Chapter 14: Priority

A beam of pure, white light materialised around Cassian and the stunned Player. The young man's protests died in his throat, and were replaced by a shocked gasp as the ground beneath his feet vanished.

The world dissolved into a nothingness, and his mind was momentarily frozen. It was a sensation entirely unfamiliar to him, unlike the simple teleportation mechanics of the Tower or the Gates.

It was more as if his body was temporarily deconstructed, and constructed again from the smallest shred of his consciousness.

The entire process lasted only a fraction of a second. When the light disappeared, the Player found himself on solid ground again, stumbling forward as Cassian released his collar.

He fell to his knees, extending his hands to brace for the contact with the white floor. The floor stretched out in every direction, and there was not a single speck of dust that could be seen anywhere.

[You are the first person to reach an unexplored territory. You have been rewarded with additional experience points]

If it wasn't for the notification in his mind, he would've found it hard to come out of his daze.

His gaze soon fell on the screens in the distance that were depicting the scenes on earth. He even saw some of them focused on the players that he knew, especially the rankers.

There were even a few that were focused on the NPCs that he hadn't seen before. But they looked like they were important, from their attire and surroundings.

"Where are we?"

He patted his clothes and stood up, completely erasing his embarrassing fall from his memories.

"I would have preferred to knock you out with a sedative serum, but apparently we have run out of it. So you'll have to bear with a little pain."

Cassian ignored the question, and called forth an ERA to knock the young man out with a light strike.

He would have done so himself, if he wasn't worried about blowing up the head of this fragile person again. As machines, ERA's were better in controlling their strength and targeting the precise nerves to knock someone out.

"What do you mean? Do I have to go through more tests to get your acknowledgement, Senior?"

The young man had started looking at Cassian like an important NPC in this world. He could easily bring someone to a place that was unexplored by any other player.

He waited for Cassian's answers, but the strangely dressed man didn't reply. Instead, the young Player felt a strike on the back of his neck.

He was knocked out, his gaze barely falling off Cassian before his body fell.

Cassian stepped forward, and prevented the young man's fall. He picked him over his shoulders, and brought him straight to the Medical Bay, placing him on the table.

"Esme, try to read his memories. I want to know where they come from, and what's the origin of their strange powers."

He started sticking a few wires to the young man's body, allowing the ship to temporarily hijack the waves transmitted from the person's brain to his body, allowing Esme to access them.

It was a process that could be completed without harming a person's mind or their bodies, which was why it was also popular across the galaxy.

It was the most basic form of access. In the vast galaxy, many Unions had already taught their members how to resist this thing, even when they were passed out.

If anything, this was the most basic training that one received, to prevent any important information from being stolen. But the young man was different.

He had never learned how to resist these things. His behaviour also made it clear that he wasn't connected to any Union.

It granted Cassian an opportunity to gather more information, even in the absence of proper meds that could weaken the mind of the opponent further.

"How long will you take?" Cassian asked Esme, before she could even acknowledge his command.

"Reporting to Captain. Three hours should be enough."

"I will give you four hours, but I want to know every single thing about them, no matter how insignificant."

Cassian left Esme to gather information about this man's past, while making up his mind to descend once more.

His second task for descending to earth was completed. He had found a person that could grant him more information, even if he didn't want to.

That only left the first and most important task. It was to gather resources that could be salvaged.

There was also one more thing that he hadn't forgotten. It was to eat something, as his stomach started growling from hunger.

He had a choice between going to the Tower to deconstruct it, and going to some food court to satisfy his hunger first.

Since the tower didn't look like it was going to run away anytime soon, he decided to eat something first. In any case, it seemed like dealing with the tower was going to be a more time consuming process.

After making up his mind, he descended to earth once more. This time, it was in the middle of a populated city that was filled with Players.

It was also near the place where he had first seen two players fighting.

It wasn't his fault that based on the information he had hacked from earth, a restaurant near this place was said to have the best food ever, often used by the wealthy of this planet.

The number of guests coming to this restaurant had decreased since the arrival of the Players as the wealthy were afraid of leaving their homes.

"I saw a lot of praise about this place. I wonder what the food of this planet would actually taste like. If it's really good, maybe I can actually get some stockpiles from here."

He opened the gates of the majestic building which was seven floors tall. The entire place belonged to a single restaurant, each floor serving a different speciality.

"Excuse me, Sir. But can I check your reservation?"

Right within the entrance, a man approached Cassian with a diary in his hand that had the names of those who reserved this place.

"Jason Merchan," Cassian said, using a name from the hacked data.

"Mr. Merchan," the man went through the names in the list and smiled in the end. "Please go ahead."

He called for a waitress to escort Cassian to the highest floor.

Around the same time, a luxury car also stopped outside the restaurant.