The Earth Online

7 Adapt to the World

The next day, Thaleos woke up to the news that hundreds of red towers suddenly appeared around the world.

As they went outside, they saw one of the gigantic red towers near the top of Mt. Uruk. The tower was as tall and wide as city skyscrapers, but instead of the usual modern look, it had this medieval architectural design to it. It was made up of bricks and had small rectangular windows, and at the peak of the tower, sat a red flag.

“You reckon we should go up there and check it out?” Kedrick said as he fixed up his military combat boots and tool belt.

“There’s a large chance that it’s a trap though. I mean think about it, why would these towers suddenly appear?” Haya said as he took out his poisoned dagger to coat it with more nightshade extract. Thaleos stroked his beard in deep thought.

“It might be like one of those towers in multiplayer games, and maybe it’s meant to protect certain bases of the monsters. And I think we’re not ready for that yet.” Haya dryly finished after a moment’s reflection. He then took one long look at the ominous-looking tower.

“Or we could just check it out for now? I get the ‘better to be safe than sorry’-sentiment, but what if they’re cooking up something in there? We need to know how to stop it, just so we can save our asses in the long run.” Kedrick stated as he remembered how gang wars happened in Ellis Town. He knew the effects of letting certain problems fester under the guise of ‘safety.’

Both of them looked at Thaleos since they couldn’t resolve the deadlock. The bewhiskered man finally stopped scratching his beard and looked back at them,

“I think Kedrick has a point. I think it’s worth risking it, just so we can check out the situation—” Just as Haya was about to cut him off, Thaleos emphasized, “But we need to be extra cautious as well.”

Haya settled down, and both of them started listening intently to Thaleos’ words.

“Fortunately, I know Mount Uruk like the back of my hand, since I had to hunt the wild animals that were overeating the prey. We can scout the towers through hidden parts of the terrain. We don’t have to directly go inside, we can just observe from a distance and take our time to check how dangerous it is.” Kedrick nodded his head in agreement and Haya hesitantly agreed.

“But what if they have more of those wolf-eagle monsters in there or maybe even something worse?” The tan-skinned man voiced out his concerns as he tied his hair back in a man bun.

Kedrick agreed with Haya’s reasoning and looked at Thaleos in curiosity.

“This is where our stealth comes in, last time we fought with those creatures, it seemed like it wasn’t that adept to surprise attacks. In the worst-case scenario, we can just do what we did last time. We just have to form a triangle structure to cover all of our sides.” Theleos reasoned out.

~ ~ ~

After hiking up the mountain for almost half a day, they finally reached the top of Mount Uruk, a few feet below it was the threatening red tower.

Taking a closer look at the medieval building, they noticed how there was this thin blue mist covering it. It seemed like it was a protective layer coating the tower.

They spent the next hour or two just monitoring the tower, it seemed like there was nothing really special about it, but they knew that there’s more to it.

A few minutes later, they heard boisterous laughter and loud voices from afar. Thaleos looked at the other two, and they all nodded their heads to keep their eyes open since it seemed like a group of people was approaching the tower.

They didn’t want to sacrifice anyone in this little observation of theirs, but they needed to see the extent of danger the red tower can do. If any of those wolves or ferocious beasts appear, then they would definitely step in.

“I swear to god, we’re going to win this game. Those gods ain’t shit.” One of the loud-mouthed men said. He was wearing a full stealth outfit with, what seems to be, high-tech guns and weapons.

The group responded with enthusiastic agreements and another one spoke out,

“For sure, I mean those beasts can’t compare to President McGuigan’s Plan Steel Toe, like, we literally have the latest technology. We can just destroy all those beasts and level up as much as possible, before facing those weird aliens.” The man who said this was wearing a lithely designed chain mail, with a large battle axe.

Kedrick muttered under his breath, “This dude’s basically acting like he’s a knight or something. Delusional.” Thaleos observed the group of five people — each member appeared to be decked in top-tier human armor.

He had to emphasize human armor since James raved on his journal about the number of armors that all the other species and gods have. In his diary, he said that you can get those armor through level ups, side quests, and challenges.

