Infinity City

Not far from the slope was a bustling bar. It was filled with scores of men and women of all sorts, engaged in vivacious chatter and laughter. What took Keanu by surprise was not just the couple openly making love in a corner but the seeming nonchalance of the rest.

Spotting Wyatt's posse striding in with Keanu, a muscular, bald man hollered, "I'll be, Wyatt! You've hooked another sucker, huh?"

"How much did you scam this time, 300CP?" Another chimed in.

"A prickly one, though," Wyatt responded with resignation.

"Damn!" Came the surprised chorus, "You've landed a pufferfish this time? He's got guts!"

"No kidding. Feller took a shot at us," added a man behind Wyatt.

Everyone in the bar turned to look at Keanu in surprise, pausing their festivities.

Keanu followed Wyatt to a spare table and ordered fifty beers, paying 1 CP with his emblem. "Not many like me around, huh?" He asked casually.

Wyatt nodded, "How many folks do you reckon to keep their heads cool with a gun pointed at them? They'd normally shell out whatever they're demanded to. Was robbed blind when I first went through the newcomer's stage myself. Found out too late about the no-attack rule here. Regretted then. All these fools here, they seem wild now, but they had it rough too. Few lucky ones dodge the bullet if nobody was around when they first appeared."

"And how much did you score?"

"800. Lost 300 to the swindlers."

Keanu blinked in slight surprise. He'd earned 7800 CP from his newcomer tasks. After completing the tasks, his emblem was automatically deducted 1000 CP for Scar Face. Even so, he had 6800 CP left. He'd expected that while most newcomers might earn less than him, the gap wouldn't be vast. Wyatt's revelation was a considerable shock - Keanu had earned eight times more than him.

"By the way," Wyatt said, turning to Keanu, "What was your situation before the newcomer's tasks?"

"Killed a few," replied Keanu.

"How many?"

"Killed seven, injured sixteen. Eight were severely crippled." "Dang! No wonder you're so pitiless," Wyatt exclaimed. "So, you're reincarnated postmortem, huh? That's one way to land in Infinity City. Everybody here has a unique backstory. No one's quite figured out how folks are chosen to come here. I was an ordinary laborer., got into a heated argument with my boss at work one day, and the next thing I knew, I was here. Some of the guys came in through near-death experiences, like car accidents, or even asleep! One of our buddies was actually in the throes of passion when he ended up here, butt naked. He finished the newcomer's tasks and entered Infinity City earning the nickname 'The Terminator'."

Everyone broke into laughter, effectively lightening the previously tense atmosphere. Once they had their beers, Wyatt and the others were more than eager to share some information about Infinity City.

The entire city was a survival ground for adventurers. The city was divided into five parts: gutter area, general area, apartment area, villa area, and isolate island, all representing different difficulty levels of tasks. Keanu's current location was the gutter area.

In the gutter area, adventurers had no homes and typically slept outside, often in makeshift tents that cost 30 CP. The weather stayed calm and sunny all year round, and people could store their belongings in their emblems, so life wasn't too harsh.

The gutter area was the initial stage for adventurers; only after earning the rank of corporal could they enter the general area.

An adventurer's rank was their basic level in Infinity City, determined by their performance in the tasks. Ratings for task performances included fail, average, excellent, and perfect.

A rank upgrade required either a perfect rating, two excellent, or five averages. With a corporal's rank, one could enter the general area, lieutenants could move to the apartment area, majors to the villa area, and generals to the isolated island. The highest rank was the marshal, who alone had access to the city's central Tower of Babel, where the ultimate task could be accepted.

Upon completing the ultimate task, Infinity City will grant you a wish. Each area in Infinity City also housed different functional facilities. For instance, weapon upgrades were only possible in the research center in the general area, mercenaries could be hired from the camp in the apartment area, and the villa area offered lavish casinos, and sacrificial halls, among other things.

Adventurers could visit other difficult areas but had to pay 100 CP each time and could only stay for a limited period. A round trip from the gutter area to the villa area, for instance, would cost a hefty 600 CP.

Indeed, Infinity City was a fully functional city with supermarkets, bars, restaurants, and other facilities - even specific personnel for work.

These staff members were all adventurers, lending their services for some extra CP. Take the barmaid who served them earlier. She was an adventurer herself, earning 100 CP for her monthly service. Scar Face's gig as a tutorial guide was yet another example of these concurrent occupations.

All expenses in the city were paid with CP. 1 CP equated to around 100 bucks in the real world. As long as one was willing to spend, they could buy just about anything.

Not only was CP a survival necessity, but it was also the key to personal enhancement. Infinity City's shops offered myriad weapons, battle skills, and even opportunities to upgrade one's attributes. With enough CP, Keanu could augment his abilities to vampiric levels.

Inability to complete tasks would often mean CP deduction. Those without enough CP were eliminated. Therefore, CP was essentially crucial for all adventurers, explaining why seasoned ones would resort to scamming newcomers. Items obtained from the completion of tasks could also be traded for CP, although this function was only available three hours after newcomers entered the city. Therefore, veterans couldn't snatch these items from the newcomers.

However, most adventurers considered that robbing newcomers might not be the smartest option. Needless enemies might mean unnecessary trouble in future task worlds. That's precisely why Wyatt only scammed 300 CP - an amount low enough to deter vengeful newcomers from attempting to fight back. This limit was soon accepted as an unspoken rule in Infinity City - leaving newcomers room to maneuver while providing a safety buffer for the robbers themselves.

Those, however, who did not care about the implications and looted newcomers rampantly often faced collective anger and met premature ends in task worlds.

