Closing the book for some time, Vernon closed his eyes as he slowly digested what he had gained.

'Alright, it's pretty simple to see what option to choose. But, the sensing path just seems so useless as compared to the core path. Is there something missing here?'

Calming his mind, Vernon took a long breath and walked out of the room, grabbing the book with him.

He proceeded to the park with the map's help and took in the city's sights along the way.

Techlock was located exactly in the middle of what Vernon derived to be a mountain valley. The Argon mountains covered the entire northern boundary of the city and the only gateway outside and inside it was the southern gate.

Even that wasn't unobstructed. In the map, Vernon could notice some marking which either referred to a fenced perimeter or a mountain. No matter what it was, it covered quite a large part of the outer area and left the city with a small area for the path leading outside.

Entering the park, which was named “Three Step Way”, he located a secluded spot, that was quite close to the grass.

Taking a meditative position, Vernon focused to clear all miscellaneous thoughts through his mind. Even the ones relating to Her. Reading through the book again, he slipped into meditation, only using one word thoughts to think.

Focusing on his surrounding, he allowed his mind to slip into a trace of unconsciousness, allowing him to increase his perception all around the area.

At first, he felt nothing. It continued on for about 5 minutes, before he felt himself feeling an ethereal thing.

It felt like small blobs of un-sticky slime but then it suddenly felt like a small sphere of un-sticky slime.

'Mana? Man, what exactly is the functioning behind this? How can they realize when someone is using his perception? This AI must be monitoring our mind a lot more deeply than what Hauss has said. Let's hope, it doesn't implant ideas in my mind.'

Making sure not to lose his focus, Vernon continued feeling the Mana. He felt as it shapeshifted again and again until he felt nearly lost in it.

'Amazing. It keeps changing it's shape again and again. Though, the visible volume seems to be in a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio after each shift. Truly amazing!'

After what felt like an hour, Vernon finally felt connected to the mana. Slowly, he willed his mind to force them to gather towards his left lung.

'The heart and the brain are clearly one of the most superior options. But, I don't wish to end up dead suddenly. Who knows what the death penalty is?'

He waited as the mana kept rushing towards his lung, as he slowly increased it's output. He then visualized what his mana core would look like.

'A heart, one that is entirely black, covered in purple lines. Heh, if I could have made the core have mental pressure, it would the literal epitome of it.'

Feeling a half ethereal shape like that being formed, Vernon continued pouring mana into it. Soon enough, the absorption rate went beyond the gathering rate and Vernon was forced to increase the pressure on his mind, as he willed the mana to go even faster.

The process continued on for about 30 minutes, before Vernon started having some questions about this process.

'Is it supposed to take this long? I'm nearly reaching my limit. If this isn't over in two minutes, I'm gonna either fail or pass out!'

Still continuing with the process, he waited, gearing his mind to log out, should he reach the point of no return.

Just as his conscious started to waiver, the core in lung let out a small wave. Immediately, Vernon stopped the mana infusion process and nearly opened his eyes, just remembering that he needed to claim it as well.

Visualizing the core, he made a mana line and linked it straight back to the core itself.

Immediately, he felt blood rush through him and he gagged as he vomitted a mouthful of blood.

[ Mana Core formed. Please name the core after checking it's status]

[ Protocol #0413 activated. 'Gain 100 levels of experience while in beta'. First activator. Rewards will be distributed after user's mind is back to normal]

[ Initiating logout procedure]

'Wait what? Logout? Not now!!'

Immediately, his vision was back to black and then as he attempted to move out of the pod, he felt tiredness overcoming him and his eyes closed, as he found himself drifting to sleep.

...

The Mystique

Floor 5

The room on the fifth floor was built to control and monitor all the data of Integration, leaving floor 11, the place where Integration was tested, just for the hardware.

The game data, the sub-systems and the AI were all monitored and the data was compressed into bits and read using a compiler. The data transmitted was also permanently put on the console, with not even the admin having deletion abilities.

This ensured no random pieces of data were missing and the player's data could be checked.

After the conversion, the data was transferred to 4 main screens, linked to the main console, which was a gigantic computer on the 5 floor.

The console was responsible for reading all the data and storing it in tons of servers spread all across the facility.

Due to it's importance, the fifth floor's access was thus limited to only the main developers, and the board of directors.

During any time, at least one chief officer had to be present in the room, monitoring the data.

Today just so happened to be Lox's duty. He sat on the chair, looking at the console with boredom and silently scrolling through his phone, while drinking a beverage.

