9 Chapter 9: birth of a liar

When the party was over and Zen locked the door behind him leaving a seemingly asleep Markus in his room.

But while no one was looking the window in Markus's room silently opened as if by the wind, the window closed immediately afterwards leaving doubt as to whether it was ever opened in the first place, Markus didn't seem to notice as he was still sleeping soundly in his bed with a blanket covering his entire body, or is he?

""Man, aren't I glad I picked a room on the ground floor?""

Markus said proud of his own decision.

After the welcoming party for him was over Zen tried to guide him to the largest room on the second floor but since Markus wasn't familiar with the mansion yet sneaking out through the second floor window might be a little tough (not that Markus couldn't do it) so he requested Zen for a room on the first floor with plenty of windows, or more accurately he "ordered" Zen to give him such a room because Zen would've insisted on giving him the other room if he didn't phrase it that way, although this caused Zen to become suspicious it was the only way because climbing down a large mansion like this without prior knowledge would've took way more time than trying to fool the sharply intuitive Zen.

((Now if the map of the capital I read while on the airship wasn't lying, Starfell lake should be about 380 meters northwest from here, I should be able to slip through the guards at station 4 with my [shadow step], if everything goes according to plan I should be able to make it back here to the mansion about 1h 12 minutes before sunrise, lets just hope that pillow I left under my sheets is enough to fool Zen until then))

Using probability math Markus calculated the time it will take for him to accomplish his goals and make it back to the estate, subtracting the unknown factors that is.

Using the passive skills [shadow step], [acrobatics] and [infiltration] he got from his silent assassin class Markus slipped past the mansion guards unnoticed and made a break for the nearest station, he also made sure to use magic to temporarily disable the mansion's security detection barrier to make sure no one discovered that he had escaped.

Millelith the capital of the Randrind empire has walls surrounding the city about 40 meters high, with four more sets of walls separating the royal, noble, wealthy, middle class and commoner district with an additional unofficial poor district outside of the outermost wall is the unofficial poor district, also known as the slums but since there are very few people who are in poverty within this empire that's known to create job opportunities for it's people, it's mostly just a place for criminals to gather. Since the Silver are a knight house even though they are technically nobles, they have to live in the commoner district, which was why their estate wasn't as big as other nobles in the capital. Which was convenient for Markus because if the estate was deeper in the capital he would've had to recalculate his plan of actions which would waste too much of his precious time, as a person at war with destiny every microsecond counted for Markus as he was always working on a ticking timer.

In the gentle darkness of night a shadow defying all light the eye could possibly see moved like the northern winds through the streets of the capital, the shadow was unnoticeable, impossibly silent so much so that people wouldn't believe it could actually exist.

When Markus reached the checkpoint at the outermost wall, that he crossed while being picked up by Zen.

Markus zoomed past the station checkpoint so swiftly and silently that the few guards who were stationed there and noticed something only had a slight breeze to confirm their suspicion.

"Hey did you hear that?"

One guard said to his friend.

"Eh, probably just the wind"

His friend replied acting nonchalant.

((Idiots, the guards stationed at the outer walls sure are amateurs, I didn't even use a full 5% of my stealth skills and took the riskiest way out and they still didn't notice a thing, well I guess it is to be expected the capital rarely has a reason to assign actually competent personnel to the outer wall guards, defense of the district and the wall here are actually done by many knight houses such as the Silver house and their personal units))

Markus intentionally took the way out that posed the highest chance of getting him caught in order to gauge the guard's ability to guard for he had a feeling he'll be sneaking out a lot during his stay in the Silver house.

""Now, onto the main event of tonight""

Using the map drawn from his memories of his past life playing the game in his head, Markus traversed the area surrounding the lake, effortlessly avoiding the environmental obstacles as if he's been living here his whole life even though this is the first time he's ever been here.

""Now I just need to get through these woods and...""

Markus said pushing away the foliage blocking his path.

""There it is""

Markus said as scenery so mysterious yet so familiar began to fill his eyes.