A guy that seemed to be their leader suddenly spoke up, “Okay, men, we just follow the plan. Once we spot the entrance, we’ll charge using the wedge formation.” He muttered the last few words with evident excitement in his tone.

It was noticeable that he was the leader of the group since he was wearing the best armor and had extra protective measures on his body.

The other four men in his group agreed. Once they reached the entrance of the tower, they immediately charged in full speed.

They even did a dramatic scream along with it, which made Haya cringe.

As soon as the two people in front of the formation reached the tower, they immediately suffered from an electric shock and convulsed from the impact. Since the other three were also running in full force, they couldn’t stop their steps fast enough — as a result, they also got electrocuted by the blue mist.

“I knew it was gonna be this way,” Thaleos said as he saw the five knocked out men were foaming at the mouth.

Thaleos’ group decided to jump down their trees and hiked back down to the Melam Military Base.

“Looks like we can’t do anything about the red towers, for now, at least we now know that if it’s coated in a thin layer of the blue mist, chances are it’s meant to be left untouched by humans,” Thaleos stated as Haya noted everything down in his small notebook.

“I’m just gonna say it, homeboy was stupid to just charge at the tower. They are treating it like some kinda’ online RPG.” Kedrick blurted out as he roared in laughter.

Once they finally reached the Melam Military site, they were just ready to call it a day. After two months of non-stop preparation, they finally felt the deep-set of fatigue waves coming in.

Kedrick basically had his eyes closed by the time they finished eating dinner. Once they sank down their beds, they KO’d for about 24 hours straight.

~ ~ ~

“Thaleos! Thaleos, hey!” The unshaved man’s nice dreams were rudely interrupted by his two friends. After muttering a few swears, he grunted out,

“What do you want?”

“Dude, you need to see this! I feel like this ain’t normal!” Kedrick said as he shook Thaleos’ shoulder — making the other man even grumpier.

“Ugh fine, just let me wash my face first and I’ll check it out after that!” He barked out. The other man just hollered in laughter and left.

Once he got all cleaned up, he followed the two other men’s loud and thrilling voices.

“What the hell, I didn’t know that they were gonna get this big!” Thaleos could already feel the stress as he heard Haya’s proclamations. The man rarely got loud unless it was something incredibly interesting or something absolutely problematic.

After taking one step outside and looking around, he was stunned at what he saw.

All their farm animals became twice their sizes, and the surrounding plants turned into giant versions of themselves. It seemed like a glitch, it shocked him into silence.

“Bro, I cannot, for the life of me, confirm whether or not they got bigger or we just got smaller, but that can’t be right because the military base still looks the same.” Kedrick said as he was patting one of the big cows’ heads.

As the cow mooed, Kedrick felt his hand vibrating due to the loud sound.

“Alright, I feel like the government and media people are probably already panicking over it. Let’s listen to the news.” Haya remarked as he took out one of the smaller radios from the bunker.

“The citizens of Haine are currently panicking as hybrid beasts roam around their streets. We have yet to hear a direct line of action from President McGuigan, but Vice President Newman has promised us that they are doing their best to take control of the country.” A high-pitched voice came out from the radio.

“The latest concern of citizens is the inexplicable swelling size of plants and animals. Reports say that even dogs and cats are the same size as lions and tigers. Some scientists hypothesize that it’s because of the blue mist.” The voice finished off.

Thaleos knew why the animals and plants were this big, he just wasn’t prepared for the sight. Based on their little experiment with the blue mist and James’ journal, they knew that all living beings were affected by the blue mist.

After a few seconds of pondering, the virtual blue screen appeared yet again on the sky, and another god appeared. This time it was a male god who had smooth olive skin, black curls, and a beautifully sculpted jawline.

“Greetings, humans! I am Enki, God of the subterranean freshwater ocean. Some know me for my wisdom and arts, but I prefer to be recognized for my incantations and magic.” A smooth baritone voice fell from the man’s thick, crimson lips.

“Irkalla isn’t fond of answering questions, so I have agreed to take the lead and answer all of your queries. Just think of a question, and I will immediately answer them.”