“Hel? Is that your given name? The God of Thieves doesn’t have much naming sense, huh?”
“[No, my name has been my own since the very beginning. On that topic, there’s something that I’ve been meaning to tell you. Something about the God of Thieves.]”
In this room void of light, Kayden could see a flash of solemnity in her eyes. It seemed that what was to come is something he should really know. Clenching his fists, he braced himself for the bombshell.
“[The System has been lying to you, the whole time. It’s an imposter.]”
Kayden’s face darkened under his hood as he pondered the possible consequences of this new information. After a short while, he raised his head, looked straight at Hel, and spoke,
“Okay. I don’t get it.”
“[… I wasn’t expecting you to get it without further explanation. Why did you act all serious for?]”
Kayden shrugged while Hel shook her head and sighed. She gestured for him to follow once more as she started swiftly walking away in the other direction.
In this dark space with no visible ground, Kayden saw her move on her tippy-toes, each step touching nothing, yet it still pushed her forward much faster than if she had walked normally. Kayden tried imitating the same thing and found out that it didn’t work for him. Shame.
“[I’ll explain it a little better. You know the other voice that speaks to you? The one that sounds the same as me but uses a different tone of voice. Yup, that’s a fake.]”
“…A fake?”
“[Indeed.]”
“Why?”
Kayden was confused. He knew what she was implying, but it just didn’t make any sense.
“That other voice is you, isn’t it? Like a different side of your personality of something.”
“[It most certainly is my voice. But the person speaking to you most of the time isn’t me, but someone else. Now, I’m not so sure who that someone else is, but I can assure you, they’re manipulating you in some way. If we let this continue, who knows what might happen to us?]”
She sounded very confident about this, as if it were a foregone conclusion that he was being manipulated. Naturally, Kayden had some doubts, and proceed to question the half-beauty, half-hag.
“I don’t think I’m being manipulated… I mean, let’s assume this hypothetical manipulative person was real. What would their goal be? Why manipulate me of all people? And how exactly did you come to this conclusion?”
Hel sighed, her shiny blonde hair flowing gracefully behind her as she turned her head to face him. Kayden didn’t notice this before, mostly due to how his brain tried to cut off all the horrific parts about it, but the other half of her hair wasn’t blond, but a brownish-black that looked like rotted tree vines. The color blended in well with the surroundings.
“[I don’t know what their goal or motive is. But I can confidently say that they’re trying to manipulate you. The biggest factor that led me to this conclusion is that I am the System. I would know if something is completely off about myself. Of course, I don’t expect you to believe me that easily. But seeing as you’re just about to die, you have no choice but to hear me out.]”
Kayden nodded in agreement. There really wasn’t anything else he could do at this point but to listen to this mysterious individual. He wasn’t so ready to completely believe that the person in front of him was the ‘True’ System, but this was a good chance to finally get some answers. Some answers that he had been dying to know since the very start.
“I see. Well, why don’t you explain yourself? I’ll need evidence before I go about making any drastic decisions.”
Hel didn’t comment and instead chose to point in a certain direction. A short distance away, Kayden could see the familiar black box and two comfortable-looking chairs that faced each other. It was only after they both sat down did she speak.
“[There are three lies that the imposter has told you, or rather, things that they intentionally left out. Firstly, there are the stat points.]”
“Stat points…?”
“[Indeed. These are points that you gain every time you level up, and you can allocate them to your stats or spells to give them a boost. They intentionally left this out so as to keep you weak, though for what purpose, I do not know.]”
Kayden slowly took in the words she was saying. Stat points were something that he had never heard of before, so there was no way to confirm whether or not this could count as definite proof.
Just as he was thinking this, a light blue screen popped up in front of him.
Strength:
D
Agility:
B-
Endurance:
C
Mana:
D--
Intelligence:
C
Wisdom:
D-
Charisma:
C++
Luck:
C (B)
[Stat points available: 14]
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
It was a screen that he had seen before. It was during the time when the System first showed him his parameters before completely changing them to suit the PMDN. However, there was a new message below the screen.
“Fourteen stat points… You said that these can give me some sort of boost?”
Hel nodded.