A lake with water so clear yet so reflective mixing the scenes above the night sky with the scenes from bellow it's surface creating the illusion that the fishes and other creatures swimming in the lake are actually traversing across the starry sky above.

A magical sight that can only be found in a world like this if the most beautiful person in the world was a scene it would probably be this, in the peaceful darkness of night, watched over by the stars above and everything being captured by the water surface as pure as an infant's pupils, the silence seems to contradict the chaotic way the beings that reside in the lake were moving, it was a picturesque experience that few can ever hope to come across.

Markus's heart couldn't help but be captured by this scenery standing still absent-mindedly as his brain unconsciously ingrained every part of this absolute masterpiece of nature into his memory.

""Beautiful...""

Markus uttered as neither side of his soul could find a better word to describe it.

Markus stayed in this trance-like state for a few minutes as if the pure beauty of the lake made him forget all about his war with destiny.

""If I'm not busy I wouldn't mind coming here a few more times""

Markus seriously considered coming here again if he was ever tired or stressed out in the near future.

""But, that's not why I'm here tonight, however regretful that may be""

Snapping out of his bewitched state Markus finally got down to business.

In the four cardinal directions of the lake there are 4 stones, on these stones there are writings below a corresponding symbol representing each direction.

((These writings are one of the last legacies of the ancient Valentians that once populated this continent))

Once again drawing from his archival knowledge of the game as Kazuki, Markus analysed the writings on the first of the 4 stones he came across.

""The infernal lion of night representing the south, the celestial eagle representing the north, the draconian snake of the sea representing the east and finally the mortal original man representing the west""

""In ancient times there were some that believed these 4 beings were the first creation of the gods, others say that Ouroboros, the strongest creation of the gods rebelled against the heavens and as punishment was split into four parts and cast down into the mortal realm where the four parts turned into these four cardinal existences, no one really knows the true origins of these beings...""

""However, there is one thing everyone collectively agrees on and that is the ancestry of every being living on this planet can be traced back to these legendary beings""

Markus was basically just reading off the game's lore.

""And legend also has it that this lake was where these four originally fell from the heavens, hence the name, Starfell lake""

This lake was not just some body of water near the capital, it is the place where all life on the continent of Valentia and possibly all life on this planet came from, it is the first and most diverse gene pool on this planet although the surface of the water was very transparent no one has yet to find the bottom of this lake with some scholars suggesting that it might be even deeper than the sea floor.

If you look at the lake from a bird's eye view you would notice that the lake's shape doesn't seem completely natural, almost as if it used to be a crater before water flowed in.

This is such a legendary place that capitals of legendary empires spanning the history of Valentia have risen and fallen near this lake, it is the ultimate legacy of Valentia and it's people, the first and last proof of their existence.

""Of course, this information is from the game so only I know this right now but that's besides the point.""

Since it's only been 2000 years since the devastating war that rendered the ancient Valentians extinct and destroyed many important historical records, no one except Markus who had the meta knowledge of the game and a few others knows about the importance of this lake and even the few people that knows something about this lake doesn't have the complete facts as Markus does.

But the thing that's most important to Markus in this lake is what he's doing right now.

Travelling to each of the stones placed in the four directions of the lake Markus took out one of his concealed knives and cut his index finger, dropping a drop of blood into the lake at each of the four directions, it was a ritual of some kind.

After he's done with that Markus knelt down on the grass in front of the lake as he began to say something in a revering voice.

""O forefathers of Valentia, the dictators of directions, the parents to us all and the first creation of the gods... I, one of your many children that have covered every corner of Valentia as you decreed humbly request your guidance for I am lost and I can only turn to you for assistance, like a child holding the hand of it's mother, from the bottom of my heart I call upon you, please answer this one's selfish request""

As Markus kneeled there for a few seconds the world was dyed in complete silence.

And then it happened, the night wind that was blowing, the fish in the lake, the animals in the forest and the trees, all movement had ceased, as if the hands of time itself had been paralyzed.

((It's here...))

Seeing that his praying worked, Markus couldn't help but smile inwardly.

