EmEs_etherious
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Chapter 57- A Pleasant conversation
🕑 Added 2023-02-03 23:59:01 +0000 UTCArthur was out of his depth. What was supposed to be a quick meeting in which his abilities would be assessed had somehow become a shady deal of sorts. Arthur had no idea he had even found himself in this situation, all he had done was tell Alyssia that he was from Earth when asked and he was now being offered to take part in some strange transaction.
And what was this about him dying?
Alyssia was no doubt far, far stronger than him and he was certain that he had nothing to offer the enigmatic woman, besides maybe his above-average healing skills. That service was already a given with his presence in the facility, however, which served only to add to Arthur's rising sense of confusion. What, does she want me to betray the humans or something, he thought wearily as a number of absurd scenarios made their way through his head. Some of his anxiety must have shown on his face, or perhaps it was because of the fact he had remained silent for so long. The lack of reaction from the young healer left her questioning her translation abilities. Was her magic failing to deliver? Was she doing the right thing? Why does a simple conversation have to be so complicated? she thought to herself as she recalled her mother's constant warnings that she'd one day regret not having practised the spell as much as she had ought to. As usual, her mother's words had now been proven correct and she felt a tinge of sadness not knowing if and when she’d ever see her family again. Maybe the fact I told him he's gonna die. Gee, how could that go wrong?
She shook her head, trying to rid herself of her melancholy, now was not the time to be losing herself in the past and she took a deep breath.
“I don't think you understand me correctly Arthur. What I meant was that I need your help with answering a few questions. And hopefully, I can answer a few of yours? I'm sure you're confused after what I just said.” Alysssia asked hopefully, being extremely careful that she was using the one source properly to not botch up the translation skill.
She had no idea what Arthur would be hearing otherwise and she didn't want to antagonize him any more than she already had. Seeing Arthur's frown disappear, Alyssia sighed in relief. Maybe she still had a chance with this meeting.
“So, that's what you meant,” Arthur replied, trying his best to put on a friendly smile, though how successful he was in doing so was questionable judging by Alyssia who looked taken aback by the visage displayed before her. Hastily continuing with his speech, Arthur tried to put his best foot forward.
“It would be my pleasure to be of any assistance to you Alyssia. And maybe you could shed some light on my imminent demise.”
That sounded like he was kissing ass too much even for him and had come out far sassier than he'd intended, but it couldn't hurt to trample on his pride a little to appease the dangerous woman before him.
It seemed it had worked at least a little as he saw the tension drain out of the Alverin woman's shoulders. She smiled at him, the expression one of both relief and hope. And a little embarrassment. “I must apologise. I was being a little melodramatic earlier with my tales of doom. I’m sorry to ask you this, but you must understand that none of what I say must leave this room. I promise that I’ll compensate you properly,” she requested earnestly, lowering her head in the process until her face was covered in a curtain of her lustrous brown hair.
Arthur took a moment to consider the woman's request, curiosity and caution warring within him, but the annoying way both he and she had been treated by the government quickly made the decision for him. It wouldn't hurt to add some more to the pile of secrets he was already keeping from them and he felt absolutely no lingering sense of loyalty to them, fellow humans be damned.
“Don't worry, nothing you say will leave this room, unless I am explicitly given permission from you to do so.” Arthur finally spoke, committing himself to the woman's trust. “ If there's one thing I know the value of, it's silence.”
Alyssia looked up sharply, meeting Arthur's eyes with her own predatory gaze, and he felt almost locked up, a deer in headlights, though the effect was broken in seconds. Alyssia was shocked that the human seemed so ready to trust her, and she immediately suspected that he was lying in the hope of finding out a few of her secrets. After looking at him however and using some of her natural instincts and skill augmented with the one source, she realised that the healer had spoken the truth.
For some reason, he really didn't seem to care about the people in charge of this facility, for what reason Alyssia knew not, though she counted her lucky stars that was the case. A more cynical part of her told her that Arthur had perhaps experienced a similar relationship with the leadership as she was currently. It wouldn't really surprise her, what with them being the callous barbarians that they were.
“Well, I’m surprised that you agreed so quickly, though I do thank you for your discretion, Arthur,” she eventually said. Arthur just chuckled at that.
“So what's your first question, Alyssia?” he asked the alverin woman.
She considered his question for a short while before settling on something suitable.
“Well, I don't really understand how you managed to reach such a powerful level of strength with your planet having only evolved a few days ago. Frankly, I find it impossible to believe,” Alyssia chimed, deciding that this conundrum was the most important one to be solved before they progressed to more sensitive topics.
"I have my suspicions but I'd like to hear what you have to say first. You don't have to tell me everything, or anything at all really if you don't want to. Afterwards, I'll tell you what I think is going on and hopefully, it'll lend credibility to my words and help you trust me. Okay?"
Arthur looked worried at the woman's admission of his surprising power.
She can tell how I became this powerful. Is it linked to me dying soon? Fuck, I knew monster cores were too good to be true? There just had to be a catch.
Arthur was silent for a while before he came to a decision. He would tell her his story. Not all of it, just the barebones details. If she could fill in the gaps herself, then, well, he was probably fucked and in serious need of her assistance.
“Well, I guess I just got really lucky.” Arthur finally admitted.
Alyssia didn't seem to care about his non-answer and was about to speak before he continued.
