AQUA

Arya's pov 

So yea, the training wasn't exactly training and more so just informing us of the theories, engraving runes seemed very easy to grasp, till we saw the rune. We were told to think of the runes we have and the diagram would appear and I just thought 

'What the fuck! Is this!!' 

It was shaped as a general circle that had three different points reaching the middle and spreading out into a bigger circle enclosing the first one! And yeah making a mistake while drawing causes the field to redden up! So yeah that was annoying to think of! 

Thankfully everyone was still able to understand the rune and the man who only sat and talked to us had to say!

"Ok I won't lie, you grasped the understanding real quick, you should be able to take the test now."

MANDATORY QUEST ACCEPTED 

DETAILS: YOUR INSPECTOR HAS DEEMED YOU LEARNED OF THE TUTORIALS, YOU ARE TO SUCCESSFULLY KILL 100 RED FIGHTERS BY EITHER THE HEART, HEAD OR NECK AND THIRTY OF THEM MUST BE KILLED FROM RUNES!

DURATION: TILL QUEST COMPLETION 

REWARD: TIER 1 STORAGE BAG, ONE BOX OF TIER ONE DELT, A FURNISHED APARTMENT IN MAL STREET AND A TIER 0 VEHICLE OF YOUR CHOICE 

"Sir, how many delts are in one box?"

"A hundred. Now get to work, I'd rather not have to look after you all!"

With that, the man left the room, with his exit everyone got to work as they stayed behind the red line and aimed their gun at the battle happening.

My eyes closed as I remembered the most useful thing he said 

« 'You have wings boy! Don't limit yourself to land battles. A sniper rifle can shoot from as far as a thousand meters, and damage can reach you so high up. Think ' » 

With a single thought, my wings fluttered as I took to the sky, simultaneously aiming at a redhead and shooting!! Instantly the bot stopped moving as I continued flying!!

 'still a bit hard, I can't go that high yet but this is enough for this!!' 

With that, I resumed shooting at the opponents!! Since the wings were large, I had to separate from the group and shoot from further behind. That didn't affect my aim though as I went for headshots every single time I pulled the trigger.

I landed beside the ammo crate as I reloaded my rifle while massaging my shoulders  

"Is it the recoil or the flying that makes your shoulder hurt, mine is the recoil honestly. It's so strong!!"

Stallion asked as he came to reload his rifle 

"I'd say both. Due the the fact I'm flying, most if not all the pressure is gathering on my shoulders, making it harder to fly and three times painful, i need to deflect the pressure or spread it anyway!"

"Well, good luck with that bro! You're the only one with wings either way!"

And with that, he was gone 

'How do I redirect it?!!'

I went back to shooting, but I decided to shoot while standing to see the difference and by the 4th shot, I took the sky, aimed and fired! 

'got it!'

I then proceeded to shoot six continuous shots while maintaining the balance that I had lost when I was flying, thereby making my body feel the recoil and not just my shoulders.

With that out of the way, the speed at which I shot, aimed and reloaded significantly increased before I tried to cast my first rune. The rune was successfully engraved and when I pressed the trigger, a multicolored delt shot out with twice the speed!! Destroying the bot's head!! 

I was congratulated for being the first to successfully cast the rune and by the time one hour had passed, most of us were done with the task. We were all currently on the sideline waiting for the last person to finish up and when the multicolored delt touched the bot's head, a resounding cheer erupted as we all received the system notification!

MANDATORY QUEST COMPLETED

REWARDS SUCCESSFULLY RECEIVED PLEASE CHECK YOUR BAGS

I looked at the black cross-body bag that suddenly appeared on my body and simply opened it.

Inside it was a 1-meter wide space with a length of o.4 meters! It currently held a box of delt, a room key card and an unknown black card which were all placed in the middle of the space.

I stretched my hand inside and brought out both of the cards 

'Well that was easy enough' 

KEY CARD TO APARTMENT NO 42 LOCATED AT MAL STREET, DIVINE HOUSING COMPLEX 

A BLACK CARD THAT WILL REDEEM A TIER 0 VEHICLE AT DIVINE TRANSPORTATIONS INC.

I simply returned the cards to the bag as I looked at Stallion only to see him on the mobile. No scratch that, they were all on their mobile 

"What has you all so invested in?"

"The goddess, it has been determined she's part of the evil faction!!"

"Oh. You guys aren't going to leave?"

I was ignored as they all focused severely on their mobile. I bid goodbye to Stallion and the others and briskly walked out, bidding goodbye to the instructor who was smoking, I lamented at how real everything was as I moved to Divine Transportation Inc.

"Ah! Here it is!!"

