Chapter 2: Expect The Unexpected

The trip to the hospital didn't take long at all, and the doctors were soon reassuring him that Akio had merely passed out from being tired and stressed, which was apparently normal for students.

The doctor advised that Akio needed plenty of rest and that Hibiki needed to make sure that he kept hydrated.

Hibiki knew that hadn't been the case, but he didn't dare say anything and was simply happy that nothing else caused him to collapse. Given that there were no physical injuries, he realized that his brother must have either passed out because someone had tried to shoot him before Hibiki had pulled him up behind him, or he must have passed out due to the gravity shock.

He didn't know how much his brother had seen before he lost unconsciousness either, so he would have to wait until he woke up.

He carefully laid his brother on his bed before he turned to his notes and the computer. So far, his plan was simple, join the experiment that would open on 30 July and find the hidden items from floors 1 to 10.

He would sell the heavy-set item from the second floor first since most people that entered the social experiment ended up choosing a basic class such as knight, archer, healer, or mage, and they would pay quite a bit for such an item but he had to hold on to the next items until more people entered the game.

With the money from the item, he would be able to invest in the small companies that would soon become major affiliates of Greed's Decree, and that would ensure that he had enough income to purchase everything he needed.

The problem was that his bet with the system required that he prove that humanity could function without greed, which was almost impossible at this point.

He hadn't expected it to work. In truth, it had been a last-ditch effort to buy some time to find a way to destroy the thing, but then again, if he had succeeded at that stage, then he would've been the only human left in a world that had been decimated by monsters.

Hibiki shook the thoughts from his mind and focused on finding the lesser versions of the techniques that he'd been able to use in the past, which conveniently made up the basis of his job as well as his abilities.

Unfortunately, he'd only stumbled upon the knowledge by chance in the past, and quite late at that, as he'd spent most of his time trying to find a way to win the lottery with the limited amount of time that the job allowed him to look into the future.

Most people didn't know this, but the world already had its own type of energy that could be harnessed, and the abilities that resulted from the use of this energy were given different names according to their uses.

One of the more known abilities was pyrokinesis, which allowed the user to control fire, but there were also umbrakinesis (shadows), hydrokinesis (water), cryokinesis (ice), chronokinesis (time), aerokinesis (air), and of course gyrokinesis (gravity), as well as many others.

The first problem was that it took a lot of practice, and in most cases, those who trained in the abilities had to go through months of training that often showed little to no results.

This caused a lot of people who discovered the information to start training their minds, but within a few days to a few weeks, many would give up and simply go about their way.

The second problem was that the chemicals in everyday food tended to negatively affect the part of the brain that allowed access to these abilities, which, depending on an individual's lifestyle, would lengthen the detoxifying process even more.

Hibiki glanced at Akio and found that he was still asleep as he pondered over his next step, which would be getting rid of most of the junk food in the house and buying ingredients that would hasten the process of cleansing his body.

Although he didn't want Akio anywhere near Greed's Decree, he knew he had to go through the same to heighten his chance of survival once all hell broke loose.

His lips twitched in amusement as he pictured Akio's reaction when he found out what Hibiki wanted to do to his favorite ramen, but that all depended on the experiment itself. He glanced back to his screen and was about to exit the internet when a message caught his attention, and his eyes narrowed.

He clicked on the link and placed his headset over his ears so that it wouldn't wake Akio, but he'd barely watched the broadcast for a few moments before there was a knock on the door, and his heart started beating erratically.

The broadcast had stated that 'Greed's Decree' was going to be released in less than a week, and at first, Hibiki wondered whether he got the dates wrong, but then he looked at the man that made the announcement and the strange green flare around the guy's eyes was a dead giveaway.

The guests of the broadcast commended him for using the awesome-looking prop to grab the attention of future players, but Hibiki knew better.

The maker of 'Greed's Decree' was being possessed by the system, and the system had just shortened his preparation time by completely cutting out the social experiment itself, meaning that he had less than a week before the start of the actual game and a bit more than a month before the scientists break through the dimensional wall.

The knock was repeated, and Hibiki warily got up and went to the door.

No one usually visited them, so maybe it was the police? Had they somehow left behind some evidence?

He opened the door a bit only to find a man in a suit and sunglasses standing there with a box in his hands.

Behind him stood a fancy car, and Hibiki just knew that the neighbors were going to pester him and Akio for information later.

The man looked at a picture and then back at Hibiki before he held the box out to him, "You have formally been invited to play 'Greed's Decree'. Do you accept?"

Hibiki numbly nodded in shock as he took the box and watched the man get into his car again and drive away.

He looked down at the box before he stepped back and closed the door before sliding down to sit down at the step near the door and absentmindedly placing the box next to him.

He knew what it contained.

It was the neuro-link headset that allowed players to enter the game while they slept, and it was also a clear warning message.

'The system refuses to wait any longer. Damn it all.'