Chapter 4 - “Influencers” Are Truly Everywhere

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

[System]

…

[June 6th, 20:43:23, 2248]

It's been almost two hours. Twenty rabbits ended up not being enough, so I bought ten more.

The respawn times seem to be randomized between a minute and thirty minutes. It seems they try to respawn where no one can see them.

I ended up doing as many pushups as I could until I felt the burn, which could be around 800-1,400, as I didn't keep count as I was focused on the dungeon.

Even for my race, my endurance was just double that of a normal player, and players with ten endurance can't even do half of what I did in a single sitting.

After that, I ran for an hour straight and even burned through some of my energy. I've got the skill [Sprint] but haven't gotten anything related to energy consumption.

As of now, I'm currently sitting down after having cleaned myself with the water I spawned in using the dungeon.

I allow small amounts of my energy to leak into my body but hold back most of it as I'm trying to speed up the buildup of muscle instead of healing myself from scratch.

[Points: 49.12]

[Sprint]

[Rarity: Common]

[Increases sprinting speed by 25%. 25 mana per activation.]

The few people to enter my dungeon were relatively normal, except one. He was pointing toward things, making weird faces, and talking to empty space.

I came to the realization that he was probably recording or streaming the exploration of my dungeon. I let him be, as more people weren't exactly negative.

The weird thing was that another man was currently staring at the lake I had placed to hide the door.

I had moved the camera over and over to try and track where his eyes were currently staring, but no matter which way I looked, he was staring at the door.

That wasn't possible, as the door was covered by murky water that no one should be able to see the bottom of.

The appearance of the man was definitely a little special. Besides the beginner armor, he had black hair, with the roots of it being a grayish color.

His eyes were a bright silvery color, and his skin was a light brown.

He stood at the edge of the lake and just stared at the approximate location of where the door to the second floor was.

I don't think he knew that I was watching him, but at some moments he would make small facial movements as if he were getting annoyed at someone talking to him.

After another minute of staring, he suddenly walked into the lake. My eye widened at this, and right as I was ready to take action, he grabbed a large, thin boulder and walked his way out of the lake with the large rock now in his inventory.

My confusion reached its peak, and I watched as this man walked his way out of my dungeon.

The rock was one I don't remember placing in the lake and was rather long and thin while just being a normal gray stone.

It was just around three to four feet in length and only a foot in height.

In actuality, it looked weirdly like a sword. A sword in a stone.

"Hahaha, a sword in stone." A small laugh escaped my lips. Instantly after finishing my sentence, I paused.

'A... sword... in stone? A sword in stone? A SWORD IN STONE!? IT COULDN'T BE!' My thoughts went into a flurry of coulds and couldn'ts.

The stone was shaped like a sword, weirdly so! But if it was Excalibur, then why was it here, and if that man came to get it, how did he know?

'Firstly, if it was the sword, why didn't it react?' My first thought was answered instantly. The man had picked up the entire stone and didn't try to take the sword itself, as if he knew he wasn't worthy.

'Secondly, how did he know it was there?' My first thought about that question held no single answer. The man couldn't have been a reincarnator, as unless this was a story, he couldn't have known about that stone.

There were multiple other ways, but I will save them for later.

'Third question: why was Excalibur here?' My thought was answered by the developers of this 'game' long ago. The game was controlled by a super-intelligent AI designed to push the story and world accuracy of the world through players.

If the game places Excalibur here, then someone may eventually be given a quest to get it. But that man definitely didn't have a quest for it as he stared at the door to the second floor.

Was someone guiding him? He was talking to something or someone, but I couldn't see. Unlike real life, this game doesn't have a far-away communication website that can be used.

You could message people, but you wouldn't be able to speak to them and have them speak back.

I had no answers, and I don't think I would get any. In my annoyance, I decided to check the chat I was in with the other candidates.

No one had said a word other than what was said previously, but I did see some changes.

[The thirty-second has been eliminated.]

[The fifty-fourth has been eliminated.]

