The Order of the Bluebell
Four days had passed since the entire incident with Alicia and the skeletons, so Cyril finally had some free time from classes as the weekend approached. Since the day of the incident, Alicia seemed to be back to normal and didn't brought the topic up at all when they talked. Though he did catch her looking at him weirdly from time to time, he didn't think much of it. Having kept an eye open at all times to see if he could find anything weird happening, Cyril was a mix between relief and disappointing, hoping that it was just a one time thing. Unfortunately, something at theback of his mind kept telling him that those skeletons and the Draugr were far from the end.
Cyril of course hadn't wasted any moment of freedom he had to train, and spent every moment he wasn't at college or with his friends going into the Zombie ID. He was hellbent on completely clearing it before moving on to the Goblin ID which he had unlocked... plus a few new additions, which consisted of the Undead ID –which was unlocked when the skill reached Lvl. 5– and the Direwolf ID –unlocked at Lvl. 10. His Stats of course had also seen a lot of improvement from his now daily training and participation in classes. The only thing left he had to do was put the last 15 SP he had saved for the last three levels into LUK so it would reach 50 points. Then he would begin investing in other skills because LUK could only take him so far on the early levels and he had already risked it a lot.
'Status.' Cyril called on the security of his house to check his gains of the past few days.
[Name: Cyril Bane Level: 10
Class: The Gamer Title: -
EXP: 426/3300
HP: 530 MP: 190
STR: 22(+4.4) AGI: 25(+5)
DEX: 23(+4.6) END: 21(+4.2)
INT: 23 WIS: 19
CHA: 16(+1.6) LUK: 35
SP: 15 Coins: 5,634]
"I guess I'll finally put those 15 SP into LUK... also, the twenty percent boost on my physical stats is very noticeable now, I technically have 30 AGI instead of 25." Cyril said before quickly asigning the 15 SP. Seeing his LUK reach 50 was a great feeling, but that was when something surprised him.
[LUK parameter reached the 50 threshold, Skill –Lucky Bastard– created.]
"That was unexpected but always welcome... I'll check the progress of my other skills besides ID Create and Escape before checking the new one." Cyril said as he mentally called out 'Skills' to check the progress his skills had made in the past few days, since he hadn't really checked them.
[ID Create (Active) Lvl. 10]
[ID Escape (Active) Lvl. 10]
[Observe (Active) Lvl. 17]
"Those are great, I have many new IDs to grind in the future..." Cyril said while thinking of what his routine would be in the foreseeable future. "Now let's check the new skill and 'Momentum Frenzy', since I haven't really taken the time to check it..."
[Momentum Frenzy (Active) Lvl. 3/10: The User performs a series of neatly connected attacks which carries momentum from one to the next, increasing the strength of each attack respectively. +9 DMG per each attack performed while the skill is active.]
[Lucky Bastard (Passive) Lvl. MAX: The User is extremely lucky!]
"That is a... very vague description for a skill." Cyril deadpanned. He wondered how exactly the skill would work, but, considering how everything had been working in his favor ever since he began investing in LUK, he didn't doubt it was a good thing. "'Momentum Frenzy' on the other hand is probably one of the best skills for me currently, though the buff is quite weak now, it increases by 3 per level and it stacks so... that's good."
*BBRINNG*
"The doorbell? I don't remember inviting anyone to come over..." Cyril said as he went to check who rang his doorbell. What he saw was an old man wearing a dark academia style outfit. "Good afternoon, can I help you?"
"Oh, I am John Smith, private investigator." The man said while offering his hand for a handshake which Cyril decided to take, since he didn't feel like the man was up to something weird. "Just wanted to ask if you have noticed anything weird happening these past few days."
'What's that about?' Cyril wondered, since that question spiked his caution. Too many weird things had been going on lately and a private investigator called John Smith was surely amongst them. As such, Cyril decided to do what he thought smartest. 'Observe.'
