8:00 A.M.
January 27
Wintermonth 26
Saint Shepherd Church, Limeroom, Veotera
Gary was back in his priest-but-not-priest cassock, tending to the maintenance of one of the pews. He was sat down on the floor with the wooden structure turned on its back as he puzzled out the reason it was wobbling when people sat on it. It was at moments like this that he wished he had a proper measuring device of some sort, or that his Virtual Network could serve as one. He updated the feature wishlist with the entry ADD SHORT-RANGE VISUAL MEASURING SUBSYSTEM. Unlike the compass rose at the top of his vision no such feature secretly sprung to life, leaving Gary to huff annoyance at both the cutting-edge technology in his head and the stubborn pew before him.
Remmy came up to inspect his progress, or more correctly lack thereof. Sitting on the pew behind the one on the floor, the old priest had a steaming mug of water cupped in his hands, clearly enjoying the warmth of the simple beverage as he watched his assistant try to puzzle out the immediate problem.
“Thank you,” Gary said simply as he went back to testing the legs of the pew with attempts to wiggle the wooden pieces and check their fastening points to the larger structure. He didn’t look up at the priest as he worked, next checking the length of the legs with a crude method of using a stick he’d used his simple dagger to cut notches into. It wasn’t a proper ruler but it was at least pretending to help.
“You’re welcome but for what, my son?” Gary finally shifted his gray eyes from the task at hand to shoot a look at Remmy. Remmy had a gentle smile on his face. He knew exactly what he’d done, and hadn’t felt a bit of remorse for the matter. When Gary had come back from his day trip hunting Ripper Rabbits the old man hadn’t even acknowledged that the trip had been a thing. Gary continued to look at him before shifting his gaze back to the pew and spoke more without looking at the old man.
“I know you set me up with what contract to take first with the Delvers.”
“Ah. I knew you would be fine. You’re the sort who is too stubborn to die.”
Gary didn’t justify him with a glare but he could practically feel the priest’s smile grow a little as he surrendered the point. “Thanks to that impromptu trial by fire, I think I’m a lot more comfortable with my Class. And I discovered something that makes me very worried about it, for my reputation’s sake.” Remmy leaned forward a bit at that. Gary continued without looking up. “I know how that Skill 「Quintessence Vivisection」 works now… And the power it has is exactly what I need, but it scares me because of what it does.”
Remmy was leaned in closely now, cup set onto the pew beside him as he had clearly switched into ‘advising priest’ mode at the tone Gary took up. Gary looked up at him finally, not saying a word as he flicked his status screen into existence for Remmy’s perusal. The man skimmed over the display, his eyes lingered in shock at the countdown message displayed on where Gary’s Mana Reserves listing was at, then as his eyes moved down the screen he stopped at the Passive Skills. His gaze focused deeply into what would have been open air as Gary allowed him to read the entry for 「Leap」 and draw his own conclusions before his eyes lifted back up the list towards 「Quintessence Vivisection」 and focused on that one with a very worried gaze. The silence stretched out as Gary simply waited for Remmy to process what he’d just read.
“God in Heaven.” Remmy made a gesture of warding as he sat back in his seat, stunned at the implications of what Gary had pointed out.
“Yeah. That was my reaction, too. I.. I had to test it out somehow, Remmy. The Ripper Rabbit was right there, and it had to go anyways. I really don’t want to use this Skill on creatures around anyone where they can see or hear it. It’s bad.” Gary looked away to fiddle with the pew some more before his gaze slid down to the stone floor where the pew rested on. Tiny worn scuff marks were ground into the stone from decades of people sitting down and the pew grinding against the harder material. He lightly brushed his fingers across the stone and 「Perception」 triggered a little bit to reveal the culprit finally: the stone under the front leg of the pew was coming loose. Gary grunted at that revelation and moved his hand on the stone more forcefully to find that it did indeed wiggle upon closer inspection. He was deliberately not looking at the priest.
“It.. It had to be done. Not knowing would have been far worse, since you might have used it in desperation elsewhere and…” Remmy’s voice was a little bit faltering, his advising role tempered into wobbliness by grasping what Gary could do roughly once every week. Gary looked up at him finally, a look of serenity forcefully put upon his adolescent face.
