Chapter 77 - News From Outside The Fortress

Following the notification that he passed the Survival Challenge, Aldrin's body powerlessly dropped from up above as soon as the weapons impaling him up there disappeared.

His body was racked in agonizing pain coupled with the horrifying sense of his limbs either paralyzed or cut off.

Before his eyes, the Dungeon or rather the Ant Queen Lair #5 that was generated by the IDLE Database broke like glass. And following it, his vision became filled with various notifications.

However, with the adrenaline rush subsiding, the subdued pain from his wounds rushed towards his head, resulting in his uncontrollable pained cry and eventually unconsciousness.

[You completed the Dungeon: Ant Queen Lair #5]

[You received 10,000 IDLE Points]

[You received Grade 2 Weapon: Winterthorn]

[Winterthorn

Grade: 2

Specifications: A blade naturally born from a special gigantic flower of the same name that can be found in specific Dimensional Planes. Its sharpness can easily cut through any Ordinary Rank Rift Monsters. Can apply an ice-element negative status to anything cut by it.]

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"… I'm back?"

With his sense of sight returning, Aldrin found himself staring at his quarter's ceiling. His eyes immediately went to his limbs and upon seeing everything intact, he sighed in relief.

"Argh! It hurts!"

What could be called a phantom pain suddenly assaulted his mind when he remembered his state in the Lower Dimension. While biting his lips, he endured a pain that shouldn't have been there as beads of sweat drenched his bed.

A few minutes later, Aldrin sat up and picked up his phone to check how much time had passed as well as what happened to him.

He recalled that he lost consciousness from the pain… If he was transported back to the actual Ant Queen Lair, he'd be a sitting duck against the ants there and half of his earned IDLE Points would be deducted.

"Fortunately…" Another relieved sigh was released by him as he read the overlapping notification filling his phone's screen.

[Ant Queen Lair #5 has been conquered]

[The actual lair will now be sealed]

[Small Insect Colony #111222's Dungeons: 1/14 completed]

[Do you wish to return?]

[Time's up]

[Ending your current Idle Adventure run]

[Host's unclaimed items and equipment will be sent to Idle Storage]

He did lose his consciousness and the prompt of whether going back to the Small Insect Colony was left unanswered resulting in him abruptly ending his Idle Adventure run.

Aldrin hurriedly opened the Idle Storage's simplified interface to check what items and equipment were sent back in it.

[Whitethorn x1]

[Dark Warrior Battlesuit (Damaged Set) x1]

"Only that?" He wondered. However, seconds later, Aldrin remembered his Dimensional Clones' equipment was either destroyed or beyond repair. His sword as well.

With his arm crushed limbs, the 500 IDLE Points worth of sword was also destroyed.

That's only a Grade 1 Weapon even if it's a tier higher than the basic Blacksteel Sword.

But now, he received a Grade 2 Weapon as a reward alongside 10,000 IDLE Points.

"At least the Battlesuit is still fine. But that damage… How long will it take to be repaired? I remembered my legs or rather Poker's legs were cleanly cut by that Champion's sword… It's probably useless by now except that 6th piece. Good thing I still got the reward. I can buy a new set."

Aldrin hurriedly skipped past the thought of his legs getting easily severed, the phantom pain might return after all.

Instead, he focused on his current IDLE Points.

[IDLE Points: 13298/25000]

Looking at it brought back to more than half of his current IDLE Points Storage, he contentedly smiled.

A few moments later, he started the second run, activated Automatic Renewal and went to the Idle Shopping, ordering a new set of Dark Warrior Battlesuit and four sets of Basic Refiner Battlesuits.

Both were still considered Grade 1 Battlesuit. The cheapest Grade 2 Battlesuit would cost him 10,000 IDLE Points per piece or 50,000 IDLE Points as a whole set of five pieces of armor.

That's still out of his current budget. Instead of thinking about that, he expanded IDLE Points Storage to 40000.

"There's still a lot of time before the Essence Storage gets filled… I better sleep for now and use the booster later. It's time to at least utilize its other features such as… the summoning of a Guardian Ant to help me in battle."

Having decided that, he put down his phone and laid back down.

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When morning arrived, Aldrin used the filled Essence Storage to expand it to 700 before buying the 8x efficiency booster for four hours.

After taking a quick shower, he left his quarters and met up with his group at the cafeteria. They talked about the lesson yesterday as well as their anticipation for the lesson for today.

They're finally going to utilize NQL. And in that area, all of them were newbies which led to Clark being silent throughout their breakfast.

"Hey, did you hear? Something big happened."

Aldrin's group was about to stand up and go to their designated area for today's lesson when they heard something from the table near them.

The volume of that voice was loud enough for everyone in the cafeteria to hear as if that trainee did it intentionally resulting in everyone turning their gazes to him.

"What?" His companion asked, also puzzled.

"We're blocked off from the news outside, right? But my cousin who's in this fortress visited me to relay some news. It seems that our planet is currently being engulfed by chaos."

Upon hearing that, everyone tensed up. Aldrin, who stumbled upon the conspiracy involving the Stiletto Council's supposed technology to open up a Dimensional Rift regardless of the Dimensional Disruptor in place, even more so.

"Tell me more."

"This… I don't know what happened exactly but it seems the same thing as what happened in the South District last week also happened in other Secondary Cities and just a few days ago, a Primary City was rumored to be destroyed."

"What the--?! Shut your mouth, you dumbass! If what you're saying is true then… that's confidential intel. If the Instructors heard you…!" The trainee promptly stood up from his seat and covered his groupmate's mouth. Following that, he dragged him out with him along with their group mates.

However, what he did was already useless when everyone heard their conversation.

"A Primary City," Caroline muttered, her body trembling slightly from fear.

"Shh… We heard enough. If it's really serious, I don't think we'll be stuck here in this training camp." Frederic then interjected, contradicting what the guy mentioned about the news being confidential intelligence.

"That's true… And even if we know about it, what can we do? We're just newbies in this industry. We'd be like the soldiers at best. Cannon fodders. But cheer up! Let's ask our Instructor instead to confirm."

"Will she even tell us? And what if it's really confidential intel and we got punished by knowing it?" Clark rebutted Irina's rather optimistic statement.

"There's no hurt to ask. I think we also deserve news about the outside. It's hard enough to not be able to contact our families, we should at least be allowed to check on them." Aldrin opened his mouth which earned him a few nods from his group.

'If that is connected to what I discovered, then I really need to check back home… Also… A Primary City was destroyed? Sunspeak, where Renissa is currently, is also a Primary City..' Aldrin worriedly muttered in his mind.