44 Unlocked by being lazy
[Small Merchants' Turnover: 6212 IDLE Points]
[Total IDLE Points Stored: 8003/15000]
As the clock ticked past midnight, the sixth day of his possession of IDLE Database started.
Accurately speaking, there are still two more hours before completing the fifth cycle of the day. But that's irrelevant now.
That night was still vivid for Aldrin. Clicking on an ad and receiving the IDLE Database 'accidentally' when his saliva showered his monitor. And then his life began to roll anew.
However, as the number of IDLE Points that he needed to manage continued growing bigger, Aldrin couldn't help but raise a question to himself. "Aren't I the same as before? I mean... I'm still in front of my PC for almost 24 hours. Moreover, my sleep time has become erratic."
Aldrin shook his head as he began fiddling around the mysterious program's interface. After converting 1800 Points to 180000 Federation Credits, he then used 176250 credits to buy the 50 Small Merchants.
"True it did change my life, turning me from a useless and worthless guy to an Energy Refiner that could now earn a million credits in one day if I stop spending IDLE Points. It helped save myself and Renissa during that disaster. It also helped me reunite with my family that I was too ashamed to meet. But in the end, I still have the same routine. Spending my day in front of my PC, playing." Aldrin continued his monologue as his cursor moved to the glowing spiral, starting the 1st Idle Adventure run for the day.
As soon as his Dimensional Clones reappeared at the same Lower Dimension, he found out that their dropping point was right in the middle of an Ant Squadron consisting of Elite and Soldier Ants.
To prevent his clones to be overwhelmed by them, Aldrin heartbreakingly used 5660 IDLE Points to level up the new unlocked Skill from having a Level 5 Weapon to Level 1 and upgrade the three multipliers twice.
Although there wasn't any special effect from doing it, seeing the two new system notifications lightened Aldrin's heart slightly.
[You leveled up Ripple...]
[Striker can now use Level 1 Ripple]
Dropping right in the middle of the enemies, a fight instantly broke out.
The current Target setting that Aldrin set was Normal to as high as Impossible difficulty. Elite Soldiers and Soldier Ants were inside that range.
While still silently lamenting about the 5660 IDLE Points he spent, Aldrin intently watched as Striker's Level 5 Iron Saber glowed with a wavy brilliant light.
As the Dimensional Clone swung the saber down, ripples of sharp energy burst out from its point of impact, killing all the Soldier Ants that were in its way.
He had just used the 5000 points to level it up and Striker, as if it's a Skill it was familiar with, immediately used it, unleashing an unexpected devastating attack, reducing the surrounding ants from more than 20 to 5.
And with the shocked ants paralyzed from what they witnessed, the initial battle ended in less than 10 seconds when Tank and Hitter also reached the ground and instantly moved according to their role.
"There goes my hard-earned IDLE Points. From 8000 to 500 real quick. But hey, that Ripple... I'm going to try that later." Aldrin rubbed his chin, forcefully dropped the lamentations he's having and eagerly watched his Dimensional Clones do their jobs.
And in this way, Aldrin welcomed another sleepless night.
-
-
"What is this?! Uncle?"
Janet hysterically shouted as she strode inside Matias' office first thing in the morning.
The order for the change of her post came right after waking up, ruining her entire day. She had expressed her intention to remain as the reception girl of the Association but all of a sudden, she was being assigned to become an instructor.
"It is as the order says. One instructor slot for the Joint Rookie Training Camp tomorrow needs to be filled. Our Lonewind City branch has no available late Stage 2 Energy Refiner at the moment because of the disaster four days ago. I have them investigate in and out of the city for traces of anomalies." Matias calmly explained. He was expecting her to react like this so he already had an explanation ready for when she would storm his office.
"And why does it have to be me? There's Gordon!"
"Gordon is a musclehead. He's not fit to be an instructor." Matias simply brushed her suggestion away. Naturally, it's another excuse. Musclehead or not, Gordon could become an instructor. It's just guiding a new Energy Refiner after all.
