Chapter 016 - A New Path? Part 2 Unlocked

[Cyan]: “First can you tell us what the third benefice is?”

Karla took a breath, convincing these two kids to join was harder than she initially thought, she was hoping to show them a bag of candies and that would work, but they are still making all kind of question now, even she if did not find this to be a bother they were actually losing precious time here.

[Karla]: “Alright, for the third benefice I think you guys can guess it already, it is also very easy to understand, as you may already know the training ends after 4 weeks depending on the week you started from, we are from gen 1, and you two are from gen 3, so that means we only be seeing us for 2 more weeks, after that the two of you will be left to defend your selves, that means that just protecting you two would not be enough to keep you alive, so instead we will be training you so you could defend yourself so you don’t die after we leave, easy right?”

Alice could already guess this was coming as the third benefice, being protected and trained by the GP would the best they could hope to get, this should increase their chances to leave the Tower with their lives, however there is still an issue of what they would have to pay in exchange for it and also…

Before Karla could continue, Cyan could only come out clean here about him being a gen 2 and not gen 3 or this surely would become a problem in the future.

[Cyan]: “There is something I need to explain first, I actually started from week 2 but for reasons that… I can’t explain right now, I have spent 1 week sleeping on Floor 9 and I just woke up yesterday, so I have almost the same starting point as Alice but I only have 3 more weeks for remaining inside the Tower”

Karla did a facepalm after hearing that the newbie was actually a gen 2 that lost an entire week of training while sleeping on… wait, Floor 9?

[Karla]: “Wait, did you said Floor 9? How did you even get up there? That floor is off limits for Players, that’s the answer I got when I asked [Midas] about the Floors you know?”

Cyan could only feel flustered because he had asked the same exact question to himself, he thought one could enter any floor with the universal [Ticket] that came inside the welcoming box, even Alice has a few of those but all of them show for Floors 5 to 7 and nothing more, so getting into Floor 9 was actually something you shouldn’t even be able to go, that was normally of course.

Cyan could only try to explain himself.

[Cyan]: “That… I don’t know, I was unconscious at that time, and when I woke up it was Monday already and I had lost five of my Universal [Ticket] from my inventory”

What Cyan was thinking right now was actually that Alice will have to spend one week all alone inside the Tower after his training ends, Karla was also thinking the exact same thing while doing another facepalm.

[Karla]: “To think you would be this useless newbie, and to think that you would even leave your girlfriend Alice behind in a place like this, Alice leave this fool and join us we will train you so that you don’t die inside in the Tower, what do you say?”

Even though Karla words were inspiring they didn’t sound all that right in Alice mind, Cyan, on the other hand, wanted to retort back but the word “leave Alice behind” stroke a chord on his mind, flaring up a memory that shouldn’t be a memory but actually dream, making him feel guilty for some reason.

[Alice]: “Wait Miss Karla didn’t you say it was a two for one kind of deal”

[Karla]: “I have changed my mind”

On the other hand, Karga that had remained silent this whole time knew that his sister was in a bad mood now, so he has to intervene before things go out of hands now.

[Karga]: “Wait Karla, this is not newbie fault at all, and even if he didn’t have lost that week of training he still will have to leave the Tower one week before than Alice, so let’s not punish him more than he already is, look how sorrowful he is right now because of this, also remember that Boss order was to recruit them both together, meaning they both have to agree”

For the first time, Karga had saved Cyan’s neck from the guillotine named Karla.

[Karla]: “Tsk… alright, the newbie can also come”

[Cyan]: “Wait we have not accepted yet”

Karla gave a glaring look at Cyan, making him shrink back in his chair, seeing this Alice tried to intervene instead.

[Alice]: “Wait, Miss Karla, you haven’t told us why do you want two kids to join the GP, nor what you do want in exchange from us”

Seeing the worried face of Alice Karla chose to calm down her angry mood and sit back down on her chair, she realized now that she may have overreacted a little, after taking a breath she was back to normal and the calm has returned to the table.

Letting out a sigh, Karla started to answer Alice question.

