panel to find the proper option.
After a while, "That's a set." Siva pressed the button to confirm his options and the mole-harvester began its initial scan of the surroundings before it began to dig the ground and disappear.
"It will always find the nearest deposits of minerals before it digs in deeper and further from the gathering point."
"By the way, what kind of minerals did you order for it to find?"
Asked with this question, Siva blinked, "Was there an option like that?"
"..."
"..."
An eerie silence erupted between the three as Siva bid them a dry smile, "I just went to scan the whole mountain and take anything it finds as a resource to this gathering point."
The two leaders exchanged glances and then shrug their shoulders.
"It's good as well."
"Nothing's wrong about that."
At that, the trio went towards the entrance of the cave as Siva pulled out a capsule.
With a press of a button, it became a centipede that latched into the side of the mountain like a giant white worm with mechanical legs.
Seeing this, the other two men wondered.
Volt asked, "Why a centipede?"
"Because it can traverse this mountain with ease, just like the Spider Cargo Truck... with the difference between the two being that this one is made for snow while the other is for flatlands. Furthermore, this one had an added function of a twisting head. Look over there. Just now, the priority is getting through this mountain at the fastest time possible. Flying won't do since the air is too thin and the terrain is filled with monsters that we still don't have an idea of. We can also use hover bikes or hover boards but I only have seven of them each so once we take out one, we can't turn it back into a capsule until it runs out of juice for refueling. Only then we can turn them back into capsules."
The two nodded. They were familiar with the things that Siva said and they also understand that traversing this mountain and surviving the blizzards was an act that requires preparation.
One does not traverse a steep and snowy mountain if not prepared. Adding the monsters in the equation, the natural anti-monster function of the freight truck with legs –or just Centipede, along with its all-terrain capability and a built in pilot and passenger seats, it was the most practical option for the moment.
"Let's go." Siva prompted. The trio jumped off the cave and then went towards the Centipede. But before Siva entered, he summoned his Dragunov and punched the top layer of the cave that sent a BOOM and rattled the ice, closing its entrance.
Seeing this, he sat down the Pilot Seat and then made his way across the steep snowy mountain wall, like a giant centipede, making his way in a straight line.
*****
When Scion logged in, his first action was to check her body and then check the arrangement of the cloth and blanket, the exact way she had left the room, and the pillow trap she left in the door.
Summoning a window panel, she triple checked that everything was exactly the same way she had left it before she logged out for the past 24hrs.
The fear of being raped without knowing! As soon as she was sure that everything is as she had left it, she sighed in relief and then swiped her player window to try to make contact again.
But to her disappointment, the [Inventory] is closed; the [Communication] is closed; and aside from her three quick access items, her quick shift equipment change ability, and her battle options and capabilities, nothing else was working normally for her.
All that is locked had a red label on them and her status on her player window said [Captive] that actually emphasized her current situation.
Looking at the window, she let out a sigh.
She began to arrange her room and neatly set the pillows and the blankets. She then placed the table directly at the window and checked the density of the glass with meticulous calculations.
After a while, she went to the door. She cast three sets of «Burning Ice» spell towards the door that quickly alerted the guards outside.
She then took the metal chair from the table and threw it hard towards the glass window that shattered it in an instant. Strong gusts of wind sprung up from behind her, pushing her towards the window and also sucking everything that was inside the room.
With the view below, she realized that she was in a tower and looking up was the tiled roof. The location of her tower was not fixed as the entire floating island was circling in place above the lake crater.
She glanced below and gulped at the height but now that she had an opening, she had no choice but to go forward or she wouldn't be able to escape.
Checking her player window, even though she was already outside, she was still [Captive].
"Maybe if I jump away from here..."
Looking down, there was a relatively short span of land before the edge of the island. And down below, a high jump towards the lake water was approximately about a kilometer or so.
"I can do this... I can do this... I can do..." She inhaled and then exhaled, then inhaled, and then exhaled again.
The suction of the window was done and majority of the things inside her room had already been sucked out of the window except for the bed and table.
She inched closer... closer... she took one inch of a step at a time and approached the edge of the window.
There were no ledges outside her window and from the base towards the top of her tower was just a straight line without a miss.
"Who constructed this tower?!" She couldn't help but curse at it. Her only hand support was the window and if she slips and her angle wasn't right, she'd fall straight towards the rocky cliff... if not lucky.
Looking back, the Burning Ice spell she cast on the door was now slowly being broken. The door was yet to budge but the barricade she placed won't hold on for so long.
She had to make the jump now.
With one final glance at the door, she saw the ice got knocked off as two soldier-looking knights stumbled followed by Prince Volga with an incredulous look.
