Chapter 2 – Convention Raid

3 Days Later

Malolos Place Mall, 4th floor, Bulacan Cosplay Expo September 21 2032 1:30PM

“Everyone at the convention, prepare your weapons! Ignition Clan is coming to our territory. Make sure you are at least level 60 to beat them.” An automated announcement system in the con venue spoke.

Inside of the colorful cosplay convention event in Mc Arthur Malolos Bulacan, it’s full of passionate cosplayers interacting with each other. Buying their favorite merchandises and trading some virtual cosplay items.

Till one moment, the group of 5 NPC bandits come to the scene. They have a same level which is 59.

All the lights turned to red. Every cosplayer’s eyes were glued to what they saw. The happiness of these people turns into a tear of anxiety and despair.

Huh, an Ignition clan? Those ruthless groups of NPC!

< Profile: Aaron Crisostomo >

< Element: Alpine >

< Weapon: 1H Kampilan and 2H Barong >

Agility: 80

Vitality: 10

Atk: 60

Recovery Efficiency: 30

Skill Points Available: 0/180

“Aaron, take care of this situation. I will call my clan as a backup!” Eichi said and he rush to the fire exit.

Aaron Crisostomo is an androgynous boy with a long braided hair.. He has a straight red hair and eyes. He had a yellow uniform with a symbol of a green leaf on the right side of his chest.

In front of him is an NPC, holding a barong.

Aaron puts his body into a fight pose, planning to direct attack on his opponent. Every person in the venue watched the scene with anticipation on their face.

Function Initiate Open Inventory

As he executes the command, an interface pops up. In the system, he picked up his favorite consumable and drank it.

< Dungan booster in-a-jar: 10% Max DNG for 5 Minutes. >

Aaron dash to the bandit with his barong while the kampilan on his back left untouched.

< Third Barong Skill: Flash Spin >

< Cost: 750 DNG 500 GNH >

A particle of electricity is splattering from his feet to the ground. Some audiences on his right side puts a stuff on their face.

The scent of the whole venue turns to a nostril-breaking smell of a burned charcoal.

Alpine is air. Eh, it makes sense why I create an electric particle. Windmill Logic!

“Hey, this is not a welding shop!” A shout of the young girl on his right side.

After a while, a wind force manifested in Aaron’s body. Cosplayers at the convention start to yell for a help based on what they witnessed.

These cosplayers cover their head using their bare hands, running to the fire exit. Some of them are sneezing out loud from the dust that the wind splatters in the atmosphere.

Stuffs in the high places, such as detachable lights on the ceilings, posters and debris, start to fall to the ground. Some people in the venue are crying for their lives.

After a while of Aaron’s initiation of his attack, his body turns to a small white star light from an audience’s POV. The 4 bandits on his right side leaps to the back side to avoid getting sliced by Aaron.

The light or his body spins around the NPC. His eyes remain frozen during this time. Bandit cannot even see Aaron, and it’s just a pure white.

< Opponent Left 4/5 >

Aaron’s skill comes to an end. He came back to his previous position, and he’s back to a normal human being. In just a few seconds, you cannot saw any trace that the NPCS even exists.

He was kneeling on the ground, his sweat was soaking the ground. His breath is shallow that was accompanied by a strong palpitation on his chest.

His body is now in the hopeless situation. Therefore, he chants a command to the system. “Function Initiate Call Eichi_Santos”

A holographic system notification with a telephone symbol appears on his face.

< Call Connected >

“My body is too weak for the next target. Eichi, please send your clan mate to this area.” Aaron snobs with his weak voice when he is speaking thru the phone.

“Hang in there, we are coming to your location!”

Aaron is still in the same place. His saliva was drooling while his body was going to collapse to the ground.

< Warning from the System: Abnormal Heart Rate, Please Call an Emergency Service! >

His vision is blurring. Till, one moment, his body collapsed to the ground. His face hits the ground and a sweat from his body stains the floor. The audiences can smell the clashing sweat from the warfield. Aaron heard a multiple vibration of footsteps and a clinging sound of swords behind him.

< Intact Vanguard Joined the Battle as a Backup >

A group of four guys come to the rescue. In the backup line is Hikaru, a datu of the clan who had a same hairstyle with Eichi but his hair color is black. He has a slender figure and wearing a kinda-familiar school uniform from Osaka. He is staying on the backside all of the rest of the clan members.

