tSam panicked, trying to look around and ensure he had everything to get ready. Seconds after the window popped up a small loading bar manifested beneath it and started flowing down.
[ Conditions met.
[███████░] ]
Picking up a charging cable, and a power bank, making sure he had potions on him, all his weapons, and armour were good and he frantically picked up Elara and draped her around his neck. She looked confused but didn’t seem to argue and rather coiled up like she had done before.
[ Conditions met.
[██████░░] ]
The window didn’t mention a Solo Dungeon but didn’t explain what was happening. Sam panicked more than before. This felt almost taunting, like the system fucking with him on purpose rather than explaining what it was and counting down to that.
[ Conditions met.
[█████░░░] ]
“What’s going on, Master?” Elara asked with a worried expression and tone.
“There is a System window with a countdown. There wasn’t a countdown last time I was sent to a horrible place... Just... Preparing this time.” He focused, almost as a mental stare, at the window to the side in his view.
Rushing through the time he could, he took some complimentary fruits, snacks and water around the room, shoving it all in his backpack as he prepared for the worst. Janik never took the flashlight back so that also went in a pocket, ready to be used.
[ Conditions met.
[░░░░░░░░] ]
As time expired he was as ready as he could be, mentally preparing for something horrible his eyes widened as the window closed and a new one opened in its stead.
[ Ascendancy approved ]
His mind raced, he was somewhat annoyed, curious and confused at the same time. Wasn’t he going to be sent to a Solo Dungeon? Was this just a step before something worse would happen? Not to mention, the fuck was Ascendancy?
Focusing on the window with the word, on the word specifically as he had done with everything else he wondered about, had an information window pop up.
[ Ascendancy system
A Player with the Ascendancy system gains access to upgrades to an existing Skill or Ability if they complete challenges. ]
Sam picked up a chair he had knocked over in haste and sat down, staring at this poorly explained bit of information. He wondered why this was a thing, how it was a thing and what was going on. Why he was chosen for it and... well... Just what was going on?
If this worked as he thought based on the explanation, he would get a challenge, perhaps a list of challenges, and if he completed them he would get upgrades. That was... really interesting.
He was nearing level 10, at which he would get a Class Skill or Ability. In some cases, it was just a new ability, in other cases it was a passive upgrade or something. In his interest, before he became a Player he had read a lot about things. It was never a preset thing, two warriors with the same stats could get different abilities, or the same ability with different power levels, one might be 5% and another might be 10%. The System wasn’t fair and seemed to do as it pleased. But now there was an Ascendancy system? Something that could upgrade already existing skills? Though, in all his time of reading and absorbing content surrounding the Players, he had never heard of the Ascendancy system.
Being extremely relieved and happy that this didn’t send him into a Solo Dungeon, he ended up just confused. Still relieved and happy but confused.
“Master....” Elara still sounded worried, moving herself around him so she could extend a part of her out, letting her turn around and look at him properly. “Is there something I can do to help?”
Sam chuckled. The situation was weird and he was still not used to having Elara around, but he still welcomed the worry. “No, I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”
Giving her a scratch under her chin, which she seemed to like a lot. “I just panicked when the Conditions window popped up... The last time was not fun. But this time it has given me... something, I don’t know yet, I think I’ll ask Janik about it tomorrow.”
Relaxing much more now that he wasn’t sent anywhere weird, he could properly think about the situation. Taking the moment to put things from his backpack back in their place, especially the fruit. He calmed down from his adrenaline panic.
Elara seemed like she relaxed more as well. Right now he felt like showering, the attack by the Goblin Chief had covered him in blood, both his own and the goblin’s once he shanked him. The blood was splattered over his clothing as well as Elara's body, as she was coiled around his neck and shoulders at the time. It was cleanup time!
The armour and clothing were cleaned easily enough, the clothing he just threw in the wash but the armour he cleaned by hand, not knowing if it was a good idea for that to tumble about in a machine or not.
“So... I have no idea how to clean you... Or if you do that yourself...” Sam honestly commented to his companion. “Do I just fill the sink with water? Do you shower?” He was a bit confused, interested at the same time as the alien nature of this became intriguing.
“My scales are good at cleaning themselves, so you don’t need to clean me normally, but sticky things like blood are a bit harder to just peel off.” She smiled as she gladly explained about herself. “I can bathe myself if I get access to warm water, or you can shower me if that’s easier.”
Sam had gotten over the weirdness of her being an animal but also a sapient creature, so the act of cleaning her itself wasn’t as weird as it would have been just yesterday, but he just didn’t know the best way to do it. But it seemed the easiest way was to just let her handle it on her own. He plugged in the sink in the bathroom with the rubber plug, and since she was surprisingly dexterous with her tail he let her handle the water.
