“All of your shouting made me lose my thoughts,” the Messenger said. “Now let see. Where was I?” She started looking up while tapping her chin with one of her fingers. “Okay, I remember now. After I talked about the tier of mana creatures, I was going to explain the eight attacks.”
“The mana creature will attack all six inns eight separate times. Between each attack there will be three days of rest. The items in the Market will be discounted right before each attack begins and the Market will be closed while the attack is ongoing. Hmm, what else, what else?”
“Oh, yes. The starting village will no longer restrict people from moving around at night. You can now come and go as you please without having a residence. There’s a lot more things that will be happening during the Upheaval, but I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you about them. Figuring it out on your own will be much more fun. Now does anyone have any questions?”
“Yeah, I have one.” Brad raised his hand. “You’ve barely told us anything. How about telling us how many mana creatures we actually have to fight?”
Zane wanted to tell Brad he should be more respectful, but he stopped speaking when he saw her focus her attention on them. She had a beautiful, wide, and playful smile. However, Zane recognized her smile for what it really was. The smile of a predator that had captured her prey.
“I would be more than happy to answer your question. The amount of mana creatures attacking will be around twenty thousand for the first attack. The amount will increase each successive attack, but I’m not allowed to tell you how much. I hope your satisfied with my answer and thank you for the 100,000 points.”
It was surprising to hear that the Messenger would be charging them for points. It was even more surprising to hear the increase in the price for questions. Zane heard Brad struggling to speak behind him. He turned around and saw Brad pointing at the Messenger with his mouth opening and closing repeatedly.
“You. How? Why?” Sam pulled Brad back and stopped him from saying another word.
“Oh right, I forgot.” The Messenger tapped her head while speaking. “The prices for my questions have increase to 100,000 points. To tell the truth a lot of the prices have increased. I’m sure that all of you will want to figure out what has increased on your own. Are there any other questions?”
Everyone was silent. Spending a hundred thousand points for a question was a lot. Zane was willing to pay the price if it meant that he could obtain crucial information to save his life. However, what if someone was also planning on asking the same question. Zane would have wasted his points asking something that someone else would have. Plus, Zane didn’t know how much the cost of other items had increased.
As multiple thought ran through Zane’s mind, he was sure that everyone in the arrival location was having similar thoughts. However, Zane was different from most people though. He had already obtained the key information that he needed to know. He knew the maximum tier of the attacking mana creatures and the minimum number of attacking mana creature. Any other pieces of information he heard would be welcomed, but it wouldn’t be key to the survival of his friends and himself during the Upheaval.
“I think we should still ask a few questions,” Shane mentally spoke.
“Don’t ask questions,” Whitney mentally shouted. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout. Someone at our arrival location asked a question and the Messenger took 100,000 points from them.”
“The same thing happened here,” Jason said. “Can you guess who it was?”
“Who?”
“Let me guess,” Britney said. “It was Brad, right?”
Zane was able to hear brad grinding his teeth. He also heard Britney purposefully laughing through the mental communication. She didn’t even need to hear them speak to know the answer.
“Yes, it was Brad,” Sophie answered. “But he actually asked an important question this time. You shouldn’t feel bad Brad.”
“I know the question was important,” Brad replied. “I just don’t like feeling like I got played by her. If she took 10,000 points, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but-” Brad stopped talking and shook his head in frustration.
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“What question did Brad ask?” Frank questioned.
“He asked about the amount of mana creatures we would have to fight,” Sophie answered. “The Messenger said we would face around twenty thousand.”
“That’s a pretty good question.”
“What question did the person on your side ask?” Sam asked.
Britney started laughing before answering the question “When the Messenger finished speaking, someone asked two questions. Is that all? Shouldn’t there be more information? I’m sure you can all guess how the Messenger responded.”
Everyone in the group, including Brad, started to chuckle when they heard the question. If the Messenger was finished speaking, then of course that was all. The Messenger would always have more information, but it wasn’t required to tell them anything beyond what they were required to say.
