Desire: A LitRPG Adventure (Volume 3), page 7
Vincent stepped in front of Ace while pulling back the sleeve of his arm. He held it out in front of him and grinned, “Try this. You know my defense stat and should be able to tell the differences.”
“Okay,” Ace nodded and held the sword overhead.
“Hey, hey, what are you doing?” Dorag widened his eyes in surprise. A cut off arm was a cut off arm! Some people might be able to grow it back, but getting a chopped off arm was painful. Was this guy crazy?
Ace ignored Dorag and swung down. Vincent’s arm fell to the ground. Strangely, no blood poured out of his arm or shoulder. After a second, the arm flew into the air and reconnected itself to Vincent’s shoulder. Ace looked at the sword with delight and said, “Wow! It was like slicing through butter!”
Vincent was surprised as well. He expected there to be some resistance, but the sword basically ignored his defence stat. He was like a wet noodle before it. Dorag was worried about cleaning up blood, but he was relieved after seeing the arm reattach itself. He turned towards Ace and rubbed the palms of his hands together as he said, “Heh, want to buy it?”
“No,” Ace said flatly. He withdrew his qi and handed the sword back over to Dorag.
“Ah?” Dorag said with a blink.
Just as Dorag was about to snap at them, Ace said, “I don’t use swords. Do you have any gloves?”
Dorag wiped the brow of his forehead and let out a sigh of relief. He was about to snap at his customer. He thought to himself, “I need more training.”
It was strange to ask for gloves made out of metal, but that was the awesome power of the 6 metals. They were light, flexible, and could be fashioned into anything.
After a day of shopping, Ace and Vincent were now broke. They didn’t spend their money all in one place, that would be too suspicious. Weak people like them having hundreds of millions of points? They didn’t want to have a target on their back. They both had wide smiles on their face. Even though they were now broke, their strength more than doubled. If they fought Mogtar or Kaum now, it would be as easy as killing a fly. This was the power of items!
As they flew through the city on the taxi, Vincent sent telepathically, “Let’s go check out some missions.”
“Sounds good,” Ace responded.
It was time to make some points.
Chapter 118
In its current state, the universe was split into three sectors. Humanoids controlled one of them and called it the federation. The federation was made up of humans, orcs, elves, gnomes, dwarves, etc. There were battles and wars between them, but in the grand scheme of things, they were but small fights between children.
Reken was the most famed mercenary in the federation. Whoever hired him would have a great advantage in their war. Of course, most wouldn’t be able to afford it. Instead, most hired from his organization known as Reken’s Mercenaries. His mercenaries were split into six grades, taking inspiration from the six famed metals. A grade mercenaries were the weakest lifeforms in the universe. All of them had stats under 500. B grade was a step higher, they had stats from 500 to 1000.
As of this moment, Ace and Vincent just registered themselves with Reken’s Mercenaries. They were both assigned to the B grade. Vincent glanced at the building behind him and sent telepathically, “I wonder if we could have reached C grade?”
“Perhaps, but we can’t show our true strength,” Ace responded as he recalled Grom stressing to always hide some of your strength.
“I know, I’m just wondering, that’s all.”
Ace clicked his tongue after looking at his points and said, “I didn’t know we had to pay to register. We’re really broke now!”
“Haha, well, the person who tested our strength said we could sign up for a mission at any taxi, so let’s get to it!” Vincent walked up to a taxi and connected his mind to it. Ace copied him.
The emotionless voice of the taxi rang in their minds, “Please give me your command.”
“Bring up the list of missions for a B grade mercenary.”
“Verifying identity. Identity verified. Transmitting list of B grade missions.”
Information tunneled into their souls, seemingly endless. Their faces paled slightly, but they recovered quickly. The missions all had different information, but there were three important things to look out for: Pay, risk, and the details of the job. All of the missions that had high risk were tossed out. They weren’t looking to die. Even though those missions had high pay, it wasn’t worth the risk, especially for their first mission.
Ace was a little disappointed. He sent to Vincent, “Hmm. The pay isn’t that good for B grade.”
“Agreed.”
They continued to browse the list of missions, tossing more and more out as they went. Eventually, there were less than a hundred left.
“There!” Ace sent in excitement, “Look at this one.”
B Grade Mission: Guard Mining Robots
Listed by: Federation Military
Risk: Low to Medium
Pay: Varies
Details: An asteroid has been discovered near the frontlines. Scans report that it contains Cavorium waiting to be mined. The Federation Military can't afford to send many troops, so we're looking to hire mercenaries. Each mercenary is to receive a mining robot and scour the asteroid for Cavorium. Pay depends on how much Cavorium is found. Klexi forces are expected.
Vincent perused the details and said, “Hmm. This mission seems good. We’re a bit stronger than we look, so we’ll be able to find more Cavorium, right? Although… the front lines…”
Grom said that throughout the history of the universe, there were always two factions that couldn’t exist in peace: Humanoids, and the Klexi. Grom referred to them multiple times as, ‘Damn bugs!’.