He took a shower to get the gore off himself, and as he dried himself he gave her a bundled-up towel to crawl against and into, both of them being clean afterwards. He ate some food afterwards, she felt fine and didn’t need any food yet, she had fed just yesterday. This part of her biology was still strange for him but he did consider something she said. Being a snake she had a snake mind in addition to her intelligence, explaining that she would like to hunt something he was considering letting her do that at times. However, that would probably be easier outside as he didn’t know if it was a good idea to let a mouse loose in the room.
The rest of the day went for relaxing, he spoke and spent some time with Elara, who loved the attention but seemed to be more supportive or wanting the situation to be positive for Sam. He also spent some time trying to do some simple research on the Ascendance system, but he couldn’t find anything besides certain companies having the name or using it as part of their slogan. It didn’t feel right that he was the only one who had it, though, he thought it might just be a rare thing and not documented that well. Janik could know more, if not then he’d just check with TAC tomorrow.
Waking up the next day he felt good, he had a brief scare with Meeting some Conditions last night, thinking he was going to be sent to a Solo Dungeon, but that didn’t happen so he got a good night’s rest.
One major change was that there was a new System window in his view, one that wasn’t there when he went to sleep.
[ Ascendant Challenge 1/2
1: Pickpocket something from another player.
-Condition: Do not get caught.
Rewards:
A significant boost to an ability. ]
He felt a bit weird about it, but it wasn’t too problematic, he would bring this up with Janik when he spoke with him. Checking his phone he had already gotten a text from Janik, requesting when it worked for them to meet up.
Checking his health it was back at max, the night had restored it so that part was good. And since Sam wanted to ask him some questions it might be better if they just met up at TAC. He replied to the text saying that he was awake now, just going to eat some breakfast so they could meet up in the cafeteria.
Going through his morning routine he found himself in the cafeteria, geared up, a snake collared around his neck and ready to go. The complimentary breakfast was simple enough to get and he was halfway done eating by the time Janik found him. Sitting down he smiled as he often did. “ ‘sup, fucker. You ready to go to Aetheria?”
The banter was nice, he wasn’t entirely used to it since before the event happened, but he had friends back then so it wasn’t an uncommon thing. Friends often called each other things like that, but it felt illogically unnatural to reply in the same way.
“Oh, I am. But I have a question.”
Janik focused on Sam properly, looking eager to aid.
“Have you heard something about an Ascendance system?” Sam asked straight out, adding an extra questioning tone to confirm that he had no idea himself.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Ascendance system?” Janik thought about it for a few seconds. “Not that I can remember, no. What’s that?” His face went from an expression of trying to think of if he knew something to curiosity when he turned the question back to Sam.
“I... I don’t know. A System message explained that I was approved for something like that. I couldn’t find anything good on the net about it either. It seems to... boost me if I do some challenges?” Sam was honest with his expression, but at the same time, he decided to try and play with Janik. He felt confident that if he stole something from him, as long as he returned it and explained the situation, it wouldn’t be a problem. Manifesting several Psyhands, wanting to make sure he could handle the weight, he got ready to steal whatever he could get his hands on from his pockets.
“That’s strange. It sounds good but... what kind of boost... or what kind of challenges?”
Sam had reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone with his hands, but he couldn’t pull that out without him noticing. There was a simple way of handling that, a misdirection.
Fake-looking up he looked nowhere in particular and faked a confused expression, it was dumb but worked enough for him to look towards where he was looking.
“What, what’s going on?” He looked in that direction for a few seconds but didn’t see anything, logically enough. As he turned back towards Sam, Sam clapped his hands once in front of his face. This started him a little bit, at the same moment he used his Psyhand to pull the phone out of his pocket.
Janik used a few seconds of confusion before finally looking at him properly. “The fuck was that for?”
[ Ascendant Challenge 1/2
Pickpocket something from another player.
-Condition: Do not get caught. - Completed! ]
He was very happy when he saw the completion of the extra mission. Moving the phone under the table to his normal hands, he placed it on top of the table between them.
As soon as Janik saw it he reacted as one normally would, he checked his pocket and when his phone was missing his eyes narrowed towards Sam. “Explain.”
Sliding his phone back to Janik, Sam fessed up. “You asked about the challenges... The first one I got was to steal something from another player without getting caught. This felt like the safest and best way to do that... I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to actually steal something... so...” He looked honestly apologetic and didn’t look like he felt good about succeeding in his ploy.
“Well... I suppose it’s fine...” Janik didn’t seem like he liked the breach of trust.
Sam’s expression changed, it went from his apologetic face to a happy one, he had just completed the first of a two-step challenge, after all, but his expression ended up sinking.
[ Ascendant Challenge 2/2
1: Pickpocket something from another player.
-Condition: Do not get caught. - Completed!
2: Kill another player
Rewards:
A significant boost to an ability. ]
“What, what’s going on?” Janik broke in, seeming to have realised something was wrong.
“Well... I succeeded in the first step...”
“... And?”
“The second step is to kill a Player.” Sam didn’t sound entirely fine with this.