[Karla]: “As I said before, we are from the World Global Defense Police and the protection of people of the world is our main goal, we don’t aim to save everyone nor we hope to do, the people inside the Tower came by their own free will and our main mission here is to investigate the tower and find the missing people and help them escape the Tower if possible,… we can’t let two kids that don’t anything about the world to be killed in front our eyes without doing anything to prevent it, you may as well consider we are doing this for our personal egos, and so we can sleep well at night, but are really here trying to help you two”

Karla continues explaining what they want in exchange for the duo.

[Karla]: “As to what we want in exchange for our help, is for you two to join the GP with an equal cooperation, when we go out outside this tower, the GP will need all the Players that it can get and soon, and we are just recruiting you two ahead of time, that’s all, you may take your decision now”

After saying her piece Karla and Karga stood up and left the table and went away so Alice and Cyan could talk on their own what they wanted to do on their own.

Alice and Cyan both had to admit that Karla was right, they are just kids with an almost carefree attitude walking around the Tower without thinking that there are another 349 Players around them and increasing, in here there are no police or laws, no army and no world government that would protect them from harm, what other options do they have?.

In the end Cyan felt his hand being grabbed by Alice as she prepared herself for making sharing the decision that would change her life, right now Karla has been more than generous with the two of them, answering all their question and promising them protection, training, and equal cooperation, Cyan only have to take one look into Alice's eyes to know what she was thinking as it was reflected in her face, Cyan knew that rejecting would change their fates the same as well as accepting this offer.

Alice and Cyan thoughts are very similar and intermixed, “I want to be able to defend myself”, “I want to grow stronger”, “I want to help”, “I want to protect…” and lastly “When I get back…I want to find my family”, their goals were quite different but their thoughts are the same. Cyan could not help but to think in his forgotten dream once more while making his decision, because that was not a dream but maybe it is a memory he thought, but whatever it was he wants to be able to change it, and for that he needs to change the future from where that dream come from.

Alice and Cyan nodded to each other and said their decision at the same time.

[Alice]: “I want to join them” - [Cyan]: “I want to join the GP”

Making they laugh as they released their pent up stress, now that they knew their answers was the same they could now be calmer.

[Cyan]: “Are you sure?”

[Alice]: “Yes I am, I think this is our best path”

[Cyan]: “I also think the same, then let’s make a promised we will see each other again back on earth”

Alice could only smile and let out a giggle.

[Alice]: “It is a promise”

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.

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Karla and Karga returned after Alice and Cyan made them a signal they are ready to give their answers, for them to make a decision this fast could only mean one thing Karla thought and she was correct, now they could move into other matters.

[Karla]: “You made the right decision Alice, Newbie, like a said before my name is Karla and this is my twin brother Karga, and even though we look similar he is nothing like me”

Karga took the chance to intervene in his sister presentation of him.

[Karga]: “Hello kids, I am Karga and I am dying to get started with the training hehe”

After shaking their hands, they have now officially become members of the GP.

[Karla]: “Now that you are part of the GP there are a few things I have to explain first, around three weeks ago we received a mission from the GP director to investigate the [Training Tower], the mission didn’t say in what country the Tower was located, and that the only way to get here was through a text message, crazy right?, Even son we put together a unit of 12 people with Boss being the leader of our unit, but after we got teleported here we got separated into different towers and only us three ended in this one, and at this moment we don’t have any way of contacting the GP center nor with the rest of the other agents”

Before Karla could continue she was interrupted by her brother.

[Karga]: “However the mission did say something important parts”

Karla glared at her brother, however, this didn’t affect him in the least.

[Karga]: “The mission said we should prepare ourselves for an invasion, at that time we didn’t have a clue of what the mission was talking about but now we know”

Karga tapped into the table where Karla phone was resting, of course, he was talking about the video.

[Karga]: “Just think being invaded by an army of those things, 100, 1.000 or even 10.000 of those monsters, the world would be razed to the ground, to the point that the army would have no other choice but to drop nukes into their cities to stop that kind of invasion, in which point it would be useless anyway because you would be destroying your own cities too, that’s is why…”

Before Karga could continue he was interrupted by Karla.

[Karla]: “That’s why we need to train Players for that”

Karga returned the glare to his sister that was showing a smiling face, he really wanted to say that part out.