< Name: Hikaru >

< Element: Ocean (Auto corrected by the system) >

< Weapon: Kampilan & NULL_OBJECT >

In the front-line is a two brothers named Justine and David. These two guys had a non-revealing formal attire with a black necktie and a plain brown pants. They are both a bow user as their weapon choice. Because of the clan’s requirement, all the members had a same level and ascension rank.

< Name: Justine >

< Level 61 >

< Element: Ocean >

< Name: David >

< Element: Tundra >

While in the back-line is Eichi as a support of the front line. He clenched his fists during the fight.

Eichi approach Aaron’s collapsed body on the ground, located between the back-line and front-line members. He sits on the ground and he puts his hand on the top of Aaron’s torso.

He closed his eyes. There’s a green light spawned on Aaron’s body. Eichi closed his eyes because even his eyes hurt with his own skill. He picks up the two weapons on the ground and put it on Aaron’s hands.

< Skill Card (4 Stars): Academic Support: Heal >

“W… Where I am? Why I got rect by an NPC. Myself is such a shame.” Aaron whispers while his eyelids are opening.

Aaron stands out from the ground. EIchi put his both hands inside of his pocket. “Again, don’t be a coward that loves to solo. I would never heal you again if you do so, understand?”

“Hold my pinky promise!” Aaron blinks his one eye and walks away to stand in front of Justine.

I need to recover that costume as a remembrance from my father! Aaron’s thoughts

Aaron grips on his barong, his tears start to stream on his face while staring against the remaining 4 NPCs.

“Damn it! Return that shit from me!”

He leaps out to the bandit on his left side. His barong was in a stabbing position as his hand was going to hit the opponent’s head.

“Basic Attack!”

Eichi wides out his both legs. He chants his the card skill name, and that caused all the members to get a green cursor on the top of their head.

< Healing Skill Aborted >

< Skill Card Activated (4 Stars – Sikuaen): Academic Disciplinary Action>

< Effect: +15% attack to all party members. All the allied players will lose -15 DNG every second as a trade >

“Aaron, make sure to hit the head to get a crit hit!” Eichi shouts loud enough to where David covers his right ear to endure it.

His barong managed to hit the opponent’s head, but it didn’t slice through the face. Instead, it just deals elemental damage from the reaction. A big lime-colored system text appears beside of the opponent’s body. Eichi snaps his face as he witnessed the attack.

Aerotree

David starts to pinch his own temple while his opposing hand was holding his forehead. “Great logic! Eichi’s buff makes Aaron got affected by a forest element. His own element combined it, Alpine.”

After the failed one-hit attempt, Aaron lands his body on the ground. He stands from the floor and sprints beside of the opponent.

“Goodbye, thanks bro for the buff!” Aaron smirks and his kampilan sliced the opponent’s head. The NPC turns to a digital blue pixel particles and disappears in the atmosphere.

< Achievement Complete: When the tree meets the Wind >
< Reward: 500 Credits >

The mouth of audiences widen out as they saw what happened.

< Opponent Left: 3/5 >

< Double Combo >

“Attack!” the entire team shouts.

My buff skill is running out, I need to renew it! Eichi’s thoughts

Eichi re-cast the card he used before to buff the whole ally team and draining their DNG in exchange.

Justine and David retrieve their four-star and level 70 bow as their weapon.

Type: Bow Name: Wildhunter Bow

“Bro, the buff that Eichi gave to us includes an elemental effect on our attacks.”

“Let’s do this! I’m not a big fan of theory crafting and I’m excited to see the combination of these elements.”

Behind them, their ears stand out from the sharp noise they heard. They almost jumped out.

Eichi shouts to all audiences with a serious tone in his voice. “This is an order! Flee the convention venue right now through the fire exit. For those who don’t accept my order, I will request to the organizer to ban you from attending cosplay conventions!”

Some audiences get lost while some curious-minded person ignored his order. This situation makes Eichi lost his temper. His hands are shaking out of frustration.

He pulled the fire alarm beside him to force all the cosplayers to escape to the fire exit before continuing the heated battle. “Do you want to commit suicide? Stay here and ignore the alarm. Be sure to buy a life insurance first before you decide to stay in this dangerous place!”

