The Sins

by Pegaz A

  “Sorry about before.” John smiled at the new Sider. “I was just angry at the new king. You said you are a Sider, right? I’m the Sider who left here eighteen years ago. I know you went to the immortal village to become an immortal but failed.”

  The new Sider’s eyes gleamed, and John couldn’t make out whether it was excitement or curiosity behind them. Maybe both.

  “Because of my skills, I can offer you a 0% risk of death and force immortality on you.” John reached his hand out, waiting for it to be taken. With a smart grin on his face, he finished his proposition. “So, how would you like to become an immortal?”

  Chapter 21

  Luke

  Before the man could answer, John interrupted him.

  “Due to unique circumstances,” he explained, “I can’t do this for another six or eight months from now. If you can wait that long then I can grant you immortality.”

  There was a pause, during which the younger Sider’s gaze met John’s with a steady resolve.

  “I can wait.”

  “Alright, then!” John bore a Cheshire grin on his face. “Grab a chair and bring it over to sit down. We have plenty of things to talk about.”

  With little hesitation, the younger Sider walked into the other room to retrieve a chair. He brought his chair into the throne room and set it at the bottom step, facing the throne. He took a seat, staring directly at John. Time to get started.

  “First, what’s your name?” John was legitimately curious. “If you haven’t heard mine from somewhere, it’s John Allen. Because you’re a Sider, I will answer my own questions as well. I want to build trust between us.”

  “John Allen…” The younger Sider nodded, deep in thought. “I’ve heard about you before. You’re mentioned in two history and learning books at schools and in the libraries. My name is Luke Jordan.”

  “And what did you do back on Earth?” John eyed Luke up and down, wondering if his form here resembled his past one to any extent. “I was a forklift driver before I died.”

  “University student.”

  “How did you die?” John noticed Luke’s gaze tightening as he asked. “I had a heart attack.”

  “A drunk driver hit me as I was walking to the library.”

  “And did you arrive in a 15-year-old body on this planet?” John carried the conversation on, trying his best to connect with the young man. “I did. I found out later that I was near Newbie Town on the north-west part of this kingdom. That’s where it all started for me.”

  “Yes.” Luke nodded. “I was placed near that town, too, but I was close to the sea.”

  Raising an eyebrow, John recalled the world map of this planet. Loose Forest was about fifty miles away from the sea, so Luke had appeared further north than he did.

  “Did you have a computer OS when you arrived?” The question was dripping with nonchalance, but Luke could sense the curiosity and sincerity in John’s voice. “Mine’s called the Idle System.”

  The question stumped Luke for a few seconds.

  “I do.” He finally nodded. “Mine’s called Information.”

  John’s eyebrows arched even further.

  “Oh? Do you get stronger the more information you gain, then?” He leaned in closer, excitement alight in his eyes. “Mine creates system workers called Idlers, which are like construction workers. Once they’ve completed a floor of a building, I level up. The higher the floor, the more time it takes for the workers to complete it.”

  “Yes, it does kind of work like that.” Luke tilted his head up at John. “I gather information and once I gain a certain amount, I get stats like a game.”

  “Well, I’ve got some good news for you.” John smiled, trying to contain his enthusiasm. “Once you’ve become an immortal, it will more than likely change from basic stats to Life Power or immortality ranks and levels. I once found another system that used stats called the Sinners System. The user killed so many people that he could match an immortal in strength. It was my master who stopped him thousands of years ago.”

  “Thousands of years ago?” With wide eyes, Luke stared up at him. “Then how did you meet him?”

  John told him about how the systems started dying after ten thousand years. In this particular case, it turned the Sider’s body into an undead life form to survive. He told Luke about systems lifespan of eighty thousand years afterwards. Luke clung onto every bit of knowledge as he could. John wondered if he was levelling up as they spoke.

  “So, for you, the saying ‘knowledge is power’ is still true in this universe, isn’t it?” John couldn’t help but chuckle. “How come you didn’t go to the immortal area before you turned twenty-one?”

  “I’m not a fighter.” Luke smiled wryly. “I was a student in my past life and was given no head start in this life. The system is great and will help me become stronger by reading, but I started in an area where there were little books. I had no money to read more than the essential section of Newbie Town’s library with the free month they gave me. I couldn’t fight monsters for money because I had no money to take the classes on survival or martial arts... I couldn’t even buy a weapon or armour.”

  John was a little taken aback. He remembered the beginning so much differently. He’d never considered himself privileged, but he wondered how things could have turned out differently.

  “So I had to take jobs like cleaning and being a baggage carrier for other parties,” Luke continued with bitterness in his voice. “Eventually, I earned enough money to continue reading in the library month by month. I finally read everything in the library and was able to get stronger.”

  Luke explained how he was then strong enough to kill Rank G monsters. He was able to support himself better, but to get stronger, he needed to travel to the next town. However, the next town’s monsters were stronger than Rank G, which made it a risk. He had a choice of going back to Newbie town to kill monsters or to carry on with manual work and find more manuscripts to read.

