Chapter 8

  Sebastian woke up in an unfamiliar room. Sebastian began to get up and look around, he was on a large bed in a spacious room. Sebastian paused as he got up, he had expected some aches or maybe a little grogginess when he got up but instead he felt well rested. Something that has never happened before despite how much he slept. Perhaps it was a benefit of being a classer?

  When Sebastian’s feet hit the ground, he realized that the clothes he was wearing were different. He had no shoes and was shirtless, which didn’t bother him in the slightest since he now had a rather impressive physique thanks to his superhuman Attributes. The pants he was wearing were soft, white, and looked like pajamas, but Sebastian’s appraisal of his new clothes was interrupted by the sudden memory of why he had been unconscious. The Corrupted Heart. Sebastian remembered the strange description of the Treasure and looked at it again.

Name

Description

Avatar of Avarice

Originally known as the Heart of the Forest, and later the Corrupted Heart, this Treasure was finally influenced by the Sin of Greed and has become much stronger than before. This Treasure now contains the life force of the forest, the savageness of the Wendigo, and the vast power of Greed. Whenever an Ability of Greed is used, your inner beast will reveal its might.

Assimilation Time: Complete

  Sebastion was ecstatic, the Treasure before had seemed powerful but it had grown even stronger now, and it was all because of his Sin. Sebastian wanted to know what it was, and he definitely wanted to know what his ‘inner beast’ meant. Instead, Sebastian took some time to relax and reflect, he certainly wouldn’t be getting his questions answered anytime soon.

  Sebastian strolled to the balcony, enjoying the breeze and the sunshine. He sat down on one of the empty chairs and just relaxed. He hadn’t had the chance to do so in a long time. Sure he had been relatively safe as he had gotten stronger on the island, but he had never taken the time to relax there. So Sebastian just enjoyed the view for a while. The island he was on seemed to be alone in the ocean from his vantage point and it was quite breathtaking. The castle he was in - Sebastian was surprised to find himself in a castle of all places - seemed to be on the top of a sudden cliff to the ocean, which flattened out further into the distance with large fields of grass which then transformed into a picturesque beach at the coast. Near the beach was a small town that looked like it was made in the eighteenth century, but it seemed almost abandoned. Sebastian couldn’t see a single person in the town.

  Sebastian kicked his questions about the town to the back of his head and just let his mind wander, he thought about his journey so far. He had come to the Shattered Isles with the expectation of people being his greatest competition, but he had only seen three throughout his entire time here. The Isles were much more dangerous than he had expected, significantly so, and he finally took some time to appreciate how lucky he was that he was alive. Sebastian had almost died twice, and that was excluding the other slightly less dangerous close calls he had.

  When Sebastian thought about his experiences so far, he remembered that time when he had tried to prepare himself for the idea of killing another human being. Could he do it now? Sebastian didn’t think so but then he recalled his dreams. When he had been killed by a Silver Stag and confronted his powerlessness, and his other dream when he actually had power and realized he had changed. He had still been mostly himself, but his attitude towards the Wendigo had been a huge change. So maybe he wasn’t capable of killing yet, but Sebastian might be capable of change.

  Sebastian decided to leave his thoughts of killing at that and pondered more important questions, ones about his status. He had so many questions about how things worked that he began to re-question his decision to not join a faction. Sebastian had come to realize that that was probably why he was here actually. This was probably the home of some faction, though Sebastian wasn’t sure how that was supposed to work. The idea of factions having their own islands, ones that were separate from the rest of the Isles only sparked more questions for Sebastian, questions that were quickly interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

  Sebastian’s head snapped towards the sound in surprise. He hadn’t even heard whoever had come into the room, something he hadn’t expected with his high Perception. Sebastian saw an old looking man in what appeared to be some sort of butler’s outfit. The man raised a gloved hand to his face, shifted his wire-framed glasses slightly, and spoke in a British accent, because all good butlers were British.

  “Excuse my intrudance sir, but would you please get dressed and accompany me to Lady Wixx?”

  “Sure thing.” Sebastian said after overcoming his shock, as if he had been expecting the man and wasn’t surprised at all.

  Sebastian actually had been expecting something like this. He suspected it was Samuel who had taken him here, he was pretty much the only option. Which meant he was in Wixx territory. And since Lady Wixx was likely here on her island, he would be talking to her instead of Samuel. Sebastian was about to ask where he could find some clothes, but the British butler already had clothes in his hands.

  “Where had those come from?” Sebastian thought.

  Sebastian was certain the man hadn’t been holding anything when he had first seen him, but Sebastian knew he wasn’t going to figure out whatever happened and instead looked at what he’d be wearing. It really wasn’t anything too fancy, but it was also strange since Sebastian wasn’t expecting anything like this here. It was a white short-sleeved shirt, light grey swim trunks, and sandals. It was just some normal beach clothes, but it still surprised Sebastian. He had come to think of the Shattered Isles as a beautiful yet dangerous place. He hadn’t thought of it as a place where you could just go to the beach and have fun, but maybe he was wrong, maybe there was more to the Shattered Isles than just killing monsters and becoming strong.