“[Yes. And this is one of the ways we can prevent you from dying once you go back to the real world.]”
Kayden scratched his head. “Um… about that. Are you sure that I’m still alive? The last time I came here I fell unconscious for a few hours straight. By the time I come to, I’d be one of the skeletons…”
“[Ah. You don’t have to worry about that. I can slow the passage of time in this place to the point that time moves nearly a million times faster outside. It’s one of the benefits of the realm of consciousness.]”
Before Kayden could ask what the realm of consciousness was, she pointed at the glass screen on the black box. It was empty at first, but a snap of her fingers was all it took for images to begin appearing on the screen. It was a view of him lying flat on his face, with a greatsword swathed in black flames looming over him.
“What…?”
He was astounded. Although the corridor should still be in complete darkness, it recreated the moment before his death with accurate detail and in ample lighting, or at least he thought it did. Either way, it didn’t look too good for the Kayden on the screen.
“[As you can see, you aren’t dead. Yet. If you wish to live, you need to become stronger, and stat points are perfect for doing that.]”
Kayden looked over his parameters once more, which certainly looked very unimpressive. All this time, he wanted a faster way of getting stronger, and this had been an option? Had the System’s imposter really intentionally left this out?
“What if… it forgot to tell me? There were many times when the System forgot about its own features…”
“[That may be a possibility. But you should know that people lie about forgetting things all the time. It isn’t particularly hard to do either.]”
Hel sighed.
“[Anyway, I can see that you’re still not very trusting of me, so I’ll explain the other two lies. Back when you picked up the book in the dungeon’s library, they told you that they couldn’t translate it. This is strictly false. Most likely, it avoided doing it so that it could keep you clueless about things, or rather, information for written documents.]”
Kayden recalled that scene in question. Indeed, there was no reason why the System could translate spoken languages but not written ones, which made him slightly suspicious. However, back then he simply assumed that things never went his way and ignored it.
“So you’re saying that that whole library’s worth of books can be translated completely?”
“[Yes. If you do not believe me, there is always a witness you can ask. The boy, Matou, has used the System in this way before, though I strongly recommend you keep away him from now.]”
Kayden let out a nervous laugh.
‘Even if you pay me to go, I still wouldn’t! Meeting that guy is almost a death wish!’
“[The same goes for the stat points as well. This was one of the reasons why a young boy was able to get this powerful so quickly.]”
Well, it certainly made sense. Matou was way too powerful for his age, and for a human. It seems that the System was a lot stronger than he gave it credit for.
“Well, that explains the lackluster increase in power I got… For a God-given blessing, it really didn’t seem like it did much…”
“[Well of course!]” She spread her arms wide, happy that she was finally getting through. “[Systems are meant to mold heroes that can stop calamities and save the world! How can such a thing be so weak!]”
“Stop calamities? Is such a thing even possible? And save the world? That sounds like it comes straight out of a fairytale!”
Hel shook her head.
“[You don’t understand. I’m not the only System ever granted to a human being, and the world has been saved a few times before by these ‘System users’. Gaia wouldn’t send her children on such dangerous journeys without aid.]”
“Aha!” Kayden suddenly yelled, happy that there was one single thing that he understood in that mass of words. “Gaia! I’ve heard that from the System before. Just who is she?”
“[The Goddess of the Earth. She’s the one that created these Systems.]”
“The earth? Like soil and rocks? That doesn’t sound very impressive…”
The youth let out a small giggle. One side made him sigh in mesmerization, while the other made him reel in horror. It was a weird feeling.
“[It sure doesn’t! But I assure you, she’s way more powerful than you think.]”
“A-alright then…”
They both stared at each other, Kayden with his right eye closed and Hel with her left eye gone. Sitting up on her chair, she began speaking again, her face unsmiling.
“[Before I move on to the final lie, may I know your thoughts? How do you feel after learning all this?]”
Kayden hesitated to speak. Deep inside, he still wanted to trust that cheery voice inside his head, despite all the incriminating evidence. Although the voice could be obnoxious sometimes, it was all in good fun, and it gave him a reason to be annoying too.
