Chapter 34

“From now on, you two will need to be inseparable.” GMS Rikt stated, his words seeming to have a sharp finality to them that was almost impossible to dismiss.

For this world, that meant that this was a special deeper challenge that could not be avoided, and had a high likelihood of failing. Normally such an event would be met with an almost incomparable reward.

In this case, I assumed the ending would be either Marie awakening one of her existing powers to become a Void power. Or she might just awaken a fourth affinity.

If it was the latter, then that was perfect as it meant that if given enough time and patience then I too could likely open a fourth magical Affinity. Regardless of the actual outcome I was prepared to make this work at all costs.

Right now, it seemed that I had somehow done the impossible and gotten Marie to be a member of my adventuring party.

Also, there was now the secondary goal of trying to see if I could do something similar for Maiden Octavia of House Drakerton. I didn’t have the five thousand gold pieces that was apparently the amount needed to easily buy the freedom of a retainer from a noble house. But money wasn’t the only way to get a retainer.

In the game there were many stories about how famous noble families got into bets and wagered famous retainers, only to lose the wager and eventually fall from grace entirely.

The lessons were right there for anyone willing to listen that retainers either made or destroyed a house. Thus, while I didn’t think there was any way to earn five thousand gold coins for Octavia’s work efforts, there might be a way I could create a situation in which one of the Drakerton brothers, either Darren or Rydel would be willing to put Octavia up as a wager. Then I just win the wager and boom, I would have my own permanent adventuring party ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Of course, the only real problem is creating such an unlikely scenario where either Drakerton brother would be willing to wager a talented retainer like Octavia. Though regardless of what actually happened, the seed had been planted in my mind and I was more than ready to come to almost any challenge.

“Um, master?” Marie began, her voice sounding suddenly unsure of how to address GMS Rikt.

Hearing her, I couldn’t help but feel for her, as he had effectively purchased her. Meaning that for all intents and purposes she was his property, at least in this world.

“None of that master nonsense. You are now free. However, I suggest that you stick with both myself and Karen here. At least if you do not want to be consumed by the darkness that you’ve already opened yourself up to.” Rikt replied.

Watching Marie react to that comment was like watching a rollercoaster of emotions play out. First, she was tense, not knowing how to relate to Master Rikt. Then she seemed relieved, knowing that she was essentially purchased to be immediately set free. Then horrified at the idea of the darkness of the void consuming her.

Apparently, that dark smoke was more than just for show, as it seemed to have actually had a mental impact on her. This was rather interesting to see, as she genuinely seemed frightened of how much essence of the void she had contracted from just her everyday life.

Speaking of which, “what exactly were you doing to get so much of the void on you?”

I ask without even thinking about who we are in front of or what the answer might be.

Blush.

Marie just blushes brightly at the question, as her face takes on a rosy hue that somehow makes her even cuter to look at. As now I can see that she has freckles, or maybe micro freckles that are suddenly highlighted by the mere act of her blushing.

I had never noticed that level of detail on her face before. Before she had always been that porcelain skinned beauty that was completely untouchable. Now though, now somehow with the freckles she seemed more real.

Marie for her part looks first at me, then sees that I am now leaning in to inspect her face that seems to be coming to life with a level of quality of detail that I’ve never seen before. This must be one of those amazing neural connections as everything about her face seems suddenly more real. No longer is she a perfectly designed computer-generated image, but she has blotches, freckles, and even odd contours to her face that aren’t perfect in nature. Yet somehow rather than taking away from her beauty, they sort of add to her, giving her a real presence that is hard to resist.

“Yes, I too would like to know what it was you were doing that might have caused this level of corruption to appear. While the level of corruption you had experienced was harmless, there was the chance that given prolonged exposure to such energies you could have been damaged or worse.” GMS Rikt says, his words diverting a now slightly trembling Marie away from staring at me and back towards Rikt.

The slightly nervous trembling is also new. Almost like the world was able to add in nervous ticks that only added to the immersion quality of the world.

“I was,” Marie began then glanced at me for a moment, before seeing that I was staring at her, which caused her to almost jump in panic, forcing her to turn back to GMS Rikt. “Suffice it to say, I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to.”

Hearing that GMS Rikt straightened up his posture and took in the trembling and slightly blushing Marie. Then looking from her, he glanced to me, before locking gazes once again with Marie. Once their eyes met, he proceeded to ask a rather odd and cryptic question.

“I take it, by this new arrangement, and by having your personal affects moved to Karen’s dorm room, this will not be an issue in the future?” Rikt asked.

Wait what? My dorm room?

I mean, yeah it was a two-person room that I had gotten into a single room thanks to my grades and overall standing thus far. Also, it wasn’t like I had anything other than my school supplied clothing in there. But still, offering up the second half of my room without my consent was a bit much, wasn’t it?

Though I guess keeping Marie from inadvertently turning herself into a spawning point for demonic entities was likely worth the slight inconvenience of suddenly having a roommate.