[Name: Allen Fredericks Level: 21
Class: Bluebell's Sorcerer Title: Friendly Bishop
HP: 770 MP: 310
STR: 9 AGI: 8
DEX: 23 END: 11
INT: 40 WIS: 50
CHA: 10 LUK: 4
Allen Fredericks is a member of the Order of the Bluebell, an organization that works in The Abyss helping newcomers get used to the hidden side of the world. He is suspicios of the User being the person who has been creating and destroying barriers everyday for the past week and is here to formally introduce him to the hidden reality of the world.]
[Observe Lvl. 17 -> Lvl. 20]
Surprised by 'Observe's sudden triple level up, Cyril quickly dismissed it and paid attention to the info he had just gotten on 'John Smith'. Then, when he was about to answer, a certain set of options appeared in front of him. He immediately knew it was the 'Dialogue Options' from his 'Communication' Skill, which hadn't made an appearance yet. That confirmed that this was an important conversation and... he was curious. He wanted to know about this 'hidden reality of the world' and what better way than being introduced by someone who was friendly and knew about it.
["Sorry, I don't know what you are talking about, Mr. Smith."]
["Oh, if you are talking about the barriers then that was me, Mr. Fredericks."]
["I don't want any relations to the Order of the Bluebell, so fuck off."]
["You already know the answer to that question, don't you Mr. Fredericks?"]
'Hmm... the first and third aren't good at all... while the second isn't bad, I like the third one the most, honestly.' Cyril thought as he read over the options. And quickly enough, he decided which one he liked. "You already know the answer to that question, don't you Mr. Fredericks?"
"Huh, so you have a form of scrying besides the capacity to open and destroy barriers on a whim." Allen said without even an ounce of hostility or surprise on his voice. If anything, he looked mildly amused. "I take it you already know what I am here for, right?"
[Due to the User choosing a good line, CHA+1]
"I only know about the Order of the Bluebell and about your capabilities." Cyril honestly answered. He had always been a very forwards and forthright person, so he didn't see any need to show distrust to someone who hadn't given him reasons not to trust them. "I also don't know what The Abyss is, besides being some sort of hidden side of the world."
"Well, The Abyss is more like another world within the world." Allen explained to Cyril before gesturing to the place they were in. "This isn't the best place to speak about all of this. I take it you understand, right, Mr..."
"Bane, Cyril Bane, Mr. Fredericks. Sorry for the lack of respect." Cyril apologized for not having introduced himself. After all, he had seen the other party's name without their permission, though Allen had in fact given him a fake name, so it wasn't that bad. "Please come in, I know where we can speak without anyone disturbing us."
Allen didn't dwell on it too much and simply came in before sitting on a couch offered by Cyril, who without sitting down offered him a drink, coffee or tea.
"Ah, tea will do, Mr. Bane. I'm an old man after all and coffee might hurt my poor heart." Allen answered jokingly. Cyril knew that and chuckled lightly while quickly preparing two cups of chamomile tea.
"Here you go." Cyril offered the cup to Allen who grabbed it and took a sip without even doubting if it was poisoned. Cyril liked that kind of character, so he took a sip himself before adressing the elephant in the room. "Would you mind if I created a barrier for us to speak in privacy, Mr. Fredericks?"
"Not at all! In fact, I think it would be for the best." Allen answered while letting down the cup of tea which he had surprisingly already finished. "It was very well brewed, your tea, surprising for a young man like yourself, Mr. Bane."
"You flatter me. I learned from my grandmother how to brew tea, and my manners come from my grandfather mostly." Cyril answered before getting up and mentally calling an Empty ID. He had learned from his experiments with the skill that he could change how the Empty ID looked like with his imagination, so he pictured a place identical to his apartment.
"A most enviable skill to create barriers on a whim, I have to admit." Fredericks said with some surprise in his voice, to which Cyril looked at him in curiosity. "You see, I didn't get involved with The Abyss until I was already in my fifties, so I was well past my prime. I wasn't able to grow much stronger physically speaking and magically my potential was crippled due to my age being so advanced already. Hence, I lack the capability to create barriers through my own power."