Although he was called crazy multiple times because of this, he still envisioned that in the future, perhaps when he grew old, the voice in his head might just be the only friend he had left. It was a depressing thought, but there was still a hint of bittersweet behind it.
“I… don’t know how I feel. Are you sure this isn’t some kind of elaborate joke? I mean, you look like you have two sides to you. Perhaps that ‘imposter’ is just your cheery side?”
“[Impossible. I pretended to be ignorant and cold so as to not draw too much attention, especially from the imposter. The reason I look like this is not because of split personality, but because of my… parents.]”
“What? Was your father an undead, and your mother a beautiful woman? How would that work?” Kayden made a terrible, offensive joke, but this facade was easily seen through by Hel.
“[I see that this is a coping mechanism of some sort. Not very kind of you, huh?]”
Kayden slumped in his seat. “I know… It’s just… it really doesn’t like the System was lying… I’d like to think that I can tell when someone is lying or not, since I do it myself many times before. It simply doesn’t sound like it’s trying to manipulate someone.”
Hel gave Kayden a pitiful look.
“[You’re still a child, even after all your experiences. The world is vast, and there are people who are far better at deception than you are. Take for example the God of Thieves. He’s the one that you want to become, right? Who would be better at deceit and trickery, you? Or him?]”
Kayden had no choice but to admit it. “Him, of course. I see what you mean now…” he took a deep breath. “Alright, the final lie. Let’s hear it. I’ll decide whether or not to believe you based on this last one.”
Hel nodded and pointed to the screen of the black box. The scene of the glass changed, turning into a familiar sight of Kayden walking around in Dragonsteel city. In front of him were light blue screens that his eyes were glued to.
“[You may have forgotten this, so I’ll be using this television to jog your memory. I hope you realize what I’m trying to say by showing you this.”
The scene began to play out exactly as it had once before.
---
“System, you said before that you could display my info right? How about my skills and abilities?”
“Can do!”
[Displaying user abilities]
Notable abilities
- Honed Instincts C
- Blessings of the Trickster C
- Blessings of Ymir D
- Blessings of the System S
- Treasure hunter B
“This would be your abilities, or ‘passives’ that us Systems call it. It seems like you have two blessings excluding me, which is the almost the same as that brat.”
“Almost?”
“Yea… He has a blessing that only gives him good looks. A waste of a blessing if you ask me.”
“Pfft—What’s up with that? Was he supposed to be ugly or something?”
“Ahaha… Leaving that matter aside, let’s check your abilities! Just press on the screen and it’ll display more detailed info.”
“You seem strangely excited about this. Didn’t you already appraise me completely?”
“That’s not the case, I can’t use my appraisal ability on you until I am given permission to do so. So I’m as clueless as any outsider about you.”
“Huh, that’s nice. Wouldn’t want all my secrets to be known.” Kayden reached out a hand to press on the screen…
---
Kayden’s eyes glossed over as his face became completely hidden by his hood. He sat still on his chair, gripping the edges with clenched fists.
“[Don’t tell me that you’ve never found this suspicious? The almighty System granted by the gods for some reason cannot take a peek at your information, even though it could appraise others? It could tell you your exact parameters, health, and ability names, yet it somehow couldn’t see the information about your abilities? You could even appraise the information of spells and abilities of others, yet for you alone, it could not?]”
Kayden remained silent and unmoving, which Hel presumed was due to his newfound shock and disbelief.
“[Do you want more proof? After that moment, the imposter asked for you to check the ‘Blessings of Ymir’, a request that you evaded by saying that it merely affected your height. Do you want me to read its true description?]”
When she found that Kayden still didn’t respond, she continued.
“[Ability/Passive: Blessings of Ymir. Type: Bloodline Blessing. Description: Grants the user the physique and spells of F—]”
“Stop. You don’t have to continue.”
Hel raised her eyebrow at him.
“I believe you now… So you don’t have to continue anymore. Just tell me, what should I do to survive?”
Kayden looked up and stared straight ahead with both eyes open, right into the eyes of Hel. Any trace of friendliness and smiles were wiped clean from his face, and a cold glint flashed from his icy-blue eyes.
Then, as if it were all a mirage, his smile came back, and his eyes returned to normal.