Screams echoed in the tunnel as three figures hurled Void and dragged him to the entrance.
"WAIT, WAIT, really, I really don't have the money." Void struggled to wiggle out from their grip, but to no avail.
Paying his antics no mind, Void was chucked out of the mining tunnel as he landed on his back.
He rubbed his aching spine and slowly sat up.
Suddenly, he saw a dodecahedron zip through the air, and thud as it knocked him in the head.
"F***...." He immediately held the back of his head, and looked at the engram thrown, it glowed softly.
"What the hell is this supposed to be." Void furiously grabbed the engram.
"Some extra change, for you." A figure emerged from the tunnel.
Void glanced back to see Praedyth staring at him with a disappointed frown.
"I didn't think you were this broke. Then again, I can't hope to see how you would make any good money with your skill level." Praedyth jeered.
Void clutched the engram as he stumbled to his feet, "Well my bad for not being risen a century earlier, retard."
Praedyth shook his head as he flicked his fingers dismissively, telling Void to screw off. He turned towards the tunnel, still chuckling.
"And don't come back without the ship....Dumbass." Praedyth retorted, his voice rang through the mining shafts as he disappeared back inside.
Void pinched his forehead, mumbling strange things as he took a deep breath.
A few seconds later, he triggered his transmat and disappeared.
"Obsidian, set coordinates to the city, full speed." Void asked, still a bit chippy.
"Setting coordinates for the hangar, estimated arrival, four hours." Obsidian replied, appearing in the jumpship.
Void exhaled a sigh as he began fidgeting with the engram in his palm. Using the main screen, Void browsed the various jumpships for sale at the hangar.
It wasn't that he had not considered an upgrade. He was still piloting his scrap ship, although he had gotten it patched up.
The ship had no accelerated warp drive, a big reason why it took him so long to pile up the money was that equipment was too damn expensive...
Unlike when he was in game, loot didn't just drop freely. Naturally, he could take whatever the fallen warriors were carrying, but they were never equipped well.
In the end, Void was always at a loss on how to gather equipment.
Considering the time-line, the city didn't exactly have an influx of resources, as it was a relatively "peaceful" time. The gunsmiths and technicians weren't exactly stressed about their survival.
Most operations or strikes were done without any civilians informed.
He glanced at the engram once more, its gray color was something he had never seen, "Obsidian, what kind of engram is this."
Obsidian took one look at the gray engram and began decoding it's encryption.
"Hmm, it seems that this an old-city engram. They went out of use because of their impracticality in long term storage, they were replaced by the crystal encryption engrams recovered from golden age facilities."
"Old-city engram?"
Void flipped the engram over as he gave it a closer look. 'Makes sense why I never saw this.'
"Alright, so how do we decode this stuff?" Void asked.
An engram was an encrypted form of storage, however, if the engram was out of use then how could he even begin?
"Hmm, the current cryptarch, master Rahool might have an answer. But he might have to study the engram first. Estimated, a few days?" Obsidian analyzed the probabilities.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
"A few days?" Void panicked at the estimate.
He looked at the gray engram, slightly frowning, "Did Praedyth just pull a fast one on me? That bastard, he's cheekier than he looks." Void cursed.
Obsidian swerved around the engram, "Hmm unlikely. Praedyth is a very very old warlock. There were even rumors that he was missing for a century. He hasn't been back to the city in ages."
"So what you're saying is." Void slapped his forehead.
"I think he might've forgotten how old that engram is." Obsidian swayed it's eye helplessly.
Void groaned, "For a genius, he's pretty f***** stupid."
He held his head, thinking of a way to get out of this, when a thought struck him.
'System, can you decrypt that engram?'
----------------
{Legendary Guardian System}
Answer: Using the store, in the miscellaneous section the host can utilize the services of a cryptarch, but the cost can vary depending on the difficulty of the encryption.
Time estimate: 0 s
------------------
Void's eyes glistened with hope, as he immediately opened the store, scrolling all the way to the miscellaneous items.
A massive list of items propped up in front of him.
-----------------------
{store}
1. Ship maintenance (Mechanic)
.
.
10. Armor polishing (Leatherworks)
.
.
30. Encryption storage (Cryptarch)
.
.
40. Decryption (Cryptarch)
---------------------
Void read through the options till he ended on decryption. He clicked it, and an interface popped up.
