Chapter 140: From Dust

Doublerift wasn't strong. Not when he first started in this world. He had middling stats, and his abilities had been largely unremarkable back then. Like me, he lost his way in a thick mist back home, and wandered into his first walled arena. Like me, he met his first team there. They had been great teammates, with solid skills and reasonable competence, and as united as mine had ever been.

Three of them died in that first challenge. Doublerift, and only one other, survived.

"But you knew the game," I pointed out to him as I read his memoir. I didn't mean for it to sound accusatory. Hopefully he didn't take it that way.

"I treated them like my teammates," Doublerift said. "They were nothing like my teammates."

We were alone in his expansive library of dark wood shelves and maroon carpeting. The place was crammed with more books than he could humanly read. He had offered me a chance to peruse the shelves, in case any would prove helpful for our upcoming fight against Alice.

I re-read the beginning of his personal memoir. It was a thin notebook of less than 20 pages, handwritten from cover to cover. The text was terse and dry, and uncomfortably factual. Deaths were recorded, in no small number, each more like a police report than a war tale. I didn't think Doublerift had intended for me to read this booklet in particular. But he didn't voice an objection.

I thought he'd have it easy, being a professional MOBA player in his previous life. I thought he'd have been able to lead his team through battles effortlessly, like an even more experienced Saber. But as it turned out, he was too experienced. Back in the real world, he spent his time fighting alongside other top-level players. Doublerift completely overestimated what the average person was able to do or learn. The plan he gave his new and inexperienced team, in the first arena, fell apart upon initial contact with reality, because of their inevitable human errors.

Unlike Saber, Doublerift stood so far above those around him, that he could no longer understand or help them.

I put the memoir back on the shelf. The gray dust on its cover clung to my fingers; I felt dirty.

"Do you think people in Platinum are a bit more competent?" I ventured. "Compared to, like, people you met at the beginning." I wondered if I had asked something I shouldn't.

"That's an interesting question," he said. With his arms folded, he fell silent in momentary reflection. "I'd say, my inner circle now is reasonably competent."

Doublerift called his top staff his inner circle. It included nine people for now, five Chief Officers and four Champions, with me being the newest addition to the Champions. Hei, meanwhile, did not count as a member of the LCS. His official position was "contractor."

Stolen story; please report.

Which made sense. Though he had more than enough prowess to rank among the Champions, making him one would've been an organizational optics disaster. Hei had been their nemesis in Platinum just days prior, after all.

The carpet dampened the sounds of movement, and when we didn't talk, I could pick up the noise of our breaths, or the gentle crinkle of turning pages. I wondered what hidden knowledge Doublerift might have held in his library, but for the most part, the books were mundane. I found a collection of Norse mythology, and one specific book on the Ragnarok. A battle of the gods which brings about the end of the world. In Doublerift's library, it seemed like a not-so-subtle nod to his ultimate motives. I found a copy of The Art of War, which turned out to be a significantly thinner book than I had imagined. Interesting, but not what I was specifically looking for.

I wanted books on science and magic, my twin fortes, in order to help me craft a composite magic item, a fusion of the LCS's many artifacts that would prove more powerful than the sum of its parts. That was the task assigned to me by Doublerift. After combing through a few rows of shelves, I finally found a section devoted to science. The books seemed like what you'd expect to find on earth: textbooks, professional manuals, and even a stack of encyclopedia volumes sorted alphabetically. Among the science books was a graduate-level coursebook on fluid dynamics, which caught my interest. Doublerift also had books on mechanical engineering, architecture, particle physics, botany, and material science. Material science could prove useful as well, but I decided to borrow all of those books. Who knew which one might spark inspiration for my magnum opus, my to-be strongest magic item. Plus, I doubted anyone would miss those books while they were gone.

I bid Doublerift good-day, and spent the night reading. But no ideas came to me.

The next day, I returned to the armory. I had meant to finish surveying it a couple days ago and take a complete catalog of what the LCS held within, but that got completely sidetracked when Hei had shown up out of nowhere.

The armory felt sterile and organized, like a professional, modern workshop. Uncatalogued armors hanging upright in one corner caught my initial attention, but I decided to start with smaller things. I rummaged through chests on the ground, and drawers along the walls. Unsurprisingly, most of the remaining equipment was rather mediocre. I found a silvered sword that granted 10% resistance to darkness damage, but took up an attunement slot, which was honestly more than it was worth. I found a shield cobbled together from galvanized square steel. It granted 5% damage reduction against physical attacks, at the cost of 5% movement speed. I found a dagger supercharged with electricity, which did extra damage but required attunement. Now that one could be useful, and might synergize well with my railgun. I found a ring that could shoot beams of concentrated flames.

Among other things, I found a Seekflower seed, buried deep in the corner of one drawer.

…Skull-knight Kevin told me the LCS didn't have a Seekflower on hand, ever since the vigilantes stole their last one. Did anyone know about this being here? How long had this seed been sitting there, utterly wasted? If there was one magic item I'd consider the most universally useful, it was probably the Seekflower.

I found a spare mug in the armory, then filled it up with soil from the pavement outside. After planting the seed in the mug-pot, I added a bit of water. A pulse of golden light emanated from the soil.

[Donate 500 MP to the Seekflower seed?]

Huh. I had never seen that system message before.

I stretched out my hand and channeled my arcane energies into my fingertips. How I had missed you, my overpowered, infinite-range, human-finding plant.

This was gonna be good.