“N, no.” Marie stammered out, her words and mannerisms suddenly seeming tense. As if she was afraid that something might happen.

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“Good, I will go about setting this up while you two attend today’s classes.” Rikt began, and then continued as more of his plans for the future seemed to unfurl in his glowing platinum eyes.

“For now, I need you two to go about your classes as usual. Do not worry about your personal affects Marie, I will have the school move everything while you go about your day. Know that your task for today is to always be by Karen’s side and never leave her.” GMS Rikt said, his tone appearing to be extremely serious as he stared at Marie.

Trembling for only a moment Marie took in his sharp gaze and then stammered out, “ri, right.”

Me seeing that Marie was so nervous about everything, I found myself instinctually reaching out to the girl.

Clasp.

Before I knew it, I was clutching her right hand in my left and giving her a reassuring squeeze.

For a moment, Marie twitched as she was suddenly surprised by the sudden action. Her whole body tensed up as if preparing to be attacked, then after a second she seemed to relax slightly, only to do a quick double take and tense up again, realizing that I was holding her hand in my own. Well in my gloved hand, as I was still trying to hide my nice glowing tattoos on my left hand.

I momentarily wonder if there is an increased amount of static energy or odd sensations that might be felt from touching my hand, but I quickly dismiss that thought as that might be too much for this world. Still based on her sudden reaction to my grabbing her hand, I have to wonder.

GMS Rikt seeing that Marie had broken eye contact, turned his piercing stare to me.

“As for you, I will need you to keep up a constant stream of Disruption Field over and around Marie here. I want it active everywhere, in class, while you walk. You need to either learn to bind it to one of you, preferably her, or continually cast it so you two are both protected while walking together. Do you understand?” Rikt asks.

I can almost feel the quest prompt appear within my mind.

Of course, on insane difficulty mode there would not be any actual quest prompt, meaning I just have to keep going with this until whatever event that was supposed to happen does happen.

“Yes.” I respond, knowing that this shouldn’t be too hard. Well walking and chain casting Disruption Field will be tough, but it is something I used to do while out hunting with my normal party. Again, using Disruption Field was great in the wild, as it made it so any void panthers or otherwise corrupted monsters would appear instantly with glowing black wisps of smoke rising from their bodies. This was why I felt confident that I would be able to do this.

I know, most people objected to having fat Karen be the center scout and caster of the party, but she did make the most sense. Especially if you didn’t manage to get the spy, prince Oneraton, in your party. Then you just had the meat shield of either Priam or Upsteel to protect against monsters, while everyone else used high power distance attacks.

“Well then, it is decided. You two know your goals from me at this point. Now please continue as I begin preparing everything for you two to be under my direct supervision.” GMS Rikt stated.

“Yes,” I state.

“Yes, Master.” Marie stated giving a slight bow that seemed awkward due to the was she tried to keep her hand completely still as she bowed.

“None of this Master stuff. I feel that I will be learning a lot from the two of you in this process as well.” Rikt said, as he then turned to lock gazes with me directly. “Also, it is good that you do not bow. Now that you are a recognized self-taught master, you need not bow to anyone ever again.”

Warmth.

With that comment I felt something deep inside me light up in recognition of the comment.

“Right, well I will be off. Go to whatever classes you deem fit, you can even visit the Magister’s classes for this afternoon if I am not back in time.” Rikt stated, before seeming to disappear in a moment.

Fwoosh.

As he left, a clear trail of black smoke could be seen rising up and instantly evaporating under the unrelenting dome of my Disruption Field.

Seeing the smoke rise from his clearly advanced form of Teleportation, I couldn’t help but be interested to see what he was doing that caused such a reaction.

With the sudden disappearance of GMS Rikt, everyone that had been gathered around us to see the spectacle suddenly began talking in hushed whispers. That or maybe they were always talking and I just now noticed? It was rather hard to say.

Still, the first person to come into my Disruption Field was none other than Lady Von’Graysing who couldn’t help but look around and try to investigate the dark trails of smoke that were finally dying down and dispersing into the atmosphere.

“That is, incredible.” Lady Von’Graysing stated, as she used some type of skill to view the energy. “There is now more ambient energy in this area than before.”

Hearing her talk, I could almost hear the lectures about how magic of the world was finite. Which was why we had to be careful with our spell casting and conservation of energy. Really, this was just a way to sell the players on mana fatigue, which happened when you cast spells too often and then had to relax. But it only affected those who were down below fifty percent of their normal mana pool. Fortunately for me, I had an extra forty-eight percent reserve of mana that didn’t count towards that total, meaning I could effectively use ninety-eight percent of my mana without suffering from anything like mana fatigue.

Ding.

The first morning bell rang out, letting everyone know that morning training sessions should be coming to a close. Since Lady Von’Graysing was technically my teacher for this time, she stopped staring at the empty spot of now magically infused land and turned to me. Her eyes quickly glanced at my hand that was still holding Marie’s hand.

