8 Manual Control (1)

With the advent of Energy Refiners, the human settlement of different planets reached the point of stability.

However, stability didn't mean that the Dimensional Rifts were wiped off of existence.

The appearance of Dimensional Rifts still continued to this day and was still terrorizing humanity.

Dimensional Rifts always appeared at random and whether someone could predict where it would appear, Aldrin had no knowledge of that subject.

He was living like a normal citizen all this time after all.

The knowledge he had inside his mind was all from what he learned in school.

In any case, he's aware that each city that was built was enclosed in walls while being protected by barriers that could be deployed instantly, just like what happened earlier, to prevent any attacks.

Furthermore, there's also a towering structure in the middle of each city that contains the so-called Dimensional Disruptor. It's a piece of technology that was invented to prevent Dimensional Rifts from appearing inside the city. And usually, the Dimensional Disruptor's range encompassed the whole city.

To expand the city, one also needed to move the walls and upgrade their Dimensional Disruptors. Otherwise, a part of the city would be left unprotected.

However, Dimensional Disruptors weren't absolute. There's still a slim chance for a Dimensional Rift to appear inside a city protected by it.

When that happens, casualties among the general populace and destruction of the structures of the city were inevitable.

That's why City Halls and their appointed Mayors would recruit and train soldiers who could pilot a Metadome and cultivate Refiners that would be able to protect the city anytime.

The Refiner's Association wasn't under the control of City Halls or even the Aldea Federation which Lonewind City belongs to. It's an independent entity that every Refiner was a member of.

Although they're also helping in defending the cities, the primary function of the association was the management of the Energy Refiners.

If Aldrin successfully Awakened and became a full-fledged Energy Refiner, he would also need to join and register his name on it.

Energy Refiners that were unregistered in it were often terrorists or criminals that were being hunted down by the Association.

-

-

As soon as the clock ticked to midnight, Aldrin closed the browser that was displaying an encyclopedia dimsite.

After eating and exercising once more to prepare himself, he was left with nothing to do. So to abate his boredom, he began educating himself again about things that he had already forgotten. Or in other words, he began refreshing his knowledge about Cities, Refiners and Dimensional Rifts.

"It's time!" While rubbing his hands together, Aldrin's excitement could clearly be seen.

Moving his cursor to click on the IDLE Database, two successive clicking sounds could be heard filling his small room.

A few moments after that, the familiar interface of the IDLE Database appeared in front of him.

This time, he prepared himself to control his Dimensional Clone manually.

Although that would take away the 'Idle' essence of the game, he had to do it at least once to see the difference.

"If I control him… it will be like an RPG game, am I right? Or is it hack and slash? Either way, I'm also an expert when it comes to those kinds of games. Besides, I already watched how the Dimensional Clone moved. I will be even more meticulous than it when selecting my prey. There are 24 hours in a day. I can use all of that to gain a lot of IDLE Points!... Wait, will it still be called IDLE Points when I am actively playing the game?"

With his thoughts going in a different direction once more, Aldrin slapped his cheeks with both hands to bring him back to reality through experiencing pain.

After a few more clicking sounds, Aldrin then felt the same unimaginable itch on his head as a clump of his hair was plucked once more before turning to the same little shadowy figure; his Dimensional Clone.

He had watched as it ran towards his monitor and jumped inside the glowing spiral.

The option to control it manually was already selected by him so he's now only waiting for it to load.

However, before the 'Loading' message could even show up in the game's interface, Aldrin's vision suddenly turned black as his consciousness appeared as if he was spiraling down a whirlpool.

'What's happening?! Am I about to die? Is this the consequence of using this mysterious program?!'

He tried shouting but all of that only echoed in his mind. His body seemed to be paralyzed and his vision was still yet to return.

Did he start regretting his choice to gamble?

Obviously not.

He was prepared that at any moment, something like this might happen.

Unfortunately, he's not expecting that without even passing 24 hours since he got the IDLE Database, he would already be done for.

Or so he thought…

As he began to contemplate about his life and looked back to what went wrong, his five senses returned as he felt himself falling down from high in the air.

"Nooooo!" Aldrin shouted on top of his lungs as his body plunged and accelerated downwards.

However, moments after, his shout stopped as his eyes widened or what felt to be his eyes zooming in to thoroughly observe his surroundings.

"W-where am I?"

Although he knew his question wouldn't be answered by anyone, he still couldn't help but voice it out as he seemingly forgot that he was about to hit the ground.

THUD!

With his ass hitting the ground first, Aldrin felt an imaginable pain creeping throughout his body due to how fast his speed was.

Fortunately, he didn't fall on concrete but soft earth.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, something clicked in his mind. Ignoring the pain coursing through his body, he plopped his hands on the ground to support himself up.

Following that, his eyes took in the scenery around him.

Tall, gigantic grass, the blazing sun that appeared like it would engulf the whole sky and lastly, human-sized insects.

"I… am inside the game." As realization dawned on him, Aldrin began to visibly shake. "If I die here, will I truly die outside? Or am I just a clone of myself who gained awareness?"

He's a realist. He instantly accepted that he was transported inside the game. And although it's hard to believe, he's aware that the body he's inhabiting was the clump of hair that was plucked on his head.

That's the first thing he checked as soon as he recognized the place he appeared at.

And as he expected, there's no bald spot on it.