The weeks following his return from his first incursion saw Rumor settling down on a routine.
After he proved he wasn't going to cause trouble, he was given a proper room instead of a cell. It wasn't much, but it had a bed, a bathroom, and, most importantly, a computer and television.
One of the first things Xue Luo had told him after she returned from investigating the return of another tester - who, according to her, seemed to have been scared to death - was that he should take whatever free moment he had to learn.
Learn what, you might ask? Why, about all the possible universes The Mind might send him to.
So it was that Rumor's days were composed mostly of running to the impressively stocked library the base had, or reading books on his computer and watching TV in his room.
Star Wars, Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean, Alien, Game of Thrones, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Marvel, DC, Dune, Mad Max, Matrix, Rangers, Friday 13th, and many more movies, series, and books were consumed by him.
Of course, it was impossible for him to binge all of pop culture over the course of a month. But he at least got an overview of most everything in the very, very long list of confirmed universes The Mind replicated.
In a way, it was the dream life of a shut-in. If only there wasn't always the knowledge that soon he would be thrown into one of those fictional worlds and forced to fight for his life hanging over his head.
But absorbing content - researching, call it researching - wasn't all he did. He also cornered Xue Luo to ask her questions about The Mind, and met other testers.
Although there was only one amongst the new testers who he recognized, a woman called Lia, most were from The Quarter, so he was at least familiar with their faces.
It was with Lia that Rumor was sitting right now, watching Batman: The Dark Knight.
These little watch parties had become part of their routine too. Rumor and Lia went way back, having both been orphans on the streets at roughly the same time, so they knew neither was the type to backstab the other.
Of course, after going through The Mind, neither would either of them fully trust anyone ever again, period. But watching a movie together and discussing relevant plot points was harmless enough.
Their experiences in their incursions had also been very different. While Rumor had been sent to the Star Wars universe and given a fairly tame main mission, enough that he went to look for trouble on his own, Lia hadn't been so lucky.
She had entered the universe of the movie series The Purge. Her main mission? Survive.
Needless to say, Lia had come out The Mind a lot more jumpy than she went in, and that was saying something for someone hailing from The Quarter.
They had learned a lot by exchanging information with each other. Things they could only suspect and make assumptions about were mostly confirmed, others discarded.
For example, the destination of future incursions weren't entirely random. Lia had gained an item she could use to forcefully change a future incursion to The Purge universe, not that she was ever planning to use it.
Rumor also wasn't the only one who had gleamed from The Mind's messages that they could trade with other testers in the future.
Xue Luo had been happy enough to confirm it to Rumor at a later occasion, saying that, when they entered The Mind next time, but before starting an incursion, they would have time to update their status and explore what she called the Plaza - which was, at Rumor's best guess, like a marketplace for testers.
In the weeks that had passed since he first returned, the rest of the potential testers rounded up from The Quarter had also come back from The Mind.
Of the 48 Xue Luo said there were, 14 survived their first incursion. It was a depressing statistic.
As he was focused on the movie, Rumor suddenly felt Lia stiffen next to him. He gave her a glance.
"What's wrong?"
The woman sat up straighter, her eyes glinting hard.
"I just got a message from The Mind. One month has passed since my last incursion. I have to start another anytime between now and the next two months."
Her voice was cold, unshakable. Unlike Rumor, she wasn't looking forward to it. But she also wasn't like some of the other testers, who had broken down after realizing it wasn't a one-time thing.
Xue Luo had sneered at those who did, saying they wouldn't last another incursion.
"I came back 6 hours after you."
Which meant very soon Rumor would receive the same message. He looked at the movie, which was still playing on the screen, and got up.
"I'll see you later, Lia."
"Good luck, Dolan."
She didn't ask if he was planning on entering right away when his cooldown was up. She knew she still needed a couple more weeks of rest.
...
Rumor found Xue Luo where she always was at this time of the day: a recreational room next door to the canteen, watching a volleyball game of all things.
Xue Luo, he had learned, was sort of the caretaker the organization - which he still didn't know the name of - had assigmed to their group.
And yes, they were just one of the groups under the organization. She hadn't said how many others were there, but Rumor got the distinct impression there was some sort of competition ongoing for who got the most promising testers of each batch.
Xue Luo was also one cold bitch. She smiled and laughed all the time, but when one of the more desperate testers had tried to escape from the base despite her repeated warnings, she hadn't wasted a second on clutching his head with her small, fair hand, and squeezing until it popped like a balloon.
That had been a gruesome sight, and a lesson to all of the new testers. They were still newborns in this brave new world. Xue Luo was a veteran who had more experience, stats, and, most importantly, the prestige to use them in the real world.
"Yo, if it isn't my favorite little calf! What can I do for ya today, Rumor? Finally here to take me up on my offer of rolling around under the sheets?"
Rumor ignored her with practiced ease. Xue Luo offered to have sex with everyone she came across, man or woman, tester or not. He had no idea how many had taken her up on it, but he hadn't.
Not that she wasn't attractive, because she was, but he had too much to do and too little time to waste it fooling around.
"My next incursion is in 6 hours."
That got Xue Luo's attention. She sat up straighter and turned to look fully at him.
"Going back in right away? Bold. I think you might be the only one this batch. Better be careful not to be too eager though, huh, Rumor?"
That was an earnest warning, without any hidden meanings. She had seen many testers drown in the feeling of getting new power. They often ended up rushing to their deaths.
But Rumor dismissed her concerns with a wave of his hands. He had thought this through.
"I'm going. I wanted to know if there's any big difference between the first and second incursions."