As he glanced back the screens, he quickly paused at the top priority screen, which was blinking. This monitor was used to specifically display highest level notifications.

'Interesting. The last top level notification was of someone else activating protocol #0457. Honestly, it's surprising that 10 people were able to activate it. That thing is so difficult, that less than 1 in 10000 can do it and one-tenth of the beta testers did it. What luck.'

Looking at monitor, Lox quickly scrolled to the latest notification.

'Protocol #0413 activated by user 58. Macro 03 activated.'

'What exactly is #0413? And what in the world is Macro 03? The technical terms Erk has used are gonna drive me mad.'

Quickly cross referencing with the database, Lox identified the protocol and macro.

'#0413 is activated once a player receives experience worth 100 levels in the closed beta. What? 100 levels already? What steroids is this user on? Macro 3 on the other hand refers to unique achievements. Crazy! Macro 3 upgrades the rewards of any achievement and #0413 is already the thirteenth best achievement possible in the beta. Whoever this user is, he is going to have quite some advantage during the early gaming time.'

Checking the console for any other name with the same user, another notification came up on the screen.

'Protocol #0457 activated by user 58. First Activator.'

“Holy Crap” he blurted out, his eyes becoming wider as he read the notification. Staring at the notification for another second, he leaned back into the chair, gazing at the monitor without focus.

'He's the one who activated the early system first! The reward for the first activator of that achievement is comparable to the top 5 best ones possible in the beta!'

Quickly regaining focus, he pulled the main console, typing a couple of things to search the reward for the achievements.

'Error. Code 102. Please retry later.'

Lox stared at the results in annoyance and disbelief.

“Jake! Call Erk for me. Immediately!”

“Command Acknowledged. Calling Erk Lawson”

“Check Robin's tier 4 access controls as well. I want to know who can block me out of the system”

“Understood. Checking AI Robin's control access. Results found. Control clearance was last accessed yesterday. Only Administrator and above clearance is allowed for Controls”.

Staring at the small sphere, just beside the desk, in an expression that was mostly anger and annoyance, Lox wished to just rip apart the AI.

'Jake is supposed to be the best AI in the world. I have admin clearance but it still says that my clearance needs to be admin or above. Why the hell are you repeating yourself in a stupid manner AI!!?'

Exhaling a deep breath, Lox waited as Erk's call connected.

“What is it Lox? You're interrupting daily server maintenance.”

“Well, the same player who triggered the first early system access triggered another protocol. #0413.”

“Even if someone triggered a high level protocol, there's no need to call me, is there?”

Sighing in anger, Lox continued to speak. “There wouldn't have been, had I not been locked out of the Tier 4 access.” His voice kept increasing bit by bit and he was practically shouting at the end. “It's giving me Error code 102 ERK!! 102!!. Why the hell am I being blocked from my OWN DAMN GAME?”

Shocked silent by Lox's outburst, Erk remained silent for a couple of second, before his voice came out of the speakers.

“Are you sure you're in the correct mode for console access. Besides, even if you're locked out, there's no need to get this upset!”.

“I'm 100% sure I'm in the correct. , sorry about that. But the though of me being locked out from a game I was at least ¼ responsible for creating is just so badly annoying, that I kind of wish to destroy Jake.”

“Jake? Now what did he do to you?”

“He's behaving worse than his tests. I told him to check the clearance for access and he repeated to me that minimum clearance level is admin. I have a developer clearance level!! Why am I locked out!!? and Why did he repeat that straight to me? It's supposed to be capable of at least understanding who's asking it and realizing that said person has higher clearance.” Taking a break, he gave no chance for Erk to speak before he started again.

“It should have checked my clearance and replied with some sort of unavailable reply. But, it replied without any piece of understanding, methodically repeating what I said. If this is what we call the best AI in the world, then are the others? Just uncapable of calculating?”

Erk listened to Lox's outburst, allowing him to finish before he spoke.

“I understand your concerns Lox. This is indeed a problem, but you have to realize that Jake's only been in operation for 1 week. Besides, this is only it's beta version. We can tell Mike to easily fix him.”

“Alright, but what the hell is up with my clearance?”

“Now that, is quite a concerning issue. But, first maybe I should remind you that you are the CTO, not a random gamer who gets overexcited at every little thing. Behave yourself properly Lox, it's not gonna do you good to act like a child.”

Erk's displeasure was clear for Lox to see and he fell silent for a bit before sighing and sitting down on his chair.

