BXBX NOVEL Chapter 51: [Preparing for the Future!]
It wasn\'t like I wasn\'t getting any exercise in the past week, but still a full body pump feels rather fulfilling. Much better in comparison to normal fights and running.
By the time I was done, I ordered another set of breakfast after taking another bath. And then getting out of the hotel, I moved towards the [Training Camp!] where Alice and others should be.
Given it was still about an hour before I needed to meet Alice, I decided to take a detour while going to a nearby [Item] shop, which I saw last night. There was something in particular that I wanted to buy and since I had time, I wondered if there was anything like that available here.
And not much up to par, I found something similar.
[Mask of the Crow!
Grade: E
Effects: Changes the Voice of the user depending upon the amount of mana inserted into it!]
[Cost: 5000 Points!]
I wasn\'t particularly interested in the mask itself, so I was going to make changes to its structure later on. Though the feature of voice changing was good enough for me. To be honest, I was looking for a mask that could change the facial features as well, but it seems like I need to manually add that for now.
"Thank you for the purchase!" Spoke the cashier as he gave me the mask before I walked out and erased my presence again. Before putting on the mask, I spent some GM Points in changing the structure of the mask from having a long metallic beak to a simple black Masquerade mask.
And once that was done, I increased the Grade of the Mask for 12,000 GM points, while I manually added another effect on it.
[Mask of the Crow!
Grade: D
Effects:
-Changes the Voice of the user!
-Hides the face of the user completely! As long as the Wisdom of the User is even 33% of the gazer, they won\'t be able to see through the mask!]
It was an added effect over the [Illusion!] skill of mine. Though overkill, I didn\'t mind having multiple layers of protection in order to hide my identity. Precautions are better than cure after all.
"Now. Where is Alice?" I mumbled as I looked at the [Map], as I tried locating her using the marker that I had placed on her yesterday. And it didn\'t take much time as I found her standing near the [Training Camp!]. I expected the others, including Mark, to be there with her, but they weren\'t.
Did they go inside early? Could be.
Taking the first step, I then activated my stealth over my illusion as I began running towards the place where Alice was. Since it was a few kilometers ahead on the other side of the tall central tower, I kind of needed to hurry if I wanted to reach before 8 AM.
Though it seems my worries were unfounded as I reached there within 15 minutes. Perhaps I was still underestimating my increased stats much? Anyways, when I reached there, I saw Alice sitting in one of the chairs of an open cafe. She had ordered two cups of coffee, one for her, while the other one was probably for me.
Moving towards the chair, I then traced for Mark and the others. Finding that they were in the training camp as I expected before, I put my guard a bit down before showing my presence to her.
Her eyes looked up to me, and her serious cold expression changed to a smiling one, as I then sat in front of her.
"What\'s with the mask?" She asked curiously, to which I chuckled as I answered,"it has a voice changing feature. Anyways…" I then changed my voice a bit different from what I had,"… how are things on your end?"
Not surprised as much, she spoke," I told everyone about everything that you did. As you can expect, they were all really surprised to hear this information. Plus the idea of getting strong in the [Training Camp!]. When I suggested that, it made everyone fired up. It seems everyone was worried about the same thing.
Some of them wanted to visit that place as soon as they heard about it, though in the end the group decided to visit there together in the morning."
"That\'s better. Now, there are two things that I need you to take note of. How you do it is up to you," I then turned serious as well. Picking up the cup of coffee, I took a sip as I continued,
"The people will be finishing the tutorial today. From what I had collected till yesterday, we have two goals for the time being. First to collect all the people we know or we can trust. For you, it would be your mother and father, for Mark it would be his brother. Though don\'t just stop there, go beyond and try finding everyone you can know.
We can separate them based on morality and other bases later."
The idea was to form a large group, and then pick the most valuables from them. Train them, and include them in the group as we prepare for the next tutorial and beyond.
I did need many \'Heroes\' that will jump in battle to solve the situations of the tutorial, safe zones and everything else. It\'s not my cup of tea to be the hero anyway.
"The second thing that I need to do is to check out something. I feel like not all the people have been transferred here. For example there could be more safe cities that we don\'t know of. So try to make a comparison and see how many people are missing from our city that should have been present here," I concluded the two things that I wanted her to do.
The second thing was to confirm if there are more cities here or not. The Admin told me that it is only the first floor, so given how things normally work, nobody should be able to reach the second floor directly.
\'Plus the safe city was never big enough to hold 8 billion people. If we Add the fact that there are already people living here, and that too of multiple races… just how big is the first floor?\' The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there were still many things that were a mystery.
Are we in a single world that held everyone together, or were there multiple independent first floors that were separated from each other but connected to the second floor in some way?
Like I said before, there were still too many things that were a mystery.
"All right. I will get to it. Is there anything else that I should be careful of?" Alice asked as she looked at me with a deep gaze, before I shook my head. Looking at me, then she put the cup down and spoke,
"Actually. There was something that I wanted to ask."
I observed her with a narrowed look as she continued,
"What kind of weapon should I take? Up until now, I was just using my skills one over another. But now that I think about it, I really need to get a weapon of my own. Though honestly, I never picked up anything other than a pen in my life. Not even a kitchen knife."
She spoke a bit embarrassed, though I did not mind. Most of the people would fall in the same category as her. In fact, she was doing much better than her, given with her Gift and all.
"Hmmm. A weapon that suits your [Gift], along with the fact that it should work comfortably with you, huh?" I pondered for a moment before noting a few points.
Alice\'s Gift allowed her to improve her skills to leaps and bounds. So a weapon that works well with her skills or skills that powers up her weapon would be the best. Along with the added fact that the weapon could work well with the [Gift!] as well.
"Hmmm. I actually have something in mind for you, but it might take some time to get it," I spoke as I finalized my thoughts. She looked at me with her eyes glistening as she asked,
"Really?! What is it?!!"
Though I just chuckled before answering,"I won\'t tell. You need to wait until the next tutorial starts. Until then, I advise you to choose a suitable B-Grade skill. Preferably something that increases your Agility or hides your presence."
Unhappy with my words, she narrowed her eyes at me. Though in the end she sighed as she spoke," All right. As you say, Leader."
I then stood up as I spoke," with this done. I will be leaving now."
"Wait! When are we going to meet again?!" She asked, a bit worried, to which I pondered before answering," I might come randomly to meet you if I need anything. Otherwise, I will meet you about an hour before the next tutorial starts."
Hearing my answer, she pondered a few things before she nodded. I then bid her farewell, before erasing my presence completely. She was surprised as usual, but didn\'t react too much. Her jolly face once again turned back to serious and cold, as she paid for the coffee and then began moving in the direction of the [True Skill Emporium!]. The [Skill Cards!] shop that was run by the Admin.