A flicking emergency light and an adrenaline boosting sound of a fire alarm have surrounded the whole venue. The other cosplayers, upon hearing the fire alarm activate, sprinted to the fire exit to leave the venue.

Because of the frightening nature of the alarm, the whole place has turned into a chaos of people screaming out loud and some of them are having an anxiety attack.

Eichi’s action of pulling the switch is both curse and a blessing moment. While it brings fear to the public, it encouraged them to flee for their own safety.

During this time, the Intact Vanguard and Ignition clan are the remaining persons in the venue.

“My bro, let’s do this exciting attack! Prepare our bow and let’s see on how weak are terrorists!” The ocean element wielder guy said.

In the enemy’s line, there are only 3 members left.

Justine (Ocean) pulled his bow, aiming for the bandit in the center of the Ignition clan. As David (Tundra) aims at the left-side member.

A few moments, David’s bow and arrow flies toward to the center. On the other side, the bandit on the left one managed to get a portable shield. Despite of his weakness, his adrenaline rushing through his head pushed him to summon the shield in order to negate the flying arrow and save his ally.

A big green text saying “Photosynthesis” appeared besides of the fifth ignition clan member. While the fourth member has a grey text saying “Neutral”.

Oh, that make sense. Forest and Tundra are the best friends in life science. I’m such a loser here, but at least I dealt with some physical damage.

The enemy on the left side (#3) got a strong knock back from the attack. He dealt 50% (35% without Eichi’s buff) of his DNG from the photosynthesis reaction, leaving him speechless. Unit #2 in the center inflicted a few 30% damage (15% excluding Eichi’s DNG buff).

Besides of the member that got affected by the photosynthesis, a tree cute and innocent-looking dandelion appears beside of him.

< Atk Buff Ends >

“I ran out of Ginhawa, sucks!” Eichi slap his own face with a right hand.

“H-How? He shielded my comrades, but the arrow pierce through it. Where’s the bug report button on this AR system?” The NPC AI system from the #1 member shouts to the system interface while he is kicking the floor like a toddler.

Eichi raised the side of his mouth in the sharpest way. He walks forward to the ignition clan’s position. “Why you don’t check on how your opponent’s skills work using the system?”

The enemy is clenching his fists, looking at Eichi with a shallow breathing.

The opponent raised his clenched fists at Eichi. His fist is glowing red with a sparkling yellow pixelated dusts. “Domination Punch!”

Tundra Element applied to Eichi

Eichi is still thinking about the next strategy, thus lowering his guard down. After some milliseconds, he saw a flying fists collides on his face.

“URGH!” Eichi felt a strong hard pain from his back accompanied by a loud sound of broken wall. A red holographic pops up on his interface alongside of a blue glitters sparkled around from his back.

< Critical Low GNH! >

He just saw himself sitting on the floor and a cracked wall behind him. His body trembles from the pain.

GNH: 8,000/14,000

“Be thankful that you won’t hurt my bangs or I will put you to a place where you are belong! Himas mo bangs ko now, himas rehas later! (Rub my bangs now, rub a jail bar later)” He wiped the sticky red liquid from his mouth.

The opponent goes forward to confront Eichi and laughs while he is scratching his head. “You’re the one who should be admitted to the psych ward. Imagine, you’re at the point that you’re planning to marry your bangs!”

Eichi looks at the opponent with a firm determination. “Tch, IgnitifyTech even collects my social media data to train these NPCs?”

During the heated battle, Eichi saw that the two brothers were eating a random food from their inventory. His ears are trembling at hearing the loud chewing noise. In addition, the mess they creating on the floor irritates

“Hey! This is not a mukbang show!” Eichi shouts.

The two guys speak out loud. “Why are we doing some mukbang? Because of the DNG drain from your skill. Your bangs are the reason you cannot see our DNG bar and refused to pause your skill.”

Eichi stands out with a prominent vein from his diamond-like fist. His nose was releasing a hot breath and his face was going to explode.

Not again, my friend! Aaron’s thoughts

“You better to watch your dirty mouth! You don’t have a rights to criticize the ability of my love! I would splash a mouthwash to your fa…”

As Eichi is talking like a child, his face got shot by a big bow arrow from the ocean-wielder enemy (#1). Hikaru attempts to block out the attack using his sword, but the 2nd member puts a shield, thus making Aaron’s defensive attack useless.