  To John’s slight disappointment, Luke had taken the second option. He justified it by saying the travel time to Newbie town was not worth the potential risk. So the Sider carried on from town to town, doing manual labour and reading as much as he could. He carried on this way until he finally reached the capital, which was where Simon found him out.

  “The Adventurers Guild’s information network gave me away.” Luke ran a tired hand through his bangs. “Simon was waiting for me. He offered me everything I could ever want in exchange for new inventions that he could make money off of.”

  “Inventions?” John thought back to his trip here. “Like that brown tarmac in the SS Ranked area of town?”

  “Yeah, that was one of them.” Luke nodded his head. “That tarmac absorbs water, so no matter how bad it rains or even if the river floods, no water would reach the houses. Simon placed the tarmac down and charged the residences with flood prevention taxes. He couldn’t charge the rest of the city with the same taxes because they are much poorer, so he only built it for a few miles.”

  In exchange, Luke was given free access to the capital’s library. After he read everything, he was as strong as a Rank SS adventurer. However, at that point, he’d still never killed a single monster above Rank G. He compared himself to a glass cannon. He looked strong but would crumble in a fight.

  “Amanda told me everything.” John nodded. “All those questions you asked in her village makes sense now. You’ve told me about your journey, but what about your system? Can your Information System do anything? Can you share the information you’ve learnt with people?”

  Eyes somewhat guarded, Luke bobbed his head.

  “I’m able to create information spheres!” He seemed wary of sharing this, but also a bit excited. “It stores the knowledge inside a sphere I create. I’ll show you.”

  Luke closed his eyes in concentration. After a few seconds, an orange sphere began to form on his forehead. Once it reached its full size, it dropped into his hands. Luke lifted the sphere up for Joh
n to see. It was about 2 inches in diameter and bore a deep orange colour.

  John used his threads to pick it up and brought it closer to him. The semi-visible threats shocked Luke a bit, but John was trying to show off a little. He needed Luke to want more power.

  “How do other people use this to gain information, then?” John inspected the orb with probing eyes.

  “You place it on your forehead for two seconds.” Luke perked up a little as John pulled the orb closer to himself. “Then it will transfer the information into your mind.”

  After two seconds, John’s system asked if he wanted to transfer the information. John agreed and closed his eyes. He could see what Luke had put inside of the orb. It was something like a memory of when Luke was in the immortal village. It was like watching a first-person film while travelling. He met Amanda and John could hear their conversation. He heard every question and every answer. Finally, Luke left the village.

  Opening his eyes, he found the orange sphere had disappeared.

  “Can you create the sphere for multiple uses, or is it a one-time use?”

  “Multiple times.” Luke’s smile was small but a proud one. “I only made a one-time use sphere to show you its effects.”

  John tilted his head back a little and laughed.

  “You’re unlucky and lucky at the same time.” He chortled in good humour. “Unlucky because of this world’s lack of information and the location of said information at the beginning. It must have been rough for you.”

  Luke’s expression drooped a little, but John was about to cheer him back up.

  “But you’re lucky. You’re very, very lucky.” John’s laughter grew warm and calm, the tone carrying through his voice. “I’m the new sect master of the only immortal sect on this planet, and I’m planning on a few changes. Your system will help make these changes happen much smoother, and in return, I can give you information from the entire universe.”

  The light in Luke’s eyes grew brighter.

  “You will never have to fight a monster to get stronger or for any resources if you follow me and help me with this plan I have in mind.” John paused a moment before adding his own take. “I would still recommend learning how to fight, though. While knowledge is power for you and back on Earth, here it is meaningless without strength to back it up.”

  “Yes.” Luke winced a little at this. “I’d assumed as much.”

  “For example,” John continued, “at this very moment, I can see a person is crawling through the walls of the palace via a hidden passageway. The person is more than likely on their way here to spy on us and will be here within a few minutes. Now that I have given you the information, can you do anything about it? There are no guards here. It’s just you, me, and the incoming threat.”

  Falling into silence, Luke turned around and looked at the wall. After mulling it over for a few seconds, he turned back to face John.

  “No... I can’t do anything to stop them.”

  “Exactly.” John gleamed. “But I can.”

  Lifting his right hand up, he shot a bullet toward the man in the wall.

  Luke could hear the bullet piercing the wall and heard a thud half a second later. It was the sound of the body dropping to the floor.

  “I can get my sect members to help train you in return for your help. What do you say?”

  Chapter 22

  Tell the World

  It didn’t take long for Luke to answer.

  “All right,” he replied. “I accept your offer.”

  “Great!” John’s smile widened, eyes full of excitement. “Hold on a minute, I want to check something that could help us both. Oh, but first, I forgot to ask what country you were from! And how old were you when you died? I was from England and was thirty-eight when I died.”

  “Country?” Luke was a little surprised at that question this late in the game. “I was from America. When I died, I was twenty-two. Pretty young, but that’s the world.”

  Curiosity sated, John nodded and opened his system. He went into the fifth tab to see if Luke’s name showed up in the sharing option. Below Sarah’s name and skills, Luke’s name showed up with a 0/25 next to it. John explained this aspect of his system to Luke. He offered Luke a peak body with heightened resistance in exchange for Luke’s information.

