'W-what?!'
Draco was yet to fully recoil from his shock regarding what the System had just shown him before he was shrugged by his uncle and mentor, Dustan Kirklane.
"You did well, kid!" The older man smiled. "Now that we know there's treasure in this cave, we'll strip it down to its bedrock to find what we're looking for."
Now forcefully pulled back to reality, Draco could do nothing but force a smile as he nodded.
"Yeah… I'm glad I helped."
"Alright then. Run along and join the others… we'll be leaving for the shore shortly."
Draco nodded, quickly wiping off the beads of sweat that had formed on his face after several thoughts crossed his mind at once. Unfortunately, no one in this world could understand his line of thoughts—not anymore.
"Understood!"
********
The journey to the shore lasted half the day, with everyone arriving late at night.
The veil of darkness masked the large ship that was used to carry everyone to the island, as well as the two Proctors who were left behind to guard it. There were a few examinees waiting for them once they arrived at the shore, all of them choosing to flee rather than advance forward.
As a result, they bowed their heads in shame once the survivors approached them, unable to raise their faces due to the immense shame they felt.
'Hmm… she's not here.' Draco noticed that the freckled girl he saved in the Cave of Trials was nowhere to be found. He even went on to ask the Proctors, who never left their positions for the entirety of the Cave of Trials' duration, but they never received anyone with her description.
That meant only one thing.
'So she didn't turn back, huh?' He sighed. 'I guess she's dead.'
Draco didn't bother feeling sorry for her.
She chose her path.
'Some consider death to be a much more preferable choice than a life of shame… and perhaps they are right.' Draco glanced at the failed examinees, seeing as they were forever tainted by inferiority and scorn.
Once they returned to Argo, they would be looked down on and even when they returned to their respective regions, they would receive negative stigma for retreating.
Success meant honor.
Death meant pity.
But failure? Failure meant shame.
'Such is the cruelty of this world…' Draco sighed once more, returning to his tent, which he had to himself unlike many who had to share with one or two people.
As the best examinee, this was one of his perks.
Right as he was in his tent, amidst his series of thoughts and worries, he suddenly received a System Notice.
[Congratulations! You scored first place!]
~Additional Rewards will be given~
Another panel popped up right after.
[System Notice]
~Tutorial (Part 2/3) has been completed!~
You can now log out
Before he could offer any form of resistance, Draco felt his entire body go numb and his vision went dark. In that same moment, another opened his eyes and sat upright in his VR Pod.
It was Luke.
"I… I'm back…?" He muttered, his eyes still wide from mild disbelief.
He slowly stepped out of the pod, trying very hard to get his bearings as memories of his time in the Hunters & Dragons game registered in his mind. The first thing he did was to look at his stopwatch so he could see how much time had passed.
'Just over 2 hours… is this real?' His eyes widened. 'So a day in that world only translates to one hour here.'
[System Notice]
[Status Window can now be used]
Luke smiled as soon as he saw this panel appear before him, feeling reassured of the System's validity once again. The forum was not a sham, and his experience in Hunters & Dragons was not a hallucination.
Everything was completely real!
"Status Window."
[STATUS WINDOW]
- Name: Luke (Lvl: 5)
- Race: Human
- Class: Legendary Dragon Tamer (Locked)
- Integrity: 5
- Physique: 5
- Aptitude: 5 (100% Essence: Locked)
- S Points: 0
- Quest Completion Rate: 75%
[Current Quest Information]
Primary Quest: Complete the Cave of Trials (Complete)
Secondary Quest: Kill every Dragon you encounter (Failed)
Hidden Quest: Defeat the Champion of this Dragon Nest (Complete)
[Synchronization Rate: 7%]
'Makes sense that some functions are locked…' He smiled. 'I will have to reach Synchronization Level—'
Before he could finish, he received another notification.
[You will now receive your Rewards]
~Primary Quest Completion: 10 SP~
~Secondary Quest Failure: –5 SP~
~Hidden Quest Completion: 20 SP~
~Performance Bonus Reward: 15 SP~
[Total Reward: 40 SP]
'40 SP… that's great for a start.'
Luke felt a little bad about losing 5 SP due to failing the Secondary Quest, but considering how he was able to obtain a Legendary Class as a result of it, he couldn't complain about it too much—especially when he also knew the average SP Rewards from other Players were considerably lower than his.
'I can just think of the 5 SP lost as Tax anyway… no problem.' He reasoned calmly, going over what he learned in the forum as a way to refresh his memory.
'Based on what I read, this SP serves as the System's currency, and I can spend it in the Shop. If I remember correctly, there should be a specific item that functions similarly to a Debit Card on Earth, and it also works in reality. I can convert the S Points into money and use it to sort out all my financial issues.'
That was his plan at the moment.
Unfortunately, he could not access the System Shop at the moment due to its requirements.
'According to the forum, I need to complete the entire Tutorial and reach a Synchronization Rate of 10% before I can access it.' Luke sighed. 'The fact that I didn't get it as part of my reward package can only mean it is still locked.'
Fortunately, Luke knew exactly how to solve this problem.
'I simply need to go back into the game.'
Synchronization Rates increased with the passage of time, though it advanced faster when playing the game. Plus, since he had to complete the Tutorial anyway, and the Time Dilation of the game allowed him to spend an extensive period inside while only a few hours passed on Earth, it was only logical to return to Hunters & Dragons.
Unfortunately—
[Login Failure]
[Time left until next Tutorial Quest: 3 Days]
'I see… so it won't be that easy, huh?' Luke sighed, re-emerging from the VR Pod with a disappointed frown on his face.
'It can't be helped, then.'
He was hoping to complete the requirements for the System Shop as quickly as possible so he would have no problems with his landlord, but there was nothing he could do if the System was stalling him.
'The Landlord also arrives in the next three days, so I guess there's still time.'
With that thought in his mind, Luke decided it was time to seek out other avenues—perhaps find a few more ways he could make money before the three days elapsed.
'I can't put all my eggs in this basket.' He reasoned. 'Plus, I have three days anyway… might as well make the best of it.'