IDLE Database - Chapter 78

“What are you staring at me for? Do I have dirt on my face?” Janet raised an eyebrow upon noticing her trainees stuck staring at her without any change in their expressions. “Aldrin?”

Although their inquiring eyes didn’t truly bother her, she still turned to her adopted ‘younger brother’ for clarification while thinking. ‘Did they drink a spoilt coffee today? Do they need a bathroom break?’

Hearing his name being called, Aldrin had no choice but to represent the others in inquiring about the news outside the camp.

Everyone got curious about what they heard, no doubt. And with the disaster at the Southern District still somewhat fresh in their minds, all of them had the same concerns.

Furthermore, the same thing was happening to the other Blocks. The trainees either subtly or boldly inquired their instructors about what they heard.

“We only heard this in a cafeteria, elder sister. I’m hoping you can enlighten us…” Aldrin answered and recounted what they heard word-by-word.

Although he also wanted to inquire about Sunspeak or Renissa, he held back and thought of asking her later when he got the chance. ‘If only IDLE Database can connect me to dimnet… But it seems to be running on a unique network solely for it.’

After finishing, all five of them waited for Janet to give them an answer while also watching the change in her expression.

That certainly took precedence over their Metadome Lessons for the day.

“So, do you want confirmation? It’s true.” Janet haphazardly replied as if it’s of no importance to her.

And because of her manner of answering, Aldrin got slightly suspicious whether Janet was playing with them or not. “Elder sister, aren’t you giving us the information easily?”

“You’re all leering at me as if wild dogs hungry for a rotten bone. What? Do you want me to raise the bar and get you to accomplish something first?”

“That’s not…”

Janet waved her hand, stopping Aldrin from continuing.

“Then drop it. It’s true. Something happened outside. A Primary City and a few among the hundreds of Secondary Cities on this planet are destroyed. It’s not Sunspeak, if that’s what you’re wondering. It’s far away from us so don’t believe any exaggeration you heard. What you all need to do is… to become a proper Energy Refiner!”

“I…”

“Do you have something else to say?”

“No… I’m good. Let’s start with the lesson, elder sister.”

Aldrin thought of talking about the information he stumbled upon. However, he didn’t know where to start. Moreover, he already did his part in sending the recording.

The information about the Council’s invented device to ignore Dimensional Disruptor had surely made the rounds with the higher-ups by now.

That’s why Aldrin closed his mouth and decided to not say anything.

‘Janet won’t necessarily lie to us. It’s not Sunspeak and it’s far away from here. For sure, the Mayor or even the head of the Refiner’s Association had already reached the point of thinking about the possibility of Rifts to open at any moment. Even if I express my concern, what can I do with my meager strength?’

Upon reaching that line of thought, Aldrin gave up completely. Instead, his thoughts switched towards checking on the status of those close to him and reminding them to take care and be alert.

It’s not even a week since the start of the camp, if things progressed faster, he had to do double time with the benefits he’s receiving from IDLE Database as well.

‘Lowkey, huh? I will probably break the norm of the World of Energy Refiners if I changed my approach. But it’s inevitable… I have just started transforming my life into a better and perhaps more dangerous one so I will not cut it short… I’ll aim to clear the Dungeons in the next week. Besides, I’m itching to get a Metadome and bring it there.’

“Great. You four? Do you also want to ask something?” Seeing Aldrin turn silent, Janet then turned her attention to the other four behind him.

“None for now Instructor! You’re right. We have to be a proper Energy Refiner first to worry about things out of our hands.” Irina answered followed by affirmation from the other three.

They have Energy Refiners from their family so upon hearing that the place of the incident was far from them, their minds just returned to their previous gear to complete this training camp.

They’re simple that way because compared to their older family members, they’re definitely the weakest. Only Aldrin had to bank on himself to protect those he wanted to protect.

“Hmm… Alright then, let’s move on. Here’s who you’re going to fight…”

With everything back to normal, Janet called the guest Energy Refiner who would be sparring with them using the Training Metadome.

And like yesterday, they had to do it one by one. But first… Janet briefly explained to them the application of NQL.

–

–

‘I’m finally inside.’ The man who named himself Carlos entered the Lonewind City Training Camp along with nine others who were assigned to be the guest Energy Refiner to spar against the trainees.

The 10 guest Energy Refiners were all at least middle Stage 2. Anyone lower than that might exhaust themselves early on even though they’re just going to use their refined energy to increase their focus and brain activity for the manual control of a Training Metadome.

And as someone with another goal inside, he had to make sure to act accordingly, at least until he identified his target.

He was an Energy Refiner for more than 10 years by now. At first, everything was smooth sailing for him. He joined a big organization that’s always been hired by the government and even owned a lot of assets on the planet that needed Energy Refiners’ hands.

However, one incident led to him getting stuck in early Stage 2, halting his slightly great record and progress for more than 3 years. He almost lost his mind on what to do with his life as it seemed that the opportunity being given to him started to become less and less.

In the end, when he’s about to accept that he already reached the peak of what he could attain, an invitation from a supposedly illegal organization reached him, promising benefits that could allow him to progress.

And 3 years after that, he’s now fully invested in that organization that delivered their promised benefits.

‘The organization might be doing something illegal as their trade. But that’s just how the world goes. Every day, countless humans either die of old age or by any other unfortunate occurrences one can think of. I will survive to live another day using my own way. If someone will judge me then so be it. I’m just doing my work…’

Carlos clenched his fists as he adjusted his mindset to that of the identity he’s wearing today.

After being led by one of the staff of the Training Camp, he was assigned to one of the ten blocks which contain an Instructor and the trainees under him or her.

From inside, Carlos heard the young voices of trainees asking questions to their Instructor. And once the voices died down, he knew that it’s his turn to enter.

“Come in!”

Upon hearing the shout from the instructor of the Block he was sent to, Carlos straightened his back and heightened his senses as he stepped forward and went around the wall to arrive in a huge space where two Training Metadomes stood proudly.. His eyes didn’t linger there as they instantly switched to observe the young trainees that he’ll be sparring with as part of their Metadome Lessons.