“I know. But, I can't stop without knowing about the rewards this user received. Who knows what he got? I love games Erk, it's part of the reason as to why I helped develop Integration and I want to know what goes on in the game. So, excuse me if I act too rudely when I find that my credentials are blocked.”

“I'm looking into it. Try accessing it directly from the console in the meantime. I need Ozund here to dissect this glitch or issue.”

“Got it. I'm also gonna try using the test software to try and simulate the results and see if that's the problem. Sorry to disturb you.”

“Not much of a problem. Now, I have much work to do.”

Erk's voice faded entirely, and a notification popped up on the monitor informing of the ending of the call.

“Time to rip some stuff apart”. Lox muttered under his breath, typing stuff on the keyboard, as he started looking into the problem.

…

Meanwhile, it had became evening in Chersey.

Vrumm!!!!

A hushing and whooshing sound came, as the pod's hatch opened up and spat Vernon out.

Slightly disorientated after getting thrown out immediately after waking up, he shakily walked over to his bed and took a gulp of water, before he sat down.

'Damn, I still feel disorientated. How long have I been asleep for? Need to take a walk to get rid of this lag.'

Getting up, he wore some clothes, took a whole glass of water and grabbed some nutrient solutions.

Taking a glance at his watch, he whistled, shocked by the time spent.

19:23

'Have I been inside for nearly 7 hours? 30 mins of reading... update due to condition... Damn, that matches up. Though I wonder if the timer reset due to my update, or the timer was up but the pod didn't eject me because I was asleep?'

Leaving those thoughts in the back of his mind, but making sure to see if there was an advanced guidebook for the pod, Vernon left his house and did what he intended to do. Take a walk.

Walking back to Lake Park, he took a 10 minute walk, glancing at the occasional things happening inside.

Reaching a slightly hidden bench, he sat down.

'This is where the search started. This park is linked to so many things, it is honestly difficult to believe they are all coincidences. The mysterious disappearance of a group of kids, random animals at night... the disappearance of my parents.'

As he got to the last part, Vernon barely held back some tears in eyes as he put on a mock smile, thinking about their most memorable interactions.

He recalled the birthdays they spent together, the fun he had and that final day three years ago.

'Ha, I told them to not bother with it. But, they still went ahead to search for the neighbor's missing dog. If I recall correctly, they disappeared somewhere around here'

Exhaling and slightly sniffling, he got up and took a good look around the area. It was getting quite late and this part of the park was always slightly less filled as compared to the others.

The bench he was on was covered by canopy of trees that barely let the sun through and this location was just in exactly far away from the west gate that no one could hear your shouts, unless they were very loud, but not so far away, that the east gate could hear them.

Roaming around the bench, Vernon closely examined everything, hoping he might find another one of his parents items.

'They only left a damn envelope on the ground. Coincidentally, I found a small ring 2 years ago as well, but I've never seen it before. The envelope's held by the bank, as they left it as a part of their will, so I can't even read that.'

Seeing nothing new, he once again sat down on the bench staring into nothingness, just wondering about life.

'Where are you both? Where is Sophie? I'm tired for today. Let's once again try to log in'

He got up and proceeded to head back home.

Entering, he first made himself some black coffee and then once again went inside the game.

Or, he tried to do so.

[ Mental Limit Exceeded for today. Safety Functions are activated. Time remaining: 2 Hrs 31 Mins 12 Secs]

Staring at the irksome warning, he was once again removed from the game and the pod opened up again, but not spitting him out this time.

Exhaling and getting out, he re-dressed and decided to check the internet in two days. Also take a look at his chats.

Booting his computer, he synced it with his watch and immediately saw notifications pop up on his desktop.

Opening them, he noticed most were from Giles with some being news headlines.

'Let's see what he sent'

Giles: As you asked for, your information.

Giles: About 7 people seemed to have activated their systems early. Each seemed to have received some rewards, but I believe they vary.

Giles: Now that the system has been activated, many functions have become available. The main one is the use of 'Analyze', which can basically be done by telling your mind you wish to analyze an object, while staring at it.

Giles: Other than this, the NPC's can also be analyzed. These findings have allowed me confirm what I told you before, about the levels and their area. Most beta testers range between areas from level 0 to level 250, though some are higher. One even had an area of level 770, though I believe he is in quite some trouble. Also, NPC's do realize when you analyze them and they're not exactly friendly about it.

Giles: That is all I have for now. See you later.(panda emoji).

