by Noam Oswin
Title [Gorger] has come into effect.
Oh?
Info: [Flesh Famished]
Details: As a member of the [Ghilan] species, you require sustenance in the form of the flesh and meat of human and/or demi-human creatures to effectively function. Going an extended number of days without doing so will grant you this negative status. Animal meat can only be used as a substitute if the animal is [Mythical], [Legendary] or [Unique] in classification. Nightmare meat may be used as a substitute, only if the Nightmare is of a higher Tier.
That was right. I didn’t need to eat people. I could eat animals – though they had to be [Mythical], [Legendary] or [Unique]. I doubted I could find the first two and couldn’t even imagine trying to eat something like a phoenix, but the last one – it was doable.
“Juma – do you know what meat is in this?”
“Twelve different kinds, but I can’t tell you all of them. I know of Red Bear, Green Elk, Four Horned Goat, Three-Legged Hare, Bare Black Sheep, Firebelly Boar, and Great Tiger-Spotted Bull. As for the remaining five… you’d have to somehow convince Mr. Hasid to tell you. I tried, but he tells me it’s a secret. I’m guessing it must be exotic.”
So, one out of the twelve different types of meat used was the one that was [Unique]. Once I had the time, I needed to meet this Hasid fellow and convince him to tell me all of them, so I would go through the list and find my new favorite prey.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“You don’t know how to handle gratitude from other people at all, do you?”
Juma laughed, rubbing the back of his head. “Is it that obvious?”
“I kind of figured it out after you turned down Hasid’s offer for a free meal twelve times.”
Juma shrugged. “It’s… well, it has to do with the way I was brought up. At West Sycophant Church, we were told that even though we were orphans, we should still have our pride – have our honor. Sycophant Orphans Never Beg. That was our rule.”
“Accepting gratitude isn’t begging.”
“I know that. But…” Juma’s face twisted. “It feels odd. I do things because I want to. Not because I’m making someone’s life a little better, or a little easier, or a little happier – just because I want to. I don’t need material gifts or gratitude or preferential treatment simply because I’m doing things I want, and they just so happened to help people. I don’t understand why that’s so hard to get.”
I reached for the sugarcane milkshake, taking a sip out of the glass mug. “…It’s human nature to not want to feel owed, and to reciprocate altruism. You might want to get used to it.”
Juma sighed. “I don’t think I will.”
I pressed my lips together. “Why’d you join the AAA?”
Juma leaned back, “Truth?” He grinned. “To drink wine.”
“Drink… wine?” I wondered for a brief moment if that was a code of some sort. I checked Neo’s memories to confirm. Instead, I got a surprising answer. The production of wine is limited to only one Warehouse and its price is… ridiculous.
“Only Eminents can afford to drink wine.”
He nodded his head “Exactly.”
“…the only ways you can become an Eminent from joining the AAA is if you defeat another Eminent in PvP, or if you kill a Tier 9 or above Nightmare.”
“Believe it or not, the second task is easier than the first.”
“Easier?” I said.
“The only Eminents in the AAA are the Seven Amendments and Commander General Hoplite himself,” Juma explained. “So, options are either kill a nightmare that’s close to being an Anathema or somehow manage to beat either Hoplite or Luxeme in single combat. It’ll be easier to go for one of the other Six Amendments, though that’s like saying it’s easier to empty the ocean with bowl rather than a cup. Coriolis, Nebuchadnezzar, Yomi, Aries, Abednego, and Varian – though none of them are as strong as Hoplite or Luxeme, they’re still the strongest Adventurers in Alhamis.”
It was my first time hearing the names of all members of the Seven Amendments. I closed my eyes, remembering my brief meeting with Luxeme.
Sipping my drink, I found myself wondering. “Luxeme she’s extremely strong isn’t she?”
“As strong as General Hoplite himself.”
And she was after me. “Fantastic.”
“Though she’s lost every time she challenged him for the title of Alhamis’ Champion and the position of High Eminent of War.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“I heard the only reason she loses is due to the poor matchup between her power and General Hoplite’s.”
My brow furrowed. “Go on.”
Juma hummed. “Lt. General Luxeme can freely manipulate and control all forms of light. Commander General Hoplite however controls gravity. Gravity bends and affects light. So in theory, General Hoplite can counter her… but she can’t counter him.”
Somehow that tiny little nibble of physics knowledge had escaped me.
“With each fight they have, General Hoplite learns more and more ways to counter her and gets stronger as he grows. On the other hand, Luxeme has to keep thinking of new ways to bypass her disadvantage, and time isn’t really on her side. General Hoplite hasn’t even entered his Golden Years yet. If she can’t beat him before he does… she’ll never be able to.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I didn’t have any words I could think of. A small laugh escaped my lips. “General Hoplite is impressive… isn’t he?”
Juma nodded in agreement. “He’s the star and hope of Alhamis. People believe that as long as we have him – we have nothing to fear.”
“And you?”
“And me?”
I pressed my lips together. “Do you believe it?”
Juma slurped from his drink. Putting down the empty mug and letting out a contented sigh, his shoulders rose and fell silently. Whether he did or whether he didn’t, I supposed he didn’t care much about it.
