Arriving home finally, Lucy really wanted to just pass out but it wasn't a good time yet. She still had a few things to discuss with Nell before temporarily dying for the next 16 hours or so.
With that being said, Lucy tossed her school bag before sitting down.
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"Yes."
First Lucy's vision was taken away by a blinding light followed by a multitude of swirling and wind-blowing sounds.
By the time she had got her vision back, an immense pain shot through her body, especially so through her lungs.
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'I can't breathe!' She thought in a panic, coughing furiously, causing air to leave her lungs at an uncontrolled pace.
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Grasping her chest in pain, Lucy saw Nell running over to her at a great speed.
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"Are you okay!? Lucille! Hang in there, it'll end soon!"
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Listening to Nell's soothing voice caused the pain to begin to subside... Or- it was her magic stat rapidly increasing. Surely, the first one.
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With the pain vanishing more and more, what felt like an eternity quickly sped up and so did the pace at which she saw notifications pop up.
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After 2 in a half minutes, Lucy regained the ability to breathe, and breathe she did.
For a few seconds, it seemed like she'd exhaust at least 60% of Earth's oxygen on her lonesome.
"Oww... Why did that hurt more than that stupid snake." She groaned.
"So you had to go through it as well? Are you okay?"
"Arguably. What about you?"
While the pain from... Whatever that was subsided rather quickly, the world was spinning. She couldn't comprehend what was up or down as the amount of information she could take in suddenly increased considerably.
"I'll... Live."
Getting up... Er, getting to a point which she thought was up while rubbing her head, Lucy frowned.
"Where are we?"
A giant bedroom was the answer. On the bed were two more small animals similar to Nell.
'The agents of the other Operators...' Lucy looked at the similar
It wasn't a particularly pleasant thought. Especially for Nell.
"I'm unsure how long it'll take for them to wake up. We'll need to wait before rebuilding the team."
Lucy shook her head.
"Let them rest. You should be as well, frankly."
"I cannot. As your Agent, it's my job to guide you... But... I'm not quite sure I can. This panel. The System it said, It's new. Same with this place. I've never seen a base this large before."
"Eh?"
This was a large room but it wasn't that large. It certainly wasn't big enough to be called a base.
Nell placed her paw upon a door, making Lucy feel like a slight idiot. It must be one of the seven wonders of the world, how bright yet how stupid Lucy is I mean.
Opening the door, what Lucy saw was by far the most shocking thing today and she got attacked by an alien just a few hours ago.
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Ruins. Ruins of a small town. Newly made too it seemed. There wasn't any moss or wear to indicate aging. Just a ton of tear.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
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"You have got to be kidding me... I'm so bad at management games!"
At this point, Lucy was fully ready to embrace the system's nonsense. It'd be more surprising if anything did make sense.
"Lucille, do you know what this system is?"
Nell's asking gave Lucy a bad feeling.
"An RPG-like system. It's a rather common trope these days if I recall. I was really hoping this had something to do with you."
Nell shook her head in disappointment.
She had never heard of something like this. The fact that this supposedly let Lucy grow without gathering other Sentinels was already ludicrous.
"Do you think it's safe?"
"Probably not. I'll still use it though."
"WHY?!"
"I'm a Witch. My ancestors sold their souls to the kings of hell in the pursuit of power. I'd argue this is probably safer than that."
"That reasoning is stupid and your recklessness is even worse! I swear, if you get yourself killed I'll kill you."
"I... Fair enough."
She couldn't stop Nell from doing that if she was already dead...
Nell was just worried about losing another partner. While she acted calm because she needed to, she wasn't the cold and calculated one out of the Operator Trio. Well, none of the three were but she certainly wasn't.
"I guess all that's left is to check out these shop and manage features."
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After waiting for a few moments, another panel appeared in front of Lucy and Nell.
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"Oh my... That is a lot..."
Skills, Potions, Items, and even Affinities. Lucy could buy them all. And when she said it's a lot. She meant it.
Tens of Thousands of things to buy. Because the collection was nothing short of massive, most of it seemed Niche or Mundane.
Skills like Cleaning and a summonable mirror. A lot of skills were discounted as well.
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Scrolling to see some of the more expensive items, Lucy was shocked to see some items and potions she actually recognized with some skills that just sounded absurdly broken. Granted, these skills cost a lot of Candies so it made sense.
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All 3 of these items were artifacts that were considered Legendary. To Witches, Lufasu's Grimoire was something like Excalibur or the Kusanagi-No-Tsurugi. A weapon of unimaginable power.
The other two items shown weren't anything to scoff at either, one being able to completely nullify all magic within an area while the other was said to amplify your parameters to a level above Grand at the cost of your life.
Not to mention the many potions and elixirs that are meant to increase your Mana.
While the system did say Candies was the most important feature, only now did Lucy realize to what extent that meant. If she wanted to make use of the system to the fullest, she was going to have to be far more proactive than she initially thought.
"Wait a minute..."
"What? Is something wrong?" Nell asked, looking at a shop of her own.
"Hold up."
At the top of the panel, Lucy pressed a button and changed the filter to show only Potions and Elixirs while sorting by the most expensive first.
"Really? That's unfortunate. Perhaps it truly doesn't exist?"
Nell looked confused.
"Elaborate?"
"Oh uhm, There's an Elixir of Youth and Damnation but not of Life. There's a legend about an item that exists capable of recreating a living creature's body and molding it however you wish. It's said that if you can find a way to trap the soul of a deceased person you can revive them with it, hence the name."
Lucy was still feeling guilty about leaving Sora in such a sorry state. Even if it would take a long time, she wanted to repay her in some way.
"Well, it's whatever. Manage." Lucy sighed, changing the topic before Nell had a chance to say anything.
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| Tier: Ruin(Tier 0) Ruler(s): Lucy “Operator Chronos” Elliott, Nellphyis Blindlove Status: Incompetent Rulers Economical System: Capitalism(Determined by Country of Origin)>| Population: 2 Happiness: 40% Wood: 100 Stone/Metal: 100 Mana: 100 Food: 100 Wealth: 0 Houses: 0 Jobs: 1 | | | | | | | | | | | | "I see. So if I..." Lucy pressed the Destroy option. |Destroy Ruined building? 10-Hour Timer. Reward 20 Wood, 20 Stone. Y/N| Pressing yes, the destroyed building closest to her started slowly deconstructing itself with a large timer over it. "It really is like a game. Is it magic? It's so cool!" Lucy cheered. "Terrifying is how I'd put it but sure, cool." Lucy wasn't an avid novel reader, much less LITRPG novels at least when compared to her nerding over Magical Girls but this seemed like it was gonna be a ton of fun nonetheless. How hard could managing a kingdom be? "Basic resource gath-er...ers..." Without any warning, Lucy suddenly collapsed. The last thing she heard was Nell calling out her name.