New Beginning [Second Volume - Prologue (2)]

AT AN UNKNOWN LOCATION...

"Don't be afraid, I only want you to give me some intelligence." Nathan took out a photograph and asked, "You know him, right?"

It was a photograph of 'Bad-Breath' that Arnold had provided them from Talos' memories. The scientist felt waves in his heart rising and shook his head vigorously. If he leaked any information the leader would kill his entire family.

"I put him through a lie detector; he is lying," one of the interrogators interjected. "Moreover his heart rate is increasing like crazy. He's scared. Which is understandable."

"Since you are so afraid, you are probably aware of what went on behind the scenes. Let me ask you directly. Are you related to the Inhuman project?" Nathan raised his brows and knew that he might have caught a link to the mastermind after a year of continuous investigation.

"No! I have never heard of inhuman project before! You guys caught the wrong person!" the scientist's lips were sealed. However, none of them believed him.

"Tsk, I really hoped it would come to this... call Johnny." Nathaniel ordered the others and turned around to leave the room.

The scientist's face turned pale when he heard Johnny's name. He knew exactly who Johnny was and what he was capable to do.

"Now that's more like it!" Nathan bellowed and sat in front of the scientist who was shaking so bad that the chair he was tied to made a creaking noise. "Tell me whatever you know. Don't skip a single detail or else who knows what will happen to you."

***

AT THE SAME TIME, IPANEMA BEACH, RIO DE JANEIRO...

"Arnold irmão! Here!" The man who had called Arnold rushed to welcome him near the dungeon. The name of this man was Gabriel Oliveira, Standing at 6' 2" tall, this brown skinned man had a very distinctive feeling about him unlike his bubbly personality. He had an angular face, a small nose, puffy lips. His hazel eyes were bulging and had neat eyebrows. He had short, straight, blonde hair which is worn in a spiky style. There was nothing special about his physique. He had a short neck, broad shoulders, short arms and large hands. a long torso with defined muscles, a narrow waist, short legs, and wide feet. His whole body was a canvas for numerous floral, watercolour, illustrative and simple tattoos. This was expected, after all he was the one who encouraged Arnold to get a tattoo. He wore the similar type of clothes like he always did, ripped, traditional clothes that were mostly light-coloured and loose.

"Arnold irmão, everything has been prepared." Gabriel informed Arnold as he made his way through the crowd. "It's a rank A dungeon, just like you wanted it to be!"

"How the heck did you managed to get hold of such a dungeon? It must have cost a lot of money." Arnold said, sizing up the portal in front of him.

He had wanted to clear as many dungeons as he possibly could because of the rank up quest that was given to him by the system.

___

[RANK ADVANCEMENT QUEST] : <Grade A>

• VERSATILE (2):

[ INTRODUCTION ] : To be the strongest you need to have various cards up you sleeves.

[ TASK ] : Max out your existing subclasses and gain 2 more subclass.

[ PROGRESS ] :

1/3 subclasses maxed out.

0/2 subclass obtained.

• WEAPON MASTER :

[ INTRODUCTION ] : Build and use weapons of different classes to learn the pros and cons of each type of weapon.

[ TASK ] : Forge 4 weapons belonging to different classes and use them in actual combat. (Weapon used by your allies and summons can contribute to this task as long as they use weapons which were forged by you.)

[ PROGRESS ] :

4/4 weapons crafted and used in combat.

• UNBEATABLE :

[ INTRODUCTION ] : Your current powers won't be enough to face the trials of the immortal one.

[ TASK ] : Clear at least 10 A ranked dungeons, 15 B ranked dungeons and 20 C ranked dungeons. (You have to clear the B and C ranked dungeons on your own. Using your summons is allowed, but no one else should interfere in your battle. The same restrictions are applied on the A ranked dungeons but they can be waived under special circumstances).

[ PROGRESS ] :

1/10 A ranked dungeons cleared.

12/15 B ranked dungeons cleared.

20/20 C ranked dungeons cleared.

COMPLETION REWARDS :

• An exclusive class upgrade.

• Unlock Evolutionary Path.

<New knowledges have been added to shop!>

<Complete the rank advancement to unlock your level progress and level up normally>

___

Arnold wasn't typically interested in the rank advancement quest that was given to him as it was long and tiring. But it rewards are good and he didn't had anything else to do, but still his rewards didn't made the tasks any less tiring.

For starters, he'd have to upgrade his existing subclasses to maximum level as well as learn two new subclasses and level them up as well. The issue here was the unavailability of good subclass knowledges in the <Knowledge> shop. The knowledges present in the shop had nothing to do with his present abilities and skill set, making Arnold reluctant to invest his time and beast crystals into buying them as he wasn't certain if he'd be able to gain abilities after learning about the subclasses like he did previously.

Not to mention the insane amount of dungeons he'd have to clear to meet the conditions of the 'UNBEATABLE' subquest. Soloing a C or B ranked dungeon wasn't a big deal for him nowadays as most of his summons were already ranked at C or above. The issue was with clearing A ranked dungeons alone as it was time taking to do so and A ranked dungeons had a possibility of having a S ranked boss inside them. Although Arnold had 6 A ranked summons under his command, he highly doubted they'll be able to kill a S ranked boss by themselves.

"Arnold irmão..." Gabriel pointed at something behind Arnold, who turned around to see that the most annoying person he had met in Rio, was making her way towards him. Cameras immediately started flashing once she made an appearance, after all she was one of the most popular actress of Brazil as well as his teacher's stepsister.

"Arnold, meu amor, where have you been? I was so worried about you..." Cristina said while seductively looking at Arnold, "Even Nico irmão didn't knew you'd whereabouts!" (Author's note : Meu Amor means 'my love' in Portuguese)

"What are you doing here Christina? I thought you were busy shooting a movie or something?"

Arnold had saved her life once, along with her stepbrother, Nicholas Fernandez and it was the biggest mistake he ever made because ever since then, she had been trying to get into his pants and wouldn't take no for an answer no matter how many times Arnold declined her advances. Arnold even went to Nicholas to sort out this mess, but to his dismay, even Nicholas wanted them to get together. The only way to get rid of the problem was to ghost them and only Gabriel was allowed to contact him.

"Gabriel, did you-"

Arnold was interrupted by a government official, "Do you plan to enter the dungeon or should I send in someone else?"

"Yeah, I'm going in." Arnold stepped forward.

The official had a malicious smile on his face as he continued, "I'm sorry, but according to the rating of the dungeon, a team of at least 5 rank A warriors is allowed to enter the dungeon... unfortunately, I can't allow you to enter the dungeon and would have to revoke your authority over the dungeon."

The official turned around to let the other guild step into the dungeon, as they had 'paid' him to gain the rights to the dungeon, but before the official could do anything, Arnold stopped him.

"You need just 5 right?" He said.

"...yes." the official replied.

"That's feasible," Arnold smiled.