Side Quest: Conquer Earth

After Enzo finished his duels in the Beast Colosseum, he had reached level 13, quite the feat for his two days in-game.

He wasn't complacent, however. He knew he needed much more strength to save Earth, much less help it prosper.

Returning to the Princess' side was much more straightforward than leaving with his increased levels. Once he returned to the Princess's side, he closed his eyes and fell asleep for the night.

He had been in-game for almost 48 hours and needed to do some things in the real world.

Taking one last glance at his status screen, he logged off to sleep.

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Name: Enzo

Gender: Male

Condition: Dragon (Infant)

Bloodline: Void Dragon

Level: 13 [2,142/8,500]

Title: N/A

Health: 590/590

Mana: 590/590

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Stamina: 59

Intellect: 59

Strength: 59

Defense: 59

Vitality: 59

Agility: 59

Luck: 0

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Quests: 2

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(A/N: 3 Points per stat a level in Tier-1)

Materializing next to his capsule, Enzo scratched his head.

"I had the capsule for 24 hours and already don't need it anymore."

Enzo knew he couldn't get rid of it lest he draw his sister's or others' suspicions.

As Enzo exited his room, he glanced into his sister's room only to find it empty. Shrugging, Enzo grabbed his keys, put on his nice pair of shoes, and left the house.

As he walked, he clenched his fist. He could feel the strength coursing through his veins, a testament to the fact that he had awakened.

A smile slowly formed on his face. Others in his position take the newfound strength and treat it as a bonus. But Enzo was going to use it to take over Earth.

He had been talking with Port, and the man had listed several benefits that taking over Earth would bring him.

It should be something within the realm of possibility. After all, no one else was going to awaken until update 2.0.

The idea of conquering Earth started to form even before he awakened. He knew that taking over Earth would have plenty of advantages.

But after his conversation with Port, his new butler, the idea had cemented as a goal. 

Of course, he wasn't a moron. He couldn't just proclaim himself a king and expect everyone to follow him.

He was going to take it over from the shadows. Only those who needed to know would be controlled; even those people wouldn't see his face.

Although he was an awakened, he didn't have the power yet to take on any high-end defenses, but he could still start small.

Enzo pulled out a skull mask that he had purchased from a party store and accelerated his speed.

=====

Elder White stroked his long, wispy beard as he regarded the expectant faces before him. As the World Council leader, he was responsible for guiding humanity through its transition into the greater multiverse.

"The first day's reports are...mixed," he said. "On one hand, the amount of players that the game has garnered has exceeded our wildest expectations. Millions have already started playing, and our analysts have projected that we'll reach a billion players by month two."

The Elders of the Bayloff Family, owners of the BlackLobster Corporation, sat around Elder White. Murmurs of approval rippled through the chamber at this news.

Elder White raised a withered hand, and the room fell silent once more. "However, we have also received deeply troubling intelligence. It seems that someone has already managed to awaken ahead of schedule."

Gasps of shock and disbelief echoed off the ancient stone walls. Impossible! The integration process was carefully designed to prevent any one person from accumulating too much power too quickly.

"Explain yourself, Elder White!" Elder Li demanded, his voice booming with barely restrained fury. "How could you let this wretched soul put all our plans at risk through such selfish actions?"

Elder White narrowed his eyes at his old rival. 'Does Elder Li think all the other Elders are idiots?'

"You know as well as I that the forces who gave us Beast Evolution to publish to Earth didn't allow us even a tiny bit of control. We are only given the number of players and the number of awakened!"

Elder White took a deep breath, holding back his annoyance with his petty rival.

"What are your recommendations, Elder?" another Elder asked, her tone laced with steel.

Elder White closed his eyes, already weighing the difficult decisions before him. When he spoke again, it was with a cold calculation.

"We must bring him to our side or eliminate him permanently. Inform all of our operatives in the fields. We must find him and quickly. Before he realizes the full extent of the power he has blindly grasped..."

=====

Enzo made his way through the alleyways of Kinsaw City. His goal was to find an old acquaintance he had in high school.

As he approached his desired location, Enzo clenched his fist, feeling the power run through his bones. He was strong, not strong enough to take a bullet yet, but strong enough to do what he came for.

As he ventured deeper and deeper into the heart of Kinsaw City's vast alleyway system, the buildings on either side of him turned more and more dilapidated.

His instincts, honed over ten years inside Beast Evolution, screamed at him that he was being watched.

'They've got sentries this far out? Looks like Mikell's gang is more organized than I thought.'

With shoulders back and eyes forward, he looked as confident as he should, given that he was a walking superhero.

'Maybe more like half a superhero,' Enzo mused.

He walked until he saw two men smoking outside a rusting metal door. The two men were unfamiliar, but he recognized the tattoo they both had inked into their right forearms.

The tattoo was a rat with a needle sticking through its skull. The rat's head was angled so that its top half was on their wrists, the needle sticking through the top half of the skull.

The tattoo was designed so that any of their members wearing long sleeves would still have the top, stabbed part of the head exposed.

It was meant to be intimidating, but Enzo thought it looked mediocre at best. 

"You seem lost, friend," one of the two men sitting on the stairs leading up to the rusting metal door said. His large six-foot-eight frame made him intimidating, at least to ordinary people.

"I'm looking for Mikell. Is he around?"

Enzo didn't want to waste too much time on his little side quest. Every second that passed was one second Update 2.0 came to launching, one second closer to the start of the apocalypse.

Although conquering Earth would bring him unexpected rewards, he still knew his real focus would always be inside the world of Beast Evolution.