In Infinity City, one could find people of all sorts - professionals, crooks, slackers, hedonists, relentless trainers, and even blundering drifters. Everyone chose their mode of life.

In terms of information about the city, Wyatt took quite a while to explain the complex and vast system for Keanu to understand gradually.

"All the ins and outs about Infinity City, beyond the initial memories gifted by the city, are for us to discover. Some of the answers and rules are learned through personal experience while others are just hearsay. Amidst all this, there might be rumors or truths, but unless you take that step, you'll never discern the realism. Even if there's some truth, how many people can possibly reach the marshal's rank in this life-and-death world? I've certainly never heard or seen of anyone doing so."

Wyatt's tone echoed despondency, his eyes full of despair. It was clear he didn't believe he had a shot at reaching that rank. Not everyone could face their circumstances with the poise that Keanu displayed.

Keanu then understood why the bar was filled with folks carrying out their desires openly. In this precarious world, many had cast off the constraints of traditional morality and allowed themselves to fully embrace every fleeting moment of life.

He patted Wyatt's shoulder, "Relax, no need to be so down. I quite like it here, you know."

Wyatt stared at him for a long moment before finally responding, "You're a freak. You know that? Those who claim to like it here, either die early or get incredibly tough."

"In that case, I'll definitely be the latter," Keanu replied with a smile. In addition to the general information about Infinity City, Keanu also learned more from Wyatt. To strengthen himself, Keanu would need to visit specialized shops where he could enhance his attributes for just 100 CP. Weapons and Battle Skills were purchasable, too.

The prices for these items varied based on grades; a D-rated item was 3000 CP, a D+ 6000 CP, and C and C+ rated items went for 9000 and 18000 CP respectively. The higher the grade, the more powerful, and expensive.

Moreover, learning new abilities demanded substantial CP and corresponding basic abilities, which ranged from shooting specialization, water affinity, and machine specializations, to demolition specialization at various experience levels. These abilities were prerequisites to learning and using Battle Skills.

The abilities in Infinity City were chiefly categorized into Battle Skills, Innate Skills, Disciplines, Martial Arts, and Bloodlines.

Each Battle Skill required the allocation of a Battle Skill slot, directly impacting fights. Disciplines, on the other hand, required Innate Skills slots with little direct harm to targets.

Martial Arts and Bloodlines did not take up any ability slots but demanded secret codes and CP and respective Bloodlines and CP to learn, respectively.

Adventurers were free to practice multiple Martial Arts, whereas a choice in Bloodlines allowed only one, often bringing with it some exclusive racial Battle Skills.

Innate Skills were inherent abilities. Having an Innate Skill could enhance the efficiency of learning the corresponding Battle Skill and even trigger mutated Battle Skills.

In the early stages of being an adventurer, most leaned towards learning Battle Skills first but had to gradually shift focus to Disciplines, Bloodlines, and Martial Arts to truly excel.

Having relayed all that he knew, Wyatt wrapped up their trade of information. Charged at 50 CP, Keanu felt satisfied, as his initial confusions and curiosities were substantially clarified, and his direction for progress was more defined. Though he had done incredibly well in the newcomer's tasks, judging by Wyatt's narration, there was virtually no limit to an adventurer's growth—it all boiled down to personal determination.

Finally emerging from the shadow of a failed scam, Wyatt poured Keanu a full glass of liquor. "By the way, bro, I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Keanu." "What kind of newbie task did you get? You seem quite confident. Scored some serious gains in there?"

"Just the regular stuff," Keanu responded nonchalantly, "Van Helsing."

"Darn, you hit up a fantasy world? That's rare," Wyatt muttered, "Gutter area is the initial difficulty; most of the task scenarios involve gun fights. As newcomers in the city, guns are the most optimal choice. Only the seasoned adventurers from general areas and above think fists are better than guns. You land in a fantasy world on your first run – not sure if that's good or bad luck."

"Surviving is good luck," Keanu stated.

From a distance, someone shouted, "Fantasy worlds are tough, yeah, but they also offer generous rewards. This guy seems pretty ballsy, and I bet he didn't take the easy, 25% difficulty path. Probably went for the 50% or 100%."

"100%," Keanu responded.

Murmurs spread through the crowd, aware of the daunting challenge that represented.

"The rewards must've been worth it. Even if you didn't kill Dracula, you must've gained plenty," another voiced.

Keanu turned to him, "How do you know I didn't kill Dracula?"

Wyatt interjected quickly, "Nobody's done it. Newbie tasks are pretty standard. We all are acquainted with what they entail. Dracula is the final boss in the Van Helsing world. He only shows up in difficulties over 50%, always at full strength during 100% difficulty. No newcomer has ever defeated him at that level. At 50%, well, a few have succeeded. Some newcomers have ventured, at 100%, to challenge Dracula, but all of them failed. Luckily, failing that task doesn't lead to elimination, so a lucky few managed to escape. Anyone who's made it out alive from that 100% run is a big shot in Infinity City now. They say fully transformed Dracula has 3000 HP, and his Battle Skill attacks are terrifying. He is a tough adversary even for us seasoned folks, let alone newcomers."

Keanu nodded, "Indeed."

His composed expression left Wyatt puzzled.

"You're not...going to tell me that you actually killed Count Dracula, are you?"

Keanu smiled but remained silent.

The entire bar fell into silence.

Everyone looked at Keanu in stunned silence. After a pause, Keanu said, "No matter how tough a boss is, its purpose ultimately boils down to being defeated by someone."