The Klexi occupied a third of the universe just like the Federation, but there was one major advantage the Klexi had over the Federation. They were united as one. They all served the will of the Hivemother. The mission Ace and Vincent were looking at was located near the frontlines, a strip of space that bordered the territories of the Federation and Klexi.
Although humanoids were known for their greed, they understood that they would be wiped out if they didn’t work together. In the distant past, the leaders of each galaxy in the Federation worked together to setup a military force that served only one purpose: protect the Federation. For millennia, they did just that.
“Well, this mission looks like the best one,” Ace said after looking through the rest.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
They accepted the mission through the taxi. The monotone voice responded, “Sending request. Request accepted. Teleportation to mission location beginning in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”
With a flash of light, they disappeared. Space twisted around them. Bright flashes of light passed by them at a speed faster than light. After a few seconds, it all stopped. They quickly recovered and looked around at their new location.
Before they could, there was a shout in their direction, “Move, move, move! The mission begins in less than 1 hour!”
They looked in front of them and found a large brown orc. He was equipped in a full suit of thin light brown armor. They matched Grom’s description of Durite with the color of the armor. They widened their eyes in surprise, this orc before them had stats between 1000-2500! Of course, that was only a guess. A rich humanoid around their level could afford that armor, but it would be pretty useless. It might offer good defense, but you couldn’t utilize the metal to its full potential. You just didn’t have enough energy to infuse it.
The orc saw that they were motionless and frowned. He snapped, “Get out of the teleporter!”
Ace and Vincent looked around and found they were standing in a bright beam of light. It was just like the one they were teleported to on planet Typhen, except that it was much smaller. They understood they were currently blocking anybody else from arriving. As soon as they stepped out of the teleporter, there was another flash of light. Another humanoid arrived and quickly stepped out of the teleporter. The orc pointed to his left and said, “Follow the red strip of light. Mission begins in less than 1 hour.”
The humanoid looked at the ground and found a red line leading to the left. They nodded and followed along it. Ace and Vincent followed after the humanoid. They looked around, trying to understand where they were. Were they on a planet? Or were they already on the asteroid?
They were walking down a hallway. There were other colored lines on the ground, but they didn’t know what they signified. The floor and walls were made out of some light brown metal. Ace suddenly gasped and sent, “This metal… isn’t it Durite?”
“What? Who would make an entire hallway out of Durite? That metal is crazy expensive!”
“Right… that’s what I thought… I must be mistaken,” Ace said while letting out a sigh of relief. If this entire hallway was made out of Durite… then that would turn his entire view of reality upside down.
They followed the red line through the hallway, turning left and right as they did. Eventually, they arrived in a large room. A massive room. Large square vehicles were lined up along the far side of the room. They were light brown. Thousands of people stood in the room as well. The room was so large that they only took up a portion of the entire space. There was something written on the ceiling, Hangar 08.
Ace looked curiously at the square vehicles and sent, “Are those space ships?”
“Ugly ones…” Vincent remarked.
A human with thin limbs approached them. Held in each hand was a large white block. They handed Vincent and Ace one each and explained, “This is the mining robot. It’s quite expensive, so protect it well.”
“This… is a robot?” Ace said in confusion. This block wasn’t quite what he was expecting. In all of the movies he saw on Earth, robots were made of metal and looked like humans.
“It’s deactivated, just say the word ‘activate’ for it to turn on. It will scan for cavorium itself, so just follow it,” The thin humanoid explained patiently.
“Oh, okay,” Ace said and stored it in his inventory.
Vincent did the same before asking, “Do we have to pay for it if it breaks?”
“No,” The thin humanoid said curtly. He pointed to the group of humanoids standing behind him and said, “Stay over there for now. They are all mercenaries, like you.”
Ace and Vincent nodded and walked over to the group. Each mercenary stood a few feet away from each other. They were all minding their own business. Ace and Vincent found their own spot and waited patiently. Time passed quickly, and soon an hour went by.
There was a loud beep followed by a voice coming from the walls, “The mission is starting. Please enter the transporters.”
The blocky looking spacecrafts came to life. One of the walls slid open, creating an opening. The mercenaries quickly filtered into the spacecrafts. Ace and Vincent followed along and found themselves a spot in one of the transporters. After the last mercenary entered, the doors slid shut. Ace and Vincent felt the same energy that the taxi’s on Typhen had. They felt themselves become one with the transporter. No matter how much the spacecraft shook, they would be stable.
The walls shimmered and became transparent. Ace ran his hand across the wall, confirming that it was still there. He let out a sigh of relief. Vincent’s mouth gaped open. He sent to Ace, “Look!”