Every Millennia there was always one century where four people could do this ritual four times in order for each to obtain one of four gifts from this lake, or more accurately gifts from the four ancestors.

((There are 4 gifts that can be obtained here, a person can only obtain one of these gifts when doing this ritual and the ritual will only work if this ritual hasn't been done already earlier in the century, luckily for me since all information about this ritual has been lost in the ancient war, I am probably the first one to have done it in this Millennia))

"Tell me your wish, our child"

A sonorously imposing voice, or 4 voices rang out at the same time, reverberating off of everything and would've travel far and wide if time wasn't stop.

((There are four things that can be obtained here, 3 extremely OP, almost cheat-like abilities and 1 legendary item, those are: [the fire of Celestia], [the infernal aura], the item known as the "original crown" and the one I'm after the [eyes of the puppeteer]))

""This one requires the far seeing eyes of the ancestors so that I may know both the reason and consequences of my every action as well as the actions taken by those around me""

((The [eyes of the puppeteer] gives you the ability to see the cause and effect of your actions and the actions of those within your line of sight, this applies to both short term and long term consequences))

In the game the [eyes of the puppeteer] was the single best skill to have when fighting PVE because if the player upgraded it to max level, you would be shown every single move the enemy would use beforehand giving you the ability to effortlessly plan against and counter the computer controlled enemies.

((The skill's description was: the puppet master knows everything that they need to know about the show they're putting on as well as the characters that are in it, there's no need to play the game when you can control the board and with these special set of eyes you would be able to do just that: control the stage and manipulate the puppets that stood on it guiding the future to your desired outcome. At the lowest level the eyes will show you every possible result of every action taken but you can choose whether you want to see the short term consequences or the long term one, at the middle level it will focus more on the results that you think is favourable to you and finally at the highest level the eyes will automatically filter out the undesirable outcomes of every action guiding you to your desired future)

"..."

The 4 voices being mushed into one was silent for a moment.

"A wise choice for someone with such a honest soul but deceptive future such as yourself, we applaud your choice our child"

The voice praised Markus.

((A deceptive future? Is that even a compliment? But well...they're not wrong))

Taking another self derivative look at himself Markus thought.

"We will grant your wish as well as one piece of wisdom upon you our child. One day far in the future, lies will not be enough to permanently extinguish your enemies at that time do not hesitate to bear your soul in front of those you cherish if you are to survive"

The voice said as a purple pillar of light shot out of the waters of the lake.

((Huh? This wasn't in the game...what do they mean by...))

Before Markus could finish his thoughts, the pillar curved like a missile and landed on Markus, flowing into him

Markus could feel that this pillar was mana of some kind but he couldn't tell exactly what kind of mana it was.

"Argh..."

As he was having foreign mana injected into his eyes causing them to forcefully close Markus felt intense pain, but he powered through it because he had faced much worse before and this was just a small pain when compared to what he was going to go through in the future, so something like this didn't even make him flinch.

"We grant you your reward for coming here our child may the blessings of the cardinal four guide you on your way"

""Thank you for your gracious words my ancestors...""

As the pain subsided and the pillar of purple light disappeared into Markus, he respectfully lowered his head and thanked the ancestors.

"We wish you luck, our selfless liar..."

The voices said one last time before the world resumed and their presence could no longer be felt.

Markus opened his eyes, they were changed, in place of his natural crimson blood red pupils were a set of dark purple coloured eyes that had a mysterious flame in them that had an intense purple glow.

""...""

Markus was caught in another moment of retrospective evaluation of himself.

""A liar huh? True, I won't deny that but selfless? No, I'm only doing this in order to survive, I can't accept that assessment""

Markus knew better than anyone he was about to hurt and manipulate a lot of people for his own selfish gains, so without a doubt "selfless" was the last word he'd use to describe himself right now.

But liar or not he was still him and he wasn't just gonna let himself get killed by Fate over something as petty as a guilty conscience so as always, with a heavy heart Markus turned around and returned to the direction from whence he came, as he resolved himself to press on in his lonely journey.