Mikael paid attention to this person, he was easily able to identify him as the leader type, with his bands of lackeys following behind him.
The man had dominantly Asian features, short black straight hair, a height of about 5'7 a somewhat lean build and a light skin tone. What Mikael did not like about him was how snake like the aura around him was. Like he was constantly planning something under his slitted eyes, even the hidden anger that had passed through his eyes when the Thug Dreamer had lifted him off the ground had fallen under Mikael's vision.
Since Mikael did not know both the two names, he would refer to the angry Dreamer as Mr. Tattoo and the otherwise cunning Dreamer as Mr. snake. Would he change this line of identification, maybe. But the names were quite fitting.
'What an unlucky guy. 'He offered a short prayer to the Mr. Tattoo. Mr. Snake did not look like the forgiving kind at all.
He moved on to observe the other forming group along with their leader.
"Hey, you said you would protect my back, where were you! "
"How was I supposed to help you while also being attacked. Use that big head of your's Idiot !! "
Immediately after they finished shouting at each other, they started fighting and soon came to blows.
"All of you shut up" An authoritative voice shouted.
The man this time that had come forward had a serious aura to him. They way he spoke, stood and presented himself emphasized this even more. There was a sort of disciplined air to him. His body was bulky, and he had a cold expression in his eyes as he stared out at all the shouting people.
The man had blonde hair, was bulky and at a height of about 6'4. Everything about him was somewhat serious. And his otherwise blank face made it seem that he had never smiled a day in his life.
Mikael would refer to this one as Mr. Soldier. Which was also quite a fitting name.
The effect of Mr. Soldier was immediate, and all the surrounding Dreamers had quieted down. Even the two who had been brawling quickly separated, gave each other one last angry look and quickly apologized to the large man.
"Sorry Leader, it won't happen again!"
"That's good, explain what happened in detail. "Mr. Soldier asked his arms crossed and the look in his eyes sharp.
As an outsider watching the ordeal, it was almost amusing. The difference between the two was amusing to watch. One with cunning like a snake and the other with seriousness like a soldier. Mikael believed the two leaders were a perfect representation of their groups.
How the group seemed to naturally split for some odd reason, the other Dreamers naturally gravitated to either of the two.
It was obvious that these two were tower born Dreamer, or possibly even the people that had gathered around them were also. Would joining either group be more beneficial than going alone, that was a possibility.
But there was a third group, a smaller quieter group which Mikael and Zoe were now part of. The loners group. Neither joining either the two stronger groups and simply keeping to themselves. He had noticed the red-haired man who had caught his attention was also one of the loners present in this group.
"Let's leave," Mikael said to Zoe as he turned back into the cave. He had seen enough. In a group as diverse as the one they were in, his movement did not attract that much attention. Well apart from Mr. Red hair. Mikael could still sense the oddly blind looking eyes of the man tracking his movements. His instincts told him to be wary of this person.
"Aren't we going to join any group?" Zoe asked easily accepting his lead back into the cave. But Mikael noticed a strange tone in her voice, like she was satisfied with his not joining either of them.
"It's too expensive to join any of them. "Mikael simply said and that was how he felt. He was not stupid enough to believe that the two were gathering this group of people out of the goodness of their hearts. Whatever compensation they would request after the help Mikael simply did not wish to pay.
Even if there was no catch, Mikael, simply did not wish to join any of the two. He already had a plan.
" So, do you have a plan." Zoe followed along, letting him take the lead.
"Yeah, I call it operation Trojan Horse." Mikael said while he smiled wickedly. He had this idea from earlier. It came from studying both the mission hints and the side mission
Zoe was confused by Mika's words. What was he thinking that he had such an evil smile on his face.
Clearly nothing that was good.
.......
"What do you think is the criteria for what starter weapon a Dreamer gets? "Mikael had seen a variety of odd weapons among the group. But most of them held short blades and daggers, which in his own thoughts, was one of the easiest weapons to use.
"One of the most important things in the tower for a Dreamer is their Luck. Luck is what decides whether a Dreamer can win a lottery suddenly or lose all of it and go into debt instantly. The process for weapon allocation is the same. Luck. If you have good luck, you get a better weapon, you have bad luck, you get a trash weapon." Zoe had become chattier and that was good for Mikael, now that she was talking about stat values, he wondered what Her's were.