"I am a weird case if I do say so myself, Mr. Fredericks." Cyril answered to that while internally wondering if he should be honest about his powers as 'The Gamer', only to decided that he would worry as the problems came. "So, tell me, why exactly did you contact me?"
"Well... it is not hard to explain but it will take some time. An hour would do, so I wanted to know if you didn't have any appointments, Mr. Bane." Allen said while looking at Cyril with a complicated expression.
"Not really, I didn't have any plans for today." Cyril answered nonchalantly. He was now a bit dreadful of the said explanation that he would be getting.
"Then let's begin... The Abyss is nothing but a way people with special capabilities use to refer to the hidden side of the world, where the supernatural, unscientific or simply illogical things thrive. The Abyss is a place where you can find anything you search, from androids to elves, from evil cults to twisted justice. The Abyss is just another face of our society, one ruled by Gaia or as you might know her, Earth. And she has made it clear that both realities should not mix with one another." Allen explained before taking a breath and continuing.
"In spite of said rule, a lot of people abuse their powers in the real world to attain authority, but they are quickly brought down. There are many organizations working in The Abyss, among those the most powerful would be the Abyss Auction, who rule over every trade made in The Abyss. You can easily find them if you search Abyssnet on any device connected to the Internet, though to actually enter the Abyss web you have to channel whatever magical, demonic, holy or spiritual power you possess. In your case, I can sense you have a very rare kind of pure mana, Mr. Allen." Fredericks continued. Then, as if remembering something he disliked, his face shifted to one of disgust.
"Besides them, there are many organizations that work only for themselves in order to attain power and authority. After all, unlike the regular world, The Abyss is a place in which only power amounts to authority. You will most likely see people or entire groups slaying, betraying and cheating other just for their own benefit. Amongst those groups there are some who work under altruism, thought very few. One of those groups is the Order of the Bluebell to which, as you already know, I belong. That would be it for the basics of The Abyss." Fredericks finished his explanation saying that, which meant that there was more to The Abyss than what he had just said.
"Basically, The Abyss is the side of the world were people with supernatural powers reside and move, it is extremely twisted and very few people actually care about others. Got it." Cyril said while blinking and sighing profoundly before continuing with self-depreciation. "And here I am, still upholding a moral compass that belongs to the previous century."
"Oh it is not impossible to do the right thing, Mr. Bane." Allen quickly said in an attempt to encourage Cyril. "You just need to have the kind of power that would allow you to impose over others what is right."
"I am not enough of a hero to opress others just for the sake of my own sense of justice, Mr. Fredericks." Cyril responded before speaking pragmatically. "After all, justice is made by the winner, not by an objective census reached amongst everyone. Besides, I care about my own more than I care about those who I don't know."
"I see... then I can't convince you to even think about joining our organization, can I?" Allen said while smiling brightly. It would seem that he didn't dislike Cyril's honesty about his pragmatic opinion on what 'justice' is.
"I wouldn't say that exactly." Cyril said before showing a cunning smirk. "While I might not be able to join the Order of the Bluebell, I can work with you."
"And so long as I don't get killed... I can someday attain the kind of power that will allow me to live a comfortable life in The Abyss." Cyril explained while having a new objective set on his mind.
[Quest created!]
[Clear the Zombie ID: You have set yourself on the path towards real power, so begin by clearing the Zombie ID as your first stepping stone.
Clear Conditions: Slay all zombies in one go.
Rewards: 2000 EXP, 'Undead Slayer' Title, $10,000]
"I wonder why you can say that so confidently, Mr. Bane... and I wonder if you would still say it knowing the beings you are going against." Allen wondered while looking at Cyril and before the latter could answer, he continued speaking. "After all, you would be going against literal gods and beings that could easily break the fabric of reality."
"Oh I can say it confidently because of who I am, Mr. Fredericks." Cyril said while looking at the Quest that had just been created with an ever-present grin on his face. "After all, I am 'The Gamer', and my potential is infinite."
'And I am not even talking about the MDCG... that might help me become even more powerful once it finds new members.' Cyril thought while remembering the app that he still hadn't received any news from.
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This wasn't easy to write and it still hasn't finished.