New Discoveries

Now that we had decided to change from the Brecksville Militia to the Heralds of Order I needed to plan out a lot of things.

The first thing on my list was meeting with that old tech priest, I still hadn't learned fully about his ability and how loyal he could be to our cause.

I found him in one of Wilbur's labs. I asked, "Hello, I would like to discuss your skills and the future of your group in our organization."

He replied, "Of course, what would you like to know about us?"

"Firstly," I asked, "What's your name?"

He replied, "You may call me Archmagos Wrenith Maw."

I said, "Is that your real name?"

Wrenith shook his head, "It is not but it is what others have to refer to me as for years during my mission so I have gotten used to it and taken it as my own."

I nodded, "Ok then. Can you tell me why you were so hellbent on conquering Torres? From what I could see the base you built underground would have sufficed for your tinkerings?"

He looked surprised, "Did you not get an S-rank evaluation in the tutorial?"

I furrowed my brows I said, "No I did not. I don't see how that comes in to this conversation."

He said, "But you have killed an S-rank in the sorcerer. Your rank should've increased. When was the last time you checked your status."

I said, "It's been quite a while let me check now."

[Name: Marcus Fulbright

Title/Alias: None

Rank: Initiate → Novice

Strength: 145 → 150

Agility: 152 → 156

Vitality: 149 → 154

Perception: 156 → 159

Intelligence: 120 → 128

Willpower: 150 → 156

Energy: 153 → 156

Skills: Renewal Taekwondo Lv. 83 → Lv. 86, Rokushiki Lv. 90 → Lv. 92, Observation Haki Lv. 10 → Lv. 15, Armament Haki Lv. 6 → Lv. 10, Conquerer's Haki Lv. 3 (New!)

Traits: None

Equipment: Ō Wazamono, Vegapunk's Laser Rifle, Healing Potion x5, Antidote Potion x2, Haki Manuals]

I looked and saw that none of my skills or stats had increased much. It was to be expected I hadn't really had the time to buckle down and start to train.

I noticed one thing differently, just like Wrenith mentioned, my rank had increased from Initiate to Novice. I wondered what the benefits were.

I said, "I'm a Novice now what does that mean?"

Wrenith said, "It means that now you can learn more about the system. Before even if I told what I knew about the system I would be erased from your memory instantly."

"Even when I used my technology to download it into someone's mind or made a written guide about what I knew no one could remember it."

"It is the privilege of only those who stand at the top of the world. Either those that have earned the S-rank evaluation or killed someone that has."

I nodded, "So what information is so important that you would want to invade a city over it."

He said, "We were first introduced to it when we got on our mission. I noticed, unlike others I had more information about the missions I was taking."

"Not only that there was an entirely new section to my area where I could call upon the help of what I refer to as a patron. For me, it was rows and rows of phonebooths I heard others were different."

"There on each phone booth was the title of a person. I went to one of the closest ones and picked up the phone."

"A robotic voice spoke to me and promised to choose the best mission for me and give me a lot of information about it if I were to just do a mission for it."

"It asked that I spread the teachings that I learned to the world, the more people knew the more pleased he said he would be and reward me more in our next mission."

"When I went I found that all his information was spot on. So when I headed back I tried to do what he asked me to and use my abilities to give as much people knowledge as possible."

"But the police stopped our work just because I dismembered a few limbs here and there to replace them with better stronger cybernetic enhancements."

"So I began my crusade to make everyone understand the greatness of machines and the weakness of the flesh. It would have been glorious."

I thought to myself Ok what the fuck? Now apparent S-Ranks can contact outside forces that can give them information for tasks to be done.

Was that why the S-ranks became so much more active and violent after the mission. Because each of them had a goal to fulfill given by their shady master.

I asked, "Do you have to follow what that voice said. Can you simply have gotten the information and then ignored its task?"

Wrenith said, "I believe so. I know that one of the S-ranks in Utah's mission was to make a flying fortress city. He has not done or started any such thing, instead opting to conquer the surrounding lands."

"I don't know however if it is merely because his punishment is delayed. It may only be at the start of the next mission that his patron may be able to punish him."

I nodded then asked, "How do you know so much about the surrounding S-ranks?"

He said, "It is merely the case that once you are good enough at hacking the only person who can stand up to you technologically is another S-rank."

"Many of us meet over the internet trying to break the firewalls of other S-rank mechanics so we formed a group and that is where I got most of this info."

Ok so now I know the patrons here are pretty limited. If they can't punish us for not following their tasks why even give the information.

I mean I assume these people are pretty powerful if they know in-depth information about multiple worlds, that or they are like me but I find that unlikely.

So what is their aim in doing this? I mean I know for a fact that currently, no S-ranks are making any new churches so the patrons aren't doing to this expand their power here.

They seemed to want to just force the top S-ranks to do weird things for fun. Then it clicked. This system was called the Multiversal Entertainment and Development System.

The people on high aren't giving these missions to expand their own power but to have fun and maybe develop useful lieutenants in the future.

This system, the reason it was so kind was so that they could make sure that the patrons had a wide variety of people to entrain or develop.

It seems like some of them want lieutenants like the patron of Wrenith, who basically sent him on a test to see how he would adapt.

Others just want fun, like I assume the patron of the sorcerer was. I can't think of a reason for why she would slaughter people other than just plain sadism or to complete the task given to her.

Luckily it seemed like it was currently an opt-in kind of thing. Next mission I just wouldn't get a patron and everything would be fine for me.

But I had to keep this in mind. The motivation of these S-ranks might get a lot weirder or more grand in the future depending on how their patrons feel.

Hopefully, the cost of betraying their contract with their patrons wouldn't be too great, or else people who took tasks to do evil would probably be locked into that path.

I honestly think that considering how kind the system has been the punishment will be something harsh but not life-ending. Maybe a long-term debuff or something similar, I honestly don't know.

So does this change any of my overall plans? I can't tell anyone who isn't an S-rank about this and I didn't have a patron myself, so probably not.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. Hopefully, this apocalypse won't get any more complicated, I don't think I can handle gods coming down from the sky.

But back to why I originally was here, "So since your mission does not conflict with anything I am doing I believe we should be able to work together for a brighter future."

He nodded, "Yes, so long as I may train more in the ways of the Adeptus Mechanicus I shall be happy."

I agreed, "Don't worry I would like more mechanics. Just before you put your memory transferring machine on anyone I want everyone in the mechanic's department to check on it to see if it is safe."

"You may have told me useful information but we were just enemies 1 day ago so I still don't trust you. I just remember I've got my eyes on you."

Wrenith said, "Don't worry I will not betray your trust."

I nodded and then walked away from the meeting with a lot more on my mind than had been a few minutes ago.