“That’s the guy you have to beat to become an Eminent. The hope of Alhamis.” I said. “No offense, but I don’t exactly see how you’re going to pull it off. How would you even compete against people that can move at lightspeed and summon black holes?”
The Captain of the Lance Brigade tapped his nose. “I have my secrets.”
“Does this have something to do with you somehow being able to know I was hiding in the room at that time?”
Juma chuckled. “You noticed.”
“You stared straight at the spot I was hiding while talking about how I would show up. Not hard to guess that you could somehow sense me.”
“It’s not just you,” Juma said. He gestured to the Mess Hall. There were fewer people present than when we first entered. “Everyone.”
“Everyone? You can sense… everyone?”
“Since I was little, I’ve always had the ability to know when people are looking at me, and exactly how many people are in a given place at a given time. I used to be able to find hidden objects with ease and just know where certain things are supposed to be. At first I thought it was something everyone had, like a sixth sense. But it wasn’t until I entered the AAA that I realized it was my Flair – and it does a lot more than I thought it did.”
My curiosity was piqued. “And that is?”
“Hey now, I’ve got to keep some secrets,” Juma laughed. “Besides, it’s not like I’m the only one with mysteries here.”
He must be talking about Neo’s identity as a spy. “That’s fair.”
“Those letters from your father… they were fake, weren’t they?”
I didn’t move a muscle. My unnatural stillness, I realized, must have given me away quicker than if I overreacted.
“It was a nice touch, but the papers were too new, the ink was still fairly fresh, and although you tried to make them worn, I spent a lot of my summers in the Annals around books and parchment. I know what new paper looks like and what old paper doesn’t.”
Damn it.
>
“The Jigsaw Encryption was good. You really might be a spy, but if you are, then you’re a spy that wants us to know you’re a spy, which means either the spy story is a cover for another story, or you have an angle you’re playing that requires you sacrificing the secret of being a spy.”
Ouch.
“Not going to say anything?”
“You’re way smarter than you look.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
I rubbed my palms down my face. “And to think I went to such great lengths to come up with that plan…”
“I’ll be honest and admit I don’t care.”
My brows shot up. “Sorry, what now?”
Juma shrugged. “As long as I know you’re not going to desert, I don’t care what angle you’re playing at. At the end of the day, I’m not here to be a hero of some sort, and turning you in has a chance of costing me more than I stand to gain if I simply let you be and have you as my ally.”
I couldn’t believe the turn the conversation had gone. “Are you… blackmailing me?”
“What? No.” Juma shook his head. “That’s too much work. I’m just saying, that I’ll turn a blind eye to whatever secret you’re hiding, as long as you don’t desert, and pull your weight to give the Lance Brigade an overall higher collective kill count and better reputation.”
“Rather magnanimous of you.”
“Listen, Neo, all I want is to drink wine. I want to drink wine, and then go back to my orphanage, and pour a glass for everyone, old and young, and tell them that they were enjoying something that people like us were told we could never have. In the end… as long as nothing you do gets in the way of that – I don’t care what you do.”
“I can admire that.”
Juma rose from his seat, stretching out his limbs and yawning. “I’ve heard some rumors that our First Mission is going to be the day after tomorrow. Get some rest, train hard, do you best – and remember the Lance Brigade motto.”
“Live together… die together.”
“Exactly.” Juma tapped something in the air, most likely his Godscript. “It’s 1700 hours. If you still want to get sloshed later in the evening, I’ll be at the Whimpering Sow.”
“The… what now?”
“It’s a small hideout behind Mess Hall 7. Knock three times, and when they ask for the password, say ‘Your mother.’”
“I’m guessing there’s a story behind that.”
“There is.”
It took me a few seconds to realize he wasn’t going to be sharing the story any time soon. Sighing, I waved my hand. “Thanks. I’ll be there.”
“Don’t thank me. I’m doing this for my benefit. See you, Saintarelli.”
I watched Juma depart with his hands idly in his pockets, still waving amicably to the people who greeted him. There wasn’t much I had on my mind except trying to understand the boy’s conflicting nature. He was a good guy, at least, on the outside, enough so that he went around doing favors for other people – yet, somehow, he possessed a form of ruthless self-centered motivation that didn’t add up.
Then there was his as of yet unknown Flair which could sense people.
I sighed, shaking my head. Alamir had no shortage of interesting individuals.
“Wait, he said it’s five o’clock?”
Speaking of interesting individuals, there was still one more person that qualified, and I would soon have to meet them.
Meeting people, making friends, and then fighting in single combat.
I was living the dream.
Chapter 24: Player Versus Player
Someone once said life is ten percent what happens to you, and ninety percent how you choose to react to it. I didn’t know who, but I found meaning in those words. The old me, the human me, was so fragile. His reaction to being thrown into Alamir, to having to fight constantly, to meeting dangerous situations and dangerous people, was to continually grow appalled or afraid or worried.
Alamir was fraught with danger and chaos at every turn, yes, that was true, but there was also adventure and fun to be had if you knew exactly where to look for it. There were an endless number of stories and secrets, of drama and romance, of novelty and mystery –
But I’d been too busy focusing on surviving to notice any of it. To care for any of it.