“I don’t know exactly what the spiritual implications are for this Skill. Damaging something’s reality could mean it simply can’t hold itself together, it could mean it’s spirit goes away with damage while the body that houses it crumbles to vanishing ash, it could mean full-on soul annihilation. I know that people are going to assume the third if I ever use this in public on a creature. But my problem is that I’ve come to understand that I’ll need this power going forward. I have a very specific goal in mind, and this vicious strength is exactly what I need to accomplish it.”
Remmy nodded slightly as he listened to what probably struck him as the beginnings of a confession. “I have witnessed you this past month, Gary. There are parts of you that are callous towards what you perceive as evil. There are parts of you that could be called arrogance because you can feel the power of your System-given talents and it influences your decision-making. Overall, I see you were raised wherever you grew up with a sense of duty and honor. You are a good person, given a great and terrible gift. The fact you struggle with the darkness of how it works shows that you are the best kind of person to use it. If you ever lose that sense of disgust and dread, you should stop what you’re doing and step back from whatever you’re doing lest you fall prey to your own power.”
“A philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche from where I’m from has a quote attributed to him about this. ‘Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.’. He intended it as a warning.” Gary shrugged helplessly. “I’ve been trying to follow his advice. Dunno how close I am.”
“He sounds like a wise man.”
“Hilariously some of his other bits of work are famed for being twisted into justifying oppression, genocide, and false standards of superiority. A lot of people forget to heed his warning, and I’m striving to not be one of them.” Remmy nodded sagely at the admission before picking his steaming cup of water back up and taking a long slow sip. “I gotta say, though; this new Skill is great. I can easily clear ten feet straight up from a dead stop and not shatter my ankles on the landing. It’s gonna be incredibly useful going forward. I’ve been idly thinking about what else I might come across eventually. I’m really looking forward to when I get enough reputation to see about a dungeon.”
“Your enthusiasm for such a dangerous place is worrying.”
“I agree, but I have a theory about the whole thing. If I’m right, and 「Quintessence Vivisection」 works on the rift that serves as the gateway to one? I’m a massive step closer to at least being able to contact home.” Remmy gave him a dubious look, and Gary decided it was time for this conversation. “Obviously I’m not from around Limeroom. I’m from far away, Father. Very far away. A whole world away.”
The way Gary said the sentences caused Remmy to frown at him again. Gary could see the priest’s mind screaming through rationalizations and explanations, only to come to the only one that a learned man such as a priest would come to given the nature of Veotera. The two locked eyes, and Gary simply nodded.
“As Veotera’s history teaches the System came to this world in time to help deal with the appearance of monsters and dungeons, right? Hasn’t the timing ever struck you as odd?”
Remmy clearly didn’t like where that question went as the frown deepened.
“The way I see it - from an outsider’s perspective - the timing was.. Deliberate. I’m not from here, Remmy. Veotera is not my home. I have come to believe that what’s happening on my original world is what happened in this world’s history. Disappearances in broad daylight, monstrous creatures from both myth and never before seen popping up all over, rifts in reality leading to other places. The arrival of the System and its powers as a form of savior. I think it was an invasion, Remmy. One that you all weathered long enough to stabilize around, and one that is beginning to creep tendrils into my original world.”
The logic was shaky, the cases mentioned circumstantial; but taken together in sequence like Gary had presented it, even the militarily-inexperienced priest could see the flow of his argument. He set the cup back down and leaned back to cross his arms and really think about the theory Gary was talking about.
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“We don’t have magic where I’m from. It’s the stuff of fantasy, used to inspire, delight, or frighten. We don’t have dungeons, and we definitely don’t have the System lurking about. I have nothing against this world, I want that to be crystal clear. If I have to live here the rest of my life I’ve long made my peace with that. What I can’t abide is not being able to send a message home, to give them a chance to prepare. Most people there aren’t armed with weapons and certainly don’t have any magic to speak of. There’s a whole section of fictional literature devoted to this exact scenario, and most of the opening lines are along the vein of ‘a great many people died in the opening movements of this story’. This draws even more parallels to the events here. It can’t be a coincidence, can it?”
Remmy’s head was clearly spinning with the implications but the old priest nodded at last as he organized the information in his head and he saw the way it lined up so neatly with the history he knew growing up in this world and his schooling for the clergy.
“This is why you always have that nervous energy, isn’t it? You’re worried about your birthplace and loved ones left behind as you were taken away.” Gary nodded at the question.