“Ah... yeah... I can see that being a problem...” Janik sat back in his chair, putting the phone back in his pocket. “What’s the reward? Perhaps you can drop it if it’s not worth it?”
“It reads ‘A significant boost to an ability’. The System will boost an existing ability according to the info.” Sitting back in his chair as well, feeling slightly defeated already.
“Well... A significant boost is very good. The System doesn’t use those kinds of words lightly.” As he explained he looked to the ceiling, seeming to be thinking and staring into nothing more than actually looking there. “There are PvPers if you want to go down that route...”
Sam didn’t consider that initially, but he had a good point. Some players focused on, or at least dabbled in, Player killing. Camping out in Aetheria was listed as a dangerous thing to do, not just because of natural predators and such, but also because of the PvPers. A lot of Players went missing when out and about, from monsters mostly but it was almost impossible to track the times that other Players went the cause of this. The only reason this was known was because of survivors or the times the PvPers bit off more than they could chew. They didn’t always survive but given how much a Player tended to sink into gear, killing a Player and stealing their gear for personal use or selling, was lucrative enough to make this a legit business.
Though it’s heavily frowned on, the lack of proper policing outside of settlements in Aetheria meant that this was assumed to happen relatively often.
“I understand that this might be a problematic thing to co-” Janik’s sentence was interrupted by Sam breaking in.
With a surprisingly emotionless expression, Sam interrupted his explanation. “I’m fine with it.”
Originally he thought about it and it didn’t feel right, to kill another Player like that. But as soon as the PvPers were mentioned he started considering things. His Player journey started because a Player abused his powers, he was broken and fucked up, though he didn’t regret it anymore he was also wrongfully fired because of it. The pain and agony he went through, lucky to be healed from becoming a Player, left him broken and very hurt.
Considering the minimal problems he went through compared to what certain other Players were doing, some took enjoyment in dishing out pain or drawing it out, according to testimonials he had read. Remembering that he didn’t have many problems trying to swing the bat at the Player who attacked him in the store. Though not directly related, he had been through some shit when living on the streets as well, he hadn’t killed for food but he had gone far in self-defence a few times. All of this boiled down to not feeling like it was a problem to kill a Player who is out to hurt or kill others.
Janik’s expression changed from a supportive comforting to a strange, not disturbed but slightly shocked one. “Hold on. You’re fine with it?”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t be fine killing some innocent or good Player. But in short, my past experiences have given me... flexible morals.” He didn’t go into depth, but he lived mainly on begging and stealing for a while, self-defence became a necessity. “It's not that I want to kill anyone-” Putting pressure on the word ‘want’. “-but before I became a Player I was attacked by one, he practically caved in my face and fucked my life. I was lucky to become a Player that very night so all my wounds were healed but... I was in bad shape...”
In Sam’s eyes, the Players who focused on fucking up the life of other Players and who didn’t want part of PvP didn’t deserve to be here. Much like certain criminals, Players or normal people, they didn’t need to exist. Already having a somewhat revenge-like relationship with the System itself, it strangely fit with his goals at the time. Powering up his abilities would make it at least a bit easier to fight back against the bullshit it threw at them.
The irony of him now possibly setting out to find and kill a Player was not lost on him, but who the target Player is, was the difference.
“Huh...” Janik was surprised. “I’ll be honest that I didn’t expect that.” He didn’t look angry or too opposed to Sam’s explanation, just surprised.
Ironically, this surprised Sam. Though Janik was a supportive man, his accepting this part felt a bit strange. “Well, I’ll be honest as well, I didn’t expect you to sound so... on board with this...”
Janik used a few seconds before answering, his expression was contemplative, like he wondered how he should word it. “The thing is, the PvP fucks I have zero problems seeing disappear. There’s enough shit in the world already, the main problem is that... Players focusing on this kind of stuff are usually good at it.”
Sam considered this for a moment, he had a good point. If they had been doing this for a while then it makes sense that they could have some special Skills or just have a proper mindset. Hunting an animal and hunting a person are two very different things, the addition of intelligence is dangerous, for both sides.
“Well... What does this mean, then?” Sam realised that without planning it, their conversation had lowered in volume, as soon as killing players became the topic, as they were in the public cafeteria, they somewhat changed tone a bit.
“Well, the plan was to go to Aetheria today, explore and see what we find. I don’t think we should actively hunt Players, but if we happen to meet some...” He had a specific tone on ‘happen’, it was clear that he didn’t like Players fighting other people, it felt more personal than just dislike.
Sam was certain he had been through something but decided not to pry.
“I’m fine with that.” Sam smiled as he finished the drink that came with his breakfast. “Let’s go.”
Janik got up as Sam cleaned up the things he used for breakfast and moved them to a trash and stacking station like many fast-food places have. Before they set off to the Tower Sam popped into his room to pick up the TAC backpack with gear, never a bad thing to be prepared.