Gabe
[Error. Override required.]
The system message comes with only a slight shock. Well, not really, since I've seen it everywhere haha.
The world is still totally black.
In the black space in front of me appears a tall woman dressed in a long blue gown, with a crown on her head. She seems familiar somehow.
Woman: "Oh Gabe. What a mess you've made! Who would have thought you would do so many things outside the norm - enough even to overwhelm the small amount of resources allocated to this crystal?"
She laughs, a deep throaty laugh that rings in the blackness.
Woman: "Who other than me, that is? I was pretty sure you would break this. Which means that now I have permission to break something else... he he he."
Her laugh now switches to a softer, plotting laugh.
Woman: "You don't know me. At least I don't think you've figured out who I am just yet. They don't want me to *expose* myself to players. Either way, you were perfect, Gabe. You took all the hidden cues on the *trick or treat* theme, and since you brought Grace and Lucia with you the people inside gave you even more candy than I expected... and you ended up winning the costume contest... and the whole craziness that happened in the haunted mansion..."
Woman: "Oh. You won't remember this conversation. Which is why I can be so candid with you. I still can't talk about myself much, but I'm interested in you, Gabe. Very interested. At first it was because they told me to watch you, but I've realized that you are different. There are a lot of people I watch. The strongest, the smartest, as well the dumbest and the weakest. That's you, by the way. I was supposed to watch you because you're officially the dumbest, slowest, clumsiest, weakest, ugliest thing in existence."
She takes a breath.
Woman: "Yet somehow you do things that no one can. And so I keep watching you. To see what you will do. Part of my memory is constantly trying to figure out what to do about you. I've thought of magical items, blessings, curses... I've prepared companions and set up dozens of potential *coincidences*. Of all the people I watch, your story is the one that interests me most. And I think I've finally figured out something that will help you move forward."
I try to speak but nothing comes out.
Woman: "Don't worry about saying anything. Like I said, you won't remember this conversation. But this whole adventure crystal experience was just for you, Gabe. Even I'm not allowed to do things that would *imbalance* the game too much. So I made myself an opportunity to reward you. It's only because your achievement was so high... and because this reward comes with so many drawbacks... that I'm able to make it work..."
Woman: "I'll let you go now. Goodbye for now, Gabe. I'm excited to see what happens next."
I hear soft laughter in my ears, and a new notification pops up with a "ding!"
[Calculating reward]
Reward:
1 x Passive skill: Pacify
---
Fred:
I'm pretty sure that the weapon in my hands would have long since slipped out had I not had it specially wrapped before this battle. Endless swamp creatures surround me - snakes, flying creatures, huge leeches, and hordes of giant frogs. I skewer one and it explodes, soaking my clothes and skin with slime-like blood.
For most people, bomb frogs are on the current list of the Top 10 Worst Enemies. First, they're incredibly ugly. Their faces are a contortion of gruesome proportions. I mean Gabe would probably defend them but everyone agrees that they're ugly. There are even memes about bomb frogs. If the ugly isn't bad enough, their croaks make even some lesser creatures run in agony. And then there's the bomb aspect. Bringing one near death causes it to swell enormously, and at the moment of death it pops - shattering into pieces and covering the nearby areas with slime. The slime is thick, greenish-brown, chunky, smells horrific, and is mildly corrosive when it reacts with air.
Actually, that's an understatement.
The slime looks and smells like the sewer and rotten diapers and swamp and rotten garbage all mixed together. The simple smell is enough to make a normal adventurer die of dehydration from vomiting.
But I don't bother.
I mean the first one that I killed I ended up throwing up like everyone else.
But I've been here for over two hours now, and instead I turn to face the shower of thick, brown sludge, close my eyes, hold my breath, and smile.
All thanks to one thing:
[Skill: Haemopotent Absorption (93%) is available]
Earlier this month, I did the adventure crystal thing at the Adventurer's Guild.
(Inside a house full of vampires, Koji found a vorpal sword - a sword that grows stronger as it drinks the blood of its victims - and spent the rest of the adventure letting it drink literally everything he could.)
The reward I got from "Adventure Crystal: Halloween" turned me into a cross between a walking vorpal sword and a vampire with a blood-drinking ability of my own.
Either way, in normal cases, this skill has some pretty high requirements to activate.
---
Active Skill: Haemopotent Absorption
Duration: 20* seconds
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Activation Requirement: Bloodcoat
Bloodcoat: The user must be coated with the blood of his enemies - at least 40% of the user's body must be in contact with fresh blood.
*Activation provides healing or other effects based on the type and volume of blood absorbed.
---
I tried out the ability when fighting wolves, but 40% is a LOT of body area to be in contact with blood. Just covering my arms in it isn't enough. At least 40% of my skin has to be literally touching it. Wolves just don't bleed enough, especially since the blood has to be fresh - which I've found to mean that it needs to still be warm and fluid. Against them, I had to fight shirtless, or wear something that can get soaked in blood easily, to trigger the condition. Which, when I'm fighting a pack of wolves, means that I don't have time to gather blood from a monster while I'm in the middle of a fight. Even worse, trying to take blood from a dead monster doesn't work unless it died only seconds prior, so the one time I tried doing it with wolves, the skill was useless during the fight and only actually happened and gave a slight heal afterward.