“Time is my enemy, Father. I don’t know the timetable for the invasion. I don’t know the exact extent. I do know now that my best chance is to find one of these rifts and plunder it for everything I can. So again, for pushing me to test my current limits I have to thank you.” Gary lowered his head in a bow towards the man on the pew, holding it for a clearly respectful amount of time before straightening back up. Remmy reached forward and placed a hand on Gary’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. “I’m sorry I just dumped all that on you. I know it sounds like the babblings of a madman, but I think I’d have gone mad if I hadn’t said something at some point.”
“Hopefully your heart is lighter now, so your steps can carry you along your path faster. This is a noble cause you strive to fulfill in service to innocent lives who do not see danger approaching. I think I’ll see about doing some research and see if I can compile a better timeline to assuage your fears a bit. You’re right that the events caused a great tide of death, and surely God will smile upon me for helping to stem further bloodshed. I must ask if you’re worried about the System retaliating against you for this?”
Gary shook his head. “If it was going to do that it’d have done so already. The moment I spoke of it, probably. I think the System itself isn’t entirely sapient like a person. It seems to simply behave that way due to some grander design behind it’s inner workings. Those stories I told you about are rife with things exactly like the System, and this one is less actively malicious than it could be. I still think it’s got a cause-and-effect bond with the troubles being faced, though. A flood isn’t malicious but it still devastates.”
“That’s true. Your attitude makes far more sense now. This clearly weighs heavily upon you. It almost seems a shame to have you fixing pews,” Remmy said, managing a thin smile as Gary gave him a bemused look and the tension of the situation broke a bit. “I think we’ll need to keep this quiet. People wouldn’t believe you if they just had you walk up and declare these things. Keep doing what we’ve been doing. I have a few carefully-worded letters to write, it seems.”
“I’ll see about doing something with this loose stone. I think I saw some people working on a stone wall a couple of buildings over. Surely they’ll spare a scoop of mortar for the church. And thank you for helping me. With everything.” Remmy patted him on the shoulder as he stood up, retrieved his now-lukewarm cup of water and drank it as he walked towards where he kept his writing supplies.
Gary honestly felt a lot better as he watched Remmy go before getting up himself to see about that mortar. There were some secrets that ate people up, and Gary was never much in love with the idea of lying to people. It caused more problems than it could ever solve. He definitely owed this man so much, and it made him sad that he’d just dumped this in Remmy’s lap but the old priest was scarily clever and far wiser about things than Gary gave him credit for even after knowing him so closely for a whole month.
He doubted anyone else would be so inclined to be understanding any time in the future.
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A few days later and into the month of Frostmonth found Gary receiving a visit from one of the local Delvers’ branch staff members. A small but rather hefty-weighted bag was placed in his hands once the church doors were closed, along with a piece of parchment detailing the amount he’d gotten. Once he got the delivery and exchanged pleasantries he immediately retreated to his room and opened the bag onto his simple bed. Lots of silver runee sparkled up at him amidst the bronze, and the luster of gold peeked out from the middling pile of silver and bronze. Gary immediately dug for the bright yellow disks and holding one up for inspection actually found himself slightly disappointed that it wasn’t hexagonal like the runee were.
He reviewed the parchment to find the engraved round coin with the symbol of the church on it was a Sovereign. It was worth a lot more than the silver runee, and was largely used as trade currency among the wealthy. Gary worked out the exchange ratios with a bit of quick math and was lightly stunned from the amount of wealth he currently commanded. Becoming a Delver was the right call after all, and the part of him that was his Plunderer Class practically purred with delight at the new coinage that joined his resources.
His thoughts immediately went to acquiring proper armor and camping supplies. Those thieves were still lurking about after all. They were more like background noise at this point and the nervous energy Gary had been feeling towards them was still there. Securing his coins he reached a decision. The money was stashed away and he went to go find Remmy.
“I think it’s time I deal with our lurkers,” he announced simply as he was back into the simple clothes he’d arrived in; once more armed with his plundered weapons, purchased bracers, and mended crimson cloak. The priest looked at him with a suspicious demeanor as Gary had simply led the conversation with that statement.
“The change is a bit sudden. That money didn’t go to your head, did it?”
“Nah. I’ve just come to the conclusion that if my work goes and takes me away from here I want to make sure you’re not under threat when you leave the church.” Remmy gave him a long hard look before making a noise of resignation and waving at a side window before he shuffled over and opened it into the chilly but lessening-so air of this world’s February. Gary nodded his thanks to Remmy, hopped up onto the window sill, and triggered 「Stealth」. With a flutter of his cloak he was gone as the window shut behind him. A surge of movement came to him as Gary sprinted around the corner of the building still wrapped in the perception-diverting aura and made for the lookout’s spot across from the church’s entrance.
