The Extra’s Survival: Logging into the Game Master System!

[Adrian's POV!]

[Your Gift [Cartography!] has increased by 1 Grade!]

[Your Gift [Cartography!] has increased by 1 Grade!]

[Gift: Cartography! (Growth Type)

Grade: Lower Mortal Grade - 4

Experience till next Grade: 90.00% (54/60 Square Miles)

Effect:

-Allows the user to create layered mental maps based on what he has observed! The user can switch between different layers at will!

-Marks all the Players on the Map with green color!

-Marks all the NPCs on the Map with yellow color!

-Marks all the Monsters on the Map with red color!

-Marks all the Tower Officials on the Map with blue color!

-Limited information about the known players will be available!

-Allows the user to Mark 3 movable targets! The complete known information about the targets will be visible!]

Standing alone in a high ground area, at the top of the tallest building, I observed the night city view in front of me. Though there were people here before, they all went down about a few minutes ago, as I stood there all by myself here.

After looking around in circles, at the entire city and beyond, I increased the grade of the [Gift], once again. But it seems like I would need to work extra hard from here onwards if I want to reach Grade 0 or beyond.

'It's still nice though,' I thought as I looked at the huge map in front of me, showing me the entire city and much of the forest area beyond that. Fun thing was that I was able to locate monsters, NPCs and all the players present in the city.

Though in order to look beyond what I was already capable of, I either need to increase the [Perception!] skill, or venture into the forest to increase it manually.

"All right. This sums up a bit of everything that I wanted to do. So, what should be my next move from here?" I thought as I looked at the huge city in front of me. There were many things I could do but to be fair, there was nothing that takes an utmost priority here.

"Doesn't this suffocate you?"

A sweet voice came from my left, making me turn to her as I saw a brown haired girl wearing a white one piece dress as she stood barefoot, watching the city view with a deep look in her eyes. There was emptiness in her eyes as if she was staring into an empty space in front of her.

"You seem to be new here. Did you just arrive?" She asked as slowly turned to me, while I observed her for a brief moment without answering her. While I could have answered her immediately, the fact that she was semi transparent, made me wonder if I was looking at a real thing or was just hallucinating?

"Ah! Apologies. I am Nora. The soul of the first floor," she spoke as she smiled at me with a smile that was way too melancholic.

"Soul of the floor?" I asked as I observed Nora. She nodded at my question before speaking,

"My real body is the entire floor. I am an ethereal entity whose life force is used to create this floor. What you are witnessing is just the projection of what my real self used to look like."

"Is that so? Seems rather tragic," I spoke to which she chuckled and answered,"it is."

"So are you like the entire city or beyond that as well?" I asked a bit curious, to which she answered," the entire floor. You can think of the city as my heart. Are you curious about how I came to be?"

I pondered a bit before answering," I don't know."

"Hmmm?" Confused she tilted her head before I explained,

"If it concerns me, then I am curious. If it has nothing to do with me, then I am not. So while I think that it may concern me, I don't know if it really does or not."

"That's a strange way to think," she smiled before she said," well. Then let's not talk about me. Tell me a bit about yourself. What's your story?"

"The name is Crowley. About my story. There is nothing particularly interesting," I said as I wondered if I should find a hotel nearby to call it a day and just sleep. As for all the mysteries of the safe zone and beyond, I will solve everything one by one, one step at a time. Including this one as well.

Though before that, another voice came from behind.

"Nora. There you are. We have been searching for you," a feminine voice came from behind, as about a dozen people wearing black uniforms appeared. They first looked at Nora before turning at me.

"It was fun talking with you, Mr. Crowley. Let's meet again later," Nora spoke as she began walking towards those people, before all of them left from there in a hurried manner.

I saw a couple of them peeking back at me, but that was for a few times before they vanished from my sight completely, leaving me alone as I kept staring in the area where they left from.

On the map, their color was represented by blue, most probably people of the tower who watched over the floors. The interesting thing was the color of Nora that was shown on the Map.

It was neither blue nor yellow. It wasn't green or red either… It was purple. A color whose meaning I didn't knew.

"Should I get involved or not?" I wondered if there was any worth in doing that. And in the end, I decided that it would be better to throw someone else into this problem than going in myself.

"Now where am I gonna find someone-" as I was thinking, I saw a familiar face appearing in front of me.

"Alice! Can you… huff huff… slow down for a moment? We… We have been walking continuously… for an hour now!" Mark's voice came from behind Alice as he huffed and puffed a lot.

Unlike Alice who was perfectly fine, Mark was practically drenched in sweat.

Alice looked around the area, as if trying to find someone. Her eyes narrowed as she kept observing the empty area while Mark moved closer to her.

"Alice… Why were you sure… that he was… here?" Mark asked as he observed Alice before looking around the area. Even though he was hiding his emotions, I could see the sadness in the corner of his eyes.

"It's high ground. The highest in the entire city. If he wanted to increase the grade of his [Gift!] this was the best place to do so," Alice spoke, answering Mark's question.

I was surprised to hear that Alice could predict what I wanted to do. Though on second thought, it wasn't that hard to guess.

'With my stealth and illusion, they probably can't see me. Should I just appear in front of them?' As I was pondering, I noticed that there were more people approaching us. A group of 10 players.

In the front were Alex and Julia, leading the rest of the party. They reached up the high ground pretty fast, as they joined Alice and Mark.

Both of them looked around, as if trying to find someone, before they looked at Alice who simply sighed and shook her head, signifying that she didn't find me.

Behind the duo, were the rest of the players. 6 of them from Julia's girls party, while the rest two were her old friends, Reyan and Tristan.

'Ah! Of course they would come back to life as well,' I was shocked for a brief moment before recalling that everyone who dies, comes back to life.

'Well. That fixes my decision of not showing myself here,' I firmed my mind. It was barely fine to appear in front of Alice and Mark, but the rest of them, I would rather not.

The group started talking among themselves on their next move and what they should do now. Some wanted to rest and others talked about the skill and armor shops they saw on their way here.

Didn't take much long to reach a conclusion as everyone decided to return back down. All except Alice as she watched the night city view in front of her.

"Alice?" Alex asked. Alice kept staring at the empty space in front of her as she spoke,

"I'll be there in a moment. You guys go."

Not minding much, everyone slowly nodded and then left from there. Mark also stayed for a few more seconds, observing Alice but since there wasn't any point in staying here anymore, he too left as well.

The wind brushed past Alice's face as she looked at the bright city below. She had mixed emotions about this new life of hers, as she wondered what she should do next.

Despite being the strongest member of her group… she felt weak. Despite being surrounded with people who were there for her… she felt lonely. It was an odd predicament that she just wanted to get out of.

"You shouldn't cry, you know?" I spoke as I removed my stealth, making her widen her eyes before she turned to me.

A sudden smile appeared on her face. A smile of relief, as if all the tension has subsided from her body. She looked at me with hope returning to her eyes.

"Adrian," she called out my name as her eyes glistened a little. There was a hint of joy in it, a hint of relief. And returning the smile, I answered,

"Good to see you too, Alice."