Code Collector

The crowd was wild and obnoxious. Apparently, Camp Valentina had a tradition where they party all week when the moons of the Otherworlds align. And the day after tomorrow, the moons will align.

"It's been a while," Matthew said. He brought them in a rooftop where he reserved the entire venue for them. There were no other people there except for Matthew and Allen's gang.

"Matthew, how have you been?" Jeremy asked. "After the incident, we have never heard from you."

"I was demoted because I allowed such tragedy to happen," Matthew chuckled. "The world is tough to those who doesn't have power like me. I can only rely on my talents."

"As if we're any better," Gwen sighed. "Everyone's at a disadvantage one way or another. I even got kicked out by the police with Jeremy, but you don't see us being a b*tch about it."

"That is true. So, you're here because?" Matthew asked with an impressed smile.

"We're here for a reason that we cannot disclose," Allen replied. "I'm sorry, Matthew."

"No, it's okay," the man nodded slowly. "I understand. But since you're already here, why don't we party and have fun? Just for one night."

The others looked at Allen who had a skeptical look on his face. He pouted for a moment before sighing, shrugging and then nodding. "I guess one night won't hurt. But we have to stay together."

"Got that," Jeremy nodded. "We're going to control ourselves and not let anything distract us."

–

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Turn that sh*t off!" Allen groaned as he rolled to the side, only for the sunlight to hit his face. He opened his eyes and realized that he was still in the rooftop, entangled with the bodies of his friends while they formed a big lump of flesh on one corner.

"You're finally up," Matthew entered the rooftop with a tray of food in each of his hands. "Your alarm was beeping since earlier, but I didn't want to wake you up, so I let it be."

"What time is it?" Allen sat up and rubbed his eyes, feeling the effects of the alcohol that he drank the night before. He didn't want to go all out, but he got caught up in the moment. 

Matthew handed him a bowl of soup, "It's already noon. About half past one."

"One thirty?!" Allen gasped. He immediately pushed his friends' bodies apart and nudged them one by one. "You need to wake up. We need to go."

"Five more minutes, mom," Gwen replied with a scruffed voice. Her voice was nothing like the Gwen that Allen was usually talking to. She sound more like an old man than a woman at the moment.

Allen turned to Gary who was sleeping on his stomach. The man was laying his face flat on the ground, making Allen scrunch his face as he was the one who felt the pain. "Gary, wake up."

"If you let me play basketball again, I'll stand," Gary groaned. This made Allen also groan as he looked at the one who he trusted most out of the the three.

Allen placed both his hands Jeremy's shoulders and shook him vigorously. This made the man groan and his eyes fluttered open, seeing the sun way above the skies as it rained down its heat upon them. "What the hell happened?"

"Everyone blacked out," Allen said. "We need to go now. We don't have much time until the Skill Altar closes again."

"Oh? That's perfect," Matthew said. Allen wanted to facepalm after forgetting that they weren't alone. Matthew has heard of their conversation and will now be suspicious of them. "I'm actually assigned at the Skill Altar as the afternoon to midnight shift. Let's all go there together."

Allen, even though it was against his heart, nodded. This way, at least the one they knew would let them enter and not just some stranger. If Matthew lies about the time they entered and basically about everything for the sake of their friendship, Allen would feel much better.

Allen was also only trying to lessen the casualty in case something would happen. If Matthew was one of the guards in the Skill Altar, then they have a much bigger chance of getting out if Lin decided to plant a trap.

"Okay," Matthew slammed both his hands together. "Wake those two up. I'll prepare myself."

The man left, leaving the two for themselves. They have to wake up Gary and Gwen before Matthew returns, but judging from the state of their unconscious friends, it would be a hard task.

"Wake up!" Jeremy nudged Gary. He was now vigorously shaking the large man like what he did to Jeremy, but it was no use. Gary was still snoring like a big baby. "Jeremy? What about Gwen?"

The woman was now sitting up. Jeremy had somehow found a way to wake her up, while they still tried to wake Jeremy up.

Not a moment later, when Allen and Jeremy were kneeling in front of Gary, a water was splashed onto them. Allen looked behind him and saw Gwen grinning at them. "Time to freshen up."

"I'm drowning!" Gary suddenly sat up and reached up. "Oh, my god what happened?"

"Wake up, big baby," Gwen said. "We have a task to finish."

–

The Skill Altar of Camp Valentina was much like any other Skill Altar. Apart from the litter and clutter on every possible street in the camp, there was no difference from the others.

When the first Hunters built the buildings for the altars, they decided to file a blueprint for all the Skill Altars in the Otherworlds. Each world have their own Skill Altar blueprint and would only differ in terms of color, depending on the climate that the camp is on.

The Skill Altar was located inside a large building that looked like a church from the Renaissance. There were large decorations made of stone and marble that made the altar looked religious, but it birthed more darkness than light.

Inside the large white iron gates was a short but wide hall that formed a patio and lobby for the Hunters. On the end of the hall were the counters where the Hunters would log in themselves.

The people in the counter would hand the Hunters gate passes. If a Hunter without a pass would enter past the lobby, the alarm would go off and the Hunter would be brought inside the police station for questioning.

The gate pass is actually a wrist band which can only be locked or unlocked at the counter. Once you enter the Skill Altar, you have to log into the system and the wrist band wille be attached to you. After you burn the Codes, you go back to the lobby and log the Codes you burned.

The screen that the system used has an advanced technology in them, making it set the alarm off once the Hunter that logs the Codes they burned caught lying. Every press was read by the system and somehow, they had this kind of system.

Allen was impressed too. They have this kind of technology, but they don't have cars or effective cameras. He then realized that the founders focused more on how to makes things like these systems work instead of thr unnecessary cars and cameras.

After the lobby, you will go past an arch where the gate passes are read. When cleared, the arch would lead to the main hall where the Skill Altar was located.

It's a large dome-shaped hall and the Skill Altar is located in the middle. Everything was made of white stone, and the lights inside the hall were maintained so it wasn't dark. Adding the fact that the center of the dome was made of glass, the hall of Skill Altar was really designed well.

"We're here," Matthew said. "You show them that card and I'll be back soon, okay?"

Allen nodded and entered the iron gates. He questioned the two former police officers how the diplomatic pass would work on the scanning arch and the two answered him.

Apparently, when a diplomatic arch is shown, the arch would be temporarily overriden and the people who were with the pass would be able to enter the arch. The scanning arch will read the people and identify them so they don't have to show the counter the card.

There not a lot of people in the Skill Altar, so they didn't have a hard time getting through. Jeremy joked about how the Hunters in the camp were too hangover to work and the others laughed at him. But Allen thought that he wasn't too wrong about what he said. After all that partying, everyone must be hangover.

Allen got inside the Skill Altar hall and he approached the stone altar. A wide stone platform with a protruding altar in the center. He went close to the Skill Altar and burned the Codes he needed.

'Congratulations! You have reached Level 60. You are now able to ascend to the higher worlds.'

Allen smirked as he spoke to himself, "Finally, I can go to Paradise!"