20 Orders
Erik looked at the desolation inside his living room. He stared blankly at the wall momentarily, his heart pounding because of anxiety as if it would explode from within him like some internal bomb.
He thought about the events that had just transpired, including his brief confrontation with the unknown thaid.
He thought about the extraction power he had obtained from the System and the opportunity to obtain another brain crystal power.
About the requirement to consume the blood and the brain crystal and what his life would become if he used this ability intelligently.
Erik's head was spinning so much now; too many things were happening in one day. It seemed impossible for anyone else but himself to have this amount of crazy happenings occurring on the same night.
"I'm going nuts," he said out loud while looking around his almost empty house. "It can't be possible."
His mind kept repeatedly thinking about how strange everything had become lately—the sudden appearance of the System, the disappearance of his father, the thaid.
"My dad is the only one who could explain this System. But why didn't he come back yet?"
Suspicion started arousing inside Erik.
Because his house got checked out by someone, he could confidently say someone was targeting him, either the government or someone else. Maybe they got his father? But to do so, someone stronger than him should have made the did, and that kind of person was not easy to find.
Besides, he even had suspicions about Benjamin, his father's friend, who visited him right after getting the System. The young man felt stressed; it wasn't easy for a sixteen-year-old kid to manage all of this, especially with the life of physical and emotional deprivation he had lived until now.
After five minutes spent that way, Erik decided it was time to use his DNA point to get the unknown thaid DNA so that he could get its brain crystal power a couple of days later.
< System,> Erik thought, <Use fifty DNA points to extract the DNA from the unknown thaid,> he added.
[SYSTEM READY. DNA POINTS USED. COMMENCING EXTRACTION. HOST IS ADVISED TO LAY ON A BED.]
Erik didn't let the System repeat itself twice. He immediately jumped on his couch and understood why the System said to do so.
It was because of pain, excruciating pain. The feeling was like someone was cutting an organ out of him, like he was getting pierced by countless needles and being burned alive simultaneously.
Erik suppressed his screams until they became hoarse whispers as tears streamed down his face. Then, after ten seconds passed, the next thing he knew was that his entire body started shaking violently.
His vision went and came multiple times in ten minutes, and he fell from the couch. Then the pain subsided.
"That was worse than I expected…" Erik said.
[HOST JUST WENT THROUGH THE DNA ADJUSTING PROCESS. YOUR DNA IS NOW ABLE TO ACCOMMODATE THE UNKNOWN'S CREATURE BRAIN CRYSTAL POWER.]
[UNKNOWN CREATURE BRAIN CRYSTAL ALREADY ANALYZED.]
[INSUFFICIENT DNA POINTS TO PERFORM THE EXTRACTION.]
[EXTRACTION ABORTED.]
"Well, I knew that was going to happen." Then he added: "Status," and a blue window appeared.
(A.N: Look at the status screen page in the auxiliary volume, press CTRL+F, and input CHAPTER 20 to see the status screen.)
Erik looked at his DNA points; they were only ten, meaning he had to make four daily quests to unlock the new power.
The young man also looked at his number of experience points; they were a hundred and fifty, as he gained a hundred from the emergency quest. Then Erik recalled that he still had to complete today's training quest.
"Quests," the young man said.
-----------------------------
[Quests List]
{Daily}
<Eating Habits: COMPLETE>
-Rewards for completion: Ten Experience, ten DNA points
-Failure Penalty: None
(Eat a healthy meal)
<Physical training: ACCEPTED>
-Rewards for completion: Ten Experience, ten DNA points
-Failure Penalty: None
(Train for at least an hour. The Host may choose whatever exercise to complete the quest.)
-----------------------------
I can still earn ten DNA points by making today's training quest. Erik nodded to himself, and then he dismissed the quest's window.
He then started training in earnest. He had been doing these exercises for the past days and was already noticing some improvements in his physique, as he lost some body fat. It was still soon to see significant changes, but he felt stronger and more energetic than in the past.
***
Raveena and Roma were still at the military outpost. The Densoph and Yegyavit's threats had been stopped, but multiple were the damage the creatures had caused.
Raveena was checking over the fallen soldiers' bodies while Roma was writing down the names of the deceased.
The situation could have ended differently if the army had given more people to the outpost and sped up the fortification process. The two women knew that the fault lay in corruption.
Despite Frant's leader having the nation's best interest at heart, there were many people affiliated with the Crystal Cross Gang inside the government. This slowed the process.
"Are you done counting?" Roma asked Raveena.
"Yes, there are at least 178 deaths," she replied.
"The management will call their families and inform them of the death of their loved ones," Raveena added.
"How long does this process usually take?" Roma asked.
"Usually a week or so," Raveena answered.
Then, the two women and a bunch of other people started searching the outpost for surviving monsters.
They searched room after room until Roma noticed something weird: a slightly opened door.
It was weird for trained soldiers to make an amateurish mistake, making the young woman suspicious about the real reason it was open.
She quickly walked into the room filled with crates full of supplies. The woman scrutinized the place and found evidence of a thaid having been there, the beast left excrement here and there, and there were also some blood stains on the floor.
Roma followed the stains; they were leading up. The woman looked at a wall and noticed an air vent without a lid.
This seemed weird to the young woman who decided to check inside. At first, she thought someone might be hiding behind the duct, but when she checked further through the opening, she saw nothing but blood traces.
"Damn!"
The woman immediately understood. A thaid managed to escape through the air vents. The problem suddenly magnified many times now that the civilians were going to be involved.
<We need to tell the higher ups,> Roma thought, <They must alarm the city.>
But before the young woman could leave the room, she heard footsteps approaching her. The sound grew louder, and voices echoed in the hallway outside. Raveena entered the room and looked at Roma's anxious face.
"What happened?" Raveena inquired.
"There's a thaid loose somewhere," Roma told him.
"Did you find some tracks?" Raveena asked.
"Yes, see for yourself."
Raveena then checked the room and found what her colleagues did previously find. She then turned to look at her and said, "Don't worry! We'll catch whatever escaped."
While Roma went to tell the officers about the situation, Raveena went outside the building to check if the creature had actually left.
When she arrived outside, she circled the area until she found an opened air vent. She looked at the ground and saw fresh Densoph's footprints on the ground.
Then the woman returned to the building and went to Colonel Tiwana's office. Roma had already told him what happened, but Raveena added her findings.
"I think we should send a patrol team to search for the missing thaid," Roma said.
"Roma will be in charge of the squad. I want you to find and kill this thaid," Tiwana ordered.
"Yes, sir. Don't worry; I will find the beast and kill it."
"Good luck then. Start now. You are all dismissed."
