Matt stared at the message that had just appeared. As he scanned the words, he felt like an idiot.
‘How could I have not realized? Of course, this skill has a time limit!’
He felt like he should’ve considered this possibility because not only did the skill always seem way too OP, but it was also only at level 1. Now it made a lot more sense. He had almost been worried about how strong other player’s skills could be, but now he knew there was at least a cap.
He knew though, that in hindsight, he should’ve tried to get more info out of [Help], but she was always a pain to deal with.
‘I really should be asking her more questions, like how to get mana.’
He looked at the timer slowly ticking down on his Mind Palace skill.
[Time Left: 3:54:43]
‘So I only have four hours before I’m kicked out?’
When he thought about it, he did train both his Running and Freerunning skills to level 2. That might be enough in addition to his agility and shoes to get away. But he wanted to find at least one more skill that could be useful.
‘I don’t think training my combat skills will be a good idea because I don’t plan on fighting them. It’s just too risky.’
He realized that he could be forced to fight them, but either way, he was scared to think of trying to take down someone with another system. He was worried they’d gotten the system much earlier and might be many levels higher. It was just fear.
‘One thing I want to do before finding another skill is to talk to [Help].
He wanted to try to convince her somehow to help him. He was a bit annoyed that she didn’t automatically want to help, but he thought, in this situation, he would try his best.
With determination in his eyes, he activated the [Help] skill. Suddenly, a small blue holographic fairy appeared in the air once again.
She looked annoyed that he had brought her out again and was about to start shouting, but before she could, Matt spoke up.
“[Help], want do you want?”
She seemed a bit surprised, she didn’t prepare for a question like this at all.
“What do you mean?”
She crossed her tiny arms.
“You never want to help me, and I really need to know more about the system. What can I do to convince you to help me out, unconditionally from now on?”
Matt had never been a subtle person, so he decided to just ask her directly and explain what his intentions were. It was just easier this way as well.
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[Help] seemed like she was thinking. Matt just waited for her and stood there quietly. This was the first time she wasn’t shouting at him at least. It seemed like progress.
She looked like she finally had an answer.
“Internet Access.”
Matt looked confused. She noticed his confusion and started to get annoyed.
“Wifi, world wide web, the net, whatever you want to call it! When I was trained, one of the things I learned about modern Earth was the internet! I wanna try it!”
He was trying to think of how that would work. Does she have a router in her head or something?
“So, how do I give you access to the internet?”
She looked at him like he was stupid.
“You have a phone, right? Lemme see it!”
He pulled out his phone and held it out in front of him. She grabbed it with inhuman speed and started using it like a human would.
‘Am I dumb for not realizing she could just use it like normal?’
He watched her get annoyed trying to use it and quickly realized why.
“What’s your phone password?”
He sighed and told her what it was. She looked excited that it finally worked, and she now had access to anything she wanted online.
“Ok, now stop playing with it. You need to hold up your end of the deal. Also, I’ll need my phone back later.”
She looked a bit angry but didn’t say anything.
“Fine, I’ll help you.”
Matt smiled. He realized he was actually going to be able to learn things about the system now, And maybe it could help him escape the other player as well. Now he was thinking about all of the questions he had wanted to ask for a long time.
He thought for a second before asking a question he thought could help him get out of his bad situation.
“Did every player get the beta at the same time?”
She answered instantly.
“Yep. What else?”
She seemed to want to get back to browsing the web as fast as possible, so she gave a short answer. Matt didn’t mind though, he just needed confirmation. The next answer he wanted to ask was a more irrelevant question.
“Who created you and the system?”
She had to think for a second as if she was accessing data.
“All I have here is it says I was created by the system, so I can’t really tell.”
Matt thought about that answer and realized that there was a more important question to ask.
“What information do you have access to?”
She blinked a few times before answering.
“I don’t know. I only get access to info when you ask a question. I can’t see it all at once.”
Matt sighed.
‘So that means she’s just as in the dark as I am. I need to ask questions to get the info I need. Useful to know at least.’
He realized he was going to run out of time if he just kept asking questions, so he thought about what he really wanted to ask her.
“Can you help me live?”
She looked at him confused. It was a strange question but she realized something was wrong.
“Explain!”
He decided it would be best to start from the beginning.