With his six boosters purchased William set them to the max rate
[-3 hours]
[TIME LEFT 18:40]
instantly he felt the pressure lessen around him as his muscles toned. The energy surging through him gave him enough confidence to push himself off the wall.
At first there was a lot of resistance as the pressure that had plastered him on the wall sort to subjugate him but William broke through the resistance and using his legs he pushed against the wall and threw himself backwards.
William still had no idea how to clear all the notices that constantly filled his vision, so instead he fell to his old trick.
'Delete, delete, delete...'
William repeated it as he swam downward against the pressure, he swung his arms so fast nothing could stop him from going forwards.
Finally he could see something, he didn't need to use Horus as enough light was coming through the wall but William was too busy to notice it was actually a force field.
He could see a small black box on the floor. 'That's it,' he thought, then he grabbed onto it and felt it, he felt the hinges on the side of it and knew it opened sideways.
William was delighted but the notices quickly obscured his vision again.
[BOOSTER TIMELEFT: 2:50]
"What the hell, I spent three hours on that."
William felt the other side of the box,he was fighting against time now, not only were his booster running down but his breath and the old mans as well..
William felt what he assumed must be a button, as he couldn't see a thing so he began repeating, 'delete.'
He pushed the button and the box swung open as he deleted enough notices to see.
He saw what looked like a red handle and wasn't sure what it was supposed to do.
'Maybe it turns on the drainage system?'
That was hope talking again, Willam felt an unsettling feeling growing in his heart, he was growing sceptical, pessimistic even.
'What else could this do?' He wondered. 'Could it make the acid more corrosive?'
William quickly got the thought out of his head. He was running out of breath and couldn't tell how long the old man could hold his own.
So he flipped the handle and suddenly he felt the whole place shake and the notice blinded him again, leaving him in the dark, dreading the worst possible outcome.
William felt a sudden surge in the stream like it had found a new path and was flowing in thier with all its force.
'What's this now?Please do something good.'
William couldn't hide his fears as the stream threw him away but finally he found his valid argument for hope and optimism as he landed on the dirt and mud with the acid washing over him.
William still had his eyes closed but he could hear the old man catching his breath.
'It's nice to be alive,' he thought.
He enjoyed the feel of the dirt on his face but he quickly felt the way anyone would if they had their face in the dirt and hadn't just escaped a tunnel full of acid, he felt disgusted.
William got on his ass but still could see a thing as the notices hadn't cleared but yet. He could hear the old man coughing so he asked.
"Are you okay pops?"
"I'm fine and fine," the old man said in a hoarse voice that didn't show it. The notices quickly cleared up and the first thing he saw was white fog all around him.
He was seated in front of the tunnel and parallel to him at the edge of the fog was a box made of brown wood and with gold on its edges to hold it all together.
It was placed right in the middle of two large white horns about ten feet tall and curved with the width of a large man.
"A treasure chest?" William turned to the old man as he remembered what the old man was trying to tell him with morse code.
"Is that what you meant pops?"
The old man coughed and said, "I'm sorry my boy, I misled you."
"Nah, it's my fault, I shouldn't have been so greedy."
"No, I'm sorry, we were very fortunate you know Morse code." William laughed and said,
"Well I wouldn't exactly say I know, we just got lucky."
William got on his feet, his suite was tattered and torn now. It seems like they were standing on a small patch of earth completely surrounded by an ominous fog.
The fog gave William an eerie feeling, it was too white and with the absence of wind, it was still and motionless like a white wall.
Willam felt like he was standing on the last bit of earth left anywhere in the world or that the rest of the world was yet to be created.
He walked up to the box and looked at it from side to side, he examined it just in case it was a set up to something sudden and sinister.
When he was about seventy percent certain there were no strings attached, he thought to himself.
'Well that's as good an odd as any.'
So he gambled and placed his hand on the box. He heard it click and he took his hand off it instantly.
'Seventy percent chance my ass.'
William got on his defence and the old man got there just in time to see the box swing open. A bright green light shot out the box and then both instinctively took a step back.
"Are we safe?" William said as they watched the green light form into an arcade style +10 that floated in front of them and then they both got a simultaneous notice.
[YOU'VE BEEN AWARDED? 10 HOURS]
"Woah , that's nice." Willaim said.
"I agree, I was running short myself."
The floating number disappeared and the old man looked into the box and said, "there's still more items."
Willaim looked down in the box and a new kind of anxiety filled his heart as he felt that whatever was to come next would be far greater than any ordeal they had been through, afterall they didn't heed grenades, riffles and brass knuckles to get through the tunnels.
"My boy, I fear we're in for it now."
"Me too pops, we're going to need all these."
William reached down and touched the rifle then a new notice popped up on his pov.
[ ASSIMILATE? ]
[YES] [NO]
Assimilate? William said the word out loud as he searched his memory for its meaning.
The old man could see the strain on his face,so he smiled and said, "Assimilate, it means to absorb, to incorporate into something."
"Oh, thanks pops. To absorb huh?"
William moved his hand away from the rifle and towards the brass knuckles and the grenades.
"Let's try something smaller."
he held his hand over the grenade and thought to himself
'How about something that wouldn't explode in my face.'
William placed his hand on the brass knuckles and when the notice came he chose [YES], immediately the brace knuckles dissolved in small particles of light that in turn quickly faded away.
A new notice popped up on his pov
[Brass Knuckles (level,1)]
[SUCCESSFUL ASSIMILATION]
{Check Toolbox}
William opened the Guide and had it hovering over his hand.
"Hey, pops, are you any good with a gun? I'm kind of a lousy shot." The old man laughed and said,
"Well it's a good thing I've never lived without a gun around."
The old man reached down to touch the gun while William served his guide. suddenly something caught his attention, something moving at his peripheral. He turned and saw the fog parting in two.