The latest shift was still there, nestled into their blanket and casually chilling in their reconnaissance. It had always made Gary question why they didn’t use 「Stealth」 more but he reminded himself that they probably didn’t have the Mana Reserves to hold the Skill for very long, and so chose to simply be away from casual observation to conceal themselves. It didn’t matter in the end.
Reaching the building next to the one the lookout occupied, he used 「Leap」 to spring onto the lower roof and surged at a full sprint to the apex of the steepled roof before jumping again to clear the gap between buildings and land noisily on the occupied roof. The lookout startled at the noise of Gary’s feet impacting the tiles but he had the advantage of already being in motion. He grabbed the man and his blanket, flipping them mightily with his momentum and tangling the lookout up so he couldn’t free himself. Gary landed on top of him bodily with the simple dagger already drawn, the pair sliding down the roof’s pitch until they stopped with the man hanging with his head over the edge of the roof into an alley maybe fifteen or so feet straight down.
Gary felt the aura fade as he came back into perception atop the man with a blade to his throat. The lookout instantly froze when he understood his situation leading Gary to have a ghost of a smile. Good; this one seemed smart enough.
“Now, you nosy little shit; we’re gonna play a game. It’s called ‘Answer my questions and you don’t go over the edge with a slit throat’. Rules are real simple. You answer me truthfully and you get to leave in one piece. If I think you’re lying you get to test how sharp this knife is and I drop you headfirst into that alley down there. Get it?”
“Got it,” the man said with a gravelly voice as he understood the implications of Gary’s positioning and intent.
“Good. Now, first question. Who do you work for?”
He saw the man hesitate for a moment only to speak up when he felt the blade go up against the far side of his neck, angled to begin being drawn across fatally. “The Court! The Velvet Court! I’m a Shadow!” Gary frowned at him.
“Second question. Why are you stalking the priest?”
“His relqa! The cross he carries with him. My boss wants it. Pearls are hard to get this far inland and we can’t just go to a healer every time; it’d get suspicious real fast.” That made sense to Gary. Criminals tended to get injured and would want to source healing. Medicine was kind of hit or miss around here; he hadn’t been dumb enough to start asking about potions lest he get sent to some quack who tried to sell him a bottle of mercury claiming it to be a cure-all.
“Third question. Who is your boss? The higher-up you clearly answer to.”
The man hesitated, clearly not wanting to give the name even though he surely knew it. Gary narrowed his eyes at the man and leaned up a bit, making sure to keep the man pinned completely. The lookout watched this warily and began visibly sweating as Gary grabbed the man by the forehead and focused himself. Gray eyes focused on the lookout’s dark ones as he gathered his will and triggered 「Plunder」. His target was the name of the man in charge of the thugs of this city.
The lookout struggled visibly as he wriggled and writhed in Gary’s iron-fingered grip as the Skill worked the information out of the man’s brain and onto his lips. “Lord Roland Wevre! He’s the leader of the Velvet Court branch here in Limeroom!” Gary smiled widely even as he felt his Reserves take a twelve-percent hit. He was very glad it worked this way as he’d thought it would.
“That’s gonna happen again if you hesitate to answer me. And when I get bored of that, over the edge you go. Fourth question. What are the orders regarding me?”
“Observation,” the man said in a defeated voice as the tension went out of his body. “He’s waiting for word from the top about what to do with you. He’s probably gonna get orders to try and recruit you since you’re supposed to be a powerful potential asset.” Gary barked a laugh at the suggestion. It made sense that criminal elements would want a Plunderer of his power. The delay was probably due to them freeing up an asset capable of making the ‘or else’ part of the recruitment pitch. He was just faced with all sorts of deadlines, wasn’t he?
“That’s cute. That’s real cute, y’know? Since you’ve made me laugh I’ve got a deal for you. I’m gonna let you up now. You go tell your boss to call off the surveillance and label the priest a no-go, and I’ll actually give his sales pitch legitimate consideration when he gets off his noble ass and gives me the invite to see him. I catch anyone so much as sniffing loudly in the good Father’s direction I go scorched earth. Understood?”
“Absolutely!” Gary gave the man a stern look as he pulled him back from the edge and triggered 「Stealth」 again to vanish into a mass of diverging shadows before fading out of sight completely. One crisis was deferred, and he’d take it.