I was looking at a ten-story building, its walls were designed with all sorts of vehicles, and it was a bit childish. Anyway I went in and headed straight to the receptionist, handing her the black card

"Ah, I was wondering when someone else would come for their vehicle, please follow me!"

"Only one person has come here?"

"Yes!! I thought I'd never see a goddess in my whole life but!!!!! She's so gorgeous!!!"

'a goddess? Is the concept of divine beings a thing here?'

"Please go in through here, someone will attend to you"

"Thank you"

With that, I went in. The first thing I saw was a hovering bike that was purely red in color and everywhere else was filled with vehicles....... But no one was around!

My ears perked up as I heard voices deep inside and simply went towards the direction before I could move ten steps though a man appeared out of nowhere!

"Ah! Welcome! You must be here to get a vehicle! Which type do you prefer?!!"

"Do you mind if I ask a few questions?"

"Not at all sir, please go ahead!"

"I'm a woman!!"

I could ignore being called bro as it's nothing, even if they don't know I'm a girl, not a problem!! But..... What the fuck does he mean sir?!!!

"Oh!! I'm so sorry Ma'am, you didn't - um I'll just keep shut. Please ask your questions, ma'am!"

"Ok. What's the difference between a tier 0 vehicle and the others?"

"Oh. It has no attack or defense properties. It's mainly about movement!"

"That makes sense! All the vehicles here are tier 0 yes?"

"Affirmative! You just decide the one you want and it's yours!!"

I nodded at that as I went exploring, I like muscle cars if you didn't notice, and it's epic when muscle cars have racing capabilities!! I thankfully didn't have to walk long before I saw one. Its tires were two feet tall, the body a bulking eight feet and it was all black 

"I want this!"

"That is the Revolv Machina 800, big and beautiful it can transverse through all terrain, and based on its changeable tires, it has a max speed of 500 kmh. But it can't fly. Are you sure you want this?"

"Bro!"

I pointed at my very obvious wings to which he nodded and gave me the key. He then pressed a button on the floor and the car slowly descended, he told me to get on as the car would move to the underground parking lot and I could move from there. 

I really didn't question it and simply got on and the descent sped up and soon enough, it was in the parking lot!

"Nah that's fucking cool!" 

And with excitement bubbling within me, I started the car and drove towards the direction of the city exit!

"It's time to fucking start playing! I should return with stuff that I can sell so I can fucking eat!!"

My stomach growls at this point, agreeing with my statement. I drove out of the city and directly went east, remembering the map I saw at the library drew a river being there 

'Where there's water, there's animals!' 

I was still en route to the east before suddenly the car started sending out warning signals!! Instantly I swerved the car and drove back but I suddenly found myself in the middle of a hurricane!! The trees were being uprooted from the ground and the car was lifted to the sky. I felt annoyed at having to do this but I grabbed my rifle with my hand and jumped out of the car!! I didn't fall as the strong winds pulled me along with it, I didn't lose my momentum as I strongly unfurled my wings! Breaking away from its control, currently flying in the middle of the hurricane, I made a quick judgment before deciding to fly upwards as the hurricane seemed to be closing from downwards!!

With newfound vigor! I flapped hard as I flew against the wind current, my shoulders hurt already and I could feel the strain placed on my wings!

I didn't stop though as I continued flapping, going higher and higher, I was almost swallowed by the hurricane three times already, and everything hurt!! I had already placed my rifle in the space so as I would not lose it but a new problem arose, my stamina had dropped to ten!! I was extremely tired, my brain was drowsy my body weak, I just wanted to fall......

DING - 10 STAT POINTS PLACED IN VIT 

And with that I was awake, surprise lingering in my heart and being energized again I flew harder, higher! If there was anything this encounter showed me, it was that I was now proficient in flying cause u can't fly against the current for so long and still suck!! And I didn't want to do so I would have to fly against the current, till it dissipates or I break out.

Looking at the extremely thick mass of wind surrounding me I sighed in helplessness 

'I can only hold on it seems!'

Flying for a few more minutes, still going upwards, I finally saw a change!! There was a bright light above!! I didn't think twice as I flapped harder!!! Practically speeding up! Surprisingly the hurricane also sped up itself as it swallowed faster towards me, unfortunately towards it, I was still faster as I jumped into the light!!

CONGRATULATIONS PLAYER, WELCOME TO THE TOWER OF ASCENSION!! THERE ARE ONLY TWO WAYS OUT! YOU DIE OR YOU CONQUER ALL HUNDRED FLOORS!!

"Fuck my life!!!" 

I screamed at the top of my lungs as I slumped to the ground......... Helpless.