Contact a Game Master

'What's this? A letter from my descendant? Let's see what it says...'

'Madame, I know that you have long washed your hands of the Outer Ring-- he's damn right about that-- but something has happened that I must beg you to assist me with. Your youngest descendants, Marshall and Sylvia, left a little over a week ago with two Level 4 Hurricanes.'

'Two Level 4's huh? Not bad for the Outer Ring.'

'This morning, the mounts returned but the young ones did not. A note accompanied the hawks, written in Sylvia's hand, stating that they had chosen to abandon this bitter and cruel bloodline tradition of ours. They did not say where they were, nor did they say whether or not they would ever return.'

'Those brats! This kind of behavior cannot be allowed!'

'I beg your forgiveness, and ask that you right my wrong and wipe clean this blot on our family tree. Yours Sincerely, the Headmaster- blah blah blah...'

'It looks like we'll have to purge them from the Silver Wing's history as well. How unfortunate. Still, I suppose my descendant can have another child or two.'

'Hmph. How vexing.'

|Thoughts of Madame Hautaine As She Reads The Letter|

"Do you think Hingwave and Stratuscutter made it back?"

"Of course they did- they're Level 4 Hurricanes, you know."

For the past few days, Sylvia and Marshall had held conversations like these. Every evening, before dinner, they would walk out into the grass and stare at the dimming sky, wondering after their mounts.

Gilgamesh had overhead them a few times, and decided to ask about the meaning behind the term 'Level 4.' They responded incredulously, with shocked and, almost suspicious, expressions.

This was such common knowledge to them that they could not believe Gilgamesh was ignorant of it.

"Levels are one of the few commonalities between each System Variant. The others are skills, titles, and the inventory-- though some people start off with more available slots than others."

"About titles," Gilgamesh interjected, shifting his weight to lean against the door frame; the siblings were still outside.

"The system explained that they're acquired by performing certain actions, but do they do anything?"

Sylvia and Marshall both bickered a bit, hashing out some details before answering.

"It's kinda complicated when you consider stuff like 'achievements,' but it's like you said. The system identifies certain actions and awards a title-- those are usually achievements, and many people can all have the same ones."

"Aside from achievements, there are Quest Titles that you get by accomplishing a system-issued quest in a certain way that not everyone else would. Maybe if you do something unprecedented or reinvent a precedent in a way. There's also the possibility of you breaking the confines of the quest and..."

Sylvia trailed off, with Marshall adding stuff here and there, to which she would always react in annoyance. Gilgamesh listened attentively and soaked in all this information, but also found their behavior humorous.

They reminded him of someone he had once considered a brother.

"More than one person can have such titles, but, there's always at least one unique title that everyone gets."

"Those unique titles are called Spirit Marks--"

"It's Soul Marks," Marshall interrupted Sylvia's explanation, and she glared at him.

"Spirit. Marks."

Marshall shrugged and licked his lips, looking elsewhere.

"Anyway, the Spirit Marks are the most unique titles-- so unique that only one single person in all the universe would have a specific one."

"So, does everyone get only one?" Gilgamesh shifted and ultimately decided to sit on the landing.

"At least one, but some people get two or three. Most I ever heard was five, and that person was both an Angel, and Level 8."

Hearing the term Angel, Gilgamesh's brows furrowed.

"They say that each Spirit Mark grants some kind of buff or ability. Some people get a permanent increase to one or more stats, a new skill, the ability to earn twice as many skill points through skill mastery and levelling-- stuff like that," Sylvia said, proud of her own knowledge.

"I see," Gilgamesh fell into thought.

"Why do you ask? Do you have some crazy 'Soul' Marks?" Marshall perked up and came to sit on the step leading to the front door. Sylvia followed, pouting, but ensured she was some distance away from Marshall.

Gilgamesh looked down at them and smirked, then summoned the system's main screen.

He went over to the 'Titles' window, but before he could browse his titles a pop-up appeared, and the system read its contents to him.

'Knowledge Gained! Stand-by while the System adjusts...'

