“We call it Kushin in the Alverin tongue. There's no real equivalent in your language and I’m not proficient enough in myriad tongues to convey the actual meaning. I guess an appropriate translation would be purging, or change through hardship.”
Arthur walked through the grasslands of crystal waters with Alyssia at his side. After the bombshells Alyssia had just dropped on him, they'd decided to get moving. The horses had of course immediately bolted the moment they'd stood up, at speeds that even Arthur's perception couldn't track. Now, he was enjoying a semi-leisurely stroll as he mentally catalogued everything he was learning about titles from the Alverin woman.
They’d decided it would be best to start searching for the stables they needed to complete this layer of the locus hence they were currently walking through the picturesque place. The stormwalkers that had gathered around them earlier were now following them from a distance, which would save them the trouble of finding them later, though Arthur was under no illusions that it would make their job any easier.
If he didn’t keep glancing at the beasts from time to time, they would literally disappear. Their skin and fur were perfectly camouflaged with the grass they walked on. It meant that searching for the other four horses that weren’t a part of their entourage would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, and the only reason why Arthur wasn’t panicking was because of the time dilation Alyssia had told him about. They had a lot of time. Enough to get started on the mission of this floor and work out a proper training plan for him.
They literally had all the time in the world since the locus of power hadn’t given them any points on how long they could spend on this layer and their premature entry into it meant that the time dilation was nothing to scoff at. A few days for every hour that passed in the real world if Alyssia was supposed to be believed. Food might be a problem, but Arthur was sure he could go without it for a while without it affecting his performance.
“The system actually gives a pretty apt definition since all titles don’t benefit someone. I actually knew a man who gained one from killing only weaker monsters. I don’t know exactly what it did since we don’t have this system in our dimension, but it did make him significantly weaker than he was supposed to be and he lacked control over his magic.”
“It sounds like his title decreased his willpower or something along those lines,” Arthur suggested, to which Alyssia had readily agreed. After all, willpower was the attribute that determined one's proficiency with manipulating Ether.
“So. Are there any well-known titles that everyone can gain? Apart from the Paragon series of course. I already know about those.” Arthur asked Alyssia eagerly.
She laughed at his question, shaking her head no before saying, ”If only it were that easy. No matter how great the system is, and I must say, it is truly amazing. A literal divine piece of work if I’m being honest, but it won't make titles any easier to gain sadly,” Alyssia explained.
“Speaking of the System, whilst it’s an accurate representation of your abilities, it’s not infallible. The numbers on your attributes, the effects of your titles, and maybe even your level might be off by slight margins. I’m sure the system was created to help people handle their powers better, so it makes sense that titles are represented with nice rounded numbers. Mine are too in fact, but reality doesn't work on multiples of ten sadly.”
Arthur was pulled out of his musing when Alyssia suddenly stopped walking. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that it took him a few seconds to realise that she was no longer beside him.
“What is it? Why did you stop?” He asked, quickly walking back towards her.
She didn’t answer at first, simply standing there in silence, her gaze fixed at a point in the distance. “I’m not too sure, actually,” she eventually said, “But I think we’ve been walking in circles.”
“In circles? How? What do you mean?” Arthur asked, looking back at the direction they had come from. It looked exactly the same as every other part of this strange landscape, and Arthur realised with a sense of dread that you literally could not tell one hill from another. It all looked the same. With the way his mind had been wandering, it would have probably taken him hours to realise how bad their situation currently was.
“I meant exactly what I said,” Alyssia replied. “We’ve literally been walking in circles. There's an illusion in this place. So subtle that I’m surprised I even realised it was there. We’ve been trapped inside it since the moment we first arrived here.”
An illusion! Where? Arthur thought to himself, shocked. He hadn’t noticed anything, and for a brief moment, he wondered if Alyssia was pulling his leg. When saw her deadly serious expression, Arthur realised that she’d done no such thing.
“How do you know we’re trapped inside an illusion?” Arthur eventually asked. “I don’t see anything wrong about this place.”
“Exactly,” Alyssia said. “There's nothing out of place here. NOTHING. Everything’s perfect. Flawless.”
Understanding began to dawn on Arthur.
“Even if the animals here aren’t real and are only creatures of the locus of power, they should still act like real animals. At least a little. They still need to eat and shit.”
“And so far, we haven’t seen a single turd or patch of unkempt grass. With how fast these things move, they've probably travelled hundreds of kilometres since we arrived here a few hours ago. We've seen no sign of that though.” Arthur finished off. “Not even a single hoof point.”
Alyssia suddenly sat on the ground, indicating with her hand that Arthur should join her. It mirrored their exact movements an hour earlier.
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“Why are we suddenly sitting down?” Arthur asked. He was confused and uncertain as to what was currently going on, but he still followed Alyssia’s lead and sat down. She knew what she was doing a lot more than he did. Hopefully.
“Do you know how to break through an illusion?” Alyssia answered his question with one of her own. Arthur shook his head.
“Well, neither do I.” She forestalled his next question with a raised hand. “And before you start panicking, our situation's not as bad as you might think.”
“How so? It sounds pretty damn fucked to me,” Arthur replied. “How do we escape from the illusion? Are the horses we've seen so far even real? Actually, can we even escape from it now that we're already trapped? Screw that, what sort of affinity does illusion magic even fall under.”