Giles: You there? Hauss's team just pulled back the main game's launch date. It's now launching 3 days from now, meaning only 5 days of beta testing. The cabins have now been booked out for the next 4 months, even after they upgraded their supply.

Giles: Still in game huh? Just read the news headlines after you come back. It's pretty hot now.

Giles: Call me as soon as you read the headlines. This is important!

The messages ended there, leaving Vernon with a big question mark in his mind.

'Just what happened for this many bombs to explode on me? The game's launching early... confusing as to why but sure. But, what is up with the news for Giles to be reacting this strongly?'

Taking a glance at the notifications, he opened the news tab.

'Virtual Phenomenon: Hauss's 'Integration' Breaks Attraction Records in Mere Hours!'

'Players on a Rampage: 'Integration' Cabins Booked Solid for 4 Months!'

'Hauss Team's 'Integration' Stuns All: Game Launch 3 Days Away!'

'Virtual Gold Rush: 'Integration' Cabins Upgrade Fails to Meet Never-ending Demand!'

'Whitney Bans Integration: Says “Too violent”. Second Life Plan Jury To Take Decision'

'Dominion Republic To Sponsor Best Integration Players. Declares Economic War Against Whitney'

'Clearsea Supports Dominion Republic. Also Declares Economic War On Whitney'

“ '_' ”

'WTF? What is wrong with these headlines!!! This looks worse than WW2 and the Infinitarian war, just due to the reasons for this. Are the heads babies? Or did they just hit themselves on the head? How can something like this even be allowed through the PR department!!!??'

Slightly exhaling, he rechecked the news for something he missed, something that might have lead to this reaction.

This time, he looked at it from oldest to newest and found some articles he overlooked.

'Big Leak!! Un-named Hauss Employee Reveals Real Reason Behind Early Launch'

'Safety Problems, AI Malfunctions And More. Integration Just Can't Avoid These Problems'

Clicking on them one by one, he read them all before calling up Giles.

'Holy shit!! This beyond big news. The chance of the game being pushed forward even further isn't that far away.'

The game had suffered from an AI malfunction earlier today, just around after he logged in and this seemed to have accidently teleported a player to another part of the game world for a couple of minutes.

Apparently, he saw some very disturbing things there and his blood pressure rised so sharply that he was forcefully ejected. This beta tester revealed everything he learnt to the news agencies and to fix this problem, Hauss decided to upload the main game earlier than scheduled creating this insane mess.

As for why the countries had such a big reaction? That was because of what the player saw.

“So you're finally out huh? Did you check the news?”

“I did. I'm still having a hard time believing that the game allows anything to go. The torture scenes, instances of murder, slavery and all that, but the icing on the cake is that there is no limit. Hauss's article states that players have some rules on how much they can act towards NPC's and the opposite, but NPC's against each other have literally no limits!”

“Don't act so surprised. The game has a requirement of 17, of course it would feature all these things.”

“Don't be surprised? Giles, finding even one violent scene not censored by the government is hard nowadays and this game, literally supports genocide!! Do you get my point!!!??”

“Yeah yeah. Stop blabbering. So, what did you do today?”

“I read an introduction to magic book, formed a mana core and just as I formed it out, I was ejected by the pod for being too drained mentally. Coincidentally, the AI malfunction also occurred during this time... wait, according to the time”. He took a glance at his watch. “it would've occurred just around the time I formed my mana core... Do you think... I could be the reason for that problem?”

Giles was silent for a while before speaking again.

“Possible. But, you were merely ejected by the pod. You didn't do anything that would result in a malfunction... did you?”

“Not that I can think of”. 'Actually, there is one', he thought in his head. “So, did you book a cabin?”

“Yeah, like you said, I have 'Connections'. I also heard from a friend, that there are plans to upgrade the cabin, but they're mere drafts as of now.”

“Interesting to hear. Anyways, it's not like we can do anything about this. We won't really be affected by this war and I've got to find a missing person. So... bye?”

“Heh sure. Bye.”

Exhaling, he put his phone down thinking about why Hauss would bother to add things clearly censored by the world.

'The government's are still supporting the company, even after this so they must've given out an irresistible offer. Or they see something none of us do.... Well, there's definitely an ulterior motive behind this war. But, the question is... did I cause that malfunction? If so, then only the activation of that protocol could be the reason. Well, it better be good, for it to have caused a global war. And I also need to meet with that annoying merchant.'

Thinking about that man put a very slight fearful expression on his face. Chuckling, he decided to retire for today marking in his mind to avoid dealing with that problem of a man.