Cosmic Patron System: 100X Return on Every Reward

Arpita lay on her bed, lazily turning around. Her eyes were half open, trying to wake up, but the other half insisted on a bit more sleep. Luna was also sitting beside her, though she was completely awake.

Out of nowhere, a notification panel chimed in, catching Arpita’s attention.

"Who is bothering me in the morning?" She lazily sat up as she checked the notification.

[StarWalker has started a stream titled; 8 Dungeons, 8 Hours. Let’s see if the clock runs out first or the gates!]

[Would you like to join?]

"Huh?" she exclaimed, her sleep evaporating from her eyes.

"What is it?" Luna asked.

"StarWalker has started a stream, this early in the morning and what’s with the title?" She replied.

"If he is clearing gates in the vicinity of Mumbai, traveling to other gates itself will take huge chunk of time and he wants to clear 8 gates in 8 hours."

"Maybe it is just a click bait title to attract viewers, newbies do this often," she doubted.

"Let’s just watch, maybe today’s morning will be interesting." Luna suggested.

"Yeah, just a sec," Arpita nodded as she hurried up from bed to freshen up before start watching the stream.

A few minute later, she started the stream as Luna sat in her shoulder, watching it with her.

"Ohh...that’s a cool mask," Luna was the first to react as the video started.

Arpita noticed him silently, watching StarWalker move with such speed, her brows raised.

"Can you see through his mask?" Arpita asked.

"Nope, I don’t think it’s a simple mask. All I can say is, it gives off an impression closer to that of a dragon," Luna replied as she watched intently.

"His appearance do match that of Reyansh’s physical image but that is still generalized." Arpita commented.

"Do you think any kind of identification artifact help?" she added further.

"Nope, one can use their own abilities to identify or check a person visible in stream but not external help." Luna answered.

"Though if you have a soul bound artifact of that type, we could give a try," she suggested.

"No, I was thinking of looking into team’s treasury if it helped. I will look for someone with such abilities but if even you can’t figure him out, there are less chances I will find anyone else." Arpita answered.

"An unrelated question though, it has always been at the back of my mind. Is there someone who maintain this system like a group or individual?" Arpita questioned while she watched Reyansh destroy a group of slimes.

’He is unbelievably fast for a new hunter,’ she wondered.

"My knowledge doesn’t extend that much. Even beings of High rank dimension don’t know. I only heard of rumors when I was curious, only few beings in Apex dimensions knows the entity behind the system." Luna answered.

Arpita nodded as they watched the stream also keeping an eye on the chats.

When StarWalker passed through a group of slimes, Arpita started to lose her composure. She was immediately comparing him with herself and her journey at the start.

The more she compared, the more she was baffled. This was talent she couldn’t afford to lose.

’I have to get him on our side, if we want to survive what’s coming. I hope he agrees and we have enough time to recruit him.’ She started planning ahead.

"Who the hell is giving him a challenge of 500 Cosmic coins? I received such challenges when I at least reach A rank," Arpita exclaimed as StarWalker received a challenge.

"He does have some peculiar viewers. That Sandra who shut down Miss Fiona or even that Redina who was answering you on his behalf." Luna responded.

"It certainly is impressive to have such subscribers base in just 2 days." She added.

Both watched with their eyes peeled as StarWalker faced the boss of the Slime Nest along with its minions with a challenge to complete.

When StarWalker attacked, they noticed every detail as the way he almost teleported near boss then after killing it with one move, he proceeded further to wipe out the minions in the same beat.

Arpita was silent for a second, physically and mentally. While Luna just remained seated, trying to process the scene she just witnessed.

"What the hell! Is he really a newbie?" Arpita blurted out.

She didn’t waited for a reply, "If he is such a better hunter even in his early days, he must have been a monster during his school day. How did we miss this guy?"

However, just as she spoke, she became silent again, only physically this time. As her mind raced, comparing the tactically brilliant attack she just saw to the reports she had read about a certain someone.

"It couldn’t be?" she spoke involuntarily.

"What couldn’t be?" Luna asked, looking at Arpita’s emotion.

"I know I have no definitive proof but there is only one person we know that fits this criteria and guess who?" Arpita answered as a triumphant smile graced her face.

"Reyansh is StarWalker," Luna answered after a second of realization.

"Yes, we still have to confirm but I am sure in my gut that both are the same person." Arpita confirmed.

"Now, let’s hope we are able to persuade him to join The Nisapal." Arpita spoke in hopeful yet resolute tone as they watched Reyansh enter a cab.

[Outside Slime Nest]

Reyansh, completely unaware as Arpita started working on her plan to engage him into something deeper and dangerous, was thinking about the next gate.

"Where to boss?" the driver as he entered the cab.

"Hmm...Bone burrows and please be quick. The faster you are, more credits you will earn. I will add 1000 credits for every second you save." Reyansh decided on the next gate and proposed another deal to the driver.

"Well, strap in," driver stated as he accelerated the cab, weaving through the traffic towards the destination.

Reyansh focused on the stream, he noticed Arpita reaction but didn’t respond.

"So, I haven’t decided about how to solve the Q&A issue but in today’s stream you guys can ask any questions if you have. I will try to answer it the best of abilities till we reach our next location." Reyansh addressed.

[Storm_Knight: Did you use a Hunter’s Pack?]

"Yes, brother."

[Daoist_kun: That explains your rise in strength. Which rank though? If you can tell us.]

"It was an Epic rank pack. Next," he lied purposely.

[Anonimus_Assassin: How did you get it by the way? And an Epic rank at that.]

[Red Falcon: That thing costs a fortune.]

[Black_Nails09: Do you wish to join any guild or groups like that?]

’Is she trying to probe or is that a genuine question?’ He wondered.

"No, miss Black Nails, I don’t have such thoughts at the moment," he answered.

After that, the chat revolved around the mask and ’secrets’ about his strength and tactics. He answered some and lied or deflected the rest.

A few minutes later, the cab finally stopped.

"We are at Bone Burrows, boss. We are on time, sorry I couldn’t reach earlier," Driver spoke.

"No worries, we have still more gates to go," Reyansh answered as he exited the cab.

"Slimes were just a warm-up, let’s see how brittle bones really are," Reyansh stated as he walked towards the gate.

[Fiery_Redina: Fuck Yes! I am just waiting how fast would you clear this.]