Following that, the entirety of the 'Titles' window underwent a change. Now, there were subcategories of Titles, all arranged by name in tabs. There were Quest Titles, Objective Titles, Achievement Titles, Item-Acquired Titles, Skill-Mastery Titles and, finally, Unique Titles.

Gilgamesh decided to open up the tab for Unique Titles, and read aloud the ones that he had in there.

"Heaven-Slayer, Lost Cause, Light Eraser, The Dulling of the Divine, Gilgame--"

Both Marshall and Sylvia jumped up in fright.

"Wait, wait, wait-" They said, in unison.

"Are those your Spirit Marks?" Sylvia all but shouted.

"Those are your Soul Marks!?" Marshall loudly exclaimed.

"Does it say 'Unique Titles' above where you're reading?" Sylvia inched closer, and Marshall unconsciously followed.

"Yeah," Gilgamesh answered.

Soundlessly, both their minds exploded.

"How many was that, Marshall?"

"He listed four, I think. Was he just about to say his own name... ?"

"Yes, one of them is actually just my name." Gilgamesh could understand why they were acting like this; Marshall had said that the most he'd heard someone having was five, so it had to be quite rare for someone to have four.

"Are there more?" Sylvia asked the question, but was bracing herself for the answer.

Their eyes followed Gilgamesh as he looked back down at the screen, which Gilgamesh noted. It appeared that they could see his screen, but not what was on it.

"You can see my system?"

Sylvia nodded, but Marshall gulped and said, "Anyone can see your screen, but you have to choose to allow them to see its contents. Even if you do allow them, though, there are some things the system doesn't allow other people to see."

Gilgamesh nodded, then briefly wondered why Ishtar couldn't even see the screen.

"I'll start over. My 'Spirit Marks' are: Heaven-Slayer, Lost Cause, Light Eraser, The Dulling of the Divine, Gilgamesh, Heaven's Antithesis, Father of The Abyss, Child of The Abyss, First Begotten of The Abyss, Crowning Demigod and King of Arrogance."

Marshall and Sylvia were speechless for quite some time after that.

"11 Spirit Marks..."

"Such amazing names... Would you mind telling us their effects!?" Marshall's curiosity reached a peak, and he instantly had to know what kind of effects those amazing-sounding titles would have on Gilgamesh's stats.

Gilgamesh looked around a bit, and found the option to switch to an alternate window and view the titles' effects. Surprisingly, when he tapped on it, another pop-up appeared.

"Unknown User Prohibition Error! Contact a 'Game Master' to rectify."

Frowning, Gilgamesh repeated the message to Sylvia and Marshall.

"User Prohibition? Can that even happen?" As Sylvia pondered this, Marshall scratched his chin and stuck his lips out.

"Mmmm... Maybe it's a safety feature?"

Gilgamesh and Sylvia turned to Marshall as he continued, "Think about it. What if the system is doing it in order to prevent Gilgamesh from revealing that information?"

Sylvia shook her head, "What would be the point? Title effects are passive, so whether Gilgamesh knows the effects or not, they're still there."

"Yeah, you've got a point."

Gilgamesh sighed, "It said to contact a 'Game Master,' so I guess I'll have to do that. Do you guys know where I can find one?"

Sylvia and Marshall both exchanged a strange glance, looking at Gilgamesh with puzzlement.

"A Game Master, huh?"

"I don't think one of those has been seen in millions of years. There aren't even any historical records of them having existed, just stories and myths." As Sylvia said this, she appeared bemused and tapped on her lips with her finger.

"Are you sure that's what the system said?"

Gilgamesh nodded, and Sylvia started massaging her temples. Marshall took note of the way she was behaving, and realization dawned on him. He turned to Gilgamesh, expression smug, and said matter-of-factly, "She gets like this sometimes, you know how they are."

Almost as if it were a matter of course, the very moment he made that comment, Ishtar appeared at the doorway with her arms folded, "They?"

Marshall panicked, "Uh- You know- They as in, um, the more intelligent people, and stuff..."

Ishtar shook her head, jokingly glaring at him as she made a show of somewhat accepting his hasty explanation. As they engaged in some lighthearted chatter, Sylvia shot to her feet and pointed at both Gilgamesh and Marshall.

"I get it now!"

