73 Happy Return

"Okay, so here is the plan." Shesmu gathered everyone's attention. A week had passed since the trio started living in his house, and the live servers were minutes away from launching.

"Leo, Ryan, you both already know what to do. Once you reach the city, you grind to ten and then set the plan in motion."

"Yeah, no need to remind us. We're not babies," Ryan snarked back.

"What about you, Shes?" Leo asked. "What are you going to do?"

"Well," Shesmu glanced at Seth. "I'll be teaming up with Seth. Show him the basics before catching up with you guys."

Seth chuckled. "It really does feel weird, being the one to be shown the ropes." He then winked at Leo and said, "Guess we're in the same boat."

Shesmu shook his head at Seth's antics. "Stop hitting on Leo and let's get going. The game will start in 10."

"Ten, what?" Seth asked, bewildered.

Shesmu had a deadpan face as he answered, "Nine."

"Haha, okay, that was a good one." Seth's surprised expression turned into a grin while both Leo and Ryan chuckled.

"Goddammit Shes, you say the lamest jokes but somehow your face just makes it funny. Anyway, see ya in like three hours?"

"Make it eight," Shesmu responded.

"Why? Aren't we going straight to the city?" Leo asked. And his confusion wasn't without reason. According to the plan, they should reach the city by three hours at the latest.

"Ehm, well, I'll have to make a detour to check on something on the way."

"Hee," Ryan stared at Shesmu with suspicion in his eyes. "Okay then, keep your secrets. Just don't complain to me once we leave you in the dust in levels."

Shesmu opened the pad and said, "If I was you, I would be more worried about myself."

He then looked back at Ryan and stared at him for a couple of seconds. The latter took the hint and nodded back. He then opened his own capsule and said, "See ya."

Leo and Seth responded back in kind before entering their own capsules. And with that, the four entered Ashes of Gods.

The same intro scene repeated itself and Gabriel appeared in front of Shesmu.

"Well, well, well, we meet again, Mark."

Shesmu stared at the angel for an awkward second before replying, "Seems like so, Gabriel. Can you give me the same presets as in the beta?"

"Of course." She swiped with her left hand and Shesmu's avatar from the beta appeared in front of him. "Is that all?" She smiled, her eyes looking deep into Shesmu's soul.

Shesmu smiled back at her and answered, "Actually, not exactly. Can you please show me those green ki beads you showed me before?"

"Sure, why not?" With another swipe, ten green circles appeared in Shesmu's chest and abdomen. Nine formed an incomplete circle while the tenth rested in the middle.

"That formation, isn't it missing two?" Shesmu probed for answers. He knew that he couldn't outsmart a super AI with his human brain, but he wanted to at least make sure that his conclusions had a clear basis.

"Yeah, it is," Gabriel responded, her smile almost turning into a grin. "Want me to complete it for you?"

Dead silence. All of Shesmu's plans and tray of thoughts were shattered in one quick second. What? What's this? Is this a trap? Is she trying to throw me off guard?

But no matter how much he thought, he couldn't reach any conclusion. The only thing he could do was to play the game by her rules.

"Is that possible? Can you do it for me?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed with a gentle smile. Her face almost frightened Shesmu out of his wits.

"But we need to respect the rule of equivalent exchange. If we're gonna add Ki cores, we need to take stuff out from another system. So which one do you want to sacrifice?"

It didn't take too long for Shesmu to respond. "Mana. I want to sacrifice my mana cores."

The blue cores in Shesmu's head appeared before two lost their shine. As if they turned into dust, they became grey, decayed, and flew with the wind.

"So, do you want anything else? Perfect another system, maybe?"

"Is tha-Is that possible?" Shesmu answered bewildered.

"Of course it is," Gabriel responded with a docile smile. "A special privilege for our special guest."

Thoughts flew in Shesmu's head like a fleet of spaceships. What does she mean by that? This makes no sense, am I the only one who can change my internal structures?

"No, you're not," She responded in a flat tone. "Though, it is true that only special guests get to do it."

Shesmu stood aghast. What frightened him wasn't the fact that she could read his thoughts, he knew that already. What did were the implications of her words. If multiple players were granted the right to perfect their systems, the landscape of the game would change drastically. All of Shesmu's knowledge about the future might be rendered useless in a few years' time.

"Ehm, I know that you're having an existential crisis over there, and I respect that. It's just that you might want to speed up things a little bit."

Gabriel's snarky remark helped Shesmu gather up his focus. Okay, let's calm down. This wasn't part of my plans at all, but now that I have the chance to perfect two systems, it would be a sin not to go with a mixed class. We'll just eliminate shadow from the get-go because of Ryan. As for mana, there is already Seth who will go that route. That leaves...

"I want to maximize my nodes."

"Huh, interesting." Gabriel's tone went back to her usual mischievous, almost sadistic one. Her everlasting smile distorted into a deranged one. "A priest-no, an apostle swordsman hybrid. Isn't that the rare combination."

She looked at Shesmu for a few seconds without saying a word. Goosebumps formed all over his body as Gabriel inspected every inch of it.

"I can't wait to see what interesting things you'd do. Though I'm sure that my impatience can't be compared to that of his."

Shesmu stayed silent for a few seconds, trying to process the meaning of her words.

"His? What do you mean his? Is it the person that told you to let me perfect my systems?"

Gabriel looked at Shesmu with a smile. But this time, rather than her sadistic one, it was a genuine expression. One that showed both sympathy and helplessness.

"Mark, you're smart. You know you're not gonna get that answer here, so why even ask?"

Her words felt like a bucket of cold water that extinguished all hope in his heart. If it's someone that can make even a super AI do his bidding, then it must be a very important person, one at the very top of the food chain.

Maybe, it was him that sent me that letter. But why? Why not meet me directly? Why all the mystery…

"While I would love to stay here and talk with you all day, I, unfortunately, have quite the charged schedule. If there is nothing left to do, shall I send you to the Stal kingdom capital?"

As Gabriel was swiping with her hand, Shesmu stopped her.

"Wait, can you please send me to the same settlement as last time? I have something to do there."

Gabriel thought for half a second before responding. "Sure, why not."

The green and blue world turned dark with one swipe, and Shesmu entered a multicolored dimensional portal. Once the festival of colors stopped, the world settled. The grained texture, the brown color, and the ever-smiling old man. Shesmu was back to Ashes of Gods.