Cynrik was the first to step out on the other side of the door from the Compound and was slightly caught off guard by what he saw. Even though Tobs had already told him about how the numerous doors in the Compound were basically just teleporters, she didn’t warn him about the nauseous feeling he would succumb to.
Inhaling a breath of stale, damp air, Cynrik forced down the bile, threatening to come up from his stomach, and waited for the members of MyrkLys to make their way to him.
Brance was the first to clear the threshold, making Cynrik nearly burst out laughing when he saw his brother’s face; it seemed he was also trying not to throw up.
Following Brance like a duckling, Gabby was next…
BLARG
And she instantly spewed up her lunch centimeters away from Brance, who swiftly jumped to the side. This time, Cynrik broke into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, clutching his stomach and wiping at the tears streaming from his eyes.
Brance being the kind soul he was, jumped to Gabby’s side and held her pigtails out of the way, so she didn’t vomit on them while patting her back in small circles. “It’s ok, Gabby, it happens; teleporting sucks.”
Urp, BLARGGG
With Brance’s attention on the little girl, and Cynrik laughing his ass off, Benny silently slipped through the door and stood off in the distance. He was able to fight the urge to throw up and was waiting patiently for the others to get it together.
It took around 30 minutes for Gabby’s stomach to finally settle, and she was now clutching desperately onto Brance with a pale complexion. Cynrik and Benny were sitting across the room in a pair of chairs with their eyes closed.
As it turned out, the teleporter from Valor Cities Compound led to a room around the size of a den and even had a few couches and chairs neatly arranged.
Cynrik had been actively scanning their surroundings with his [Mana Sight] since their arrival. He zeroed in on a number of similar rooms to theirs nearby, which allowed him to conclude it was some kind of centralized hub point, allowing other cities in the country to have a connection to A-G-22097.
Unlike in the fantasy novels he’d read, it was apparent the prosperity of an individual city wasn’t necessarily dependent on how many Egresses it had nearby, but instead how many they were connected to. Expanding his range of vision further, he located a handful of small office-like buildings precisely like the one he was in nearby.
Cynrik’s eyes lazily drifted around until he locked onto a massive, green, archaic-looking gate. He could see dozens of Mana signatures moving in and out of the gate and even counted over 20 guards whose strength averaged Tier-3 lined up in a circular pattern around this gate.
Shutting off his [Mana Sight] and standing up, Cynrik drew everyone’s attention. “Alright, let’s head out; oh yeah, I nearly forgot; Gabriella, I’ve got some cookies here if you want them.”
“CYNRIK!” Brance and Benny both shouted angrily at him while Gabby puffed her cheeks and turned green.
“Hehe, couldn’t resist. My bad.” Shrinking back at the hostility he was sensing from the two other boys, Cynrik gave up on harassing the little girl further and guided his party out of the building they were in.
The instant they stepped outside, they were assaulted by the sounds and smells of an outdoor marketplace. It didn’t matter which direction they turned; people were decked out in weapons and armor, moving about. Some grouped together before diving into the Alpha Egress, and others advertised their wares.
In Cynrik’s opinion, what he saw was a strange hybrid of modern and medieval, reminding him of something he would have seen in S**r Wars. Beings of different races, speaking their individual languages, selling and buying technology that didn’t seem to match the scenery.
[Keep Gabby close; the last thing we need is her running off.] Cynrik started cutting his way through the crowd and walking towards the hundred-meter tall energy gate.
Gripping the little girl’s hand tightly, Brance followed suit, with Benny bringing up the rear.
It took them a couple of minutes to make their way over, and after being hassled by several people manning stalls, the party eventually made it to the line formed outside the gate.
Taking a position for themselves, Cynrik clicked his tongue. At the front of the line stood two Tier-3 guards who had two jobs, accepting entry payment and scanning their IDs. Every person who fell under the scrutiny of these guards would shrink back in fear, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible.
The majority of the people in line were Tier-1, with a select few still sitting at Tier-0; none of them wanted to draw the anger of an existence that was massively stronger than them. Cynrik and Brance were an exception to this. They had witnessed someone at Tier-5, and after their Evolutions, they felt confident in their ability to at least escape from someone at Tier-3 and thus felt nothing when seeing these guards.
Gabby and Benny were different; the only people they had met who were as powerful as the guards were their parents and the Jetlensr couple. Brance could even feel Gabby trembling and rubbed her hand gently with his thumb to calm her down.