There was a beautiful simplicity in simply letting things be.
That simplicity came once more, to me, in the form of the unexpectedly massive crowd of people that had gathered at Mosh Pit Beta, also known as the Dueling Grounds.
Quest Objectives Complete!
¨ Conquer Fort Sobaka – [Complete!]
I ignored the Quest completions which told me that Erzili was most likely doing something right in the Hlahan Lands and focused instead on the stage in front of me. It was a proper stage, with elevated staircases doubling as chairs, centerpiece chalk dividing one half of the stage from the other. Several hundred AAA soldiers were already seated, eagerly awaiting the start of the PvP. Those from the Lance Brigade and those from elsewhere. I overheard some betting, making wagers as to whether “Sophos’ Blood” or the “Half-Alhamisian Bastard” would win the fight.
Well, that’s rude.
Not a lot of people were in support of me because it got out that I, or rather Neo, was half Marisian. I couldn’t blame them. If what Erzili told me about the Marisians being overly religious zealots were true, there was bound to be some bad blood. Several sneers were shot in my direction, along with one or two people ‘accidentally’ spitting in my path. Of course, watching them back away when I grinned at the audacity was something that I didn’t think I would tire of anytime soon.
There are seriously a lot of people.
The sheer number of people present was going to make it difficult to truly go all out or make things even harder for me to hide what I was capable of. I’d taken on Neo Saintarelli’s form and I possessed his skills and abilities, all of that was true, but I also possessed my skills and abilities – the skills of a Tier 5 Nightmare named Janus. [Herculean Strength], [Barbeast Armor] and [Cheetah Sprint] alone were capable of making me vastly superior to the average human in the strength, resilience and speed department. These were passive skills meaning I couldn’t turn them off. My titles [Merciless] and [Genocidal] made me far stronger overall due to how they all stacked. [Genocidal] made me more resilient against attacks from humans, and [Merciless] guaranteed that as long as I inflicted even the tiniest debilitation, all my attacks would multiply in damage.
As it stood, it would be harder for me to not kill my opponent than the inverse.
“Hey Neo! I’m rooting for you man!”
“Yeah! Neo! Take her down a peg!”
“Strip the bitch down and show her whose boss!”
“Yeah! Yeah! Give us a good show Saintarelli!”
Mosh Pit Beta was centered down in the earth and required me to descend the stairway to reach the center of the large ring and enter my side. I estimated it to be at least the typical length and width of a football field. It might have well been a football field in a stadium, the only difference being that the ground was mud instead of grass, and there were no goals on either end.
My opponent was already standing at the other end, stretching in her AAA uniform. Electric blue eyes locked upon me, but yet, not on me. Juma hadn’t been kidding when he said that she was used to not meeting the gaze of those she believed were beneath her.
“I’m surprised you had the presence of mind to come.”
“Oh, verbal foreplay? I’m honored, but typically, shouldn’t it be the man’s job to lead?”
There was some laughter from the audience, whereas Sophia fumed in place.
“You swine –!”
Stepping in between us was a person I assumed was to be the referee. A female Cadet with dark brown hair. “Terms of PvP?”
Sophia glanced at me, before speaking. “Winner takes all.”
Mutters and whispers shot throughout the crowd. The ref rose a
sharp brow. I frowned immediately. “Winner takes all?”
“The party has agreed. Terms have been set.”
“Whoa hold on, I haven’t agreed to anything. I was asking –”
“You’re an AAA Recruit and you don’t know the terms of PvP?”
I clamped my lips shut. “Of course I do.” Rapidly, I checked Neo’s memories. Winner Takes All – a PvP condition where the winner takes…-all.
“That’s rather simple…?”
“Hahaha! Saintarelli is chickening out!”
“Must be that cowardly Marisian blood showing.”
“Boo! You’ve already agreed!”
“Yeah! We wanna see a good show!”
“Winner takes all!”
“Winner takes all! Winner takes all! Winner takes all!”
The ref shook her head, gesturing the crowd to calm down. “You provided verbal confirmation of the terms. I can only change the terms if both parties agree on a change.”
I gave Sophia a dry look. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“These terms suit me just fine. A lesson is needed to properly instill it into the minds as to what happens when you speak up against your betters.”
“The terms have been set. PvP – Winner Takes All. Maiming is allowed, and the fight only ends when one combatant’s health meter hits zero.”
Really?
“That would mean death.”
The ref frowned at me. “We have Clerics that can cast [Resurrect] and [Revive]. It’s fine as long as you don’t completely grind each other to dust.”
Clerics that can cast what?
Neo’s memories filled in the rest of the information. People could be brought back from the dead, by individuals known as Clerics, who chose one of the Nine as their patron deity. This could only be done under three circumstances: if the time of death did not exceed nine hours if the person’s body was left intact enough to survive being brought back, and if the person had not been killed by –
A Demiurge.
“PvP – Set, ready –”
Goddamn it.
Godscript Notification!
You have initiated a PvP battle against Sophia Alphaphilia.
PvP
Terms: [Winner Takes All].