Freeze

His body is in the hopeless situation. He is trying to speak his grievance, but no voice is coming out. His attempt to move his body is just a disappointment.

“Now, you got immobilized by our strategy, uh! We can now fight without this immature brat.” The third enemy said.

Hikaru looks back, and he dashed to the second member while holding his kampilan. The target is still looking at Eichi, laughing out loud without guarding himself from the ambush.

“The tundra holder bow user, attack the guy who froze Eichi!” Aaron Said

“Understood!”

He leaps out with his sword and pierces the sword into the opponent. “Elemental Burst: Aquatic Blade Assault!”

< DNG Cost: 1,200 >

< DNG Remaining: 5,800/7,000 >

Hikaru’s sword turns to blue. Water splashes around from his sword. Everyone behind him got their clothes soaked.

“Stop, I’m not done yet eating my chips!” David covers his face while chewing. As the water splashes more, he drops his snack chips on the ground, caused a food mess.

As he is running towards the target, the pressure of water is intensifying. He can hear the sound similar to an unstoppable water pipe.

Critical Sword Hit

Critical Bow Hit

Freeze

3,000/13,000

The sword hits him. All the waters stuck on the sword makes the enemy take a bath in no time. Thus, freezing him with the help of tundra element from Hikaru’s teammate.

Food recovers the enemy’s body. 30% healed his DNG, and he stands. “Nice job, leader!”

Hikaru rushed towards to the back-line where Eichi was recovering from his injury.

Aaron looks at the #1 bandit with a strong bitterness from his soul. This won’t go unpunished! You are raiding a random cosplayer like me for your own financial gain. You stole my cosplay costume, which is the last gift from my father that died from the experimentation of your predatory company.”

The bandit laughs at Crisostomo while he is holding his tummy. “So, the saying that best friends has a same personality is true! You’re both crying out loud for one specific thing.”

“You won’t even know on how painful is to lose your father. That piece of fabrics that you are talking about is where the soul of my father is living. That’s the last gift he gave to me before he attempts to go to your dangerous human trial of this full-dive AR technology.” Aaron’s tears are dropping to his cheeks, cherishing the memories from his father.

“In addition, I’m doing this to avenge my father. This is not just a mission to retrieve the lost fabrics, but to get the right justice that our legal system cannot provide to non fortunate person “

The enemy’s mind froze on what he heard. During the conversation, he steps forward and stepped on the dandelion.

“Gotcha!” Hikaru aiming his index finger on the ground where’s the dandelion standing while his left eye was closed. A rope of water shoots from his finger.

< Skill Card Activated (3 Stars – Sikuaen): Hydro Splash >

Photosynthesis

They took down all the remaining at the same time. The cute dandelion from the photosynthesis elemental reaction explodes as the enemy steps on it.

The dandelion splatters a 3×6 petals that dealt massive damage to all the bandits.

“Dandel…” The #2 bandit said before he was taken down.

Achievement Complete: Down Three! A system notification appears to everyone in the clan.

< Opponents Left: 0/5 >

< Quest Completed! >

< Level Up: Lvl. 62 >

< Level Up: Lvl. 63 >

< Level Up: Lvl. 64 >

< Level Up: Lvl. 65 >

< Level Up: Lvl. 66 >

< Level Up: Lvl. 67 >

< Level Up: Lvl. 68 . >

< Level Up: Lvl. 69 >

< ASCENSION QUEST MUST TO BE CLEARED TO UNCAP THE LEVEL LIMIT FROM LVL.69 TO LVL. 89 >

< Rewards: >

< Malolos Reputation Token 50x >

< Credits 15,000x >

< Bandit’s Mask 5x >

< Dragon’s Fragment 1x RARE>

< Elemental Gem (M) 3x >

< Elemental Gem (S) 10x >

< Elemental Gem (L) 1x >

< Note: All the party members shall receive the same rewards and EXP >

After the battle, they all wipe their sweaty forehead. Eichi stands up in no time when he received a notification from the system.

<Intruder Alert! Someone goes inside of your Home! >

“WHAAAT?!”