(10 hours later)
“Ahh~ Ah~~” Needless to say that even Stark with his class and high stamina was exhausted after running this marathon, of course he had taken a break or two to replenish his stamina and to drink water, but it was still tiresome.
In the end, though, he could see Fellarburg in the distance, its modern buildings and size so big they could be recognized from anywhere close.
It was strange to think that around this safe country was a landscape of blood lusted monsters.
During his marathon to get back here, he obviously had to face them as he was in a semi-dangerous area, meaning that enemies still spawned.
And so, just during that time, his level went up once, meaning that he had reached level 32; although he tried hard not to fight to save his stamina, only eliminating the ones that were in his way.
Surprisingly enough, there was no big wall surrounding the country at all, instead it was left in the open, with no guards to check if monsters were attacking.
But of course, people weren’t this reckless, instead the reason that this giant country (and honestly most others) was in the open was because… a giant dome-like barrier was set up around the entirety of Fellarburg, protecting it from all monsters as this barrier was created from many ‘Magic Crystals’, enough to withstand thousands of attacks.
Of course though… if the barrier went out for even a few minutes… the amount of monsters who would attempt to attack would be disastrous, but luckily there has been no such kind of incidents before.
~PHEW, FWISH~
Once he got closer, Stark was able to spot the blue barrier, and he carefully approached it, passing through like it was nothing.
[Humans are allowed, monsters aren’t], this was how this barrier was set.
And so that meant that he was finally back in Fellarburg after his mission.
“Mom, look, that man in the damaged clothes came back from the evil world!” a child spoke, the evil world seemed to refer to the outside.
“Shh~ let’s just go!” the mother began to walk faster.
It seemed that going outside was some sort of taboo around here, maybe since people were scared from the monsters and were only used to classifiers fighting inside of rifts, so someone coming from the dangerous outside world seemed weird and reckless.
In the end it didn’t matter much as Stark continued to walk.
He wanted to go back to his hotel, but then he remembered that he was kicked out for damaging the wall, although that wasn’t him, meaning he would need to find a new place to stay in.
‘Is it time to buy an apartment…?’ he pondered, but for now he would just need to find another hotel close to his previous one.
But while Stark was thinking about all of that… the air suddenly became heavier out of nowhere.
‘???’
Stark didn’t stop, he looked down and kept going, he had a bad feeling, and for some strange reason it felt as if his blood was boiling.
He didn’t know why he was getting angry, there was no reason for that, after all he had completed his mission and was now back, meaning that he could get the 30 million rher coins, as well as access to the ‘Rift Conquerors’ academy.
But suddenly… as if to validate his feelings… a panel appeared.
[Hey, what about our revenge?]
‘Huh?’ Stark stopped in his tracks, his face full of confusion, why was there a panel before him, it had never happened before except for when his clone spoke to him inside of the memories museum, so why…?
Rher cannot talk to him through panels, he stopped doing that after Stark assimilated his class, and his [Status Window] wasn’t sentient, otherwise he would know it.
The sole option was… his aura, or maybe the doppelgänger?
‘Revenge?’
[Those ‘Moonless’ fools sent us to our death, we cannot allow them to get away with that!]
‘I mean… I’ll have to get to them somehow to give them the arrows and complete the mission, so why-‘ he tried to argue.
But…
[WRONG! THEY DO NOT BELIEVE YOU WILL COME BACK!]
[LOOK!]
And suddenly, below the text appeared a single image, it was the image of a purple poster card with the words ‘ClassiTop Meeting 2024’ written in white.
[Do you think these people care about us? Do you think they even remember US?]
And suddenly… a pair of crimson eyes appeared inside of another panel, much like the ones he had seen inside of the [ApostleDex], they were staring at Stark, an intense gaze that could mark his soul.
These eyes were oddly familiar though, almost as if… they were his?
[They are out here organizing private events, leaving us to die!]
And so before Stark could say or do anything…
[You know the location, do what you want with that information.]
Then no more panels appeared, it had said what it needed to, then disappeared just as quick as it appeared, it was a weird feeling.
The only thing it left in view was the image of the poster card.
Not wasting time, Stark zoomed it on that poster card to read everything.
…
[Fellarburg ClassiTop Meeting 2024]
[To the 100 TOP classifiers of Fellarburg, you are hereby invited to the 2024 edition of this special event since the ‘academies entrances’ begin in a month!]
[Want to show off your skills, levels, or children, then it is the perfect opportunity!]
[Come join, thus we can prove to Fellarburg… no… to the WHOLE world that we are the strongest!]
[Address and Time: ‘Campbell Institute’ at 2PM!]
…
Stark was confused, he had never heard of such a thing, but it was only two days from now.
And why… WHY did he feel so angry all of a sudden.
Upon turning around one of the streets, he met a giant screen, but this time it didn’t display a fight with a classifier or an ad, it was…
“Did you hear about the ClassiTop meeting happening in two days, John?”
“Oh yeah, Maria, it is indeed surprising, but also exciting, knowing that our protectors and most powerful classifiers can meet and discuss together!”
“I do wish we knew what their discussions were about, but all information about this event is left private…”
“That’s fine, i’m sure what they do is incredible!”
Some news reporters were speaking, all excited about the very same event that mysterious panel informed Stark about.
The only thing he knew… was that the ‘Archer King’ would surely participate.
Arthur, the Archer King, had moved on so quick, already planning his next moves as a classifier after believing that Stark was dead.
It was almost funny.
‘Campbell Institute…’ he mumbled as he began to laugh, ‘They want to host a private event for top classifiers? I hope they don’t mind me joining it then =)’
He had no information about that thing yet, but he would surely come in with a bang, and make sure they remember him well.
[2 days left before event]
The entirety of Fellarburg was excited about this supposed event, so it must be somewhat important.
‘Need to find a way,’ he continued to smile as he resumed walking.
Stark was a stubborn person, and he hated when people played him, maybe they didn’t know that time moved slower inside of the rift, but not even waiting a month for him was insanity.
Frankly… he didn’t like any of them, except for Lana maybe, so for now… he would just need to wait.