  Luke agreed almost instantly.

  John warned him it would be almost unbearable for him to remain conscious when the skills began transforming his body. He recommended being knocked out for the process, but to his surprise, Luke said he could handle it.

  Before they shared the skills, they decided it would be the most time efficient for Luke to share his skills with John first. Before long, John had two of Luke’s skills pending on his own list. They were titled as Information Storage and Information Sphere.

  Information Storage: Store all the information you have inside a sphere in the brain.

  Information Sphere: Create a sphere containing any information you want inside. Can create a one-time use or multiple-use sphere.

  To be honest, these skills are almost useless to me. Luke seems to trust me a little more now because of the sharing, though, and his system is perfect for what I have in mind with the Rogue Sect. I don’t feel like waiting 10,000 years for a useless system and I need Luke to work in the Rogue Sect so I can carry on with my plans, too.

  Though, I do think he wanted to stay conscious and bear through the pain because he doesn’t completely trust me yet. I wouldn’t want a stranger standing over me while I’m unconscious either. Well, let’s make him remember the agonizing pain each time he thinks that he can’t trust me.

  John then placed all the body and mortality skills he had inside the share option of the system. He wouldn’t give Luke the immortal skills until he finished “forcing” it onto him, and he didn’t give him the Memory Keeper skill either.

  “Well, good luck.” Before John hit the confirm button, he looked up at Luke with somewhat of a smirk on his face. “Don’t blame me for not warning you.”

  He could see Luke was having second thoughts now, but before Luke could say anything, John hit the confirm button.

  A second later, Luke felt his entire body tightening up. At first, it felt like being shocked by a taser causing his body to become unable to move, but then it got much worse and the younger Sider was forced to his knees within moments. It got to the point where John could see all of Luke’s muscles and veins as he tried to scream but was unable to. Luke then curled up in a ball and dug his nails into his arm, trying to get through the pain.

  When it ended, Luke was breathing heavily, sweating, and trying to get up but had no strength.

  “Alright, nice job!” John smiled. “That was the first skill called Flesh’s Strength, only a few more to go.”

  Luke’s eyes bulged when he heard John as if he’d expected to be given recovery time in between the next skill. The pain quickly forced him to squeeze his eyes shut, though; it was Organ’s Strength’s turn.

  Throughout the entire palace and echoing outside the palace steps, the tortured screams of a young man brought chills down everyone’s spines. The voice sounded like it was in such pain that no one could even imagine what the poor boy was going through.

  All the while, Luke’s body was convulsing and he was clutching onto his stomach for dear life. Flailing out in absolute desperation, the almost-senseless young man punched the floor with the side of his fist, lashing out with no regard. This went on timelessly; although only a few minutes had passed, it felt like an eternity to Luke.

  After the Organ’s Strength had finished and he had brief relief from the pain, Luke quickly asked John to knock him unconscious. John laughed and knocked him out. The younger Sider would have to learn to trust him more.

  John shared Flesh’s Strength, Organ’s Strength, Blood Capacity, Bone Density, Muscle Elasticity, Mind Strength, Mind Parts, Impurity Filter, Directions, Absorption, Vision, Storage, Temperature Keeper, Resistance, Divination, Sprinter, and Analyser
Eye.

  With the Absorption skill, it had the water, nutrients, and resistance’s elements included, but without the Absorption - Option skill, Luke wouldn’t be able to use the third part of the skill, which was just fine for John’s purposes.

  While the skills were altering Luke’s body, David and Rachael came back without Simon.

  “You’re not torturing him, are you?” David seemed to be legitimately worried at the unconscious Luke on the floor. “We heard the screams.”

  “No, I’m helping him.” John laughed. “He’ll wake up and thank me once he gets used to all the improvements on his body. It’s a Sider thing, so sorry but I can’t do it for you two. But… I could increase your life expectancy by turning you into beginner immortals if you ask nicely.”

  David and Rachel were both stunned by John’s utter display of power. Biting back their pride in a matter of seconds, they both asked him for the increase. John made them both immortal beginners after a mere thirty minutes.

  Both of them rolled about in pain when the Life Power unit went inside, but the pain only lasted a few minutes for them. He checked them both with his Immortal Eye.

  ???

  Rank: 1

  Level: 1

  Sin: 13

  ???

  Rank: 1

  Level: 1

  Sin: 5

  I only know their first names, not their surnames. It’s confirmed that I need the full names to get rid of the question marks, then.

  John told them both not to tell Luke about their status as immortals. He was unable to do it for Luke at the moment because of his Sider identity. Surprisingly, neither of the new immortals had any problem with this. They agreed not to say a word.

  It was time to discuss the topic that the two came here to talk to John about in the first place. The sixteen people all agreed to let the first princess take over the crown. She was not married yet, so her husband would become the future king. This surprised John a bit. Back in England, the king’s wife would become the queen, but the queen’s husband could not become the king. Nonetheless, it was no business of his. He was curious about the previous newly-crowned mistake, though.