In the Known World, Section 2 was the only territory that humanity controlled one hundred percent. Humanity had invested a lot of resources into making section 2 totally free for humanity to walk freely on.
Ivan returned to his apartment. He collapsed on the bed, relieved that he was finally in the comfort of his home. When the cab dropped him off, he couldn't help but feel uneasy because he felt that the load he carried had attracted some eyes.
Ivan hadn't checked his phone while the streets were flooded and attacked. He was glad to see that the phone hadn't suffered any damage.
"It's crazy that you survived all that," Ivan said to his phone while he was busy with it.
After any attack on the area, Section 2's government would conduct an investigation to ascertain who died, who is still alive and who is missing. They also provided relief packages and compensation to citizens who lost properties during any attack.
Ivan reported that his taxi vehicle was caught in the flood on the street. He also reported that he was still alive. He did what a citizen needed to do to make the work easier for government workers. If his taxi vehicle was found to be in good condition, the government workers would reach out to Ivan and invite him to reclaim his vehicle.
If Ivan's vehicle was damaged, he would be given compensation in the form of another vehicle. Ivan dropped his phone and relaxed. His mind was devoid of any thought; he focused on resting, which was what his body desired. He soon fell asleep.
Two hours into his rest, an information bar popped up in dark vision, snapping him awake.
>>>
You have 2504 mana points.
You have 10 green mana rocks.
You have enough resources to upgrade your power rank.
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New Mission.
Upgrade your power rank to F-rank.
"That's a very rude way to wake someone from their sleep," Ivan lamented.
Ivan was the character that liked to think through their actions before acting. This was an act cultured from past experience. He sat straight on the edge of the bed and reflected on his past and possible future actions.
After a moment of thinking, he had a list of what to do for the week. It was the last weekend of the week. Today, he would have to find a place where he could safely level up. Most people who level up from a regular character to a special character unintentionally release a tremendous burst of energy that was catastrophic.
Anyone who wanted to level up had to find a safe space to level up or risk being a fugitive. Ivan had identified where he would visit to level up. The place was an AR gaming hub. AR was short for Alternate Reality. An AR gaming hub was owned by a special character who could bend space and create pockets of space. In Section 2, these gaming hubs were heavily regulated; hence, the number of alternate realities a gaming hub could form was limited to 50, and all the realities had to be under surveillance all the time.
This regulation was put in place to stop criminal activities from taking place here and ensure the safety of the users. People who visited these gaming hubs came with the intention of training their combat experience.
Another point on Ivan's list was to train his physique. The third was to train his combat strength. However, he was concerned that he wouldn't meet up with the second and third lines of action because of his occupation as a taxi driver. He virtually worked 24/7; this was because he was saving money from his work to finance his dream of starting up his own animation studio.
The fourth line of action was to find a therapist that would help him stabilise his emotions. He faced a dilemma: continue working as a taxi driver to actualise his dream of owning an animation studio or abandon everything and become a clue seeker like Merlin_13.
When he said that he was going to be better than Merlin_13, he was under the influence of stirred emotions from witnessing a child he rescued die before him. At the moment, he had relaxed and his emotions were somewhat settled; he now understood the implication of his promise.
Ivan shook his head, a bit disappointed in his lack of self-control. He didn't like making a promise and failing to achieve the promise. Within him, there was a feeling he could work a balance between being a humble taxi driver and a clue-seeker.
He picked up his phone and searched for an AR gaming hub close to him. He found one location that was less than 2km away. He booked and paid for a slot for one user. He had a shower to wash off the stench he accumulated from the intense battle some moments ago.
Minutes later, Ivan was in a taxi headed for the AR gaming hub where he had booked a slot.
Ivan arrived at the gaming hub. The place looked like a standard game house. There was a reception which had a lobby attached to it. To the right, a wall and a door separated the reception lobby from the gaming section. Ivan walked straight to the reception counter. He noticed that there was only one person seated in the lobby that was on the left. The person paid no attention to Ivan as they were busy playing a mobile game with their phone.
"I came here to train." Ivan showed his ticket to the receptionist.
The receptionist used a QR scanner to scan the QR code on Ivan's ticket to verify the authenticity of the ticket. Ivan was cleared to proceed into the gaming section. He was assigned to booth 2.
Ivan entered the gaming section. It was a long hall that had 25 doors on each side of the hall. He opened the door to booth 2, and what met his eyes was a gentle and silent swirling vortex. Ivan walked into the vortex and walked out to another dimension.