“Oh,” I exclaimed somewhat sheepishly that the sudden stare as I let go of Marie’s hand. Somehow, I held onto her for over a minute and she didn’t even seem to complain, might be a glitch, or she might have been that drained from my cleansing effect on her body.

Lady Von’Graysing just looked at the sudden actions, looked like she was about to make a comment, and then proceeded to stop herself.

“Right, you two should go on to classes.” The instructor said, and with that we both moved.

Though I made sure to continue casting perfect Disruption Field every few dozen steps as we made our way forward to class.

Nothing happened in the first class, well other than Lady Von’Roseblade being conspicuously absent. I assumed it likely had something to do with the fact that she was signing documents related to earning five thousand gold coins for essentially just waking up in the morning.

Yeah, she would have a harder time getting a good party going, but she already had the big two on her side with Priam and Galvis, making it rather easy if she knew what she was doing to get others. At least Upsteel and maybe Oneraton. Not having a healers wasn’t the end of the world, particularly with having five thousand gold coins on hand, meaning you could buy health potions, while upgrading your personal lands to produce your own supply of health potions free of charge.

It wasn’t until the second class that we finally saw a dirty and somewhat bedraggled Lady Claudia Von’Roseblade appear in class.

Claudia for her part seemed to be excessively out of breath and disheveled, her face had dirt on it, and her hair was clearly unkempt. Was she that dependent on Marie?

“There you are!” Claudia exclaimed after going to her seat, and looking around the classroom to find Marie sitting next to me. Hearing the angry tones from Claudia, Marie tensed up instantly.

“Come down here this instant!” Claudia demanded, and with that Marie on muscle memory began to stand up, before I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and pushed her down back to her seat.

“What? What is this, she is my servant!” Claudia shouted, rage filling her voice.

Hearing her speak, it was clear that she had not missed first period to fill out financial transaction forms and instead had been doing something else. Something that became apparent when after being in my now always active Disruption Field had her satchel for class suddenly spark to life as dark wisps of smoke began to rise.

“What?” One student next to Claudia shouted, being the first to see and likely smell the dark plumes of smoke rising upwards.

“Your bag, it’s on fire!” Another girl exclaimed.

Then like that, Claudia first began to back up, as if thinking that she was standing on the flames, only to realize that the flames were following her.

“Ahh!” Claudia shouted, as she desperately tried to backpedal away.

“It’s your bag Lady Von’Roseblade.” The professor shouted, running over, and quickly grabbing the leather strap for Claudia’s satchel off her shoulder and then throwing it on the ground.

Ice Burst.

The professor quickly cast an ice encapsulation spell around the bag, trying to prevent the bag from burning any more. This was a smart act, and one that likely should have worked. By all accounts encasing an active flame in an airtight sphere of ice was the way to go to stop most normal small flames.

Unfortunately, this apparently was not a normal small flame, as black smoke continued to rise up around and through the ice.

It took a moment for my mind to recognize where I had seen that same type of dense smoke recently. Only when Marie shouted did the words begin to click.

“Void corruption!” Marie shouted.

At that, a certain level of understanding filled the eyes of the professor, before he grabbed Claudia and backed up.

Just in time, as the backpack, still encased by a thick layer of ice began to spark and burn to life.

Fwoosh!

Even with the flames muffled under the suppression of a now melting block of ice, the sudden ignition of parchment could be easily heard.

“NOOO! My family coat of arms!” Claudia shouted.

And suddenly the pieces of the puzzle that were before me made sense. The bedraggled state of Claudia, the fact that she was nowhere to be seen this morning despite everyone around, and the fact that her book seemingly began to combust when in contact with my Disruption Field, “she went to the forbidden archives.”

I hissed out silently.

At least, I thought it was silent, until I realized that every set of eyes turned to me, including those of the professor.

A professor who looked momentarily shocked, but then he too turned to take in Claudia’s state and seemed to nod to himself as if coming to the same conclusion.

The flames were fortunately short lived, for despite having a natural accelerant in the likely corrupted Von’Roseblade manuscript, a clearly corrupted text that everyone knew to avoid at all costs, as it invited a premature calamity to strike the campus, and an instant game over for the player, the flames died out rather quickly.

Then after a few moments the professor seeing the smoke had died down, dispelled his ice shield and rummaged through the now ruined backpack, only to find the very same corrupted Von’Roseblade manuscript that had been locked away in the forbidden archives for a reason.

“We need to bring this up to the Magister immediately,” The professor said, holding the burnt book in one hand and Claudia’s arm in the other.

“Wait, no…” Claudia began, but was already being dragged off.

Silence.

Everyone was silent for the next moment as we all tried to process what just happened.

Then from out of nowhere, Marie jinxed us with what had to be the most cliché line ever.

“Well, glad the worst of the day is over,” Marie said, all but foreshadowing something drastic that was still yet to come.