When it came time for them to get checked over by the guards, Cynrik stepped forward.
“Payment and ID…kid, you know this place is dangerous; you shouldn’t be here, get the fuck out.” Like a broken record, the guard wasn’t even paying attention to who he was speaking; it was only when he looked down and saw four kids who hadn’t even hit puberty that his expression changed.
“Tsk, do your fucking job, old man; we are here for Phase: 2 of the Academy Exam.” Not missing a beat, Cynrik didn’t hold back his words and held up his Watcet, showing off the small golden dongle attached to his wrist.
When they heard what Cynrik said, Brance and Benny sighed loudly and shook their heads, expecting a fight to break out, leaving only Gabby, who was cringing at the sight of the two Tier-3’s faces turning red.
Just when the first guard was about to lose his shit, the second grabbed his arm, which had reached for the sword on his hip, and pointed at the golden dongle attached to Cynrik’s Watcet.
“Dalton, that’s an Elite Exam Token; that kid is a prodigy; it’s best just to let them through.” The man named Dalton glared angrily at the boy wearing a black leather hood and spat on the ground.
“Hurry up and get out of my sight before I beat you and send you back home.” Dalton knew better than to stop Exam Applicants, he had been one himself years ago, and he was aware of what happened to idiots who interfered with the testing sites.
Cynrik chuckled to himself and brushed past the guard named Dalton, aggressively ramming his shoulder into the man’s side and placing his wrist on a device resembling a subway turnstile. With a beep, the device scanned his Watcet before turning green and allowing him to step forward. The rest of the party quickly caught up to Cynrik and followed his previous actions, but not before Brance, stopped, bowed to the guards, and apologized for Cynrik’s rude behavior.
[You are lucky they didn’t kick your teeth in Cyn; I would let them too. There was no reason to do what you did.]
There was a distance of a couple hundred meters from the turnstile to the massive energy gate, and as the party made their way over, Brance chastised his brother in the mind link.
[Ppfft, seriously, that dude is only Tier-3; he couldn’t hit me if he tried. Worst-case scenario, I would use my [Shadow Veil] to pass him and enter the Egress unnoticed.]
[Yeah, sure, and what about that electricity cloud surrounding the opposite side of the turnstile? That shit would fry you to a crisp and alerted the guards instantly.]
[Easy, I would have swiped my Watcet while jumping over, just like how I used to when we were kids, and I had to run from the cops after spray painting the walls on Earth.]
[Dumbass, YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TIME!]
[Bah, whatever, it doesn’t matter, we made it past them easy enough. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change anything. You know I don’t deal well with people talking down to me.]
[You’re so fucking frustrating sometimes, Cynrik, why is it so damn hard for you to nod and smile.]
[Yare Yare.] Cynrik waved his hand at his brother dismissively, stepped up to the Egress entrance, and looked up towards the top.
[SHUT UP, WEEB!]
“Ok, weapons out MyrkLys, time to get serious, Björn you’re in the lead, followed by Benjamin. After that, Gabriella, you’ll be in front of me since I’ll take up the rear.”
For a moment, the sounds of a sword being unsheathed and Sheilds unbuckled from their harness bounced off the energy gate, followed by Gabby complaining to Cynrik for using her full name.
Brance split his shields into their two separate forms and was the first to step through the gate, which rippled like water upon making contact with his body. He was immediately followed by Benny, who held up his sword and shield, and lastly by Gabby and Cynrik, who entered at the same time.
Cynrik closed his eyes and watched the gate with his [Mana Sight] as he walked through. He couldn’t see anything except a massive green, liquid film to his shock. It took less than a second for him to step through, and the moment his feet touched the rocky surface on the other side, he was assaulted by a chain of notifications from Tobs.
-You have entered The Green Alpha Egress named A-G-22097-
-New party quest detected.-
– Instance Quest, First Alpha Egress Dive-
-You have entered the Green Alpha Egress “A-G-22097”, and the exit has been sealed. The only way to leave is to complete this quest. You will have 24 hours to do so. The quest requirements will not be shared between the party members, and you must meet them to achieve the Clear Status.
-Kill 25 Tier-1 Packhounds- (0/25)
-Kill 25 Tier-1 Fanged Rats- (0/25)
-Defeat the boss Kobold Shaman.- (0/1)
-Once you complete the above tasks, you will be allowed to either Exit the Instance or continue to the next level of the dungeon.-