The days flew by very quickly with nothing eventful to occur. Bill continued his job at the bakery with Mako and spent the rest of his time training his Sand ability. He still hadn't been able to upgrade the ability to the next level since it was a stronger ability than the basic elemental ones which meant a harder learning curve, but he was definitely making progress.
Mako also didn't just stand idly by as the daily quests were getting more difficult by the day and he had to put in some serious effort to complete them.
[Quests] ⓘ (New!)
[Daily Quests]
Task 1: Lift a total of 5000 Kg. (0/5000)
Task 2: Train your abilities until your energy bar reaches zero three times. (0/3)
Task 3: Run 10000 meters. (0/10000)
[Reward: 1000 EXP, 3 Attribute Points]
[Penalty: Hidden]
Mako hadn't yet failed to complete a daily task nor was he willing to find out what the hidden penalty was. With his night job, school, and completing daily quests, he barely had enough time to cook and prepare food and have decent sleep, but the results were not anything to laugh at.
Within two months, Mako's body had gone through a lot. The training he received through his daily quests, the increase in stats through his system, the lessons he learned from the many fights he had been involved in which included school, the streets, and tournaments as well as the nutrition he was getting from the bakery and his own food all played a role in improving Mako's body.
Mako went from being a skinny dude who had more bones than muscles in his body and appeared weak, frail, and malnourished to now having a well-defined body with decent muscle mass which includes a visible six-pack, broad shoulders, and a strong back.
During the week Mako also spent his attribute points so that all his stats could become balanced. Mako had a total of 60 attribute points to spend which he received as rewards from leveling up and his regular and daily quests.
'Open System Interface'
[User: Mako Grey]
[Health: 500/500] ⓘ
[Energy: 2000/2000] ⓘ
[EXP: 9000/102400] ⓘ
[Level 11] ⓘ
[Strength: 30 (+30) ] ⓘ
[Agility: 30 (+25) ] ⓘ
[Perception: 30] ⓘ
[Intelligence: 30] ⓘ
[Mentality: 30] ⓘ
[Stamina: 30 (+15) ] ⓘ
[Charisma: Locked] ⓘ
[Fortitude: 30] ⓘ
[Attribute Points: 0] ⓘ
Mako had brought up all of his attributes to 30 which was a huge upgrade considering some of the attributes that he had not paid much attention to were still in the 10-20 range. Mako had not put many attribute points in agility or stamina, but now he was coming to the realization of how much of an idiot he had been.
Both attributes were geared towards movement and speed and Mako was lacking in both which was the reason why he was always slower than some other fighters and why he would get exhausted first. Mako had a greater energy pool than most fighters which meant that he could still cast abilities, but there was a physical strain on the body every time an ability is cast.
Fortitude helps with reducing the strain on the body and providing defense, but it doesn't tackle exhaustion which is where stamina shines. The main purpose of the stamina attribute is to give the user the energy to counter exhaustion so that they can give their 100% in fights for longer periods of time.
The upgrade in his attributes had helped a lot in completing the daily quests and with the ten points left over, Mako decided to add them to his health so that he could tank more hits, but an unexpected message appeared in front of his eyes while doing so.
[User has reached the cap for his Health Points. In order to upgrade Health any further, the user has to meet certain requirements.]
Mako was taken aback by this because this was the first time that such a message had appeared and he didn't know what to make of it. Did this mean that all my attributes and energy bar also have a cap on them?
First things first, Mako had to figure out what the requirements were to extend the limit on his health so he used the one function he had not used in quite some time and that was the 'Ask' function. It was the function that Mako could use to ask the system about anything.
'What are the requirements that need to be met in order to upgrade my health further?' Mako asked the system.
[The User has to reach level 15 or learn a brand new ability in order to increase their health any further.]
The system's answer was straightforward and one that made sense since the reason why he couldn't upgrade his health is that he is not yet strong enough to increase it further. In the meantime, Mako decided to add the remaining attribute points into energy and bring it up to 2000.
************
[Friday Night]
Mako and the rest of his team were camping out near a lonely road that ran through the outskirts of the city. No cars were moving around and the whole place was silent and dark.
After some time of waiting patiently, the thing that they had been waiting for arrived. A van appeared on the horizon as it was making its way down the road straight to where Mako and his team were.
Mako gave the signal and everybody took their positions. As the van was passing by them suddenly a flash of light erupted on the windshield of the van, the flash of light caused temporary blindness to the passenger and the driver. The driver hit the brakes and the van skidded off-road, but before it could go anywhere and crash, a slanted ramp of earth rose which directed the van back on the road safely without damaging it.
As soon as the van stopped, guards rushed out from the back but they were quickly dealt with by the rest of the team since they were greater in number and far stronger.
"We got our ride," Mako said into the communication device and a few minutes later the same response was heard three more times. Each team was successful in hijacking the transportation vehicle and now they all could make their way to the warehouses.
Mako had specifically mentioned that nobody was to kill anyone and sure enough all of the guards and the driver were knocked out and tied around a tree so that they won't escape and alert someone.
The warehouse had communication jammers in place so Mako couldn't keep in touch with Bill or any other team and so they were on their own.
Mako and another person from the Dark Raven were each wearing one of the uniforms that Paul had provided them and these two plus two more will go in the van to infiltrate the warehouse while the remaining four will be on standby at a safe distance from the perimeter of the warehouse.
All four teams were on the same schedule and all had executed the plan perfectly thus far. The rest was in their own hands as they couldn't rely on any sort of backup whatsoever.
*************
After a short ride, they arrived at the warehouse and used the key cards they found on the guards to be granted access to the place. Once inside, The Dark Raven member, whose name was Jacob parked the van in the parking lot.
All four got out of the van and a man was waiting for them near the door of the warehouse.
"You sure took your damn sweet time!" The man shouted in annoyance but quickly moved on ahead.
"You two! You are perimeter patrol!" He ordered while pointing to the two other people who were in the van with Mako and Jacob. One was a Dark Raven member, while the other one was a student.
They both looked at each other for a second which extremely angered the man so that he shouted once more and this time a lot louder.
"DO I HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF TO YOU, CHUMPS!"
The two of them quickly shook their heads no and moved towards the small little hut near the fence which was most likely the living quarters for the guards who were on patrol duty.
The guy took a deep breath before turning back to Mako and Jacob. He pointed at Jacob as he said," You will replace Carl stationed near the armory."
Jacob immediately nodded yes and took his leave before he could anger this man any further. The original plan was for them to stick together, but it doesn't seem to be the case. As Jacob was leaving, he held up a thumbs up on his back to say 'Good luck' to Mako.
The guy then turned toward Mako and smiled a bit. He then pointed at him with his index finger as he said," You will be replacing Angela in the basement in the West wing."
This was something Mako hadn't expected to happen so soon but seemed like fate had other plans for him. He would be starting his mission from the same place where he would be ending it.