--------------
{Decyption: Cryptarch}
[ Please choose nearby engrams to decrypt]
----------------
Looking at the engram in his hand, he thought of it, as the option appeared in the store.
---------------
{Deryption: Cryptarch}
[1x Old City Engram; Price: 3000Đ]
----------------
Void didn't hesitate to pay the price as he clutched the engram in his palm.
The store took a second to process the transaction, after which the engram in his hand slowly began to disintegrate, revealing the contents inside.
A small microchip with an encrypted account number.
"W-what??" Obsidian immediately felt dizzy as he rushed over to Void, seeing the engram fully decoded.
"How did you do that? What was that?" Obsidian questioned unable to process how a few days job was taken care of in a few seconds.
Void felt his eyes get stuck wide open. Going with the flow, Void decided to use the system, but he had never considered how that would look....
He had never used the system so "openly", hence, Obsidian didn't know about it. Naturally, after today's display, Obsidian had his doubts.
He scanned Void a few times, afraid that there was an anomaly.
"Obsidian, listen..." Void felt tongue tied, how could he even start explaining the system.
Before Void could get another word out, Obsidian sighed.
"Haa....Void, you don't have to say it. I know you're...special. Compared to most guardians actually." Obsidian replied/
".....Ok, listen. I don't know how to explain it, but I can do things that others can't?" Void blurted out, as he registered what Obsidian said.
"Wait a minute, you knew? What do you mean you knew?" Void asked, puzzled.
"Of course, I am a supercomputer droid better than most artificial intelligence tech in the universe. How could you think I didn't know?" Obsidian replied.
"Ok ok, but how did you know?" Void asked, recalling his past actions.
Obsidian circled around him, as he thought for a moment, " Well, the day I met you, you were somewhat mindlessly staring at clicking things in the air. At first, I thought your mind was not fully healed, then..."
"Then?"
"Well, then you began using your powers. You weren't surprised, almost like you knew where we were. When you first unlocked your light, I was somewhat shocked. I mean, I asked a lot of other ghosts, and they just said you were talented." Obsidian explained.
"But then, I saw you talking to yourself, sometimes, you'd be frustrated, or even get angry...Almost like you were addressing something that was there. Something I couldn't see. "
"Specially yesterday as you wailed hours about losing all your money while thrashing the ship." Obsidian recalled, rolling his eyes.
"Ahh...can you just forget that." Void embarrassingly scratched his head.
Obsidian rolled around mid air, "All I am saying is, I know you've got some secrets. Some that you haven't shared with me, but it's fine. I trust you Void."
Void glanced at Obsidian's glowing neon eye,
"When the traveler sent us all to help humanity, I spent centuries searching for someone. I wandered all around the earth. Then, finally, I found you. When I saw you, I knew you were going to be the one. I knew it was destiny that brought us together." Obsidian's voice grew soft.
Void glanced down as he chuckled slightly, reminiscing about the day he met Obsidian, melancholic tears forming at the side of his eyes.
"... I was really clueless back then huh." Void murmured.
"Void, I chose you. I have never regretted that decision." Obsidian reaffirmed.
Void grew somber as he asked, "You said you saw me acting weird right....Why did you never tell the Vanguard, or anyone else."
Obsidian's gaze became resolute, "Ghost's don't work for the city, we are bonded with our guardians. I didn't want anyone to question your behavior Void. Whatever secret you have, it's safe with me."
Void fell quiet, as he contemplated.
A few seconds of silence passed, as his lips parted.
"What if I told you a secret that doesn't make any sense? Something that goes against this world. What would you do?" His gaze lingered at Obsidian.
Void didn't want him to answer. He was afraid. Would Obsidian judge that he didn't belong here?
Feeling his heart already sinking to his stomach, Void felt sick. Obsidian was the one who had truly been with him every step of the way.
He was irreplaceable as a companion....
Silence descended on the ship, as the two stared at each other.
"I would stand against the world, by your side." Obsidian replied, unwavering.
Void flashed a smile, as he pulled Obsidian's shell into a hug.
"Thanks."
" You're welcome...Hey when's the last time you washed your cloak."
"....."
"Void?"
"#$&#"
"What did you say."
"I said, I don't need to wash it, it's still brand new." Void flat out lied.
"Uh huh...."
"Anyways, I will explain this 'special' ability, so listen carefully." Void stated, contemplating on how to lay it out.
"Don't worry, I am all ears."