Chapter 00110001 00110111

Henry took me down to the weight room to show me something. It was a video screen. An entire wall was dedicated to this video screen. In the wall by the corner there was a slot in the shape of a square. I pushed the cube into it and the wall came to life.

A beautiful woman with blonde hair appeared on the screen. She had perfectly tanned skin and hair that reflected the afternoon sun perfectly. She was in a rather provocative bikini and was swimming.

"As you may know I am Aphrodite. The goddess of Love. But that is not all. I am also the faction leader for the Birds and Bees faction. And I am here to say we want you!" She said as she pointed directly at whatever was recording the message.

Her voice had a lulling side to it. Sensual and alluring. Yet I found no true appeal to it. "So give me a call if your interested. We have a great benefits package for new guys." She said with a wink and then the video cut out.

Henry and I were both slightly red after that message. Not angry but for different reasons. I quickly grabbed the cube and hid it behind my back when I heard footsteps. Lily came down the stairs with a cocked eyebrow. "You dont need to hide the message cube. I know that fool faction is trying to recruit you." She said almost coldly.

I sheepishly pulled the cube out from behind my back. She inspected it. "Definitely Aphrodites handiwork. It's one of her swimsuit model promotion packages. Dont do it. You going over will only mean you'll be her toy till the end of your days. And she already has enough of those with how lonely she gets at times." Lily said. I heard a snort come from the stairs and Lily called out. "Beth! Horacio! Get down here! You were listening to that message just like I was!"

My face turned even more red from embarrassment as Beth and Horacio came down the steps. Horacio leaned against a far wall as Lily held up the cube before throwing it in the trash. "We already have better benefits for you here. Going to a harem gives you nothing but wasted energy. Besides we still need to get your Sarcophagus appraised." Lily said pointing at my wrist.

When I had changed forms the coffin had changed into a bracelet with a thick black band. And the sarcophagus had shrunk to become a perfect little charm on it. I nodded as I regretted even considering Aphrodite's offer for even a second. Henry patted my shoulder. "You'll be getting plenty of offers from people wanting to poach you away from us. I hope you can stay loyal." He said as he walked away.

Beth walked up to me and smiled with her lips closed. "Let's go get that thing appraised and maybe get you some new parts in the process." She chirped. I nodded silently and made my way up the stairs. After we left a different conversation took place.

"Lily... Speaking of that sarcophagus. You ever seen something that big drop before?" Horacio said as he examined his fingers. He was painting them a new color. A red pastel had been applied to where his nails would've been normally.

Lily shook her head as she considered things. "He's an anomaly. There has never been a drop that big before. Well... with exception to the occasional weapon but even then! His is the size of a person and capable of taking a blow from Thors hammer. I need to know what that thing is and why it dropped for him." She said rubbing her hands together.

The more we understand, the better. He's got something to him the others don't. Like he's the system favors him somehow. If we can figure it out then maybe he can get a better use out of it. And if he can do that then it can only benefit us." She said before turning to the holotable to watch a rerum of the dome.

"We're a faction. A damn good faction at that! But if a bigger more popular faction comes to take him away... I can't make him stay..." She sighed heavily.

Market Area-

I ventured through the crowds with Beth. It was more crowded than usual. Though there was a nice thing to it. Alot of people noticed me and parted like moses and the red sea. We quietly said our thank you's and went on through. We were careful not to disturb too many people on our way though.

Mercury was doing business as usual. He was making a deal with a guy who had a cloud stitched on his arm but little to no defining features about himself besides that.

As soon as he saw us though he handed the deal to another employee and came rushing over. "A pleasure to see you Beth! Long time no see!" He said as she hugged him tightly and he bent slightly to return it.

He stood up taller. "So! I imagine parts are in order?" He asked with expectant eyes. Beth nodded. "Indeed but we also need an appraisal of a drop Sil got recently." She said.

Mercury's eyes widened with happy surprise. "We can certainly do that for you. Purchases over 1000 points come with a free one anyway." He said happily as he led us through to the back room. He turned and rubbed his hands together expectantly.

"So! How many parts will you be purchasing today?" He said. I looked at him. "25 D Rank pieces is all I can afford." I said and his eyes widened slightly. "Well well. A big spender right off the hop! Take the parts you want and give me the points. Then we'll do your appraisal." He said with a smile.

I walked over to the blue cubes and picked out 25 of them. I then handed them to mercury to count. I gave him the points and started absorbing the parts. 10 went into my bandages and the rest went into my chains and sickles. My healing factor was boosted up to 7 points a minute. The chains now had more of a glow to them now despite everything I put them through.

I then pulled out my Sarcophagus for Inspection. It's size was a bit much for the place I was standing so I had to move or I was going to knock something over.

Beth mean while had purchased 12 B rank parts. She transformed and actually scared Mercury with her new look. "I didn't realize you could change looks Beth! Why didn't you say something before!?" He said in shock.