Cyan could understand that the problem was not in a single monster, but a world level threat that would require the creation of millions of Players, in other words it was a worldwide monster invasion, he could only shudder to the thought of fighting an army that would not die under a rain bullets, in the other hand he took a peek into Alice’s direction while she was looking straight ahead, Alice was thinking that with her father being an active army official he would be deployed into a fight he couldn’t win against those monster, and only equipped with his army rifle, something that could barely wound a monster was a useless weapon, and unless you have 10 more people with one of those and shooting at the same time the monster could not be killed, making the cost per kill something impossible to afford in a war, Cyan took Alice hand under the table, right now the needed each other.

[Cyan]: “Senior, how did the GP director knew a monster invasion was coming before everyone else”

Cyan could not help but ask that question.

[Karga]: “That… we don’t know, nor we did ask him, however, we can guess [Midas] had told him about it”

[Alice]: “Miss Karla, will be Players be enough to fight against… those things?”

[Karla]: “You doubt because you don’t know it yet but gen 1 Players are scary strong you know, they can break a concrete wall like it was made of foam with their bare fist or run faster than the record speed holder, you can get the picture, and there is something else that is inside the Players body that we will explain later on during training, so a trained Player should be able to go one on one against those monsters”

[Alice]: “That…I understand”

[Karla]: “I guess you already know that training here would increase you stats very quickly and in just 4 weeks a superior race of superhumans will be born, we initially thought that whatever threat we would be fighting would be turned into dust by Boss fists but… it seems that’s not the case, and there also are reasons to believe that the enemy would be able to grow even stronger, if we can do it they probably can do it also”

Before Karla could continue Karga moved to explain the rest.

[Karga]: “But the important part is that even though Players are crazy strong most Players are just common people without any combat experience that are put inside a Tower where they are told to train and increase their stats for 4 weeks, and then, they are returned back to earth, so gaining combat experience in here is actually more important than just increasing your stats, that’s why you two kids made the right decision of joining us instead of wasting your time doing pointless exercises”

Karga could not help to point out that fact again, while Alice and Cyan have a lot to take in right now, it was better for them to engrain into the brains that stats weren’t everything of a Player strength, and that they wouldn’t only be training their stats from now on. Karla in the other hand took notice of their expressions, even though trying to grasp the situation inside their heads should be hard they both still weren’t showing fear while trying to run away from reality which was a good signal for Karla, meaning that she could continue talking about the next import subject.

Karla cleared her throat to gather everyone attention.

[Karla]: “You two are not aware of this but there are actually three factions inside the Tower, the GP Boss faction meaning us, the Kingdom faction, and the Empire faction”

[Cyan]: “So that’s why you keep calling him Boss because of the factions?”

[Karla]: “That’s just a coincidence… there is no other way to call Boss other than Boss you know”

[Alice]: “Even so why people are creating factions inside the Tower?”

The one to answer was not Karla but Karga her brother.

[Karga]: “First, it is for safety in number, second, it is because [Midas] will reward you for cooperating with other Players, and third but more important, it is very likely that when we go out from here there wouldn’t any government left, and even if there is one they would hold no power over the Players unless they have an army of Players themselves”

[Alice]: “So it is like they are forming a new government from the Tower right?”

[Karla]: “Pretty much, however, the problem lies in with their mentality, if you are not with them you are against it, that kind of deal, that’s why joining a faction for protection is important, even though we are small nobody will mess with you two if they know you belong to Boss faction”

[Alice]: “I see”

[Cyan]: “Are the other factions also recruiting more Players?”

[Karla]: “More than recruiting you would be bullied into joining one, and unlike us where you will get equal treatment other factions are totally a pyramid scheme where the leader sits at the top”

[Alice]: “That’s… horrible”

Karla nodded agreeing with Alice opinion.

[Karla]: “That’s why we chose to intervene before you would force into another faction, you two are very lucky for going into Floor 5 first actually, that’s it is our dominion”

[Cyan]: “Doesn’t [Midas] intervene for these cases? Aren’t they forcing Players?”

Karla shook her head.

[Karla]: “There is a thin line between coercing and forcing a Player, and even if [Midas] were to issue penalties to Players the factions can afford it, even so, we didn’t want to scare you two into joining us that’s why I waited into telling you this until now after you joined”

Alice and Cyan went silent at the moment, they now can see a bigger picture.

[Alice]: “Miss Karla what it is a dominion, is something that divides a faction?”

Karla nodded.

