The entire room now smelt incredible, almost like the entirety of nature was condensed into a single fragrant ascent that now suffused every breath he took. This is the stuff Buddhists are talking about when they describe nirvana; Arthur wondered in amazement as he inhaled as deeply as he could.
There were three items in the box in front of him, lying on a bed of velvety-looking fabric. Two of them Arthur immediately recognised, the monster core instantly obvious from all the previous times he’d seen them and the fruit of evolution from the fact that it was, well, a fruit, obviously. A giant strawberry, in fact, or at least it looked like one if strawberries could ever grow to be the size of a mango. It was also a far darker shade of red than anything he’d seen on the more ordinary fruit, almost purple in fact and instead of being covered in seeds, the skin was completely clear, almost plasticky looking if Arthur was being honest.
As he continued to observe the fruit, Arthur saw that it seemed to pulse at intervals, almost like it was a beating heart. He identified it.
Fonkey Dypulp (Rare) - A rare fruit that contains the power to hasten one’s evolution. It contains potent energies that can unlock the consumer's potential in strange esoteric ways.
Identify has failed to level as it has reached its maximum limits. Specialise it if you wish to continue developing the skill.
Arthur frowned when he read the skill prompt he'd received. He’d almost forgotten that the skill even existed with the lackadaisical approach he took to using it, and he was reminded that he needed to evolve it as soon as possible to stop it from stagnating.
Still, the fact that the skill was supposed to have levelled after using it only once on the fruit raised Arthur's hopes about what it might be able to do for his evolution once he consumed it. Maybe Arthur was being idealistic, and the only reason Identify had levelled was that it was still abysmally weak. Arthur didn’t let negativity get in the way of his happiness, though; he was too excited to let pessimistic thinking burst his bubble.
Skipping out on the blue monster core beside the fruit, Arthur instead directed his attention to the one item in the box that he had never seen the likes of before. It looked like a white crystal, and Arthur could feel the density of ether contained within. He had no doubt that the tiny thing contained ether enough to dwarf his own considerable pools twenty times over, and Arthur marvelled at the fact that the item was so stable despite that fact.
He could feel no volatile fluctuations of the energy within it, and Arthur knew first-hand just how difficult it was to handle such vast concentrations of Ether. It must be made of some miracle material. Otherwise, Arthur didn't doubt that the item would explode marvellously, and he wasn't confident in his chances of surviving such an experience. That was why he felt a sense of trepidation as he identified it.
He was already pretty certain that this was the Purify skill General Bradley had told him about, and he wasn’t disappointed when he saw the results identify gave him.
Crystalised Ether Skill Shard (Uncommon): Purify (Rare)- A construct of condensed Ether that one can absorb to gain the skill Purify (Rare).
Requirements: Have light or healing affinity.
Note: As this is only an Uncommon skill shard, there may be some slight discrepancies between the skill description and one's actual usage of it dependent on the strength of their affinity.
Arthur was a little surprised at what identify told him about the skill shard. It was almost like the description given of a store-bought item, and Arthur realised a little late that this was exactly what the crystal shard was; a store-bought good.
Perhaps one could influence item descriptions if they were the ones who created said item, and Arthur was pretty sure he’d have to level identify a lot more before he’d be able to properly examine a manufactured object's true description instead of just seeing what the creators wanted him to. Still, he knew that the purify crystal was purchased from some sort of huge respectable corporation which helped ease some of the worries he was feeling regarding the skill shard. His inner musings were interrupted when General Bradley spoke.
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“As you can see, here are all the rewards we promised you for your help against Shade, as well as the skill that we want you to absorb,” General Bradley explained. He waited to see Arthur's nod of affirmation before continuing.
“As for the items you might want to purchase with your remaining blood, we have a list of what they are as well as what exactly it is they do,” the military man added, handing Arthur a black card that he had pulled out of his pocket. Arthur took the piece of paper and realised with a start that his initial presumptions were completely wrong; it was made out of some sort of metal that he had no doubt never seen before for starters, and it was also far heavier than he had expected.
So much so that he wasn't sure he’d have even been able to lift it prior to the arrival of the system on Earth. It was also completely blank, and Arthur wondered why the man had even given it to him when suddenly a line of script appeared on the card.
[Welcome to the Farthing Mercantile corporation Bradley Tylers. Your current balance is 7,209 merits]
Arthur blinked at the golden text before looking up at the military man who had handed it to him. Bradley Tylers just smiled.
“It’s pretty neat, isn’t it? Almost like some sort of smartphone, and before you ask, no, we don’t know what it is, and we haven’t even been able to scratch it, never mind find out how it works,” Bradley said, putting a damper on Arthur's curiosity.
“If you swipe to the left, you can see all the items I’m currently able to purchase, and before you get greedy, you can only choose one thing. I get a ten percent discount on my first few purchases, so I can't have you using them all. Choose wisely.” The man declared sternly.
Arthur just nodded his head, too excited to bother speaking at the moment. Quickly doing as the General had explained, he was disappointed to see that the man was only eligible to buy eleven items due to him being on a Trial period of some sort. Arthur wasn’t sure if this was because Bradley had too few credits or if it was just standard company procedure when operating on newly evolved planets. Frankly, Arthur didn’t really care at the moment.
He quickly swiped past all the cool-looking things he could purchase, most of them being weapons of some sort, until he found the item that had captured his attention as soon as he’d first heard mention of it. Taking a deep breath, Arthur tried to bring his racing heartbeat under control. It wouldn’t do to raise his expectations.
He knew that a ring of revival, despite its name, would never be able to bring his sister back. That was something he'd come to terms with, at least as much as was humanly possible, but he couldn't help but hope for a miracle.
He wasn't going to get one.
Ring of Revival (Epic)
Price: 5000 merits
Description: A much weaker variant of the more commonly used Ring Of Extended Life, this item, however, does fulfil a similar purpose, though not for oneself.
It can store the body of any individual below level 200 after their passing, bearing that this is done IMMEDIATELY after one's life has ended. Maintains the integrity of their soul and body as long as ether is supplied to the ring. A perfect purchase if an upcoming wizard wishes to keep a loved one’s body safe and sound until they are ready to resuscitate them in a safer setting. Note that this ring will not work if True Death has set in or if more than seven minutes have elapsed, the time limit recognised by ALL as the moment total soul destruction occurs.
DISCLAIMER: The Farthing Corporation is in no way responsible if the customer fails to achieve their goals using this item, and no refunds will be given. Sometimes, you need to let someone go.
After reading through the text, Arthur took a deep breath but found it didn't come easily. Despite possessing over 500 Endurance, he was, for the first time since the system's arrival, struggling to breathe. Am I about to start hyperventilating?
Arthur felt strangely detached from his body, the grief and turmoil that gripped his heart a distant feeling, almost like he was a passenger in his own body, viewing the experience but not truly living through it. His therapist would have called it disassociation or something along those lines. Arthur wasn't entirely sure.
Those meetings felt so long ago right now, almost as if they'd happened in another timeline. I guess I wasn't ready to face the truth, no matter how much a realist I always claim to be, Arthur thought wryly. Even if he'd resigned himself to a bleak reality where he'd never see his sister again, it seemed like his heart had always kept an ember of hope lit within it, weathering against the storm his world had become in the wake of this newly evolved Earth.
And it was at this moment, as Arthur sat there in the government bunker, that he felt that ember finally die out. Rize was gone forever, and with it, the promise he'd made half-delirious when he came back to life what felt like a lifetime ago.
His sister was dead for good.