“Well, I’m not sure about how ether and all things magic work in your dimension, but in ours, we have something called the system.” He explained.
Perhaps he could attribute some of his speedy growth to the crazy powerful thing and throw her off, see if she was the real deal with her prophecies of doom. Judging by the look of intrigue on the alverin's face, it looked like she was ready to believe him.
“You see, as I know it, some people decided that magical usage on newly evolved planets was far too dangerous and volatile,” Arthur continued.
Alyssia had a knowing look on her face, and Arthur was sure she had at least heard of such things if not seen them herself.
“So how does the system come into all of this,” she asked him, curiosity leaking into her voice.
Arthur smiled when he heard the woman's question. This, at least, was something he could answer very well, perhaps better than most people on Earth, given the fact that he had met a remnant of Sir Ruffeus III, one of the original creators of the system. And he could hopefully direct most of Alyssias attention to the powerful creation in the process, thus directing her curiosity away from his own secrets.
Arthur took a deep breath as he prepared himself to give a satisfying explanation to the alverin woman. He looked down at his watch, it showed a quarter past ten. Arthur had a feeling that this would be a very long conversation.
~Alysssia Sil’Vorken~
Alysia listened with rapt attention to the fantastical tale Arthur wove, only interrupting him when her translation skill failed to pick up what he was saying. When he had finished, she was unsure as to whether her ether was working at all or if Arthur was just pulling her leg. The things Arthur had told her about were frankly difficult to believe. How in the world did someone create something like this system? She wondered. Screw that, it's practically a cheat how easy it is to get stronger with it. There's almost no risk of becoming a ‘lost one‘ whilst using it. Well, I guess I can agree with him when he said it'd eventually become a limiter.
She shuddered to think how stunted people's control over 'the one source' would become at higher levels. It practically saddled a person to mediocrity forever.
Still, she couldn't deny its uses at earlier stages of one's growth. It was almost as if power was being handed to people on a silver platter and they didn't even realise the value of the gift they had been given. She couldn't blame them really though due to the fact that their entire interactions with the ‘one source’ had been within the confines of the system.
The humans of earth had yet to realise just how difficult it would be to ‘level up' and 'assign stat points' without the system's aid. Alyssia herself could attest to that, with the countless times she had lost sleep due to the incredible pain felt when she hadn't been able to assign her ‘stats’ properly after growing stronger. Still, with all this being said, it didn't explain the incredibly potent aura that surrounded Arthur. After all, if he had reached such a level due to the bounties of the system, it would only make sense that others too would have reached similar levels of power. And yet she hadn't met anyone that even came close to exhibiting the pressure that Arthur did and she sincerely doubted Arthur's great strength was the result of aid from the system. A part of it perhaps, but Alyssia refused to believe that just anyone could achieve what Arthur had in two weeks with the system's assistance.
No, Arthur was special, and there was a lot that he was keeping from her. So a test then. He wants to see if I can correctly identify his source of power and see if I'm trustworthy or not. I can hardly blame him. I wouldn't trust me either if I was in his position.
He wasn't the naive young man she had initially thought he was and he was most definitely not the arrogant bastard child of a powerful individual. No, the man before her was far more intelligent and deadly than she had given him credit for and not because he had some powerful people behind him.
The instincts that had always served her so well told her that Arthur was a self made man that had achieved his current strengths with his own two hands. She shuddered to think of the absolute monster he would one day become, no doubt surpassing the apocalypse beasts his aura was currently mimicking. If he could survive that long. This was not someone she wanted to make an enemy of and helping him in his moment of weakness would probably significantly increase her chances of ever making it back home. If I can even help him. His soul is fucked. Can he even use the one source right now?
“So you see, I've actually got an offer to join that system of yours,” Alyssia said, noticing the look of relief that passed Arthur's face when he realised she wasn't going to pursue the reasons behind his abnormal strength. Yes, she was definitely making the right choice, she told herself.
“I'll definitely take that opportunity after hearing what you said. As thanks for answering my questions, how about I give you something. Hopefully, it'll help you trust my next words more.” She smiled at him.
"As a scout for my tribe, I have to always carry a circuit stone with me. It carries the circuitry for the spell I'm using to communicate with you generally used to facilitate a better conversation with any travellers I meet. Usually, it's temporary but with the system's assistance, I suspect it may perhaps become one of those five 'skills' you can possess outside of your affinities."
"I'm sure you would have taken a translation spell anyway right. That's what that Serako lady told you to do right. How'd you feel about getting one from another dimension."
A system notification flashed before Arthur's eyes.
You have been offered the skill Myriad Tongues (Unique-Rare) by Alyssia Sil'Vorken. This skill structure does not fall under the normal circuitry of system skills and may not perform up to standard.
Do you wish to accept?
YES/NO
Arthur clicked yes. He couldn't help but smile at the description that came up.
Myriad tongues (Unique-Rare) - A strange yet effective way of using ether has led to the creation of a skill that can be used to both speak and understand most languages. Be warned though, the skill's circuitry is far from a perfect match with the system.
Secondary effect: Will help host tell when they are being lied to. This effect scales with Charisma and Willpower.
Congratulations, you have gained the achievement:
System Teacher I
Talking to Alyssia was one of the best decisions he'd made in a while. Now he just needed to prevent his imminent demise and things would be perfect.
