Maids VS Apocalypse
Chapter 74: Checkmark.

Chapter 74: Checkmark.

Author note: Mass Release (Chapter 1/5)

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Mark got into the bathroom and washed himself, and while he was at it, he unloaded all of his pent-up reserves and relaxed a little.

"Ugh... please kill me..."

Done with his business, the only thing left behind was crippling depression. He was in his apartment alone with one of the most beautiful women in existence and yet he had no choice but to rely on his right hand.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, his conversation with the sergeant was enough to kill any anticipation he had for the future.

’Damn that stalker.’ He cursed in his mind.

Mark understood that once he left for the Overworld, his chances of escaping from the Peace Keeper’s grasp decreased significantly. If he wanted to escape, he would have to do it before they reached Amberwood.

Still, with his meager abilities, getting away in the next two weeks was going to be an astronomical challenge. And that’s without considering that he had no idea where to go after he escaped.

’Why the hell did it turn out like this?’

His distrust toward the Peace Keepers was a byproduct of his reluctance to be a pawn in the hands of parasites who didn’t care about him.

Countless people were forced to fight and die in the Great World War all so a small portion of the elites could get what they wanted.

It was a pointless conflict the cause of which had nothing to do with most people yet resulted in so much death and destruction that more than half of the world’s eight billion were erased.

Growing up hearing the horror stories of those who had survived, the youth all over the world showed great opposition to participating in another pointless conflict.

Nevertheless, most recognized that they might not have been given a choice when the fighting started, and because of that many were always prepared to leave everything behind and disappear.

Mark wasn’t always sure that he would need to do the same. He had an inkling the countless sleepless nights would eventually catch up to him and the sweet embrace of death would spare him the trouble.

The question was whether it would happen before the war reignited or after it. Because of that, he went through the same preparations just in case.

’Guess it’s not about the petty conflicts of the elites anymore...’

His thoughts kept spiraling as he submerged himself in the bathtub.

The world was ending, bringing with it a great reset that erased any advantage the bastards at the top might have had. Once they are moved to the Overworld, they would be forced to be at the boots of far more powerful people.

Everyone, be it the poorest of the poor or the richest of the rich, would be forced to fight a war they didn’t ask for. It wasn’t of much consolation, but just knowing they fell to the same level as everyone else was a reason to rejoice.

’In the end, I couldn’t escape getting conscripted, huh?’

Leaning back, Mark’s gaze drifted to the basket where he had tossed his clothes. An emblem depicting a knight with his sword raised came into sight. He stared at it for some time then turned away.

’... Why am I trying to escape in the first place?’

He didn’t trust the organization, true, but so far they hadn’t given him a good reason to avoid them, excluding the fact that they spied on him his entire life was one of them of course.

The problem was that he understood why they had to do it, and his parents seemed to have ties to the organization as well.

Ever since his conversation with Natalie, Mark had been feeling that something wasn’t right about his interactions with the secret organization. Every time he thought about it, his confusion grew even more, and so did his suspicions.

’Should I really be trying to escape?’

Distancing himself early on would mean giving up on finding the answers to his questions, and making the PKs his enemies would only decrease his chances of survival.

The more he thought about it, the more logical it seemed to stick to the organization until he was powerful enough to go against them, but on the other hand, the idea of being at their beck and call didn’t sit well with him.

’What choice do I have?’

With his thoughts refusing to settle, Mark forced himself to think about something else. A few seconds later, he grabbed his imaginary controller and pressed the Start button. He navigated to the Journal section, and once there, he selected Quests and pressed A.

A new screen appeared with three entries on it.

[Seal the Rift. (Ongoing)]

[System Upgrade. (Ongoing)]

[Malakar of the Dark Mountain. (Cleared)]

Mark selected the second entry and pressed A once more.

[

Quest: System Upgrade.

Difficulty: C

Congratulations on your successful Awakening!

The path of Ascension is long and arduous, but the journey of a thousand miles always starts with a single step. Due to your very high psychic potential, your LRGS has been upgraded to Level 5, granting you a custom interface to better manage your exceptional abilities.

But that does not have to be the end of it.

Further upgrades are possible. With each update the game Maids VS Apocalypse receives, new features can be added to your System. Continue updating your game to further customize your System and achieve greater power.

Clear Condition:

Retrieval of the original Maids VS Apocalypse source code. ✔

Successful rescue of Kobayashi, the main illustrator of Maids VS Apocalypse.

Clear Reward:

1500 AP

Access to Developer Mode.

Developer Mode: Grants the Subject the ability to alter their LRGS.

Failure Penalty:

Permanent closure of Subject Mark White’s LRGS. No future updates will be implemented.

]

The second clear condition might have been the most difficult to meet, but in truth, the first one was much more confusing.

The original source code of the game couldn’t possibly be retrieved on its own so Mark guessed that he would have to get the SSD from his desktop at the very least. In the end, he decided to take everything including his monitors.

’Does this mean...’

A checkmark had appeared beside the first condition. Mark took that as a sign that he had cleared that part. He didn’t get any rewards for doing so, though. That made him wish he got two separate quests for each clear condition.

’If this really was a NovelFire, I would’ve been bombarded with quests by now...’

He felt that his progress was rather slow compared to the works he read in the past but then remembered that this was just his second day as an Awakened.

Ever since he got the System, he had spent a lot more time unconscious than awake, and with boss-level opponents ambushing him left and right, he didn’t get the chance to walk the usual progression path.

’Give me some goblins, damn it...’

His mind wandered back to what the sergeant said about him being trapped in a loop. That brought a frown back to his face, but Mark quickly wiped it away. He no longer wanted to let that part upset him.