John looked at Ricky, acknowledging the logic.
Normally, that would be the correct move. But John wasn’t moving according to that logic anymore. Since the mont he woke up in the morning, a series of notifications and warnings slamd onto his face. And that forced him to change his plans
-
[Ding! A Security Deadline Warning! You are close to being detected by the Big Mind!]
[Ding! Soone is following your movents closely from the shadows, waiting for the right mont to blow the whistle!]
[Ding! A Counter-plan has been prepared!]
[Ding! Ergency Quest – Part 1 – Establish the RBM Club in 5 days!]
[Quest Conditions:
Build the club base. Heavily fortify the periter with enough defences to sustain an open war. Maintain "Invite Only" status - Don’t let the rats in! Must have at least 10 official mbers!]
[Ding! This is a serialised quest tailored to counter the sche you are about to face!]
-
John didn’t hesitate to spend over one hundred ntal Points to squeeze every drop of intelligence from the system regarding the true nature of this sudden urgency.
From what he learnt, the situation was far grimr than a simple school rivalry. Soone within the Military Departnt was an asset for the machines; the Big Mind, Mark or both. John had suspected a mole for a long ti, but the security deadline warning was a new, terrifying variable.
When he first acquired the system, he had largely ignored the security section. It felt like a hypothetical threat from a distant future. Now, that future had arrived.
’From what the system implies, once that whistle is blown and the machines designate as an anomaly, I’ll have a target on my back,’ John mused, his jaw tightening. ’It won’t just be the machines. Every Paragon, every affiliated force, and even rcenary guilds will hunt for the trophy my head represents.’
It was a nightmare scenario he wasn’t prepared to face, not yet. The silver lining was the Serialised Quest. It acted as a roadmap, a sequence of counters designed to preempt the machines’ detection and that dirty player’s sche.
However, the system had been clear: its quests were based on hacked fragnts of data. It didn’t have the full picture. John still had to figure out more about the sche, so the system could adapt and provide far better counterasures.
’If the quest says establish and fortify the club in five days, it ans I’m having an open war coming after that. That’s my slim window of safety, and I need to better prepare during this,’ John thought.
’I need to investigate the departnt again. I need to find four more recruits to join us in five days. And perhaps I’ll get lucky and spot that hidden enemy. But first, I have to ensure the base is a fortress.’
He turned back to his friends, his expression uncharacteristically grim. The easy-going leader they had seen over the last few days had been replaced by a man looking at a battlefield.
"If we are going to make our club by invitation only," Cissel began, sensing the shift in his aura. She didn’t need a detailed explanation to know that sothing massive was looming. "Then how about we try and speak with the students Elena and I marked during the tour?"
She was referring to the handful of outliers they had spotted, students who looked strong but sat far away from the Paragon-affiliated seats back at the competition. They were the unclaid talents of the academy, exactly the kind of people John needed for his Founding Ten.
"Leave the recruitnt to for today," John decided, his voice firm. "I need to rely on you, all of you, to make sure this base is completed and fortified as soon as possible."
He walked away without waiting for a reply, leaving Ricky and Cissel behind, puzzled and deeply troubled.
"I’d bet a hundred purple grenades he knows sothing big is coming our way," Elena said, appearing suddenly from behind a pile of construction materials with Luke in tow.
"I know," Ricky sighed, rubbing his temples. "He’s been more transparent with us lately, telling us about lots of stuff without the need to hide anything. But this ti... This ti feels different. He’s not sharing, which ans the threat might be sothing we aren’t ready to hear."
"It’s one of two things," Cissel added, her eyes tracking John’s retreating figure until he vanished behind the large walls of the Military Departnt. "Either the situation is so severe he’s worried we’ll panic, or he simply doesn’t have enough details yet to give us a clear picture."
"I’ll bet on the second one," Luke said casually, though his eyes were serious. "Big bro has looked anxious since the morning. He was fine ever since we got back, which ans he noticed sothing that troubled him, but lacked concrete information to share with us."
The others nodded in sombre agreent. The shift in John’s behaviour was too drastic to be a re mood swing.
"If he doesn’t know enough," Ricky suggested, leaning into the second theory like others, "then that’s why he went into the departnt alone. He’s gone to dig for the truth while we build the club base."
He turned his gaze to Cissel. She was the most mobile and stealth-oriented among them. She caught his drift imdiately and nodded slowly.
"Leave the tracking to ," she said. "But he was right about one thing—we need to finish this base. Sothing tells the mont the last ward is placed will be the mont our lives get very complicated."
"I’ll go speak with the construction company again," Ricky said, already walking away towards the city. "If they need a triple paynt to finish the building by tomorrow, they’ll get it. Money is just paper if we’re dead."
"I’ll keep the workers on their toes," Elena added, a mischievous yet dangerous glint in her eyes. "I’ll make sure they work like their lives depend on it—because they probably do."
"I’ll stick to Ben," Luke said, looking toward the distant senior student who was currently helping the workers. "Sothing tells John is going to want him fully integrated into our circle sooner than we originally planned."
They had originally discussed giving Ben a few weeks to adjust. But now they all felt the sa; John wasn’t going to wait for much longer and would add Ben to their tight circle soon.
Cissel, however, didn’t head for the construction site. She moved in silent steps, trailing John from a safe distance. As she watched him enter one of the Military Departnt’s buildings, she couldn’t help but wonder what he intended to do.
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