Chapter 7: Ice World

Ajay sat facing Tarsh with scrutiny in his eyes. Meanwhile, he was arguing with Dhvani in his head. It all started when Dhvani realized how Tarsh had no idea of the outside world. Though his natal space was like a home to him, it couldn't provide him any companionship. He didn't need food in the space but if he came out, he needed food. It was a safe house for him, the last resort but not a permanent residence. So here came the problem. Where could she let him live as an ancient boy who didn't know anything about the real world?

And then she remembered. Isn't there a ready-made home? He could live with her but considering her virtual citizenship, she set her sight on Ajay. He lived in a big two-story house. And a helper cleaned all things. So she made Tarsh sit in the living room and discussed it with Ajay.

Dhvani only told him that Tarsh was a part of the Hidden mission. And that he came from a different place and needed help in going back. He was assigned to Ajay till then. And finally, she asked Ajay if he accepted this mission. Giving a choice makes people do things on their initiative. If she just pushed Tarsh on Ajay, maybe it wouldn't work. But making a choice means that he will also feel involved thus making it a decision rather than a choice.

Ajay liked the boy but he had to think about how to handle this matter. His family would probably freak out so he had to find a perfect reason to adopt Tarsh. Because no one is really stupid. His actions represented his family so he had to not jeopardize them.

"You can adopt this kid for the time being," she argued with Ajay.

"Is bringing kids easy? I feel like I am still a kid. And what am I supposed to tell the institute? They won't buy our talk about meeting a kid in a forest."

He had a valid point there.

"We can meet Tarsh at your next mission. And then adopt him. You are now a celebrity on the team so it would be easy for you," she answered him.

He thought for a while and then agreed.

Tarsh still bought his necessities in his old way. He teleported to the shops, picked up items, and this time, he also put the money there. Dhvani imagined a worker in the shop coming to set up the shop, looking at missing clothes but surplus money on the counter and hallucinating for a while. She could easily imagine this scene and felt that adoption should be done fast. Ajay flat-out refused to buy children's clothes citing that this would tip off the team about his abnormality. He could not even lie because he had no younger cousins or nephews. And the last resort added fuel to haunting rumors. But considering there was a supernatural team, these rumors would be controlled soon anyway.

Ajay did not get any missions for nearly a month. Dhvani and Tarsh had fun binge-watching cartoons and animation shows. They cosplayed and clicked many photos. Dhvani even had many of her holograms. She couldn't use them now but they would be handy when she was liberated. She imagined bringing Tarsh with her and her family would be very happy. They had always liked little kids, sensible ones. The ruckus she caused with her brother was enough for them to handle.

She never bought about revealing her identity to Ajay. Because they weren't still in an equal relationship. Ajay could only see her as some kind of game or app character but not a real friend or human. And her level was too low to talk o him properly. She had many restrictions. Because if your host released you from the task, what about her system tasks? Who would finish them? It was nearly impossible because no sane person would want to lose a gold finger. But still, in case someone was very sympathetic, this would amount to a great loss by the system headquarters.

So she could only talk about all this when her level rose to forty-five. She could turn into a hologram and talk. She felt that Ajay would let her go considering his attitude. And the gimmick was that she could never tell him truly what she wanted. She felt that she had to guide him vaguely so he could consciously release her. Her boss never told her but from what she read in the handbook, if her level rose to 100 and her host consciously released her, she would be free. This case was really impossible so no one ever talked about it.

But Dhvani was a very faithful optimist. She considered that loopholes sometimes worked very well in life. She could just tell Ajay that a system could be unbound if he- the host wanted to, after earning some amount of skill points. And Ajay being a guy who wanted his privacy would agree. Or she could become a character that would annoy him. She could talk endlessly once her restrictions were gone and then he would be fed up with her. This would ensure that her goal would be reached.

She felt Ajay would release her after he changed this world. But people change, so she was not completely sure. And also things were completely different when the conditions were met, which resulted in a massive rollover of events. She never thought that she wouldn't want to leave him but Ajay had removed their only connection cruelly. Sometimes life plays a very bad joke.

Her other friends from the systems chat server were still not online. She could only chat with Charchari, and they honestly talked about music. She wanted to meet the other members and get some server gifts from them. When Charchari told her that server gifts could be gained by anyone, she was happy. Luck paid a great deal in this but gifts weren't divided like that. She was already living in dire straits so she was happy with small items as gifts. Nothing could heal injuries like gifts. Though she could not go shopping, she could see her mall. She also fantasizes about her gifts. She also knew that gifts were dropped on the server on special days like server celebration days. The upcoming was a ten thousand years anniversary which honestly surprised her. She did not expect that her boss was more than ten thousand years old.

As time passed like this for more than fifteen days, Ajay got his first mission as a newly recruited shareholder. It was a very easy mission with a one-star rating. Mission levels were divided from one to ten with one being super easy and ten being 'count your blessings from previous lives ' hard. No one had got a level ten mission yet so they were happy with the current status quo.

The mission was to retrieve a time travel device fragment in Ice World. This time travel device was made some fifteen years ago but things went wrong on its first test. Its parts were thrown everywhere and only a few of them were found to date. It used a special kind of stone as its energy device and this was particularly responsible for the chaos. She felt that the energy stone had a mind of its own, like a spirit. Or why would something that could fuel a time travel device be found? Using objects from unknown sources is always bad.

So now this mission was some kind of a ritual in the supernatural team. Because the fragments were innumerable, they could be used as an initiation for many members. It could take hundreds of years. And one found a part to the date.

Ice World was a place in the Apar forest. Contrary to its name, it wasn't cold but hot. It was called Ice world because of the mirages it produced. The illusions made people who entered feel very cold. And the water there turned instantly into ice. So cooking and cleaning were difficult there. And the water was to be kept in closed bottles and opened only after entering the temperature-controlled tent.

This tent was also to be tested in its environment. A mini-mission, to be said. Dhvani felt like this was similar to questions with sub-questions in written exams. She snickered and waited to see how Ajay handled this job. She had never seen him in his element.

He acted very fast, pitched up the tent, and successfully tested the tent. He also made notes and analyzed the surroundings. Dhvani was shocked when she saw him accurately finding the energy stone fragment. He used logic and pinpointed the change in the magnetic field and then went in the opposite direction. She would have gone in the magnetic field's direction and then been stuck there.

They were really dumbfounded when they saw the fragment because it was being worshipped like a god by the resident animals. Dhvani realized that she finally got the dramatic ending had always wanted.