"Huh?" Marshall looked at her and her pointing fingers as if she were some kind of freak, and Gilgamesh and Ishtar both blinked absently.

Ishtar had sat down next to Gilgamesh on the landing after telling them that she had finished setting the table for dinner.

"You won't know this cause you fell asleep during all of our History lessons," Sylvia gave her brother a sideways glance, to which he smiled wryly and averted his eyes.

"The thing with System Variants is, they aren't created to suit just your physical and spiritual selves. The Creator recognizes every detail about your life - your experiences, your likes and dislikes-- even people that you either love or hate."

"Taking all that into account, The Creator grants you your very own System Variant, unique to you and designed to make your growth thenceforth as challenging, yet rewarding, to you as possible."

Gilgamesh and Ishtar were both genuinely interested, but Marshall had suddenly started drifting off into sleep, yelping himself awake when a blade of grass blew over to him and touched his nose.

"So, if my purpose in life was solely to dig the deepest hole ever dug, my System Variant would be designed in a way that would pretty much guide me toward fulfilling that purpose."

Sylvia nodded, "Exactly."

"So," Gilgamesh nodded and smiled as he spoke, "telling me to find a Game Master could actually be my variant's way of guiding me toward me own goal."

Sylvia gave a beaming smile and clapped her small hands rapidly, "Haha, yes! It's so nice to talk about this stuff with someone that isn't an idiot. Believe me, you have no idea how painful it is to try to theorize with that dummy."

All eyes looked over to Marshall, who was holding the blade of grass that had touched him, inspecting it closely to see whether or not it was alive. When he noticed them looking at him, he sniffled obnoxiously then tried to surreptitiously throw away the grass and look unbothered.

Of course, he failed.

"Anyway, I think you need to keep an eye out for a new Quest or Mission. One could show up at anytime. That may be the key to you actually finding a Game Master."

Gilgamesh nodded, then Ishtar sighed. "That's cool and all, but what even is a Game Master? Did I miss that part?"

Gilgamesh seemed to also realize that he had neglected to ask this, and Sylvia herself gave an 'oh,' as she realized she hadn't even explained that much.

She was about to, but someone else beat her to it. Namely, Marshall.

"Well, according to the myths and legends passed down for thousands upon thousands of generations, Game Masters- or Yut Qinna, as they were once known- are a special class of Users chosen by The Creator itself."

Sylvia rolled her eyes, "Nice to see you actually paid attention to something."

"Tch! Whatever!"

"When you say 'the creator,' are you referring to this world?"

"Well, yeah, what else would I be referring to?" Marshall's eyes widened and he flinched, barely evading a slap from his sister.

"What he meant to say was: This world created the very system that allows us to exist. That system, in turn, caters to both our wants and needs. The Creator is the world on which we live, and no things exist on this world that were not created by it."

"So who created this world?" Gilgamesh was the one who asked, partly because he remembered Ishtar's theories regarding that very subject.

Marshall scoffed and some spit flew out of his mouth.

"Oh, come on! No one created The Creator, 'cause it's The Creator! Come on, man... Geez..." Marshall trailed off and lost himself, leaving it up to Sylvia to continue explaining.

"Some say that the Game Masters each specialized in one particular field of Stat. There was a Master of Skills, a Master of Items, a Master of Classes and so on. Sadly, the stories don't do a good job of explaining, they just leave us with more questions."

"For instance, the stories say that the Game Masters spoke directly with The Creator, but don't tell us how such a thing was even possible. Likewise, they say that the Game Masters were all granted immortality for the sake of some 'holy purpose' they all shared, but there's no mention at all of what that purpose was."

"Duh! That's 'cause it's supposed to be left up to your imagination. You guys are ruining my childhood! Stupid questions.... Who created The Creator...."

Everyone ignored Marshall at that point.

At that point, a pop-up appeared before Gilgamesh, and everyone but Ishtar immediately noticed. Gilgamesh heard his system's voice and smiled, then his eyes looked to an expectant Sylvia as he said, "It's a Quest."

'New Quest! You have completed the silent objective for a quest's activation! Attributing relevant rewards. Tap on the Quest Screen to proceed.'