Chapter 12: Global Meritorious Achievement

"I am Damon....."

"Damon Einstein," he said to Hazel in a flat tone, the expression on his pale face as bare as ever

"I know.... The white prince." Hazel murmured as her smile stretched a bit, carefully sitting into the space on Damon’s left.

She didn’t look too surprised by Damon’s unusual bearing, which often came across as arrogant or pompous to those who didn’t know him.

This person clearly knew who he was, as well as most of the other surviving college students. This fact wasn’t surprising to Damon, as just a while back his presence was made known to the world, his name trending through various media platforms; it was just a bit uncomfortable, is all.

"That..... that looks bad. Are you okay?"

Hazel intoned with concern written all over her face, her gaze lingering over Damon’s torso, where specks of black crimson were slowly leaking through the bandages.

"Actually—"

"We were hoping to ask a favor of you, Lady Hazel." Mildred interrupted from the side before Damon could even comment on his condition. She looked even more impatient as the young lady pointed out Damon’s condition.

"Of course. I will gladly help with anything I can— Mr Harvey saved my life after all."

"Now that I think about it, I have been very rude. Thank you, Mr Harvey." Hazel said sincerely to Harvey, standing on Damon’s left.

"Think nothing of it, Lady Hazel," replied Harvey.

"And... just Hazel is fine, please," she added, clearly unused to being addressed so formally.

Mildred, who was used to regarding guests formally, was doing so even now that the world had been plunged into a literal hell. But she was quick to adjust.

"Alright, Hazel... "

"We’ve delayed long enough, and as you can see, Master Damon is not in great shape."

"Harvey and I will go down to the twenty-ninth floor, then the twenty-eighth floor and clear out any mutants present—"

"And should we be lucky enough, we should successfully secure enough Origin crystals to purchase that item from the store..."

"And if not....we’ll have to descend to lower floors."

Hazel nodded in understanding as both she and Damon watched Harvey and Mildred give a once-over to their equipped weapons.

"In the meantime, please stay with Master Damon for a while and keep an eye on his wounds—"

"Keep a special eye on Brad and those two. If something happens, please send me a direct message."

Damon said nothing about this arrangement. He understood fully well why his attendants were uncomfortable about leaving him alone. Even when he was uninjured, he was still weaker than most.

They had approached Brad because he was clearly the strongest around, not expecting him to actually harbor such resentment for Damon. Now they could only trust someone who at least appeared to be on their side, since they had no choice if they wanted Damon’s wounds to be healed.

"Will just you guys be enough?...."

"The place might be swarming with mutants," Hazel interjected.

"That’s unlikely... the building operates a single elevator to get to the lower floors, excluding the penthouse’s exclusive one...."

"And as I recall, the entrances to the stairways from below have always been kept locked by the building’s supervisor, except for emergencies." Harvey clarified. They have clearly put a lot of thought into the feasibility of this plan.

The high-rise building they were in is one of Damon’s many properties. It has a total of thirty floors. The top floor is the penthouse, which not only has an exclusive elevator, but also a cozy rooftop.

There was the general elevator, which is much larger and used by everyone else in the building, while the penthouse elevator can only be accessed by those registered to its system.

There’s also a stairway connecting all floors; however, there’s a sturdy metal door on the ground floor entrance to the stairway barring entry unless the general elevator was out of order. There was also another metal door barring entrance to the penthouse floor unless unlocked.

So, essentially, the ground floor stairway’s entry only allows access up to the twenty-ninth floor, and since the elevator has always been in proper condition, there’s never been a need to open up the stairway, and the keys have always been with the building’s supervisor.

This is quite lucky for the residents of the building, since this would prevent mutants that had most likely, at this point, surrounded the base of the building from gaining access to the upper floors through the stairways if they manage to swarm their way into the ground floor.

This is with the hopeful premise that these mutants can’t operate elevators, because if they can..... Then everyone’s essentially done for.

Mildred saying they were going on the twenty-ninth and twenty eight floor of the building to ’clear it out’ .... was just a nice way of putting it. Since it was unlikely that any mutants below would be making their way into this building, their target was actually the residents of the building, who, just like the students, some must have mutated as well.

It was relatively safer than going into the chaos unfolding outside this building, and more controlled. Some of the students who were probably eager to get in touch with their loved ones would instantly give up after looking through the tempered glass windows.

For Harvey and Mildred, dealing with the threat inside the building would not only make the building more secure, but it could also allow them to get their hands on the much-needed origin crystals. Assuming nothing goes wrong and there are no surprises.

Damon didn’t have much of a problem with this; he knows almost nothing about his neighbors, just that this building, being centered at the heart of the city, houses some of the most affluent members of society. But this mutation does not discriminate; both the rich and poor alike are equally mutated.

"If it’s origin crystals.... "

"I think Brad, as well as one of the twins, managed to get some."

Hazel informed in a hushed tone....

However, neither of Damon’s attendants looked surprised by this information.

Though Harvey and Mildred were unable to get any earlier, that didn’t mean no one else did. Mildred had made a point to ask if anyone had any earlier, and no one had stepped forward.

So it stands to reason that they either already used it or weren’t inclined to offer up something so precious.

There were fifteen students in total who had been in Damon’s living room, and out of those, more than half had mutated.

Aside from Harvey and Mildred, Brad and the two young men Damon was just finding out were fraternal twins had landed a few kills themselves, as confirmed by Harvey.

The stance of these young men had already been made clear, and it was best to avoid that group for the meantime. They had become a threat probably even worse than the mutants outside these walls, and aside from Hazel that was being friendly with Damon, the stance of the other survivors was still unknown. And among these five.... There might just be another superhuman awakened in hiding, since there’s no way to tell.

Right as Damon was thinking along those lines, a loud sound like a fanfare resounded in his mind as twirling colors formed bold, cryptic words in front of his vision. It was very different from anything the origin system had ever presented, and he could feel deep down the weight of this announcement. Looking around, everyone else in the living room was in a similar state of shock, staring dazedly in front of them.

This was happening to everyone. Everywhere. All at once.

[✦ GLOBAL MERITORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT✦

✦ 500 INSTANT KILLS✦

✦CONGRATULATIONS @ShyButterfly ✦]

At this moment, there was just one question on everyone’s mind in the whole world, with both local and global chat channels exploding in an uproar, not just at the discovery that there was an achievement system, but at the subject of the announcement.

Who was this person?.....

What sort of superhuman monster is this ’ShyButterfly’?