Xue Luo tapped her lips with a manicured finger.
"Well, there's less system assistance, but you already knew that. It will also be a different universe, so I hope you have been studying. Other than that... Not really. It's still a closed incursion, the first 3 always are. The difficulty will still be low, but don't expect the main mission to be so simple."
No surprises, then. Or, Xue Luo was hiding something. Either way, there was only one way to know.
"Catch you on the other side."
...
[ Welcome back to The Mind, tester Rumor. It has been confirmed you have completed your first incursion. Time remaining until next mandatory incursion: 2 months. Would you like to start your next incursion now or enter your room? ]
"Enter my room."
Rumor had already cleared all of it with Xue Luo over the last month. Aside from the first time, every time testers entered The Mind, they could choose to immediately start an incursion or go to their room.
The room was nothing more than a private space inside of The Mind. No one but the room's owner could enter unless they were invited. It was completely secure and safe.
Rumor looked around. His private room was barren. Nothing more than a metal box with a bed and a shelf. If he wanted more furniture or amenities, he would have to buy them.
But the real value of a tester's room was in the privacy. It was there that he could go through his rewards from the last incursion without having to worry about anyone bothering or spying on him.
[ Main Mission - A Better Life completed. Congratulations. ]
[ Time remaining: None ]
[ Mission summary: You managed to reach the Core Region of the galaxy, exceeding mission requirements. ]
[ Calculating completion percentage... 100%. Rating: Perfect. ]
[ Completion reward: 1.000 Currency Points, 300 Skill Points 5 Free Attribute Points, +100 Prestige, +1 Silver Wish Voucher. ]
[ Scenario exploration: 100% ]
[ Scenario exploration summary: You reached the Core Region of the galaxy, achievement a perfect exploration rate. ]
[ Scenario exploration rewards: 1.000 Currency Points, 300 Skill Points, 1 Free Attribute Point. ]
[ World exploration: 4,2% ]
[ World exploration summary: Tatooine exploration rate - 48%. Side Missions completed: 1. Achievements completed: 9. Relationship and reputation meters factored. ]
[ World exploration rewards: 2.000 Currency Points, 400 Skill Points, 2 Free Attribute Points. ]
The summary of his last incursion was like Rumor had left it. First things first, he claimed all the rewards.
Currency Points, like the name said, were the 'money' of The Mind. You could use it to buy and sell stuff to other testers, as well as buy things, such as furniture for your room - but not limited to it - directly from The Mind.
His first incursion had granted him 4.000 CP (Currency Points). From what he had been told, usually most player only walked out with a thousand if they simply did the bare minimum to finish the incursion.
SP, or Skill Points, were used to upgrade skills. Rumor had 1.000 of them.
Upgrading a 1-Star Skill like [ Red Blood ] to level 2 cost 100 SP. From level 2 to level 3, the price increased to 200 SP. And then it increased again, to 300 SP. And so it went.
With skills of a higher rarity, it was worse. [ Grav-Leap Boost ] started at 200 SP for level 2, but each increase after was another 200 SP.
And the other rarities were the same. Increases of 300 SP for 3-Stars, 400 SP for 4-Stars, and 500 SP for 5-Stars.
In other words, if he wanted to get a 1-Star skill to level 10, the maximum, he would need 4.500 SP. And the day he got a 5-Stars skill, that would be 22.500 points.
That meant having tons of skills wasn't always the best choice. After all, unless you only accumulated passive skills, it was doubtful you would have enough MP or HP to use them all. And even if you did, they would all be low-level.
Right now, Rumor only had 1.000 SP. He had to make a choice. He could upgrade one 1-Star skill to level 5, or one 2-Stars skill to level 3, or he could spread it out to a few skills.
Decisions, decisions. He set it aside for now. There were still to rewards to look at.
Free Attribute Points. Rumor gained 8 of them. Having already thought about it before, in the real world, he quickly assigned a whole 5 to vitality, and the remaining 3 to strength.
Next was prestige. That one was simple. Before the incursion, his prestige sat a Unknown, without anything else attached to it.
Now, it was Unknown (100/1.000). If it worked the same way as reputation, that meant Rumor would have to perfectly complete 10 incursions just to get it to Familiar.
Finally, there was the reward he was looking forward to the most. A [ Silver Wish Voucher ].
[ Silver Wish Voucher ]
[ Rarity: Silver ]
[ Effect: Tear this voucher to request one of the following from The Mind - Silver CP Box, Silver SP Box, Silver Item Box, Silver Skill Box, Silver Trait Box, Silver Information Box. ]
[ Restrictions: Bound to tester. Can not be traded or given away. ]
[ Description: A Silver Voucher that allows the tester to request one singular thing from The Mind. Due to low prestige and the tier of this voucher, options are limited. ]
Rumor was tempted. Oh, he was so tempted. The [ Silver Information Bix ] was practically glowing, requesting, no demanding he take it.
But he was about to embark on his second incursion. The most important thing right now wasn't to learn more, but to get stronger. As long as he perfectly completed his next main mission, he would get another voucher.
"Select [ Silver SP Box ]."
It was one of the more boring of the options. But also the most useful to him at the moment.
[ You used a Silver SP Box. Randomly awarding between 1.000 and 5.000 SP... ]
[ Congratulations! You have received 2.800 SP!"
Not the best, but not the worse. It nearly quadrupled the SP Rumor had in hand, so he would take it.
Now, then, to use said SP. Skills couldn't be upgraded during an incursion, so he had to make his choices now.
What to do, what to do...