What he was sure of though was that her charm values were high. He did wonder how charm was quantified into an actual number.
Mika led Zoe back to where they had spawned and started looking around, searching for the earlier route he had mapped in his mind. He scanned the vast empty space they had woken up in, then took a deep breath. The smell of Sulphur was quite strong.
Finally, he picked a pathway and dove into its darkness. Zoe tensed, giving him a strange glance unsure of what he was doing but followed along.
Mikael, while he seemed to have been walking into the cave aimlessly, was making use of his most recent skill, the Explorers instinct. While it was mainly a passive skill from his understanding which required a set of conditions to be met for its activation. There was another way, which required him to activate it manually. The difference from what he could observe was that his own active use would use up to 25 more units of SP. He supposed the passive would be less.
]
Skill: Basic Explorer's instinct
Type: Active/Passive
Description: Reveals hidden paths or areas of interest once the contestant has stayed in an area for a period or the contestant has explored at least 80% of the area.
Effect: Reveals hidden spaces or locations a distance of 25meter around.
Requirements: Perception above 20, Breadth above 20
Attributes:
Consumes 25 units of SP in passive use
Consumes 50 units of SP in active use
Warning: May cause mental exhaustion
]
This skill along with his enhanced sense of smell allowed Mikael to navigate the pathways in the cave easily. A mental map building in his mind.
"Where do you think the acidic smell in the air is coming from?" Mikael asked to ease the rising tension. He could see she was navigating well enough in the dark. Her eyes darting around and especially tracking his every movement.
" I could be overthinking things but normally, a cave produces such a scent under different conditions, but mostly due to presence of bacteria and bats living within the cave?" Mikael hinted, trying to steer the conversation.
Zoe was deep in thought, processing his word silently. So far, she had neither seen nor heard anything to show that this cave had any animal living in it before. While it was a possibility it was unlikely, so what made Mikael have such a thought?
A horrible stench suddenly filled Zoe's nose. It was like smelling… rotten eggs!
She quickly turned to Mika and found him smiling, waiting for her to make a connection. "The smell of rotten eggs. That's why you think this cave has bats. Bats urinate a highly toxic form of sulfur that smells like rotten eggs. But where are they?" Was that what Mikael had been smelling all along. The distance from the large space to where they were now was quite large. How good was his sense of smell?
"Now that we know bats are supposed to be in this cave, the real question is, why aren't they? Maybe they migrated, which is very unlikely, or maybe they were moved so that the Dreamers could undergo this mission. Do you remember the hint did say nature was our ally?" What made Mikael believe more in the hint was the description the system had given for the mission.
Zoe nodded in acceptance; the reasoning was logical enough, but so what? How were the bats going to help them complete their mission?
"Despite that, what I'm interested in isn't the bats themselves, but what they produce!"
She looked like she was finally starting to understand, albeit barely. She turned his reasoning over in her mind.
"Bat droppings, also referred to as bat guano, are a highly combustible material that can be used in gunpowder due to their high concentration of saltpeter."
Zoe finally got it. Using the guano, they could create fire!
"Even better, the urine of bats is a highly concentrated form of sulfur that is not only very explosive but also very flammable. We can use it as fuel to kickstart the entire process, and voila! We have a makeshift grenade."
Zoe felt excitement bubbling inside her. The possibility that they could accomplish the mission quickly made her excited. This was practically the dream of all Dreamers.
They walked further into the tunnel as it carved, twisted, and turned every few seconds, the tunnels were like a long labyrinth. At some points you would be moving downwards, other points would require you to jump for safety.
The pathway finally opened to a large cavern that glowed dimly blue, painted by the breathtaking bioluminescent glowworms.
They were both silent, each lost in their thoughts, appreciating the moment to catch their breath.
Mika took another deep breath and detected a slight stinging in his nose. The smell of rotten eggs was concentrated in this cavern, which was obviously a good sign.
He did notice the slight decrease in his health. Most probably caused by the toxic nature of the air.
"Don't breathe in too much. "He said to Zoe, and she nodded a frown on her face.
He gazed at the ground of the cavern, his keen eyes zeroing in on piles and piles of dark brown bat guano filling the entire floor. He smiled once again.
"We've struck gold."
Mikael dropped down to the field of bat poop.
