9 - Shall we grind?

[12 Days left before Deimos wakes up]

Lele and Finn were wheezing, laughing at Mase.

"AHAHAHAHAHAH"

"I mean I get it a lot of people died and Deimos is unconscious, but you couldn't contact us because you broke your phone, -400€ Lol. Then, you had to wait half naked on the road until the ambulances, police and firefighters arrived on the scene? Best of all, you got detained for one entire day at the police station as a suspect and not as a victim. Is that all?"

Finn summarized what Mase told them just a few minutes before.

"Well…In a nutshell, yes!"

"AHAHAHAHAHA I can't!"

At this point Lele and Finn were literally rolling on the floor. Mase wasn't bothered by their behavior because the two were the type of people that laughed at dark things as a form of self therapy. It was their own way to relieve stress and grim emotions.

Albert interrupted the comedic scene.

"Mhh… What about the crystals?"

"The police took them."

"All of them?"

Mase's lips curved into a smile. He then pulled out a few mana stones from his pockets.

"No, I was able to salvage these three."

"NICE!" All of the boys exclaimed.

Albert grabbed a can of soda from the fridge.<Fshhh>

"I know that you guys don't really follow the news, so I will update you all. A few hours ago, every channel broadcasted the measures that are going to be adopted as an outcome of the G195."

He then proceeded to briefly explain the main points highlighted by the news.

"Wow! This looks more and more like a game!" Lele exclaimed in excitement.

Finn seemed enthusiastic as well, however Mase and Albert had a complicated expression imprinted on their faces.

"What's wrong?" Finn asked.

"For now, I think we should avoid getting the special license by any means." Albert's tone was worrisome.

"I agree." Mase quickly added.

"Is it because it's dangerous? I get it, we would be risking our lives, but this country is our home. I also feel like we could make a big difference especially considering our familiarity with game systems and the presence of Lele. You also stated it yourself, the license is clearly a mandatory measure. In any case we can get the document and then decide if we want to raid the rifts or not. It's not like we are forced to do it." Finn argued.

Albert promptly answered.

"The issue is the license itself. If we get the license, our personal data will for sure be recorded in a database. This means that we would be labeled as awakened for the rest of our lives. Now you might ask, why is that a problem? For how I see it, it's a way to make people fall under the Awakeners Rights and DUTIES regulations. Oddly enough the paper isn't public yet, however they are already giving out licenses. In other words…"

"It's a honey trap." Every person in the room stated.

"Shit, so they are actually trying to gain control over us." Finn was pissed at his own naivety.

"I still think we should get involved with rifts." Mase suggested.

"I agree."

Finn and Lele looked at Albert in astonishment. Usually the older brother was a very cautious and collected individual.

He never supported dangerous activities, but this time, he was doing the opposite. They wouldn't just face any danger, they would actively risk their lives and intentionally break the law.

"I'm in!" Lele and Finn exclaimed at the same time.

Mase extinguished their enthusiasm.

"How are we supposed to find the rifts? With the license you are also provided with the location of rifts in your proximity. Unfortunately, we won't have access to that kind of information. As of now, we don't have any reliable way to find them."

"Except that we do. It's time for me to explain my ability properly. My class gives me access to the MMO System Interface. I can see more advanced stats compared to the standard status. There are a lot of features that I still can't use, for example: guilds, titles etc… Nevertheless, I can use a function that is going to be vital for us, World Map. Thanks to this function, I can access a map similar to the ones commonly used in MMOs. I have no proof, but what do you think the dungeon icon stands for?"

"That's…"

"There is no doubt."

"It must be the icon used to indicate rifts."

"I still feel that you aren't telling us everything bro. Why would someone as diligent as you be ready to break so many rules?"

"You are right, there is more. I am currently LV 1. Yes, I can see my own level. Honestly I don't know if you guys have one. Last time I checked, it didn't seem like that was the case, but it could simply be that I'm too low level to access that information. Besides, if I have a LV it can only mean one thing: I can increase it by killing monsters.That's the reason why, I'm willing to break some rules."

"That's broken dude…" Mase said while enviously looking at Albert.

"Why do you want to become strong tho? To earn money? I mean, you already have a brilliant career in your hands. Wait, now that I think about it, why are you home? We are home because school got suspended for a few days, but I don't think normal jobs have that luxury." Finn asked.

"Yesterday, I quit my job."

Once again Albert shocked everyone. The man loved his job to the point of being called workaholic by his own parents.

Ignoring his friends' reaction, he kept going.

"Try to imagine this. Lele is now a psychopath and tries to kill us. Do you think we would be able to survive?"

They all stared at Lele.

"Hey! I'm not a psycho!" He rebuked.

"No we wouldn't be able to do a thing." Mase stated.

"Right. That's only one of the millions possible scenarios. What if an incredibly powerful monster appears and throws the world into chaos? In those circumstances only the strong will survive. You guys know how much I care about all of you, so you must understand how big of a deal this is, if I'm intentionally pushing you in a dangerous situation."

The boys looked at each other and nodded.

"Then shall we get going? We don't want to disappoint that monster when he wakes up."

Deep in their hearts they all thought the same thing.

'If we all got powers… Then there is no way in hell that Demios didn't. That lazy lump of talent has probably awakened a broken ability.'

"Yep, if we don't grind like madmen Deimos will surpass us in a few days after he wakes up." Mase's competitive spirit was oozing out.

"Time to grind boys." Albert said in a firm tone.

"Hmph… This isn't our first rodeo.I still remember when we stayed up 48 hrs just to win that guild war." Finn pumped himself up.

"Ok then, let's look for a suitable rift." 'World map, let's filter for dungeons LV 5 or below. Mmm… There are 252.713 rifts that fit the criteria.'

Albert focused on the area near Turin.

"This one looks good. According to my system, the rift is only level 3 and it's just a few minutes of walking from here."

[30 minutes later]

The four males were standing in front of a rift. Each of them was holding a kitchen knife and carrying a backpack.

After they checked their equipment Albert stated.

"This is real life. If something goes wrong we might die, I want Lele to be the first one to enter. For now let's do our best to support him."

With no further hesitation, Lele entered the rift and everyone else followed soon after.