System Malfunction

Loco joined back into the game and the pair began to discuss what they would do for the second mini-boss. Loco says," You're level 10 right?" To which Drake nodded his head in confirmation. Loco simply continued with,"Ok, well I am still level 9, so let me obtain my first martial skill at level 10 so I can have versatility when fighting monsters." Drake knew that for the second mini-boss it would be a lot harder than the first and so opted to help Loco out in this instance. Loco and Drake continued forward towards the second mini-boss, this time the enemies they were facing weren't around level 10 like before, now the monsters were sitting at level 13 to level 18. Drake expected that the next mini-boss would probably be about a 6 hour grind till they got to the door and cleared out the monsters.

With how well Drake and Loco worked together after getting used to the fighting styles of each other, the two quickly got Loco up to level 10. Once he defeated the last monster in a group the two were fighting against he suddenly stopped and seemed to be swiping and clicking at air. Drake knew that he most likely got to level 10 and attained his martial skill so he didn't question it. It wasn't that rude right now, but later on in the game, asking players about skills they've gained was considered taboo and disrespectful. This was one of the only things that could get you effectively canceled and blacklisted to alot places in Drake's past life.

Loco however was wondering why Drake didn't ask about his martial skill upon level up. He had supported Loco the past hour as they fought the monsters, beautifully and masterfully hurting the monsters enough to incapacitate them but not kill them. Loco knew Drake had seen him pause and choose a skill but for some reason just chose to ignore it, and Loco knew someone like Drake who had mastery over this game would not have missed something so obvious. He thought to himself,'Maybe it means that whatever I get won't matter right now? Or wait… no.. the only real explanation was that Drake is so powerful right now, he doesn't even need it. So, even though we didn't need it, he still let me kill everything and didn't kill. I don't quite get it…."

Loco and Drake, now both above level 10, start going on a massacre in the dungeon on their way to the second mini-boss. As Loco watched Drake fight he noticed how drastically defined his fighting style was becoming, it honestly felt like Loco finally had another genius to challenge him. He watched from the sidelines as Drake took on three monsters seemingly effortlessly, with grace and precision that far out-classed his own. Not wanting to be outdone the young man also challenged three at once, and although not as precise as Drake, seemed to very easily clear the enemies. The two boys stared at each other for a moment after Loco was done, and they both realized,'This guy is too strong!'

Now both fighters were starting to compete as they sprinted throughout the caves, trying to kill as many monsters as possible. The two young men had recognized their inward manly desire to be stronger than everyone else and thus these two friends had suddenly become rivals. The two continued to slaughter their way mercilessly. Drake was constantly trying to hone General to reach new heights to be able to compete with Loco and Loco was constantly trying to become more precise and gain a new kind of mastery with his scimitars.

The two finally reached the second mini-boss room and just like Drake had predicted the room was rare as they looked on at the blue door. Drake said,"Well as fun as it was to kill everything on the way here, the real challenge starts here. As you can guess the boss this time will be a rare quality boss. Probably a Baboon variant, I am expecting maybe six arms and greater speed instead of strength like the first boss, but it will still be very strong so watch out for that."

Loco nodded in confirmation, he had gotten relatively used to the information spiels that Drake would spill every now and then. It was still very impressive and showed mastery over such a difficult subject and made Loco respect his new found rival even more. This was surely a person worth acknowledging as a rival.

The two entered the room and saw a giant sleeping baboon. It was the size of a 2 story house and as soon as the door closed the baboon awoke from his sleep.

[System notification: You have entered Mini-Boss room 2/2]

[System notification: You have started mini-boss [Needle Point Poison Baboon]]

Without wasting any time the two young men launched themselves at the baboon. Just like drake had predicted the baboon was indeed a speed type, he would launch explosively off the ground to rush the players, then take a huge swipe at them with his razor sharp claws. Loco slashed at the monster's shoulder to try and weaken its arms but the attack, although did make a huge gash, seemingly didn't affect the boss monster at all. The Baboon swiped once more after Loco's attack failed to properly injure it and tried to chop up Loco. Loco in a display of beautiful precision jumped and fit in between two of the beast claws and came out the other side completely unscathed.

Drake was behind the monkey in an instant and slashed at the achilles tendon on the back of the animals leg. With one clean slice with his spear the left leg was unusable anymore and Drake didn't miss the opportunity, immediately turning and activating the enchantment on his tunnelworks spear, thrusting and taking out the right leg of the monster. Drake and Loco continued to hit the now crippled monster when suddenly the monster pointed its fingers at Drake and shot his fingernails out like a cannonball right at Drake.

Drake shouted,"This is the Needle Point! Be on your guard!"

Drake was dodging while also trying to get closer with every action he was taking and he was slowly coming closer to the monster. Drake was slowly getting closer to Baboon and now all 4 of its hands were focused on Drake. Suddenly Drake heard an alarm in his head.

[SYSTEM ALERT!! SYSTEM MALFUNCTION! PLAYER WILL BE EJECTED!!]

Drake shouted out as loud as he could,"NO!! WAI-"

[System notification: Player Drake Silver has been kicked due to System Malfunction]

Loco and the boss monster locked eyes with each other. Loco thought to himself,"Well this won't be as easy I thought. Well at least its better this way, I can get some training in." Loco smirked and thought to himself as he got in his battle stance,'Let's do this." And launched himself at the monster.

==

Drake suddenly awoke and felt a burning sensation through all of his head. He quickly took the helmet off and tried to stand up in a panic. For some reason though as soon as he stood up, the room became extremely dizzy and his head, which only felt like it was burning before, now exploded in pain. Drake cried out in agony, before throwing up and clutching his head.

Drake shivered on the ground and continued to clutch his head in agony as pain was sent throughout his whole body. Every part of him was screaming to stay awake, to survive, Drake knew what death tasted like and this was very similar. Suddenly, Drake thought he heard a voice in the room with him. He looked up and around his room and didn't see anybody in there with him. He had definitely heard it though. .

"Ster?" rang out in his head once more. Drake was confused and thought he was hallucinating a voice in his head. Then once more he heard the voice,"Master?" The voice sounded shrewd like a merchant would but still sounded very monotone in its voice. Then another voice,"My Lord!" This voice was monotone like the other one but this one had a more grizzled and gruff sounding personality, like an army commander would have.

Drake said out loud,"Who are you?! What have you done to me!?" Drake was very scared right now, he thought that maybe this was justin holoman, that the man had actually tried to kill him and now he had somehow implanted voices into his head to torture him forever. Drake was very, very scared.

The voices in head go quiet for a moment and then the shrew one says,"Master, We are the battle brain you previously assigned.. But.. I don't know why we can exist within your realm"

The grizzled voice said,"It is indeed odd, however after reviewing more of your memories I believe it is best we leave for the southern union immediately."

Drake was speechless and while still holding his head went down and took a lot of pain medication. Then he packed his bag and took the data chip from his computer and his headset for the game and set off for the airport, still holding his head in pain every now and then.

A man in dark clothing watches from afar, smiling. He suddenly disappears into the dark forest behind him, the night goes back to being peaceful and quiet.