  A short while later Sebastian was dressed and following the butler through spacious halls, admiring the castle. The floor was some sort of grey marble, which seemed a bit extravagant to him with how large the castle was supposed to be, but what did he know about the amount of resources the Isles contained, perhaps this was only a small display of wealth. Sebastian also admired the windows, they were all stained glass windows with fractal patterns colored with endless shades of blue. Sebastian’s thoughts about the castle’s decorations were cut off when the butler cleared his throat again to draw Sebastian’s attention.

  “Lady Wixx will be coming soon, you will be waiting here in the dining hall for her while Master Samuel informs you of your current situation.”

  Sebastian wasn’t sure why she couldn’t come to his room, but he wasn’t sure what was appropriate for her to do. Lady Wixx’s underlings or servants, whatever she called them, called her a ‘Lady’. The factions throughout the Shattered Isles however could be whatever they want, a business, a city, a guild, whatever people want to call it they could. So Lady Wixx being called a ‘Lady’ could honestly mean anything. Sebastian’s thoughts went back to the abandoned town by the beach.

  “Hey, kiddo!” Samuel greeted him as he walked into the room.

  Sebastian was surprised by how normal the whole room seemed. The butler had said it was the ‘dining hall’ but it looked like a normal dining room. A large one albeit but a normal one nonetheless. Samuel was sitting on a chair near the head of the table, balancing on his back two chair legs like a hyperactive child. Sebastian wasn’t entirely sure what to make of the scene though so he just ignored it and sat down at the table opposite of him.

  “So…” Samuel dragged out the word, as if not sure where to start, “How did you sleep?”

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  Sebastian being Sebastian though ignored his question and asked his own.

  “What is this place?”

  Samuel didn’t seem bothered by Sebastian’s attitude and answered his question as if he hadn’t been ignored.

  “This is the home of House Wixx” He said.

  “I meant how does this place exist, how did we get here?” Sebastian clarified.

  It had been a burning question that he hoped Samuel would be willing to answer. This island seemed separate from the Shattered Isles, a safe place so to speak. But Samuel was clearly capable of leaving too. Sebastian didn’t know much at the moment but the idea of having his own island felt right. He wanted his own place, and technically he was homeless at the moment, which made the thought even more attractive.

  “Well,” Samuel began, trying to put his thoughts into words, “I’m not entirely sure how Lady Wixx acquired this island, but I do know that if you travel to enough islands you’ll eventually find a way to acquire one. And as for how we got here? Lady Wixx, being the ruler of this island, can give people the ability to join her island and once we have we can come and go anytime we want.”

  It was a bit disappointing that Samuel didn’t know how to get an island, but at least he had someone willing to answer his questions and wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. Sebastian was about to ask a few more but was quickly interrupted by the sound of the door opening. In walked a stunning woman with dark brown hair, purple eyes, and attractive features. She was also wearing a bikini.

  Again, Sebastian wasn’t sure what to make of the scene, so he just ignored it in his usual fashion. The presumed Lady Wixx plopped herself down on a chair in a very unladylike manner, looked at Sebastian, and began.

  “Would you like to die?”

  “Huh?!”

  It seemed things were already getting off to a great start.

———————

  Thankfully, Victoria didn’t want to kill Sebastian, he wasn’t sure he could even stop her if he tried. But after she continued talking, Sebastian realized where she was going with this. Victoria began to tell him about the Cardinal Sins, the seven strongest people in the Shattered Isles, and they were the strongest because they all had awakened a Sin. Sebastian’s attention was piqued when he heard that, but he mentally shushed his internal thoughts to pay attention to what Victoria was telling him. She was actually giving him information, something he had been wanting for a long time.

  Victoria finally got to her point, if someone awakened their Sin, the Cardinal Sins would give them a year after they learned of them to grow strong. And when that year was up, the Cardinal Sins would send out the corresponding Sin to fight them. So in his case, once the Cardinal Sins learned about him, he would have to fight the current Sin of Greed. Having awakened a Sin was sounding less and less like a benefit. Victoria then told him their names.

  Darius the Sleeping Mountain, Cardinal Sin of Sloth

  Mammon the Collector, Cardinal Sin of Greed

  Tieras the Soul Thief, Cardinal Sin of Envy

  Talos the Whispering Serpent, Cardinal Sin of Lust

  Annabelle the Bloody Justicar, Cardinal Sin of Wrath

  Nimious the Sun Eater, Cardinal Sin of Gluttony

  Evelyn the Exalted, Cardinal Sin of Pride

  The Cardinal Sin of Greed was supposed to be the second weakest of the seven, but that meant they were still somewhere in the level sixties, which made Sebastian gulp in fear. When he fought the Wendigo he had been under |Level 10| and the Wendigo had been over |Level 10|. He hadn’t been able to hurt it in the slightest, what would he be able to do to someone who was at level sixty?