Upon hearing that, Janet's head moved about along with her eyes, probably thinking of another reason she could use to rescind her post transfer order.
However, no matter where she looked, nothing came to her mind. After a bit of a fit by ruffling her own luscious hair, she crossed her arms as she thought of negotiating the terms with her uncle.
"... Will you give me back my post if I do this?"
"Let's see. It depends on the performance of the rookies that you have to guide. Some of them will surely sign to us rather than the other organizations." Matias slightly smiled. He then pretended to be busy with something to further irk the woman to accept it.
Upon seeing that, Janet clicked her tongue. "Shitty old man! Alright, I'll do it! But this is the last... last time you will be meddling... Uncle. Furthermore, I will leave my post regardless of anything if his call arrives in the middle of the Training Camp."
"No problem. And I promise... this is the last time I will meddle in your affairs. You should know that I'm doing this for you."
"I don't recall ever asking you to do this."
"And I don't recall having the need to ask permission from a subordinate. Much less my own niece. Your parents are on their happy trip across the entire Federation, shall I ask for their consent?"
"No need! Cheapskate."
Having no other rebuttal left, Janet could only click her tongue again and stomp her feet on her way out of the Branch Head's office, leaving behind her uncle who she couldn't reason with.
She's aware that he was looking out for her. She just couldn't find the motivation to go out again even after five years had already passed since that incident. She's still hoping that somewhere out there, her brother is still alive, struggling and waiting for a Rift to open as a way to go home.
Contrary to what she told Renissa and Aldrin, her parents were truly touring the Federation but it's not their honeymoon trip, it's to find clues about the same instance that happened to the Rift where their son was trapped.
-
-
"... Surprisingly, I unlocked a hidden feature. And I achieved it by being lazy for once ever since getting this mysterious program," Aldrin muttered while reading the result of the second run as well as the new lines informing him of a new unlocked feature of the IDLE Database.
Contrary to what Aldrin expected to happen, he got too bored watching his Dimensional Clones scour the surrounding area and diving into the Ant Colony's territory to earn him IDLE Points.
And that was because of the constant changes in the Lower Dimension's environment brought about by his existence.
Even if his clones grew strong enough to easily wrap up a fight against a squad of strong elite ants, the Attack Settings of the Idle Adventure mode had begun to limit their hunting efficiency. His clones wouldn't engage in an impossible fight and more often than not, spend most of their time just stalking their prey. A lot of time was being wasted preparing for an ambush than the actual battles themselves, leading to the eventual slow accumulation of IDLE Points.
Because of that Attack Settings, even if there's a group of enemies that was well within the Target Settings, the mechanics of the latter were always opting for a totally careful approach that mishaps would only happen when the ants would provide a harder resistance or a reinforcement would arrive quickly.
And after meticulous observation, during the start of the second run, for the first time ever since switching it to a more careful approach, Aldrin switched it back to 'Attack on sight' without changing the Target Settings. He then spent another five minutes observing the changes before ultimately deciding to sleep on it, letting his clones do their thing without any other input from him after spending 660 Points for the multipliers.
Back to the present, Aldrin was still trying to wrap his head around why he even tried to be too careful before, if not for that, he had long unlocked a very useful feature...
[Your Dimensional Clones died...]
[Idle Adventure Mode Run Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes, 12 seconds
[Creatures killed: 268(3 Impossible,78 Very Hard, 128 Hard, 59 Normal]
[Total IDLE Points gained: 3285(660 returned to IDLE Point Storage)]
[Total IDLE Points used: 0(660 used from IDLE Point Storage]
[Total IDLE Points to be stored: 1313(originally 2625, 50% Death Penalty)]
[Lower Dimension Conquest progress: 26%]
[Remaining Chances: 3 (will reset at 0:00 local time)]
[Evaluation: C Rating]
[Your clones died fighting!]
[Feature requirement met!]
[Host has unlocked the Automatic Renewal feature in the 1st tab of the Idle Adventure gameplay]