Arthur was babbling right now, and he knew it. That didn’t make it any easier to stop his irrational actions though. He knew Alyssia had brought some food with her. She’d informed him as much yesterday and told him not to worry about bringing any supplies. He was worrying now though.
Whatever magical means the Alverin woman was using to stock their food-and they must have been pretty damn magical because Arthur could see absolutely no storage space on her person- he highly doubted Alyssia had bought enough food to last them forever. Or at least until this illusion naturally dissipated.
Who knew how long they’d be trapped in this place? Water at least wouldn’t be a problem, what with all the massive deposits of it they had already passed by on their brief journey through the grasslands, but Arthur certainly wasn’t ready to put his ether-enhanced body through the test of starvation.
For all he knew, all the extra stats Arthur had packed on since the arrival of the system might actually require more nourishment than an ordinary human body. At least, that's what common sense told him. Arthur really hoped that the system wouldn’t start following such an arbitrary thing now. It never had before.
“Arthur, Arthur. Hey, Arthur!” Alyssia called, waving her hand in front of his face. He looked up to see that she was smiling at him. “Stop worrying so much. I meant what I said. Our current circumstances really aren’t as bad as you might think.”
She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled something out, making sure Arthur could see it properly in detail. It looked like a tiny leather pouch, simple in design, and yet Arthur could see the subtle hints of the masterful ether usage that had gone into its creation. It was obvious that Alyssia was trying to distract him from their predicament with object, but Arthur decided to humour her anyway. He was curious after all.
“So, what is that?” Arthur gave in and asked, almost laughing at the triumphant grin that briefly flashed across the Alverin woman's face.
“Oh this,” she said, trying to act nonchalant and failing terribly. “This is a storage bag from my village. My grandma made it for me on my nineteenth birthday using the pelt of a Dire wolf I managed to hunt.” She tossed it over to him and Arthur almost felt his heart drop.
It was only a mixture of his high agility and perception that he was able to catch the item that was no doubt a priceless artefact. He identified it.
Bag of holding (Rare)- A masterful creation limited only by the weak materials that went into its creation. Contains thirty cubic feet of storage space.
Arthur whistled appreciatively when he read the item's description, some of his earlier worry disappearing. So this was where all their food was.
“I can’t imagine that the government let you keep something this valuable when they captured you.”
“They wouldn’t have, would they,” Alyssia replied. “If they had known about it, which thankfully they didn’t. It’s got a minor concealment enchantment woven into it which makes it invisible when you run ether through it.”
“Try it.”
Arthur did so and was amazed when the small leather bag all but disappeared from his sight. It was like it ceased to exist, and Arthur would have probably thought as much if he couldn’t feel its slight weight resting on his palm.
“It’s a pretty nifty if useless enchantment,” Alyssia explained. “Anyone with even an average control of ether would be able to see through it. Thankfully, everyone on your planet is abysmal with the one source.”
“I still remember how my grandma reacted when I asked her for that specific enchantment.” Alyssia’s voice took on a wistful nostalgic edge, and Arthur could see that she was reliving the fonder memories of her past. After all, he too used to spend so much of his time reminiscing.
“She called me an idiot. Why have an invisible bag when you could have one that was sturdier and more durable? Especially when the invisibility function was practically obsolete. That's what my gran was all about. Practically.” Alyssia said quietly. “Who would’ve known it would one day be so useful.”
They sat in companionable silence for a while after Alyssia’s statement, the Alverin woman perfectly content to remain silent, Arthur because he had no idea what to say.
“I guess this solves our food problems, but I still don’t get how we’re supposed to get out of this illusion and complete this layer. Do we have to brute force it or something?” Arthur finally asked, unable to reign in his curiosity any longer.
Alyssia sighed, opening her eyes slowly. She seemed to have started dozing off. “Questions, questions, questions. It’s always questions with you Arthur, isn’t it,” she grumbled. “I was just about to get into a meditative state.”
“Think Arthur, use your head. This locus of power is restricted to those under level 200. We are not average people. We're practically overqualified. That means anything it throws at us should be within our ability to handle.”
She took a deep breath.
“Sorry, I’m being unfair. I sometimes forget that your planet just evolved with how strong you already are,” Alyssia apologised. “I'm sorry. The knowledge I take for granted isn’t yet known in your world. I will not presume things again.”
Arthur nodded his head slowly.
“It’s okay. Really. I should’ve waited for you to wake up before disturbing you.”
“No,” Alyssia interjected. “It was a mistake. One I will not make again. I only ask that in the future, you remember that I am not an endless reservoir of information. Some answers, you will have to seek yourself. And I apologise in advance if I get waspish again because of your questions. Seeking knowledge is a noble thing. Don't let my foul mood stop you from asking about things.
Arthur once again nodded his head.
“To answer you, yes, there are ways to break out of an illusion. Brute force being one of them.” Alyssia paused for a moment. “That isn’t a method we’re strong enough to try though. Not even you, with the absurd titles you have. The backlash is something that will leave you bedridden for days, and we can't waste time like that. It'll be a last resort,” she morbidly explained.
“So what do we do?”
Alyssia smiled at him.
“You remind me of Artemo. My little brother is always so impatient too. Maybe I should introduce you. He’s been bugging me to no end to meet the healer who saved him lately.” she teased.
When she saw that it didn’t have any effect on Arthur, she looked down and mumbled something under her breath, too fast for him to catch it.
Alyssia glanced back up at him. “The illusions simple really.”
“We just have to ignore it.”
Damn, that was so helpful.