[Karla]: “Each faction has their own domain or Floor, while floor 1 to 4 are neutral ground, our dominion is Floor 5, while the other two factions use Floor 6 and 7, you can see each faction has its own floor and should be the norm for forming a faction if you are not in one already”

Karla smile while boasting their proudness of having an entire Floor as their domain.

[Karga]: “Even though it is called it is called a domain it just means they unlocked the Floor first though”

[Cyan]: “Can also other Players that aren’t part of the faction use that Floor too?”

[Karla]: “They can if you have the [Ticket], however each time you use an [Ticket] in a Floor part of the ticket price will be rewarded to the Player that unlocked the Floor, that’s why Players of other factions avoid going into other Floors, having more Players in your Floor it is a good thing to have, it helps a faction to earn a lot of Credits, not to mention the Player that unlocks a Floor can buy the [Ticket] for that Floor at a discounted price, as you can see there are many benefices”

Cyan thought for a second he initially thought that unlocking a Floor would be a pointless thing to do now he could see he was dead wrong about that.

[Cyan]: “Senior why the factions have not unlocked the [Fighting Arena] as of yet? Would not having two floors be better for a faction? Should not a faction have the money for that already?”

Cyan remember that when he arrived at the Tower in week 2 Floors from 5 to 7 already had been unlocked and Floor 8 wasn’t, then after another week has past why Floor 8 was still locked when it only cost 100.000 Credits to unlocked?

Karla, on the other hand, could only shake her head.

[Karla]: “Even though factions would love to do, nobody is able to, because the higher you go in Floors the higher is the price for unlocking them, and you have to pay 500.000 Credits for unlocking the Floor 8, and no faction has that amount of Credits yet, but they soon will have with more Players arriving, and right now there is a race for unlocking Floor 8 and Boss is part of that race”

[Alice]: “Wait it is not that something important? Should not you two be also trying to earn more Credits for unlocking the Floor?”

Karla and Karga looked away while the scratched their faces, the way of expresses themselves was very similar.

[Karga]: “That… we thought that helping you two was more important right now, even so, Boss told us not to worry about it and to let everything in his hands, so there is no way Boss can fail”

[Karla]: “That’s right Boss is the strongest Player of the Tower there is no way he would fail”

Alice and Cyan faces fell, right now Boss was putting his sweat trying to earn the 500.000 Credits for unlocking Floor 8 while they were here expending money on food, not to mention wasting the twins time when they could be out there in Floor 5 helping out Boss to earn Credits instead of helping them and risking the chance of… “Wait a minute”, Cyan train of thoughts stopped as he remembers something.

Cyan took out his phone and checked his old messages.

Message [Midas]: “Player can unlock the Floor 8 [Fighting Arena] by spending 100.000 Credits for it, in that room there are machines that can take a measure a Player current strength, for entering the Floor you will still need a Floor [Ticket], do you wish to unlock it?”

“It was 100.000 and not 500.000? Did the price Change?” At the time he refused it thinking it was not worth but…

[Cyan]: “Senior is unlocking a Floor 8 for 500.000 worth it?”

Karla could only laugh at the newbie comment

[Karla]: “Of course, even though it will take a while to recover your inversion with just the [Ticket] rewards, there is still also the discount benefice you get when buying a [Ticket] for the Floor, but the most important part is that you would be able to gain more Quests and earn more Credits, so I think it is very worth it, that’s why Boss is right now trying to win the race you know”

Cyan though for a second.

[Cyan]: “Thank you, Senior, for all your help, I will repay it”

[Karla]: “There is no need for that newbie, is our mission after all”

Cyan nodded and turned to his phone and then opened his inventory.

[Inventory]

Credits: 114.850

…

Reply: “[Midas]… I mean Willy I wish to unlock the Floor 8 is that still possible?”

Message [Midas]: “Cyan can unlock the Floor 8 [Fighting Arena] by spending 100.000 Credits for it, do you wish to proceed?”

“Yes it is still the same” Cyan thought

Reply: “Yes, unlock it”

Immediately after that, a global announcement was sent by [Midas] to all Players in the Tower.

Message [Midas]: “[Announcement] A Player Cyan has unlocked the Floor 8 [Fighting Area], all Players now can access the [Fighting Area]”.

At the same everyone in the table read the Message and then turned their heads to look at Cyan that was smiling while looking away.