“I can see that all of you are enjoying this opportunity to admire my beauty. However, I’m forced to inform you that I will only be here for a certain period of time. After that time has passed, I will be leaving. Oh, I forgot to mention something else. In the future, the system will offer the people that are not originally from this world a chance to leave before the Upheaval starts. This is a one-time offer though, so think carefully before you make a decision.”
Zane’s eyes widen in surprise and the entire area exploded into conversation. Zane had a certain level of faith in the system’s ability to be fair but hearing what the Messenger said made him waver. The system saw two people drowning on water and decided to help one person while ignoring the other. At least, that’s what Zane thought at first. He thought about the situation for a bit and realized that the system wasn’t being unfair.
“This isn’t fair.” A young man shouted. “Why is the system favoring the outsiders over us?”
“The system recognized that the people from other worlds have very little information on the system and might have a difficult time improving. Therefore, the system and the Divine Spirits decided to give them away out. The people born on this world have a lot more information, better training, better physiques, and greater chance of survival. On the first night not a single person from this world was killed at any Starting Village, but there were multiple people that came from other worlds that died. I hope you satisfied with my answer and thank you for the 100,000 points.”
Everyone continued speaking after the Messenger stopped talking. The conversations were a lot more subdued, but Zane could tell that there were still many unhappy people all around the arrival location. He didn’t find it surprising. Nobody would be happy to hear someone was able to take the easy path while they were forced to take the hard one.
“To tell you the truth.” The Messenger paused and waited for everyone to quiet down. “I actually don’t agree with the systems decision. At least, that’s my opinion based on what I know.”
Zane was able to restrain himself and not ask questions when he heard the Messenger mention that people from other worlds could leave. However, he felt his restrains weaken when the Messenger said she disagreed with the system. Zane realized the Messenger was only saying it to make them interested and ask questions, but it didn’t matter if he knew her plan. His flames of curiosity had been lit. Fortunately, there was someone with flames of curiosity stronger than his own.
“Why do you disagree with the system?” Someone asked.
“Originally, the Divine spirits predicted that everyone would have at least one month to prepare. However, people from the other worlds fulfilled the requirements much earlier than predicted. Now, all of you have to face the Upheaval much earlier than planned. I hope your satisfied with my answer and thank you for the 100,000 points.”
“What were the requirements?” A woman asked.
“The first requirement was for one person from each of the six classes from each of the three other worlds to upgrade to the first tier. The second-”
“Impossible,” the same woman shouted.
“The second requirement,” The Messenger stressed. “Was for more than fifty percent of the people from other worlds to reach the max level in four of their skills. I hope your satisfied with my answer and thank you for the 100,000 points.”
“It’s impossible for a person from each class in our world to reach the first tier so soon,” the woman said.
“I know, the information is very shocking. However, you should be more curious about why the Divine Spirits and the system created requirements based on the people from other worlds.”
“Well, why did they?”
Zane could see that the woman was upset and had lost control. She was allowing her emotions to lead her into the Messenger’s traps. However, Zane wanted to ask the same questions she did, so he had no intention of stopping her.
“The system was worried that the people from this world would achieve the requirements too quickly and force the people from other worlds into a disadvantageous situation. However, it seems like the Divine Spirits were being lazy and failed to properly predict what the people from other worlds would do. I hope your satisfied with my answer and thank you for the 100,000 points.”
“Are you’re saying that the people from other worlds are stronger than us?” a tall man said. “Do you really expect us to believe that?”
“I never said that the people from the other worlds were stronger than the people from this one. Since I never said those words, I naturally don’t expect you to believe it. I hope your satisfied with my answer and thank you for the 200,000 points.”
Zane saw the man clench his jaw in anger but continue to ask questions despite the fact he already wasted a lot of points. “Then how do you explain the people from other worlds reaching the first tier so quickly?”
“That’s an easy question. They reached the first tier early because they upgraded at a lower level. Some people even upgraded their tier at the end of the second day. I hope your satisfied with my answer and thank-”
“WHAT!!!?” The entire area erupted with noise.