Kevin did, in fact, help Sam out with the ancient shield mission. As it turned out, just discovering the ancient shield itself triggered the skip-function, which meant, anyone could skip their missions. In Sam’s case, since he didn’t get it before that, he needed to finish the dungeon.

It wasn’t as if the system was hiding all these optional missions. It’s there, right there, all it takes was just, well, paying attention to it.

With that done, Kevin went on the hunt for his bomb-defuser, and he started from the area nearest to him. The central business district.

The glass offices were crowded on a Monday afternoon, and Kevin decided to take his time. From what he has seen so far, this system hides a lot of things in plain sight, and it’s all about paying attention to the little things.

“Where do you think it’s hidden?” Sam said. “I don’t see anyone with anything on their head so far...”

At that moment, he saw an old dude walk out of a black Mercedes, and he had a red glowing dollar sign on his head.

The old dude in a suit had two bodyguards, and they flanked him. An usher opened the door, whisked them through the office lobby and right through to the lifts.

Kevin immediately glared at Sam, and Sam shook his head. “Don’t do it bro. Those bodyguards look like they have guns. ”

“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

The two guys kept looking, and Kevin eventually decided to start walking along the path marked on the map. With most individuals in their offices, Kevin wasn’t sure if he wanted to use this special access card to walk through the offices one-by-one.

Not with Sam, anyway. He’d probably blow their cover.

Out here in the sunlight, it was unnerving how quickly they adapted to the blue-hue of everything. Everything looked slightly blue, so, when Kevin spotted something that shone bright red, he immediately approached it.

It was another person with the same red dollar sign on his head, and this person didn’t have bodyguards. He just looked like a bored person working on his laptop at the overpriced cafe chain.

“Hey, I’m Kevin, can I talk to you for a moment?” Kevin introduced himself.

“Go away. I’ve got no money to give you, and I’m not interested in buying anything.” He flinched at how he had become the pushy insurance agent he once hated.

“Sorry, it’s about the red dollar sign on your head.”

The man glared at Kevin. “Go away, or I’m going to call security.”

[You’ve collected One Red Coin. Red Coins can be used to purchase decorations and other decorative items!]

The sign on his head disappeared, and Kevin nodded. “Alright, thanks for your time anyway.”

Sam laughed. “All that for a red coin.”

They kept walking along the path, and eventually, they stumbled upon another dungeon. Kevin spotted it when he saw a small mailbox that had a funny glow to it.

[You’ve spotted the Level 2 mailbox dungeon. You can gain one perk point from completing this mailbox dungeon.]

“Mailbox. Seriously.” Sam started to scroll and check the forums. “It’s a mail-delivery sorting puzzle. They’ll be numbered mail that we need to put into the right boxes.”

“We’re toddlers, aren’t we?” Kevin rolled his eyes.

“Damn right.” Sam vanished, and Kevin joined him soon after. It was indeed a game meant for 3 year olds or younger, where there were multiple oversized mail with numbers, and they had to sort them into the correct boxes.

They finished it in 15 minutes, and they were out again.

At that point, Kevin wondered what he collected so far, then the blue screen quickly produced a summary.

[Unspent Coins and Points]

[War Perk Point - 1]

[Normal perk points - 3]

[Red Coins - 1]

[Available Skills]

[Skills : Skip-weekly mission]

[Skills : Level 5 summonable magic shovel (unlimited)]

[Skills : Level 5 magical shield (10 uses)]

“We’re getting more perk points, but the shop rollout’s next month.” Sam said. “This is stupid. This system is so poorly thought out.”

The blue screens didn’t reply.

They kept walking.

And walking. At this point they reached the edge of the business district, and the environment was a blend of small light industrial buildings and single-family homes no taller than four floors.

“Maybe it’s back in those offices?” Sam suggested, frustrated that they found nothing.

“You think so?” Kevin wasn’t sure either, but they’ve walked one quarter of the length marked on the map and they’ve seen nothing. “But I think I’m going to stick with it. Did anyone in the forums talk about maps?”

Both of them found it funny that the forums became a source of information, because everyone shared their own views. There were plenty of contradictory information, since this blue screen was so new, there are no ‘trusted’ or ‘reputable’ sources of information.

Some of them complained that the maps were useless. They said these maps led to clues, not the actual end target. “I’m surprised the government hasn’t stepped in to set up a register for all known missions and make it mandatory for us to report what missions we had.” Sam quipped.

“Maybe they are, but you know how governments are slow for these things. They need to grease a few elbows before it gets anywhere.” Kevin honestly saw the merit of having some form of centralised database for such things, but there really was no way to verify it. It’s not like you could share blue screens.

They eventually came across a small cafe, nestled at the corner of an industrial building and decorated in a raw, industrial-ish style. The designer took advantage of all the metal pipings that wrapped around the industrial building to pull off the clean-industrial look.

“Iced coffee.” Sam said as he walked up to the counter and ordered his drink. “I’m tired, and hot, and I want something really cold.”

“Hot day, you look like you’ve been walking for a bit.” The man at the counter smiled.

“Oh yes. My friend’s been looking for a bomb defuser.”

“I see. A real bomb, or one of those blue screen missions?”

“Blue screen.” Sam said as he finally picked up his iced black coffee. It’s some nitrogen gas cold brew thing, but Kevin frankly couldn’t tell the difference.