Chapter 30: Ch70. New era - 3 (A man’s fear)
[Reach Level 05 and we will meet.]
[Your predecessor taught me some things about the system and I was able to read through your data, so he helped me create a unique and special quest that will help you grow at least slightly stronger and better suited for the class you’re going to acquire soon.]
[O.]
The message was at the bottom of Kurt’s stat window, which made him frown at first.
But when he read the signature, his heart beat faster. His hero had just kind of hacked into his system to send him a message that would help him get stronger.
"Woah..." He didn’t know what to say or how to react, so he just smiled, speechless, and proceeded to his quest window.
[QUESTS]
[An eye for an eye]
[Slight of hand]
"Hum? Strange..." Kurt noticed a slight difference between the quest window now and the one on his older version’s memories.
His were blue, when the other Kurt’s were red, but he didn’t think much of it, leaving the information in the back of his head, sure that in time he would be able to understand why it was different.
"Right. Let’s check it out."
[Slight of hand]
[DESCRIPTION: Unique quest]
[Difficulty: D+]
[Pick 100 pockets.]
[Pockets picked: 0/100]
[Reward for completion: Unique Skill; 12 stat points; EXP; Special Item]
’A D+ difficulty? Well... I haven’t even leveled up to level two yet, so I guess it makes sense.’ Kurt thought, checking the content of quest again.
He checked the content of his other quest, [An eye for an eye] again, and went to sleep with the memory of the Ishir running over his mom.
Killing her.
’I’m not even slightly strong enough to beat him yet... If it weren’t for the system’s bug when I woke up, I wouldn’t even be able to graze him... But I’ll get stronger...’ He thought, feeling his consciousness fade into sleep.
***
During the following weeks, the world changed considerably, after the revealing of an alien race called the Ishir.
They knew how to help mankind improve their technology to better understand the Nests, the Beasts, and the Disaster.
The governments of the world were delighted with the new alliance, but some authorities didn’t feel so pleased about it, because it would not only help science and the wielders.
It would also change the entire power structure of the nations.
Even more than it had already changed throughout the years after the Calamity.
Some of the members of the US army were already alarmed by it, and general Arthur Sullivan was one of them.
He was sitting in his chair while smoking a cigar and looking at the inclement vastness of the Nevada desert when a knock at the door of his office took him out of his contemplation.
"Come in!" General Sullivan smashed his cigar against the ashtray and looked at the door.
A man in a black suit, sunglasses, military short hair, and astonishingly unremarkable features entered the office.
"Did you wish to speak with me, general?" The man took off his sunglasses and stopped a few steps from the general’s desk.
"Thank you for coming, Collins. Yes, I wanted to speak with you in private, sit down, please."
The man in the black suit, Collins, pulled a chair in front of Sullivan’s desk and sat down, silently looking at the general.
"You became a grown man since the last time I saw you." Sullivan straightened up. "The service in the Agency is working wonders for you, I see."
Collins had no expression at all, but at Sullivan’s remark, he answered.
"Yes, sir. I’m grateful for what you’ve done for me so far. And since you’re talking about it after calling me in such short notice, I guess you want to ask me something related to it, yes?"
"The Agency really is doing good to you." The general smirked. "Yes, I want to talk about it. More precisely... I called you for the payback."
Collins raised his brow ever so slightly, the only reaction he’d ever shown in his years working for the CIA.
’The government never does anything for free...’ He thought, but kept silent, waiting for Sullivan to go on with his explanation.
"You heard about the aliens and the alliance they’re ’offering’ to mankind, right?"
"It’s all the people in the Agency talk about these last few days, sir."
"What do you think about them?" Sullivan rose from his chair and started looking outside the window.
On the outside, the Nevada army base extended for a few kilometers, and the soldiers went on with their duties.
"All secret service agencies in the world have already heard of and from them, but only we had the chance to meet their commander in person. But one week is far too short of a time span to tell someone I do or don’t trust them."
"What do they look like?"
"They appear like draconic Beasts, but with humanoid body, although they have a device that can make them look just like humans. As for their behavior, they seem to be peaceful towards us, despite their clear knowledge of war and combat."
Sullivan looked at the horizon, where a thick cloud of sand was forming
"In a few days, theyr commander is going to meet with the president, to seal an alliance between us and them..."
"But you don’t believe that they’re here to help us, right?" Collins stood up.
"No, I don’t. And that’s why I called you here today, agent Collins. Does anyone know about your awakening?" General Sullivan turned from the window and faced the agent, a grave look in his eyes.
"No, sir. The Internal Affairs Department in the Agency has deemed the information classified, and I’m working under another identity in the Association’s Monitoring Division, so no one knows that Adrian Collins awakened when he came of age."
"Good... Good... I need you to accompany the president’s press conference and kill the Ishir Commander. Can you do that?"
Agent Collins stared at Sullivan, a smirk sprouting on his face.
"Yes, dad."
