Shun POV:
“Welcome to the Central Guild of Sharir! We pride ourselves in being caring, supportive and understanding! So how may I be of service to you?”
The receptionist lowered her head, maintaining her welcoming smile throughout the duration of her bow. My gaze shifted toward the name tag attached above her moderate bust before parting my lips.
“Portia, how much does it cost to take the Formation Assessment?”
“There’s no cost at all! Please follow me.”
She bowed her head again and excused herself from the front desk. I made my way to the open door Portia held open for me on the opposite side of the room.
Silence coated the non-existent conversation between us. Wide hallways connected to different routes within the building complex. The few Adventurers that passed by wore a modern look of the attire I was familiar with; they lacked the futuristic elements I saw when I first arrived in this world.
[Mission: Revival of Old
Difficulty: SSS+
This is proof of the deal you made with the ‘Last Will of Enigma.’ Reach Jikki within the time limit, and meet with the mysterious boy once more.
Time Limit: 3 years.
Reward: ???
Failure: ???]
I ignored another group of men trying to ask Portia out on a date and stared at the mission window for a while.
‘Jikki... If it makes me of use to that boy, then killing Chloe Ravendawn is more than viable...’
The corners of my mouth rose, only to fall back down just as fast.
‘It almost got me again... I almost relied on this damn system again!’
My blood boiled with enough intensity to make the veins around my mouth bulge.
“What should I address you as?”
“...”
A few beads of sweat rolled down Portia’s forehead at my silence. Another dip of her chin was offered, and the journey continued.
I dispelled the window once we entered a small room. Portia closed the door behind me while I examined a middle-aged man resting his hands on a young girl’s back.
“S-so? Mr Roderick, have I made any progress?”
“You’ll only need two more years at this rate. Keep up the good work.”
Roderick helped the girl to her feet; his smile seemed to motivate her more than the courtesy he had shown. Her face lit up at his assessment, and her head fell in response.
“Thank you!”
The young girl left the room with a bounce in her step when Roderick turned his attention to Portia.
“Roderick, this gentleman is here for an evaluation.”
His gaze swept over my body for a few seconds before he nodded his head.
“Please take a seat in the Lotus Position, and focus on every part of your body.”
Roderick pointed to the middle of the carpet as I followed his instructions. After sitting down, I recalled the position from one of the yoga books backlogged in my mind and moved accordingly.
‘The power system in this world isn’t magic then. Is it Ki? Or a similar variation?’
I closed my eyes and focused on my entire being. It was a concept that wasn’t new to me given the amount of light novels I had read, so it didn’t take long for the feeling of my consciousness sinking deeper within myself to occur.
‘...’
Apart from my head, thousands of different-sized lights appeared across my body. I took my time, aware that processes like these require a lot of care and concentration.
The intensity of the lights died down, revealing tiny fragments that were scattered everywhere. I tried to probe them, but the extreme difficulty to even nudge the largest of fragments made my eyebrows furrow.
“Sir, you can open your eyes now.”
My eyes gradually opened, and I chose to remain seated in case of any whiplash that my body might be going through, regardless of how fine I felt.
Roderick raised an eyebrow before glancing at Portia, who also seemed somewhat surprised by my lack of movement.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“May I have your name?”
“...”
I had nothing more to say to anyone, nor did I care about Roderick’s concern as he looked to Portia for assistance. All I needed to do was complete the last mission in Shako and leave.
“Roderick, this gentleman isn’t very talkative. I think it’d be best to not pressure him.”
“...Yeah. Anyway, you did the right thing by not getting up in a hurry. Your body needs time to readjust after such an intensive process.”
My gaze fell to the slight tremble of my hands that I was now able to notice.
“That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’ll take you a minimum of 10 years to form your Ki Center.”
I bit my quivering lip.
Ten years? Ten whole years??
I was on the cusp of exploding right where I sat.
‘This... Damn...’
I closed my eyes to cool down the rising rage, trying to spiral out of control.
“...”
I got up from my seat, dipped my head toward them both and walked out of the room. There was nothing left for me to do here anymore.
[You have cleared the mission: ‘Formation Assessment.’]
[The Mission Log has been updated.]
I exited the building complex through the double doors and hid myself among the crowd in the plaza till I reached a quiet street.
“Excuse me! Please wait!”
My feet came to a stop. I glanced back at Portia, pushing down her long skirt as she rushed toward me.
“What do you want?”
I peered down at her warm smile when she opened her hand. A relatively rocky object rested in the middle of her palm. It jolted awake, levitating till it reached the tip of her finger where it floated.
“You look new here, so please take this with you. It’s an artifact called Atlas, and though there are different variants, they all function as a map.
This one contains information on the surrounding area as well as a few other cities within Sharir.”
