Chapter 3: “Unique Quest”
─┈━═[Markov Military Base, Markov, Ryker]═━┈─
Grey opened his eyes with large letters welcoming him, following his eyes everywhere they went. He was standing on a military-style campus containing residential buildings, stores, hangers, and a training area.
He swiped his finger four times in the air, following what he had read.
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┌─┈━═[User Menu]═━┈─
├○
├═[User: Greed]
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├═[Legacy: None]
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├═[Title: None]
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├═[Entity Type: Untranscended]
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├═[Class: None]
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├═[Stats]
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├═[Skills]
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├═[Items]
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├═[Items]
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├═──═[Weapons]
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├═──═[Clothing]
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…
├═──═[Accessories]
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├═────═[??? (Locked)]
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├═──═[Miscellaneous]
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├═[Finances]
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├═[Info]
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├═[Social]
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"It seems I talked to Reina after all, sketchy disappearing necklace and all." Grey smiled, glad it wasn't a dream.
While he wouldn't usually question it, the time disparity was surreal. He had spent almost a full day talking with Reina, but it had been less than five minutes!
"What a strange woman." The teen yawned, lacing his fingers and stretching his arms. "Well, it's time to get going before 25,000 players spawn into this area. Let's get some cash—a lot of it."
Grey had a dozen unique quests in the back of his mind, but they all had one thing in common: they were a pain in the ass! Worse, he was offensively weak, so he was a walking coffin.
So he had an alternate plan—he'd buy his way to victory. It was a legitimate, well-tested, and historically effective solution for just about anything!
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─┈━═[World Announcement!]═━┈─
Player CrimsonSkull has become the first player to amass 100k Rykerian Zecta.
Their achievement has made history and will get recorded in the Myriad Record for all eternity.
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"100k right out of the gate, huh?" He mused, cracking his neck with a fearless smile. "I suppose nothing less than a million will get people's attention, will it? I suppose that'll be my goal, then."
Grey strode through town, following the map to take the streets leading to the exit gate.
The military campus wasn't a city, so there wasn't a bustling marketplace. All the food and dining were inside, along with everything but recreation and the training areas, bustling with jogging troops.
Hundreds of players materialized during his stroll, and a new pop-up window appeared when they arrived en masse.
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─┈━═[Welcome to Myriad Online!]═━┈─
Would you like to take the tutorial now? [Yes/No]?
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Grey selected [No] with his thoughts and continued his stroll, heading to the gate to leave the military base. As he tried to leave, a brown-haired man with a toothy grin walked up.
"Greetings, soldier!" The man smiled, "My name's Lieutenant Major Mann.
I see you're leaving without a combat class. Markov is at war; why don't you let me show you to the training halls to get prepared to leave?"
─┈━═[New Opportunity: Choose a Class!]═━┈─
"No, thank you." The teen replied dryly, continuing his stroll. He could choose one whenever he wished, so he didn't think twice.
"W-Wait, soldier!" The man continued, chasing after him, "There's fighting everywhere in the streets. At least allow me to bring you to an armory to get a gun!"
─┈━═[New Opportunity: Buy a Weapon!]═━┈─
"That's okay." Grey replied dryly, "Now, please leave me alone."
"At least tell me where you're going!" The man yelled desperately, "I'm in charge of the transmigrators. I can't report that I let someone waltz to their death without reason!"
His words attracted the attention of dozens of players.
"Yeah, where are you going?"
"Are you already going out on a quest or something?"
"Wait, are you a beta tester?"
A flurry of questions came in, making the teen extremely irritated. He was on a timeline, and no one would let him go! However, he developed a devious expression with venom-laced eyes.
"I'm on a unique quest." Grey smiled, "I talked to someone here, and they told me there was an opportunity in Ridgemont Heights. So I'm checking it out."
"W-WAIT!" Lieutenant Major Mann screamed, "Y-YOU CAN'T GO TO RIDGEMONT HEIGHTS! ARE YOU INSANE!?"
"Tell that to my map marker." The teen laughed, whistling out of the base as players trampled the soldier, trying to get to Ridgemont Heights first.
***
─┈━═[World Announcement!]═━┈─
Player White Rabbit has become the first player to have 100,000 live viewers for one stream.
Their achievement has made history and will get recorded in the Myriad Record for all eternity.
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Grey read the notification in the corner of his eye with a strange expression. "Streaming… what a great idea.
I should get a ton of these announcements. Since I'll get investigated regardless, I might as well dispel speculation and advertise to the people I'll be selling items to."
"Ummm… excuse me, sir?" A brunette in a blue blazer and white button said behind a counter.
"Oh, hello, Miss. I'd like to get a sky cab to Ridgemont Heights." He replied with a charming smile, "I'm visiting my wealthy uncle."
The brunette narrowed her eyes, eyeing the teen with a skeptical expression. "Do you have clearance to radio in first? No one flys into Ridgemont's air zone without prior approval or they will get shot down."
"I'm surprising him." Grey smiled, "I'll take the sky cab as close as you can get. I'll pay the hazard premium for the service."
She pursed her lips, feeling the desire to wince. "You understand that it'll cost 250 zecta for one ride, correct?"
"Give me a moment." He replied, trying to remember how the function worked while swiping the air.
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┌─┈━═[User Menu]═━┈─┐
├○
├═[User: Greed
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├═[Legacy: None]
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├═[Title: None]
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├═[Entity Type: Untranscended]
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├═[Class: None]
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├═[Stats]
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├═[Skills]
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├═[Items]
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├═[Finances]
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├═──═[Zecta: 250]
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…
├═[Info]
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├═[Social]
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└═─┈─═─┈─═─┈─═─┈─═
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Grey was slightly bitter. The idea he'd spend exactly 100% of his money to get a single flight was offensive. "Yes, please send me a request."