"My Princess!" she cried.
Scion bit her lips as she jumped off the window. Her eyes focused on the fall. Panic embraced her heart as soon as the strong air current assaulted her ears. She tried to keep herself calm while trying her best to imitate the sky-divers she saw in the Real@TV.
Angling herself, she spread her arms and countered the fall. Wind battered her face, her body, and her senses as she slowly, minute by minute, slowly made her way off the tip of the cliff.
SWOOSH!
With the sound passing by her ears, the rocky cliff became a blurry figure behind her and she was now falling directly towards the blue water of the lake crater up front.
She glanced at her window panel and her [Captive] status still hasn't changed a bit.
"No way!" She now began to really panic.
FlowerLord gave her a Mechanical Wing Set and also taught her how to use it. But if she can't access her inventory, she can't equip it for use.
And then, to add more options to her demise, she saw a large dark shadow suddenly moved within the blue waters of the Crater Lake.
Its shape was of a giant snake. The shadow under the Crate Lake was swirling and circling like the actual movements of a snake in the water.
With just after a breath, the head of the snake-shadow erupted into a mountain of water and a large maw of a Bakunawa –the race of the serpent dragons that exists at the level of species higher than the Wyverns, actually jumped off the water to eat her.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!" Frightened, she tried to stop her fall and waved her hands in front of her.
The shadow of the Bakunawa was almost upon her but just as she was about to be eaten alive, a ray of bright silvery light came from the corner of her eyes and picked her up at an amazing speed.
It was so fast that the thug of force made her lose her consciousness.
She doesn't even have time to scream as she was actually rendered unconscious by the fear and the sudden jolt.
"You really want to go back to him this much?"
A man's voice rang in her darkened world.
When Scion came to, she was already back to her room and the broken window was now repaired with a new and reinforced kind of glass that was used for warships.
She inhaled, exhaled, then remembered the last scene of about to be eaten and she screamed in fright then jumped off her bed only to hit someone behind her.
"Oww!" a familiar man's voice rang. "That hurts!"
Looking back in a snap, Scion was about to use her magic but then she saw the man's silver armor and remembered that before she passed out, she saw the same set of armor before.
"Get away from me!" she yelled at him. But when she realized that he was on her bed, she immediately became frightened and used Burning Ice and Freezing Fire simultaneously towards him.
The sounds of spells being released echoed in the room and the lights of flashing effects reached out even towards the hallways.
Smoke and dusts filled the room and Scion stood there like a spent candle, panting.
Her heaving chest was one to look at as her beautiful face reflected the scenic view of a real fairy. While the smoke and dusts dispersed, a man spoke in a rather carefree and unrestrained manner.
"Aiaiaiai... those are some frightening magic tricks you got there, Miss Princess. Or Archmage. Or.. ow, whatever... you're strong for a girl with a beautiful face... and yet you're actually a player and not an NPC. Damn the heavens, you're one of a kind."
Hearing this, Scion felt afraid for the first time.
From the dispersing screen of smoke and dust clouds, the silhouette of a knight scratching the back of his head could be seen from the background light of the window.
"H-How could..."
"How am I still fine?" The man interjected and then made a step forward, fixing the bridge of his nose.
"Who are you?" Scion asked, extremely distressed.
As far as she knows, no one should be able to move after being hit by Freezing Fire or Burning Ice... and yet this man, has just done what she thought was an impossible feat.
The man who had a long blonde hair tied at the back in a ponytail, and a rather attractive face that betray his knight uniform and class, had an unruly character paired with his street-slang speech, could be called a first class street-handsome for some women.
Scion, now that she had seen the man's face, couldn't help but think of that time when she had been saved by him so she had no choice but to soften up.
But, again, she asked sternly, "Who are you?"
The man sighed and then bowed; quick and easy, with no hint of sincerity and only just for show.
"Name's nanya!" he said as he proceeded to go and pass by her while fixing his nose.
Scion frowned, "Your name is Nanya?"
"Nanya business."
The man continued to fix his nose bridge and ignored Scion, going straight for the door.
But just as he was about to exit, he leaned back and then said sarcastically, "By the way, you're welcome for saving you. You've almost been eaten alive by the Bakunawa and just so you know, it's because you are trying to escape that the treatment here was like this. If only you know how to behave like a lady, then I would've been glad to be your mate. Tsk. See ya around, princess."
With the last words delivered with a wink, the man walked of the room and slammed the door hard.
Startled, Scion stared at the door for a few moments before she burned with irritation from her neck to her forehead in an exaggerated animation, declaring:
"HOW RUDE!!"