She grabbed hold of the artifact and handed it to me. Portia had left the front desk unattended. She ran through the busy crowd taking up the plaza, all in order to give me an artifact out of concern for my well-being.
“...”
I stared at her open hand for a while before taking the artifact from her.
[You have acquired ‘Atlas V3.’]
[Congratulations on acquiring your first Ki Artifact. New system features have been unlocked.]
“Tell me about Ki. How does it work?”
Portia clearly seemed to value going beyond her job requirements to satisfy the client, so she was a suitable person to get some answers from.
“...That is a very broad question to ask. If I had to choose a place to start, then it’d be that Ki is an inseparable component of life. It exists all around us, even when we can’t perceive it. Similar to the state your body is in right now.”
An image of Herb, releasing a pressure that crushed down on me and caused the dense thicket of trees to shake, came to mind.
“There are 9 Ki Stages, split into three main groups: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. The Beginner category contains Irini, Nagi and Uso. But out of the 9 Ki Stages, I recommend that you aim to reach Shin, which is in the Intermediate group, as fast as possible.”
“Why?”
Portia’s explanation so far proved that Ki in this world was more or less the same as what he already knew.
“Because a Ki Practitioner can create their own ability once they reach that stage.”
“!”
My thoughts came to a standstill at her words.
‘My own... ability...?’
I envisioned thousands of ways I could kill Chloe, with each one making the smile spread across my face raise higher. I knew it wouldn’t be that easy, but this... This gave me hope.
“Then what’s Jikki?”
“Jikki is the 6th Stage.”
“...”
I stared at Portia, waiting for her explanation to continue, but all that followed was more silence.
“That’s it?”
“Y-yes.”
I turned my attention back toward the floating window before examining Portia again. Her thin eyebrows knotted together, forming an expression of complexity with a hint of embarrassment.
“What is Enigma?”
A flicker of stiffness tightened the muscles around her jaw that soon slackened. The time it took for her to reform her smile was less than a second, but I noticed it.
“...I have no idea. Safe journeys, Traveller.”
Portia bowed her head and walked back towards the bustling plaza.
[You have gained new information on ‘Ki.’]
[The ‘Inventory’ is now available.]
[The ‘Status Window’ has been updated,]
Portia gave me another bright smile before disappearing into the crowd. That was when I made my move.
‘Damn it... I just put a mark on myself.’
I bolted down the clean streets of Shako, retracing the shortest route I made note of to exit the city as fast as possible. This was the reason I didn’t head straight to Central Guild, I needed information on potential escape routes or hiding places that took into account my current stamina.
By the time I reached the grassy plains again, my legs were pretty much dead and sweat poured down my face.
I kept moving.
I had no choice but to keep tearing the muscle fibres that screamed for a break. However, now was the perfect time to utilise one of the new system features.
“Scan.”
[Scanning in progress...]
I skidded to a halt on the vast plains, using the little time it would take to complete the scan to catch whatever breath I could.
[The scan was successful. The results will now be displayed.]
[Ki Artifact: Atlas V3
Usage: In order to activate the artifact, Ki needs to be injected into Atlas.
Description: This is the 3rd iteration in the Atlas Series. It contains a detailed map of several cities within the country of Sharir.]
“...”
Either the system couldn’t lie when objects were scanned or was unable to lie due to the explanation I already heard from Portia. The system had stated that Ayadell was not a game, yet referred to the goals it gives me as missions.
In other words, the third possibility was that missions aren’t a physical aspect of this world but a subconscious one. To simplify it, Atlas is a physical representation of Ayadell: it can be held, touched, smelled, etc. Whereas none of those senses apart from sight could be applied to the system window.
My hypothesis would have held more weight if ‘The Last Will of Enigma’ never existed, since that was essentially a contract in the form of a mission binding me to him. Maybe that was the reason for the failure outcome being hidden?
‘...’
I shifted my gaze back to Atlas, discarding the system altogether. Trying to understand it would only lead to me falling victim to the same outcome as before.
“Activate.”
I observed a detailed 2D map float on top of Atlas as it left my hand, levitating beside me. I moved my eyes around, attempting to direct Atlas with my intent.
“Interesting.”
The artifact followed my commands with ease, but it confirmed three things. First, Portia had injected her Ki into Atlas. Artifacts were capable of storing Ki somehow, and once certain Ki Artifacts were active, Ki may not always be required to control them. This lack of restriction seemed plausible with general-purpose artifacts like a simple map.
I surmised that whoever activated the artifact first was the temporary owner till its deactivation.
A small red dot represented my current location. Pinching my fingers together on the holographic display zoomed in, providing a clearer picture of the landscape.
My eyes swept over the area till they landed on a mountain range in the far distance. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and dashed ahead.
“I have no time to waste.”