Cooperation is key. I understand that now. Not all can be peaceful, however. Where is the cooperation on the corporatized demons? --47.6 Seconds Post-Integration.
Clark retired to his dorm for some much-needed rest. Over the last few days, he had been largely ignoring his Resources, including his bank account. He needed to rectify that right away.
After preparing himself a meal and showering, Clark checked his notifications. He had received a few here or there but didn't look at them at the time of their unlocking. Tempted though he was, he didn't want to make a habit of distracting himself whenever the system sarcastically made a quip at his expense or said he had earned some Opportunity or another. With a wave of his hand, he let the notifications come:
[Accomplishment Unlocked! 'I Would Walk:' You've walked over fifty miles in-store. Great. Wonderful. Do you want a trophy or a new pair of shoes?"]
[Accomplishment Unlocked! 'Never Gonna Give Up:' Restored Metrics to 'At Base' ten-times. Basic. Congrats, Clark.]
No more Accomplishments to look at (or be insulted by), Clark waved open all eighteen of his Opportunity Boxes.
The first: +10 Judgement Points
The Second, third, and fourth gave the same reward, which amounted to a total of five promotion points.
The fifth box gave him three Culinary Coupons.
The sixth and seventh Opportunities: +6 Store Coupons (General Use).
Opportunities eight, nine, and ten gave him experience for his next imbued level, which he was thankful for, as he was on the cusp of achieving the level he needed to enlist in the anti-monster league.
The eleventh Opportunity he opened gave him something a bit more substantial. Five Incentive Points. 'Someday,' he mused. 'I will earn that bonus!'
The twelfth Opportunity he opened contained straight up credits. Same as the thirteenth box. He gained a total of ten credits, there.
Then, finally nearing the end, his remaining five Opportunities gave him a mix of Culinary Credits (+10), Standard Credits (+6), and experience.
He was ready to turn in for the night when he remembered he still had two premium Opportunity boxes to open. Curious about what could be in such elevated chests, he waved them open right away.
Box number one held one-hundred Judgement Points (!); whereas the second premium Opportunity gave him an astonishing FIVE Promotion Points!
Clark stared at his blue screen in stupor. 'Wow! I should figure out how to earn these next level Opportunity boxes. That was way better than the garbage in the basic-arse chests!'
[20/20 Promotion Points Attained: Redeem?], the System notified him.
He considered. But only briefly. "Redeem," he told the system.
[Congratulations! You have been promoted to Junior Associate!]
[Congratulations! Your Compensation has increased to 1.6!]
Excited at his rewards, Clark found himself with energy once again. He bounced up from his bed and happily punched the air just to release that energy.
With a bing, another notification came in, this one alerting him of his paycheck: [Direct Deposit Now Available: +30 SC].
A big smile crested his face. 'All that overtime is paying off.'
The notion that his efforts did, in fact, pay off, reminded Clark of an important aspect to his work he had, otherwise, largely ignored, though it kept itself always in the back of his mind. His monthly payment to Augustford for his community's land grant.
He opened the shortcut on his Main Menu to the banking application. He saw how he had only paid twenty credits this month out of the two-hundred and fifty credit total he had to pay to make this month's payment. Two hundred and thirty credits remained. There was only a couple of weeks left in the month. He had to make a serious contribution if he wanted to make the payment in time.
Checking his account, he had about two-hundred credits to his name. Which was a lot, but not enough to make his payment, even if he dumped everything into it. 'And I can't dump all my resources,' Clark cautioned himself. 'If I do, then what if an emergency comes up?'
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Knowing he had to make a tough decision, Clark adjusted the payment slider, so it displayed one-hundred and eighty credits. It remained a hefty sum of credits, most of what he had, but what remained was enough of a cushion to keep his head above the water should an emergency come up.
Like an ill-begotten farmer from some parable about witchcraft, Clark said, "Submit payment."
[Payment Received: New Total: 200/250]
The payment went through, leaving him with a measly nineteen credits.
Thinking he should review his general resources before he went to bed, he did so quickly:
[Judgement Points: 110], he had to say he liked seeing that amount of Judgement Points, even more so after experiencing how the conversion rate was not so grand.
[XP: Matriculating... ]
[Promotion Points: 0/25]. 'Twenty-five, huh? It went up by five. I guess that is to be expected...'
[Incentive: 35/50]
[Coupons: 16]
[Culinary Credits: 63]
[Standard Credits: 19]
[Opportunity Boxes: 0]
Too sleepy to continue with his accounting, Clark drifted off to sleep. 'I knew I shouldn't have ordered coffee. The crash, that crash!'