The smell of rotten eggs was strong in this cavern, but he had to hold on long enough, as the following process would be long and tiresome.
Mika turned to look at Zoe beside him, studying her physique for a moment. He noticed the frown and disgust on her face but for now she would just have to bear it.
"What are you good at?" Mikael asked, keeping his eyes on her. He had noticed that her shoulder and fore arm muscles were better developed.
This was a roundabout way of asking about her innate abilities. Because to his knowledge, an Innate ability was in a way related what you were good at doing in a sense, an accumulation of experience. Mikael was simply good at doing a lot of things with his body.
He understood the advantage of keeping one's innate ability secret, but this was not the time for secrets. Mika needed to know how useful she could be for the upcoming event. And you could also call it a trust building scenario. Their first ever activity as a team.
"I'm good at hand-to-hand combat," Mikael revealed. A certain level of trust was necessary, which is why he had first shared his own expertise.
" I'm a ranged fighter with a specialty on guns," Zoe admitted, finally feeling more confident by his own answer. And her answer matched Mikaels own deductions. Especially how he had noticed how her eyes would constantly dart around, keenly observing the surroundings.
"Is your arm strength good enough to handle throwing weapons?" Mika asked, coming up with an idea that might work.
He gazed at the stalactites and stalagmites, some thin enough to be used as makeshift javelins. "I can handle it," Zoe nodded in agreement, her eyes shining with excitement at the emerging plan.
With a tearful sound, Mika ripped the thin inner shirt he was wearing. It would serve to carry as many "grenades" as they could. Luckily, it was the outer protection vest that offered most of the protection.
He noticed Zoe trying to sneak a glance at him, but he was kind enough to ignore her wandering eyes. "Come, let me show you how to make 'grenades,'" he urged, scooping up a handful of guano.
The process itself was not difficult. What was challenging was maintaining caution and delicacy while crushing the guano into tiny particles. They also had to ensure the sulfur was not excessively mixed in, to avoid wasting their materials. What really made them slow down was the horrible stench. They had to leave the cave after a period. Their burning eyes finally getting some relief.
"You must have lived out in the wild a lot." Zoe made some small talk.
"Yeah, something like that." He replied, memories of the good old day coming back when he had just run away after the death of his mother. What he could say was that wolves were one of the animals he liked least.
They hunted in large packs and would chase you down for miles. So what if Mikael had killed one of their members. It wasn't his fault that he had been hungry, that did not warrant being chased like some sort of criminal. It was only through a competition of stamina that he had won out in the end.
Mika prepared 6 "grenades," filling them carefully with both compounds. In total, they created 4 heavy-duty grenades and twelve small-duty ones, which they decided to tie to the javelins they had made.
Mika noticed a stat screen appear next to the grenades and clicked on them.
[
Item: Small Duty Grenade +12
Grade: Low Tier-White.
Specification: Created in a cave by mixing compounds derived from bat droppings. Upon contact with solid objects after being thrown, it immediately combusts, causing both explosive and burning damage. The burning also releases toxic fumes that cause coughing and irritation.
Effect:
1. Combusts on Hard contact with a blast radius of 1 meter
Deals 20 damage
2. Highly flammable
3. Releases toxic fumes on combustion lasts for 15 seconds
Deals 1 damage per second
Quality: 37/100
]
The heavy-duty grenades had the same description, with the only difference being their higher explosive damage and broader coverage.
[[
Mission Milestone Achievement Met
Achievement: Created Small Duty Grenades and Heavy Duty Grenades
Reward Acquired: 5,000 Dream Points
System remark: You now have some money, use it wisely! (~`-`)
]]
[[Dreamer has been awarded an increase of 1 cubic meter for Being the First to Acquire Dream Points.]]
[The storage had currently been increased to a space of 2 cubic meters]
[WARNING: Only items with Stat value may be stored within this space]
[Dreamer has met the qualifications to acquire a title.]
[[
Title: Novice crafter
Specification: You have embarked on a journey as a crafter. To fully unlock the current title, you are required to Create 4 other different crafts of white and above quality.
Status: 20%
Title effect: +3 Luck, +2 Perception
]]
Mika turned, shocked at the message. This was a game changer, and new plans needed to be created based on this information.
'System, what are Dream Points used for?' he asked. Mikael had noticed due to his worth and the privilege given to him because of this worth, the system would answer such simple questions if asked.