[The sixty-ninth has been eliminated.]

It seems the other candidates had been dropping like flies in the time I hadn't been checking. Having their dungeon cores destroyed and being kicked out of the race, if not, having their lives taken.

How tragic...

…

(Third POV:???)

[June 6th, 20:45:09, 2248]

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!!!"

"Get back here, BOY!!"

Currently, a dark-skinned man was running through a dark forest while being chased by men in white cloaks.

'This is definitely not something I thought would happen on a low-danger quest like this!' The man thought as he approached the entrance of a cave.

Speeding through the entrance of the cave with his light steel armor, the man ran as deep into the dark cave as he could.

"No, no, no, no!" The man began hyperventilating as he stared at the edge of the cave in front of him. "This—this can't be! There was supposed to be an exit here!" The man exclaimed as he began touching the sides of the cave walls.

"I said get back here, boy! We ain't done with you and your kind just yet!" 

A voice echoed from the edge of the cave, causing the man to flinch and spin around 180 degrees.

The damp, dark, and jagged cave only made him realize his end was near, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Slowly, the man began to take small steps back. His back touched the cave wall, and then... "It can't end like this—woah, woah!" The man exclaimed as he fell backward into the cave wall.

The wall was a fake! And as the man had fallen, he realized he was sliding downward deeper into the cave.

Right as he slipped into the wall, the men in white cloaks caught up to where his location was.

"Ah, where'd he go, Jim?" One of the cloaks turned to another taller member of the group.

"I don't know Paul. I swore I heard his voice coming from this direction earlier." Paul scratched the top of his head while still wearing the cloak. Confusion is evident in his voice. "We just wanted to talk to him and spread the word of God."

"I guess not everyone is as understanding as the Lord." Another one of the cloaked men said before all of the group shrugged.

"Let's go back; we'll miss too much of the update if we stay here and fool around chasing heretics. I got to get off at ten, and I don't want my wife screaming in my ear about playing the game too long."

The other cloaks nodded before they all began walking out of the cave.

Meanwhile, the man who had been sliding down the cave had finally-

*crash*

"OOF! Ahhh... this is real pain."

[Name: Grin]

[Level: 96] -

"Fuck, I didn't mean to read my status," Grin said as he dusted off his black hair.

His skin was a lighter shade of brown, and his facial structure was more Asian than African. His eyes were hazel in color.

Standing up, Grin realized he had no idea where he was.

"Damn, this is the last time I try to do one of these weird missions without Heavenly. His overpowered ass would have probably been great to have as an ally right now." Grin said as he began walking forward.

The cave was damp and dark. Too bad he didn't have the skill to summon bright lights or, you know, bring a torch like a smart person.

After taking a couple dozen steps forward, Grin bumped into something. Feeling it, he realized it felt like a podium.

It was way too dark to see anything, and so Grin, with his feelers, touched the top of the podium and felt a different texture than the hard, dark wood he felt before.

"Oh, what could this-" Before Grin could finish his sentence, the ground began moving and shaking. Lights turned on from the ceiling, and the dark concrete he was standing on moved like a maze around him.

"Be..." Grin finished his sentence, as a massive hall had been unveiled around him. The book was still on the podium, and Grin kept looking around.

The cave was no more, and what was left was a royal-looking hallway with a long red carpet rolled out toward a higher object.

There were eight white pillars with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and bright candles lit on them.

"Woah..." Grin cautiously lifted his hand off the book and began walking toward the object in the middle.

The object was a large cube with blood-red lines that glowed neon colors. The cube had to be at least eight feet in both height and length while also floating off the ground.

As Grin got close to the cube, he placed a hand on it, tracing the glowing red lines. Quickly, the cube began reacting and opening up a small part of itself.

"Huh?" Grin was dumbfounded as long silvery-white hair suddenly and softly hit him across the face.

Looking downward, he saw blood-red eyes staring up at him. Pale white skin with an absolutely beautiful face.

"AHHHHH!!!" Grin screamed... like a little girl.