Clark clocked in the next day expecting to work alongside Theo like he had been. Instead, he received a voice message from his new buddy saying he would not be in for the day as he had 'business to take care of.'
"What is that bloke up to now?" Clark muttered.
Ultimately, what Theo was or was not up to was none of his business. He might be a friend but right now that only meant a 'work friend.' Whatever Theo was up to, he was sure it wasn't something he should be involved with anyway -- last time he became involved with something that boy was doing, after all, he ended up in a lost sector battling a small horde of Noir Slimes.
The workday passed by without incident. Because of high customer volume, he spent the day grinding the same floor from the day before. He clocked out, not expecting the hours to have slide by so quickly, yet they had. Still chipper, when he saw Hera once more, he gave his caution away and went to speak to her. "Howdy. What're you up to?"
"Clark. Fancy seeing you, here. I am looking for... how do I describe it. Essentially a way into what I believe is the 'back' of the tower," Hera said.
"Back of the tower? I assume you don't mean the employee only back. You mean the dungeon interior?"
This caught her glare. "Dungeon interior? What is that?"
"It's not a place normal people should go. Very dangerous, you know. It's like the back to the dungeon, where all the strange mechanical stuff is that makes the tower function. If you've ever seen a crevice in the wall, those lead to the interior... again, I wouldn't--" Clark explained but Hera was already on the move.
Clark followed Hera to a crevice. A small crevice but one which, if it was like all the others, would lead to the Interior.
"You can't be serious. You will barely fit in there," Clark warned. "Besides, what are you even looking for? Do you genuinely think the Interior holds some secrets to Augustford's shrines?"
"Maybe not the dungeon interior proper, no, if it is as you say and just the guts of the tower. I think it could lead me to where I need to be, though."
"Which is?" he asked as Hera was checking her shoulder bag.
"The true shrine. I think it is tacked behind the corpo-edifice. There isn't any way I can see to get behind the edifice. That's the problem. Not a surprising problem, but still a problem," Hera explained.
"And so, you think that by exploring the dungeon interior, you will find a path to the true shrine? That feels like a big leap in logic to me."
"I know it might seem that way but think about it. Every historical record, even those held by the company, say that the shrine used to be on this floor. Now, there is a corpo-shrine. Where did the old shrine go? Did it just vanish of its own accord? No! Clearly, Clark, they built over it. That, or destroyed it and covered up the wreckage. Either way, it needs to be uncovered. This is why I am here, Clark. Now, are you going to help me or not?" Hera was already inching her way into the crevice -- roughly, causing several chirps and bits to break -- but throughly all the same.
With a huff, Clark answered by way of entering the crevice right behind her. "I can't believe I am doing this shet again," he muttered to himself.
He and Hera made their way, slowly, into the crevice. It proved to be a lengthy passage. Clark hoped that the lengthy of the passage would not correspond to some huge interior or worse a monster-filled one. He would just have to wait and see, he knew. He still only had a few passages explored to his name. What this one held would be anyone's guess.
They emerged from the narrow tunnel after about twenty minutes of carefully inching their way through the passage. Where they had emerged into was a winding space which set off into multiple directions. Around them were those engine cube things. Each glowed faintly and appeared to be in working order. He made a mental note to avoid overcharging them; causing one explosion to escape from a horde of monsters was one thing, causing another series of explosions just for fun, was another.
After Clark explained to Hera what the glowing cubes were, and Hera, in turn, had finished 'awing'' the sight, she got to work. She took from her bag a strange device he didn't recognize and somehow filled it with light. "Are you imbuing that with mana? What is it? he asked.
"This is a Glyph Torch. It's a relic of the old world. Imbue it with some mana and it will glow in response to a shrine which has a corresponding mana. The brighter the glow, the closer the shrine. Handy, isn't it?" Hera said.
"Yeah, it is. A relic from your group or church?"
"Yes. But not an item unique to them. Any religious organization worth their salt have similar tools. But let's keep our chatter to a minimum. We don't have this place's layout. Or I don't. Have you discovered monsters, here? You said it was dangerous, yes?"
"Yeah, it is. When Theo and I were in the Interior a bit ago, we had to fight off a small horde of Noir Slimes. Like what we fought in the atrium during Orientation, remember? They weren't that much of a challenge, but we did have a weapon enhancement potion. Do you have anything like that? I only have one on me..."
"I have several myself, so I doubt we will need to worry. assuming we encounter nothing more vicious than slimes."
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