  “So here’s the deal,” Victoria said, “You join the Wix faction and help us grow stronger until you fight Mammon. After that, you’re free to go and do whatever you want.”

  Sebastian honestly was going to take the offer. He first thought that he could survive the Shattered Isles without joining a faction, and maybe he could, but Victoria was offering something else. Knowledge. Sebastian had grown sick and tired of all the questions he had, and now he might get some of the answers he needed. Besides, if he survived for at least a few years, he could probably have his own island and do whatever he wanted to do, and a few years was nothing with how long he might be able to live now as a classer.

  But before he took the offer, Sebastian had a few questions of his own.

  “How much control would you have over me?” He started.

  “You would technically be allowed to leave whenever you like, but since we’d be teaching you, I’d expect you to stay.”

  “What would I be doing exactly?

  “You would train in the Shattered Isles mostly, and after you’ve gotten to |Level 60|, we can expect to go public with you.”

  “How do you expect to train me when I begin to grow stronger than you?”

  “We’re not quite sure about that yet, but we expect you to no longer need our guidance by the time you get to that level.”

  Sebastian was impressed by the immediate answers, she seemed to have thought this through.

  “Okay then, it’s a deal.” Sebastian said.

  “Actually, there’s one more thing I should probably tell you about,” Victoria said, surprising Sebastian. He had thought she had explained everything he needed to know by now.

  “I have the power to manipulate other peoples Mana, but it’s something that happens all the time, not an Ability.”

  Sebastian didn’t really care about that though, it’s not like he even used his Mana. Which he told her, but Victoria hadn’t finished apparently. According to her, Mana was an integral part of the soul, like Stamina was to the body, which made people very uncomfortable when they learned about her ability to manipulate it. This then led to House Wix’s current state, where their relations had all dried up and they were avoided like the plague.

  The revelation that the soul really did exist was ignored in favor of the fact that Victoria just admitted that she could manipulate it. But honestly, Sebastian wasn’t too worried about it.

  “Well then don’t ask me to do anything.”

  Victoria and Samuel looked at him in surprise.

  “What, it’s pretty simple, right?” Sebastian said, “You can’t unconsciously manipulate my soul to do anything if you don’t ask me to do anything, right?”

  Victoria sighed.

  “Even if I don’t ask you to do anything, I’ll still want you to choose options that benefit me. My unconscious won’t care if we made a deal, it will still want what’s best for me.”

  “Well Samuel doesn’t seem to mind too much about that, why’s that?”

  “The people here at the castle are like family to me, I desire their happiness. You however are someone I don’t know, nor expect to connect to. We’re more like acquaintances or business partners, with no emotional attachments to shield you from my powers. You don’t need to worry though, you should be out of my range for most of the time you stay here, and by the latter half of your visit you’d have grown strong enough to just ignore my influence. It’s not something you need to worry about or try to fix, it’s just something that you needed to know.”

  That was good news since Sebastian didn’t have any other ideas to fix her problem. He was also a little embarrassed that he thought he could solve a problem that Victoria had been dealing with for years after only hearing about it for a few seconds, not to mention he didn’t even know how Mana really worked, yet he still had the audacity to think he knew the answer, despite his many previous experiences with how little he knew. Sebastian decided to just ask the questions and not try to give the answers from now on, and speaking of questions, he had one more.

  “Wait, if powerful people can ignore your ability to manipulate Mana, then how come everyone avoids you? Surely there’s a good number of powerful people who wouldn’t mind your powers if they can’t even affect them.”

  “There are considered three levels to how strong a faction can be. The lowest are those who have recently formed their faction and haven’t gained much momentum, the strongest belong to a few of the Cardinal Sins and some others, and then there is the middle, which is where we were at. House Wixx was doing well for itself but its foundation was made of our connections to a wide number of smaller factions. I played matchmaker almost, pairing up factions and gained a bit of their profits in return for the connections. It was a winning strategy.

  But once word got out about my powers, people grew afraid. You see, most lesser factions consist of people with levels between ten and twenty, usually with someone above |Level 20| as the leader, and at the time I was much stronger than |Level 20|.”

  “I see, that explains a lot about what’s going on here.”

  According to what he heard about the Cardinal Sins, no one in their right minds would take in someone with an awakened Sin, usually because the time people awakened a Sin was when they were at |Level 40| or above. Sebastian was a unique case in that regard. But even then, most people would be afraid to let someone like him grow in their faction, as he could potentially grow too strong and take over the faction if he wanted. But Victoria seemed desperate to take back the power she once had, maybe even more, which was why she was taking that gamble with him. Not that Sebastian had any real desire to take away her faction.

  “Alright,” Sebastian said, “Let’s do this.”

  Victoria smiled, ”You’ve made the right choice.”

  But had she made the right choice?