She winced but nodded. "I wish I could give you a discount."
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═─┈─═─┈─═─┈─═─┈─═
Markov Sky Cab Service has made you an offer:
One armored sky cab w/ (5) Primed Entity [PE] bodyguards to the outskirts of Ridgemont Heights. (200 Zecta)
Hazard premium for the dropoff in a non-friendly zone. (50 Zecta)
Do you accept? [Yes/No]
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He agreed, and she led him to the [sky cab], where five fully armed soldiers in black tactical gear awaited.
While a sky cab sounded like a taxi, it was an omnidirectional armored military transport aircraft called a skycruiser that shuttled people around.
It had the functionality of a 20th-century helicopter but in the general shape of a jet.
"The name's Valeria, but people call me Val if they don't wanna die." A woman with purple iris' and medium-length straight brown hair said when he sat down. She had a large scorpion tattoo on her shoulder, starting a running tattoo that led into her shirt.
"Greed." Grey replied amicably.
"What kind of name is that?" A mercenary asked after taking a swig from a serpent emblemed flask. He was a good-looking, brown-haired man with crystal-blue eyes who would likely make a playboy if he weren't half-drunk, donning a 5 o'clock shadow.
"Don't bust his balls, Reaper." A bald mercenary said with a gentle expression. He was built like a bodybuilder, but his brown eyes were kind, "It's not like you're one to talk."
"I'm not busting his balls, Mark." Reaper replied, screwing on the flask's lid, "I'm just asking because he has a shitty mercenary name. I'm a shitty mercenary, so it makes sense that I have one; he doesn't look like one so it doesn't."
"I could choose whatever name I wanted, so I chose Greed." Grey interjected, answering the question.
"Heh, is that so?" The mercenary grinned, "Well I guess we got that in common there. I'll drink to that."
"Ignore that degenerate." A blonde-haired man suggested, "My name is Will. I'm here for the money, and you're paying it, so that's all that matters."
"It's nice to meet you." Grey smiled, turning to the last mercenary—the only one he was curious about, "My name's Greed, what's your name?"
The mercenary was a young blonde around his age. She had vivid blue eyes and attractive facial features. However, her messy, straight blonde hair and dirty, worn-out tactical gear removed any charming appeal.
"Whitney." She said shyly, contrasting her intimidating appearance.
"Well, let's take off." Mark said, getting into the cockpit and starting the engine.
***
Grey watched out the open sentry side hatch at the city below. Markov was once a metropolis but was now a war-torn concrete jungle. The area constantly flashed with laser and muzzle flashes and explosions from RPGs and various grenades, plasma and conventional.
Ratatat! Ratatat!
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Grey teen winced when a flurry of gunfire hit the armor on the skycruiser.
"Did you just fire at me!?" Whitney screamed with a feral look in her eye, cracking the shy persona she had five minutes prior, "Perfect timing! I needed content for my anti-war ad!"
Ratatatatatatatatat! Ratatatatat!
The blonde immediately returned fire, shooting the militants with a sentry gun.
"Put down the grenade, idiot!" She yelled, "I'm using your ashes in my zen garden, so I need your body intact for the cremator! I sure as hell ain't paying extra to scoop you up and burn you in counterparts!"
Ratatatatatatatatatatat!
"Ignore her." Reaper smiled, seeing Grey's expressions, "Blondie doesn't have a dual personality; she's role playing to overcome her confidence issue and she's damn good at it."
"Clearly...." The teen replied in amazement, watching the vicious blonde silence rifles below.
***
After a bumpy ride, the sky cab touched down at a war-torn area a half mile from the base of the road to Ridgemont Heights.
"Thank you, everyone." Grey nodded, "I must go, but if possible, wait for me for exactly three hours. If you do, I'll give you all a life-changing tip on my ride back."
"Sure thing, chief." Mark said, rubbing his bald head, "We'll wait around.
You're one weird kid, but that gives me strange confidence in you. So I'll trust my gut and wait, but if you bring trouble back, we'll kill you on sight. Got it?"
"I got it." Grey nodded mysteriously and looked up the hill to the massive mansions above.
…
─┈━═[World Announcement!]═━┈─
Player Greed has become the first player to find a prestigious-class location.
Location: Ridgemont Heights
Location Classification: Prestigious
City: Markov City
Country: Markov
Planet: Ryker
Their achievement has made history and will get recorded in the Myriad Record for all eternity.
Note: Prestigious-class locations are areas with great influence that are not accessible to the public. They are not necessarily well-known.
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At the top of the hill to Ridgemont Heights, a worn-out teen dry heaved, sweating from the hardcore hike. "Giving me two stamina points was cruel!"
"Oui!" A guard yelled, running up to him, "Identify yourself and state your business or we'll shoot! You're lucky you're a teen, or we already would've!"
Grey put up his hands between deep breaths. "My name is Greed, and I'm here to...."
"MuUaAhHaAhHaAhHaAhHaA!"
Five guards exploded in hysterical laughter after hearing about his service. It was both loud and overbearing, attracting all the [right] attention.
"What is this racket!" A wealthy man with grey hair with brown streaks through it yelled from a window, making the guards stop and start sweating.
He immediately descended the stairs and burst out the door to his mansion, circling the area.
"Do you think this is a place for your amusement!?" The man snapped haughtily.
The head guard swallowed nervously. "No, sir."
"Then what is it!?" The wealthy man snapped.
"This boy, Mr. Sankey…." Another guard said nervously, "He says he'll let you chop off his head for a million zecta."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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