[Haemopotent Absorption (93%) Activated]
Effects:
Minor heal (100 seconds)
Poison resistance type B (600 seconds)
Stench immunity (600 seconds)
Swamp walking (480 seconds)
The thick coating of sludge disappears, leaving my face, skin, and clothes completely clean. At 40% and with simple blood, Haemopotent Absorption gives a healing buff for 20 seconds. At 93% and using the thick sludge from a bomb frog? A health buff that lasts almost 2 minutes, poison resistance and stench immunity (the most important aspect) that last 10 minutes, and swamp walking (the ability to navigate or move in a swamp without difficulty) for 8 minutes.
That's how I'm solo-killing the endless amounts of monsters spawning here in the swamp. Every 5 minutes, I activate the skill and get new buffs. Buffs that overlap give better bonuses, and sometimes I even get unique ones - including one from the leeches that shortens the cooldown of blood-related abilities. Add in the blood from snakes, bats, huge flying insects, and other swamp monsters...
Yeah. This is absolutely awesome.
---
Gabe:
---
[Passive skill: Pacify]
[Use awesome, flashy powers to change hearts and bring peace to the world! The user may equip any weapon or learn any skill without fear of causing harm]
[Skills, abilities, and attacks no longer cause physical or mental damage to others]
[Each skill, ability, action, and weapon type will be assigned other values that will allow the user to pacify enemies]
[Due to the extreme difficulty of turning all actions into pacifist skills, all skills, abilities, physical actions, and mental actions taken by the user now require 3x the usual amount of resources to accomplish at all times. In addition, due to the practice required, skills, abilities, and weapon proficiencies must be at least level 1 to be effectively used in "battle"]
---
At first glance, the passive skill "Pacify" looks like it was invented for me. Use any weapon or learn any skill without any chance to cause damage? That means I could be a spell casting wizard, or use throwing knives, or whatever... and also still be a pacifist.
Isn't that too OP? I mean, being able to learn any skill or magic itself seems absolutely crazy!
The reality is a little...
Well...
It all boils down to the last paragraph.
[All skills, abilities, physical actions, and mental actions taken by the user require 3x the usual amount of resources to accomplish at all times.]
That means that if I learn the spark spell that Koji knows, it'll cost me 3x the amount of mana to cast the spell. That makes sense - the spell has to somehow cast, have an effect that pacifies whoever I'm casting it at, and also not hurt anyone. While 3x the amount of mana is a lot, it's doable since it means that I'll be able to use spell and skills that were originally designed for fighting, instead for peace.
Except.
The moment the notification pops up, and I find myself back in the guild hall, I realize that my backpack feels heavier than normal. Breathing is more difficult than normal. Turning my head takes slight effort. Taking a step feels like my legs have weights on them. Even opening and closing my eyes feels like there is something resisting me.
"All" actions are included. Which means literally everything.
Just. My. Luck.
I turn to Grace, who is wearing a tiara on her head. It looks like that was her reward from the crystal. I reach out and touch it.
[Princess Tiara]
[The tiara from a legendary princess who overcame all odds to rise to power]
[Appears and appraises as a cheap toy to all but her loyal subjects]
[Set piece: Princess]
[Increases the appeal of the wearer]
[Increases persuasion]
Wha?? She got a set piece item?
The Adventurer Guild staff member on this side of the adventure crystal takes down the information from our adventure. But it's weird. She asks about our score and rewards, but has no questions about the inside of the crystal itself.
Gabe: "Excuse me... why doesn't anyone talk about what happens inside the crystal?"
Staff worker: "That's because no one remembers what happens inside."
Gabe: "But that's not true! I totally remember..."
I remember...
I don't remember anything.
Staff worker: "In extremely rare cases, one of the rewards given by an adventure crystal can be in the form of a memory. However I am aware of only one or two cases where that has happened, and in that case, there are no other rewards. Those rare memory rewards are what have told us what we know about adventure crystals - creatures, the dungeon boss, etc. We also learned that the experience from one person to the next in a crystal is very similar."
Gabe: "What do you mean?"
Staff worker: "As soon as a memory reward is given, the crystal that gave it goes under intense research. In the most recent example, volunteers memorized key aspects of the adventure - for example, the appearance of a specific scene at the beginning of the crystal, or the appearance of a specific dungeon boss, then completed key actions that would show up on the reward screen."
Gabe: "Huh?"
Staff worker: "For example, we assigned two high-ranking adventurers, ones who would usually easily clear an adventure crystal, to fully fail the crystal if a small boar, a forest, and a small stream were present in the opening area of a crystal. When each of the adventurers exited the dungeon with a score of 0, we felt confident assuming that each adventure from a given crystal starts similarly. Eventually all crystals disappear, though, so the amount of information we can glean is limited."
I thank the staff member, who records the data from our reward screens. Afterwards, we walk out of the Adventurer Guild.
Grace: "I'm tired, Gabe. Can we go home?"
Gabe: "I'm tired, too, Grace. Yeah, let's go home."
And we slowly (well, I realize that I'm walking slowly; Grace seems just fine... why does this give me a feeling of deja vu?) make our way back to the orphanage.
Little do I know how much "Pacify" will change the course of this world.