[[Dream Points are Used as a Form of Currency Between Dreamers. If You Have Enough Dream Points, anything Can Be Bought.]]
Mika smiled slightly at the new information; any advantage over all the other Dreamers was something to be happy about.
He turned to look at Zoe, curious about her reaction, but she appeared rather casual about the whole situation. But her eyes were more expressive than she seemed to know. The emotion in them was a clear giveaway on her true thoughts.
'Isn't this too easy.' Zoe thoughts were more troubled than Mikael could comprehend. The attribute point and the new title. This all was too easy. She understood her situation best and that was why she had such a thought while looking at her current teammate. Their was a possibility she had in mind. Could his luck be affecting her?
An idea suddenly struck him—one that could potentially earn them more Dream points. He turned to Zoe and began explaining his plan, and she nodded, pleased by the plan.
"Your plan could work, as long as nothing goes wrong."
Zoe looked at him, the image she had had earlier formed of him solidifying into something strange, something that had potential. A potential Zoe was continuously realizing what she would need in the future.
Zoe and Mika locked their eyes and gave each other a silent nod.
"We should hurry back," Zoe said, staying away for too long would do them no good. Suspicion and greed were a dangerous combination.
"Not yet, theirs's something else I want to check out." Mikael told her, and he led her back into the winding routes they had come from, but this time he went to what he assumed to be deeper parts of the cave.
By using the skill 'explorer's instinct,' Mikael had been able to discover a sort of hidden location within the cave tunnels, which wasn't that strange. There were other multiple other large caves such as the ones he found the guano from.
What caught his attention was not the size of the room, it was the fact that the skill hinted that there was something of importance here. And the fact that this room did not have any specific route to enter it.
"It should be here. "He said coming to a stop along the route they were walking on. Zoe had a lot of questions, but she remained silent, believing his strange behavior had reasons.
She then saw him raise his arm and punch through the wall. His arm going directly through. Zoe experience quickly came through and she immediately knew this was a hidden area. And the fact that his punch could so easily go through the wall meant that this part of the cave wall was weak or maybe even a false wall. But her curiosity lay in how he discovered such a thing. As someone who was not born from the tower, how could he know the existence of such an area?
She followed him into the room; through the wall he had managed to fully clear. A system notification blinked Infront of her.
[
Milestone Achievement met.
Achievement: Discover a Transport station.
Description: A transport station allows you to travel long distances, therefore shortening travel time
Reward Acquired:10,000 Achievement points, qualifications to use transport station, 1 free Attribute point, +2 Luck
]
In the room was a large round pool-like structure filled with blue glowing liquid. Infront of the liquid was a rusted stone tablet on a pedestal. But Zoe for now did not care for all of this. She was shocked. Unimaginably so. How smoothly things were going. As if faith was working in his favor. As if luck was with him. As if he was…
The fanaticism in her eyes increased.
"By use of these thing, I think we can directly skip passing through the forest of Genesis and complete our mission. "Mikael spoke, already studying the features as he inspected the tablet. With this, there mission would be complete instantly.
"What do you think we should do?" He asked Zoe the reason he wanted her input being he believed her experience was more valuable than his current knowledge.
"We shouldn't use it." Zoe answered directly. "While it may be fastest way. We'll miss out on earning other possible achievement if we pass through the Forest." Yes, Zoe had a goal in passing through the Forest. Quite a lofty one. And with his help, she felt it would be achievable.
"Okay then. "Mikael did not really care to much. And he found the thought of passing through the forest quite Interesting.
His ears picked up something. And he focused, sharpening his sense. Their was a commotion, multiple voices shouting, hurried footsteps, some screams.
"I think it's time we go back. "Mikael said already standing and walking away from the tablet. The moment they walked out of the large room, the wall behind them fixed itself. Pieces of the once broken wall putting each other back together until the entrance was no more.
"Cool." He said mildly impressed. "There's something happening back in the cave. You should be ready. "Mikael said directly. Zoe easily accepted with a nod; he liked that she quickly came to accept his oddness. The fact that she also did not ask a lot of questions was also a big okay with him.
****
A/N:
Last chapter for the week, next chap comes out next week on Monday.
Comment, drop power stones and leave a review, it helps alot
Thank you guys for reading, hope you enjoy the book so far.