Part Three

What’s wrong with this stupid thing? It just turned off out of nowhere.

They’d gone to sleep an hour ago, but I just kept tossing and turning. Giving up on getting a good night’s sleep, I’d gone back to looking though the internet. I had to careful though, as the three of us were sharing the same room. If I wake Alicia, she’ll be cranky for hours tomorrow. I’m not dealing with that.

Just as I was getting bored of looking at the same news stories, the laptop had shut-off. It had stopped responding to anything I did, and eventually shutdown completely. Is that malware I accidentally downloaded activating? Or is something else happening. At this point, nothing will surprise me.

*@#$%#%$&@%#!&@(!>*

“Gaa, fuck!”

“Kyaaaa!”

“What’s happening”

Just as I thought it was broken, the laptop let out a loud screeching sound. It was loud enough to wake the others.

Freaking hell! What the fuck is this? Did it turn into a monster?

“What the hell are you doing!? What’s that noise? It’s grating, so cut it out!”

“I can’t! Its not responding to me. Nothing I’ve tried will mak-. What the hell?”

Midsentence, the wailing sound stopped and in its place was a familiar emblem.

“That’s the same thing inscribed on the Boss Room doors. Why’s it appearing here?”

“No clue. But I’m certain this is because of that link I clicked on. Only people who’ve cleared a Dungeon would recognize it. So maybe this has some connection to the System.”

Sleep all but forgotten, we gathered around the screen in order to see what would happen next. A loading bar had popped up beneath the insignia, and was making steady progress. Soon, it had fully filled and the screen changed to show something completely different. A long series of scrolling text appeared, explaining what this was about.

Welcome.

To all who see this, we welcome you. We are the Lore Seekers, a group that exists for one purpose: to collect knowledge, no matter how insignificant.

In order to further facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, we have created this platform for you to use. Here, you may rest assured. None shall be able to access this sanctum without permission.

You may spread or request information or materials, or even put in requests for aid. Anything is possible, for the possibilities are endless.

All shall be as the System wills it.

Ignoring that last line, this seems to be some kind of secure forum. I have no idea who could even put this together, but they’ve either got technology beyond what I can envision or a massive amount of funds. Or both.

“This is crazy. Am I the only one who thinks that last line is kind of culty? It’s not something I’d say, at least. Maybe it’s not the primary cause, but the System is still a part of the problem.”

“I can see how someone might worship the System, but I seems a bit fast for that to happen. It hasn’t even been half a year, so why does something so advanced exist?”

“Maybe they’re some secret society? Like they’ve been around for centuries, so they have secret technology that allows them to do this.”

“But why would they worship the System?”

“Er. Okay, it was a stupid idea, forget it! Why don’t you see what’s on that… what is it exactly?”

A good question. It wasn’t exactly a website, nor was it an application. It seemed to have taken over the computer, making it so I couldn’t exit it. I’ll just call it a website for lack of a better word.

I started to click through the site, looking at the various tabs. There were sections for monster info, materials, dungeons, and general System knowledge.

This is a full on database. There’s info on monsters we haven’t even seen. And even some on Evolved monsters that I’ve killed. Shadow Wolves can evolve into a Void Wolf? What is that and how can I make sure I don’t find one?

“You find anything lad?”

“Mostly stuff on monsters. There’s some on Skills and equipment, but not much of use. Though apparently it’s possible to acquire Skills through practice or intuition.” That’s probably how they unlocked their Skills.

“Oh? This section seems to be focused on aid requests. Let’s see. Requests for weapons and armor, requests for property or possessions to be reclaimed, even requests for specific monsters to be killed.”

“What? Why would there be requests for monster hunting?”

“Hmm. Ah, there’s a section on materials useful for manufacturing. Some companies must be experimenting with monster parts. Maybe we can use this as a source of funds.”

“I don’t know. This sounds like the kind of place where shady businessmen use and dispose of pawns. It could be extremely dangerous, even illegal.”

“Pretty sure we’re past the illegal point. There’s that movement, pushing for every person connected to the System to have their name and face published in a database. And I know there’s a few countries that are actually doing something similar.”

This is definitely suspicious, but I don’t see any other way through. If we can use this properly, then we might be able to actually pull through. Hmm, let’s see. Resource Liberation? What’s with this overly dramatic title?

[???’s POV]

“Director. Why are you still up?”

Because of the recent disaster, there were few people who’d be working this late at night. This man, Chris Walters, was one of them. As the Director of the Kyushu Defense Line, he was extremely busy. So busy in fact, that he had difficulty finding time to sleep.

“Oh, Saito. Hwaaah, what time is it?”

“It’s two in the morning. You need to go to sleep. You won’t be able to do anything if you overwork yourself.”

“It’s funny that you’re the one to say that. I’ve heard plenty of stories about what you did during the Decay. That you led and rallied hundreds of people to safety. If that isn’t overworking yourself, I don’t know what is.”

“Hahaha, a lot of that is exaggerated. If it wasn’t for everyone’s efforts, we wouldn’t have gotten out. I’ve done nothing worth any accolades.”

“Haaaah. That’s…… whatever. I know better than to try and argue with you. Oh? Was there something you needed?”

“Kind of. Could you put in a request for extra personnel? We’ve been getting swamped with attack after attack, and not everyone’s Japanese. They’re fighting, but their hearts aren’t in it.”

And this is why I think you’re a workaholic. None of the other defense commanders would do this.

“That’s going to be difficult. We’re already stretched thin and many volunteers don’t want to be put on the front lines. We haven’t had many fatalities, but any chance of death is a big turn-off.”

That wasn’t the only issue. It had been four months since the disaster began, so there was plenty of time to recruit. The issue stemmed from the fact that there were some who were trying to hunt illegally. And there were people funding them.

“It’s the mercenaries, isn’t it?”

“It’s not just them. While they are a problem, they’re actually helping by thinning the monsters out. But there’s no way to regulate them, so they get a bad reputation. No, I’m more worried about those who’ve already joined, but aren’t taking this seriously.”

It was becoming endemic. People were treating the fighting as a game. While the Kyushu line was relatively safer than the others, it was still an active combat zone. Any mistakes could be fatal.

“Ouka mentioned something like that. She’s more worried about the recent increase in incursions. Two months ago, we had maybe one attack a week. Now, we have three or four. There’s something happening Director and I don’t like it.”

“Hmm, maybe we should send in a scouting party. I’ll see what I can do.”

“After you get some sleep.”

Ahahah, guess I’m not getting away this time.