She quickly looked between me and him. She then pointed at my sarcophagus ( I'm just gonna call it a coffin. It's easier) "You can thank that thing after your done appraising it. I feel great after that thing changed me into this." She said.

Mercury's eyes locked onto me and I could feel an almost predatory gaze. I slowly took the coffin over for inspection. It only took a couple moments. He pulled some kind of magnifying glass out of a drawer and began to look the thing up and down with it. Soon he wrote down something on a page before handing it to me.

Sarcophagus of Life

Will either heal or alter allies at the cost of the user's health. Can Alter Allies back to a healthy state. Every year of health recovered cosmetically costs a point of the users health.

Healing costs the same amount restoring 1 point of health for every point recovered.This also heals status effects. Adding scrolls of bandages will increase it's abilities further in the future.

Defense: B

Offense: E

Healing:A

Appraised value: 5000 points.

I gawked at the paper as Mercury attempted to move the coffin to no avail. "Might add something to your appraisal. Can only be moved by chosen recipients. That would lower the appraisal value by a bit." He grunted. I nodded as I lifted the thing with ease and with a thought it changed into the bracelet again. I fitted it onto my wrist and thanked him for his help.

He waved us out the back of his shop so we wouldn't be swarmed by his other customers giving me a hearty handshake on the way out.

When we finally returned to the house. Lily and the others had gone somewhere. (Probably grabbing more parts I'd wager.) I thought as I started on my chores for the day. I cleaned the house from stem to stern. After a week of doing this my points had added up to 140 points. 60 more points and I would have enough to purchase the beginner level of the chain arts. I really looked forward to that day.

I kept cleaning and the dust was soon cleared away. The floors sparkled against the light outside and the air smelt cleaner. I heard a rustle come from the stairs and looked down to see the scarabs swarming around Kehpri with their rags. It was kinda comical.

Kehpri had gone under the bookshelves and came out looking like a monstrous dust rhino. The swarm was attempting to approach him to clean him but he was having none of it. I thought for a moment before snapping my fingers.

The swarm parted and I stepped through gently picking up Khepri. The dust didn't fall off and what I did next he didn't see coming. I opened my pet ranch and threw him in among the Puffballs. He sank like a stone amid the sea of white fur. He squealed and shot out like a hot iron had branded his ass.

He was now perfectly clean. He glared at me angrily. "What? I had to get you clean without getting anybody hurt. And they need the practice." I said with a grin. He squeaked at me before grabbing a rag, covering himself with it like a cloak, and scittering over to another shelf before squeezing underneath it with the rag in tow.

"Another day of hard work." I sighed as I closed the pen and continued working on the issue of dusting the weight room and mopping the floors. It took me an hour or so to make everything clean again.

As I stood back and examined the handiwork I heard a cough behind me. I turned to see Henry. He gestured upstairs. "You're being called." He said as he walked back up the stairs. His steps were creepily quiet as he did so.

Not a sound came from his feet impacting the steps. I nodded and sighed. I was expecting a scolding for what I did with the Titan Worm anyway. "Might as well face the music." I sighed as I took off my apron and gloves.

The scarabs quickly returned the rags to their soapy bucket and I once again opened the pet ranch. Khepri flew in followed by the small swarm of smaller insects. After making sure none of them had been missed I closed it and ventured up the stairs.

What met my gaze was the happy smiles of Beth, Lily, Horacio, and Henry as they lifted bottles of freshly bought soda. "Come and pick up a glass! We have a toast to make!" Horacio said with a wicked grin. I quickly grabbed the remaining bottle of soda on the table.

"To Sil! May the brave bastard ever find glory in the faction!" Lily said smiling as she lifted her bottle high in front of her. "Here, here!" The others said and clinked their glasses. We all took eager sips from the bottles. I tasted the sweetness of cream and sugar. The tang of lemon and sourness of lime. I felt a smile come to my face as the flavors flowed across my tongue and down my throat. It was the taste of cake! I hadn't tasted a cake in a couple years! Not that my family could've afforded to buy or even make one on mars.

I felt my shoulders relax as I savored the flavors. A small echo of sadness brushed my consciousness as the last memory of cake I had was from my birth mother and fathers anniversary many years ago.

The raised wine glasses and Champaign being poured. I had the opportunity to have a small slice then. I was suddenly snapped out of the flashback by a pat on the back and a barking laugh from Horacio. "You did damn fine out there Rook. Damn fine. Our names will be in the books for years cause o' you!" He said with a stupidly giddy smile.

I grinned to cover up my sadness hoping that nobody noticed. Horacio went and unceremoniously flopped onto the couch. I looked around and found Lily staring at me. She nodded at me with a slightly raised glass.

I raised my glass in turn. After that Lily started discussing something with Beth when the walls suddenly turned bright red.

"Warning! Warning!" An automated monotone voice called throughout the building. "What's happening!?" I shouted.

Beth looked at me with a worried expression. "We're under attack."