"What did you think he meant?" Hiro asked both to himself and those who were present. The statement wasn't all that bad, but it felt ominous, so much so it was hard to ignored.
"Prometheus?" Kiro asked dumbly, not really paying attention.
Hiro looked at his friend shaking his head, "who else?"
Kiro shrugged nonchalantly. What Prometheus said was very vague, it could have meant a thousand different things and he wasn't in the mood to mull it over. His focus was entirely on that weekend.
Compared to that, the game's riddles and warnings seemed less important. They were declaring war on the Sanctum, a notoriously unknown society which ran their country however they wanted. They were challenging it with their real bodies, not in-game avatars. A lot could go wrong.
That's what was mainly on his mind. Ways to avoid getting any of his friends killed, he didn't want to lose any of them, he'd grown too fond of them. But of course, that's something he wasn't willing to admit.
They were walking down the mountain, feeling very accomplished. The game finally unlocked the notifications and they came pouring in. They all felt a very big jump in strength. All were now over level 100, even Ishaan.
Which caused the system to do the unthinkable. They supposed it was finally time for it to let the entire populace of Asgard know that greater and better things were up for grabs, to anyone who was lucky enough.
[Congratulations to the battle mage, Ishaan, for being the only non guardian player to cross levels above 100.]
Ishaan was bright red after hearing that. He'd always been envious of world announcements, and felt some kind of way that he'd never really triggered one. But now that it was happening, he didn't know whether to hide or feel a sense of pride in his accomplishments.
He froze on his way down, basking in his glory though still embarrassed. Each one of After Dark pat his shoulder as they passed him, as if to say they were proud. That made him a tiny bit emotional and appreciative.
The doubts he had about taking on his father when he started challenging this mountain were washed away. Replaced by a newfound courageous heart.
Isla let out a soft laughter looking at a small blue window in front of her. "They think you guys are cheating, it's kind of funny, these arguments."
Then one by one everyone's window popped in front of them, except for After Dark. They really didn't care to join in on the forum wars.
"Let them think what they want." Felix commented, his annoyance couldn't be hidden.
"But, this...shouldn't you do damage control? After Dark is a business isn't it?" Saanvi asked with knitted eyebrows.
"That would make sense wouldn't it? But I doubt we will need to do that. If anything people will want to align with the hackers to be carried." Nikolai said sagely.
Kiro nodded vigorously, "yes. No such thing as bad publicity."
One thing that frustrated them was the fact that, although the system was eager to plant them here in an instant, bringing them back was a whole other challenge. It refused to answer when they called on it, which forced them to walk back to civilisation together.
They parted ways once they reached the capital. There were so much materials, Hiro's shop was teeming with them. He had to beat down a wall connecting to the other room, creating a doorway and a storage room at the same time. He was very satisfied with the result.
They decided to call it a day and focus more on their mission out there. Hiro, albeit skeptical, agreed. He wanted to spend more time perfecting the potion but he also understood the importance of their mission.
When Kiro logged out, his phone had a lot of missed calls and one email from the president of Kismet Inc. Jon Scott.
"Dear Mr. Waynworth,
I hope this finds you in good health. I've tried calling but there was no answer. I've finished the prototype of what we talked about, please get back to me at your earliest convenience."