First Mission

After a few moments, the voice was heard again.

"Mission Key: Documents regarding the power source of the IE superstructure.

Mission Objective: Recover the package stored along with the mission key.

Additional Points: Mission shall begin in one month. It is advised to reach the level of beginning Stage-1 Initiate before proceeding with the mission. All arrangements shall be made to make this possible. More information shall be given at the start of the mission."

Hearing this, Lance exclaimed:"Tough luck boy! This is one of the hardest paths of initiation there is. Like I said, one of the goals of initiation is to find out the true past of humanity. There are multiple paths for this, with the easiest being the one which takes place in the earliest of times. The one you got is the exact opposite. The mission will take place in at least the 20th century, and there have been occasions when it took place in the 21st century too."

"I guess I'll worry about it when the time comes. Till then, I must train hard to become the strongest I can become. Shall we begin training now?", asked Lance. The only thing on his mind right now was to embark on the path of cultivation as soon as possible. Since he had heard that it was possible, it had become Lance's top priority.

There were multiple instances in Lance's life where he saw the need for power. In his childhood, his best friend had become crushed by a car right in front of his eyes. They had been walking home from school and as soon as they turned the last corner to their houses, there was a car barrelling down the road towards them. Although they saw it, they had too little time to react. By a lucky twist of fate, the car that had been coming at full speed turned a fraction of a second before hitting them leaving only Lance to tell the tale. The driver, who had been drunk, agreed to all charges but Lance saw him two weeks later outside a club, smoking on the road. It turned out that he was the son of the mayor and his driver, who wasn't even in the car at the time of the accident, was sent to jail in place of the man.

Such an incident at the age of just 10 exposed Lance to the uselessness of the government. Many times, he had berated himself for not being fast enough and pushing himself and his friend out of the way. But such power was only possible in comic books. His apathy towards the world he saw was thus molded by incidents like these which made him understand the need for power. His interest in UFOs had also stemmed partly from this need, as if nothing from earth could give him the power he wanted, he felt that maybe a more advanced civilization could make it possible. His laziness and lack of interest were almost just a cover which he used to shield himself from the feelings that would tear him apart if he let them.

Thus, when Lance saw the path to power, he grasped it as hard as he could.

"That's the spirit!", said Attok as he felt happy seeing Lance's interest in cultivation. "Each major threshold in cultivation is divided into 3 stages. Each of these stages are also divided into 3 levels. So, if we take the level of initiate, in stage 1 there are 3 levels:beginning, mid and advanced. Each corresponds to a certain level of power that must be reached before an initiate can be declared to have reached that level. All the details shall be in the kit that you will receive soon."

"Now, if you will get back to your body, we can get to receiving the IE onboarding kit." Saying so, Attok reached forward and flicked Lance's forehead.

Lance felt as though his head was a bell and someone had rung it hard. Everything around him was shaking before slowly coming back into focus. He was sitting on his ass outside the door that he had entered before going into the field of grass.

"If we followed the typical method, I would have had to wait 15 minutes! My method is much faster, although people say it isin't as pleasant. What do you say, my boy?"

Lance glared at Attok as he massaged his head that was still ringing. If looks could kill, a megalodon would have swallowed Attok whole by now.