Ace looked up and found that the wall of the hangar was gone. Outside was a giant rock. The asteroid! The transporter hovered off the ground before shooting out of the hangar. To their left and right were hundreds more. Ace casually glanced behind him and froze in shock. He tapped Vincent on the shoulder and stuttered, “L-l-look at that!”
Vincent turned around and became rooted on the spot. A long metal behemoth was planted in the sky, no, space! Along the side that faced them was the hangar they just exited. To the left and right were more, except they were closed. Above each door were words. Hangar 01. Hangar 02. Hangar 03. There were twenty to be exact.
“This is the biggest spaceship I’ve ever seen!”
Vincent nodded slowly, “It reminds me of the aircraft carriers on earth, except that this spaceship is 100 times larger.”
They inspected the spaceship closely, taking in every detail. Who didn’t love spaceships? A few minutes passed as they sighed in amazement. They realized that the entire spaceship was light brown. That meant it was made entirely out of Durite. How expensive was that? Even if they pooled together all of their resources a hundred times over, they wouldn’t even be close to buying a ship like this!
Realizing that they were currently on a mission, they turned back to face the asteroid. It was larger than even the spaceship behind them, but smaller than earth by quite a bit. It was around the size of the moon. It grew larger each passing moment. They could now spot the hills and mountains that littered the surface. A few minutes later, the transporter landed on the surface. The door slid open. The mercenaries ran out of the transporter and split up. They were competitors here, whoever found the most would get the biggest payout. Ace and Vincent casually walked out of the transporter. It was time to make some money!
Chapter 119
Ace and Vincent looked around. This was their first time being on an asteroid. Think about it, they were deep in space, with no planets or stars nearby. The asteroid was hurtling through space at unimaginable speeds. One thing they immediately noticed was that they couldn’t see a thing! It was pitch black. Not even their enhanced stats allowed them to see anything. Of course, they had other ways to ‘see’, but as humans, they still relied heavily on their eyes. It was an uncomfortable feeling without it.
Ace was just about to say something to Vincent when he realized all of the air escaped out of his lungs when he opened his mouth. He stood still as a shocking realization came over him. They were in space! On an asteroid with no atmosphere, no less. How were they to breath? Vincent and Ace sighed inwardly. This was an oversight.
“Check the rewards shop for anything useful!” Vincent said through telepathy.
“Right.” Ace nodded and opened the rewards shop. He searched for anything that might get them out of their current predicament. Due to his powerful body, he could last quite a long time without air. After a few minutes, his eyes lit up as he read an ability.
5,000,000
Energy to Air Conversion. Convert any form of energy that you control to oxygen. 1 unit of energy is worth 10 minutes of oxygen.
Perfect! With this, they would be able to convert qi or blood into oxygen, allowing them to breathe in space. Ace was able to naturally generate qi, so he could last forever, unlike Vincent. Still, Vincent had enough blood to last for years if need be. Ace purchased the ability and then informed Vincent.
Vincent just so happened to find an ability to see even without any light right when Ace sent him a message. Vincent told Ace the ability he found before purchasing both of the abilities.
1,000,000
Void Sight. Gain the ability to see even in the absence of light.
With that problem solved, they glanced at each other and chuckled. They saw other mercenaries spreading out in every direction. With no good method to search for cavorium, Ace and Vincent flew in a random direction. A few minutes passed before Vincent thought about the robot they were given. Perhaps it could find cavorium?
Vincent came to a stop. Ace stopped a second later and gave him a quizzical glance. Vincent said, “Wait a second.”
He summoned the deactivated robot. After a cursory glance, he found a button next to the handle. With a click, the robot suddenly came to life. Long lines appeared on the surface of the robot. It was like there were thousands of different parts moving inside. The robot expanded as pieces connected to each other. In only a few seconds, the rectangular robot transformed into a humanoid. The robot looked over Ace and Vincent before an emotionless voice appeared in their minds, “Mission: Cavorium mining. Location: Asteroid located on the frontlines. Klexi forces are expected, so bodyguards are required.”
Vincent replied with a slight smile, “Don’t worry, we’ll guard you. By the way, do you have a way to find cavorium?”
The robot gave a humanlike nod, “Affirmative. All mining robots are equipped with the ability to sense metal. I’m a B grade mining robot, thus I can sense metal within 10 miles.”
Ace slapped the robot’s shoulder and laughed, only to find that no noise was emitted. He froze in embarrassment. He forgot that without any atmosphere, no sound was transmitted. To others, it just looked like he was laughing silently like a mime. He cleared his throat before saying, “Alright, why don’t you take the lead? We’ll follow you.”
“Affirmative.”
The robot froze for a second before flying in a direction. Ace and Vincent followed after it. To Ace and Vincent’s surprise, it flew fast. Its speed could match someone who had an agility stat of 500. Still, they could keep up with it at ease. A few minutes later, the robot landed on the ground. A message appeared in Ace and Vincent’s mind, “Cavorium deposit found 480 feet beneath the surface. Please stand back.”
