by Nikita Thorn
“The price goes down significantly the higher-ranked you are. The Favor requirement is there as an entry barrier to motivate you to get Inner Court ranks,” explained Ikumi.
“Or in case you need not to lose seven uniques,” said Mairin thoughtfully as they made way for the exit. “You seriously think someone will try to attack us right now?”
“At this point I don’t know anymore,” Ikumi admitted.
Five hundred Favors apparently bought them the steadfast attention of four Palace Guards, who instantly approached them and cast several protection spells on Ippei as soon as he stepped out of the building.
“After you, Unit Chief,” said one of the Palace Guards [Level 35] respectfully as they all took up positions around the samurai. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Ippei let out a sigh. “We’re drawing even more attention. This is embarrassing. And… oh my God, a clan carriage?”
In front of the gate was a Courtier’s Cart [Shinshioka Scientific Society] harnessed to a gray horse. The passenger car was box-shaped and made out of black lacquered wood, on top of which was a decorative curved roof. Bamboo shutters were drawn over all the side windows, tied shut with dyed ropes.
Clan carriages were a rare sight in the City, as most of them were phased into their own instances once they passed through the city gate. Seiki had seen a few on the East Main Road in the Wilderness, but had never had the chance to look closely. This must have been the case for many other players, as the carriage had drawn a small crowd.
Ikumi invited them into her group to allow them to ride the vehicle. Seiki did his best to ignore the curious gazes as they followed the NPC Carriage Driver’s gesture to a small, retractable ladder that led to the door at the back of the carriage.
“It’s a Festival Achieve thing,” said Ippei to the crowd.
Apparently, no one knew how the Festival really worked, and none of the spectators challenged the obviously false explanation.
The interior of the passenger car was more spacious than Seiki had expected. The wood was left unpainted to show off the high-quality craftsmanship. There were no permanent seats, but there were six floor cushions and a few pillows.
They had to crouch to get in. Seiki sat down cross-legged by the window and took a peek through the gap between the shutter and window frame. The slim bamboo tiles did not seem like they would be able to stop a blade or an arrow coming through. Neither Ippei nor Ikumi seemed worried, however, and Seiki trusted they knew what they were doing.
Ikumi waited as they settled down and drew the door shut. She explained that even when the Palace Guards did not follow into the carriage or on their journey, the protective effects still applied. “We’re not taking any more chances.”
Ippei chuckled. “Don’t you think it’s a bit too late for that?”
Ikumi shook her head. “We’re now dealing with the unknown. What they did should have been impossible.” Ikumi let out a sigh as she tapped twice on the side of the carriage and they started moving.
“Don’t you have anti-invite Wall Seals or something like that?” said Mairin.
“No. Invite is a core mechanic for invasions, so you can never get rid of it. Even the combined effect of Amplify Scroll and Expel Enemies only get rid of secondary invites, so you still need to figure out who it was that betrayed you.”
“Well, can’t trust alts,” said Mairin. “They’re either trolls or spies. And why didn’t you get rid of him immediately?”
“At first we didn’t know it was him,” said Ikumi.
Ippei looked at her. “But considering that we were dead, you then ruled out the possibility of it being any of us?”
“No, that’s not it. Kazuki trusts you. Kiku trusts you. My sister says you’re friends with one of her clan mates, so we knew it wasn’t you.”
Seiki found it remarkable she could always keep relationships straight when talking about one of her alter egos.
The houshi’s expression turned serious. “The thing is our Clan Attendant Sayuka is equipped with Invite Alert, so she will give a shout when our guests try to invite someone. It’s one of the precautions we have taken with the territory, you see. We can’t really stop an invite happening, but at least we’ll know when it happens. That didn’t happen.”
Seiki was not sure what to make of the information.
“So they got in without an invite?” said Ippei.
“It appears to be the case,” said Ikumi. Again, this seemed to bother her greatly.
“But getting rid of them and the looter guy ended the invasion,” said Mairin.
“Which sheds no light on what those things were,” Ikumi said. “Seiki, you said you’ve seen them before?”
Seiki nodded. He related what he could remember from his experience with the masked figure. “But before today, they never did anything. They just… stood there and looked at me. I thought they were part of an unlabeled quest.”
“Quest: protect the uniques from impossible ghosts on a killing spree,” muttered Mairin to herself. “Uh, so they follow Seiki around for no reason, and one day they decide, hey, let’s go grab some uniques? It makes no sense.”
Seiki shifted uncomfortably as he was reminded that it might not be the case of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time for the invasion. From what he knew so far, these people appeared to be targeting him.
He retrieved the Formal Invitation that he had looted from Kajidoro and handed it to Ikumi and Ippei with a brief explanation on where it was from.
The samurai’s eyes widened. “This was the only thing on him?”
Seiki nodded.
“No Calligraphy kit?”
“No,” said Seiki uneasily. He realized what his friend was getting at. The invitation had indeed been pre-written before the man entered the territory.
The houshi studied the item, her brows knotting. “I don’t like this one bit.” She finally shook her head and handed the invitation back to Seiki. “You’ve got to show it to the rest of the clan when we get back.”
“What does it mean?” asked Mairin.
Ikumi seemed uncertain. “If they had deleted their character, it should have said [unknown], but maybe this is just an anomaly with these Festival Invitations. I’ll ask Kazuki what he thinks.”
The samurai thought for a moment. “You know… if they don’t show up on the territory player list, maybe they also don’t show up on invitations.” He paused to ponder. “And… maybe they also don’t show up on group notifications. Even if the Level 4 looter had them in a group, you wouldn’t have known. You could have invited them all right in.”
“That makes logical sense,” Ikumi agreed. “But I still don’t see how it’s possible.”
“Enough Favors can get you anywhere?” Mairin suggested.
“Yes, in the Inner Palace and all the City Bureaus,” said Ikumi. “But you can’t actually bribe the system.”
Ippei met Seiki’s eyes from across the carriage. “We’re looking in the wrong section of the library,” he said. “We need to be looking for Beta abilities.”
Seiki stared at his friend. “You’re right.”
If Ippei’s speculation was correct and the invaders were truly players, this would be one way to explain their unknown abilities, considering they knew for a fact that Beta abilities still existed.
“Yeah, maybe a kind of Stealth that avoids all logs and labels?” said the samurai. “I don’t know if there’s something like that, but if there is, it would have to be something from Beta.”
Ikumi blinked. “Beta abilities? What are you talking about? I know there are rumors, but they’re just people trying to emulate Beta abilities with mods and enchants and Free Slots.”
“I’ve seen them, these Beta abilities,” said Seiki. “It was, uh, an older form of Telepathy, I think?”
“Whisper,” said Ippei.
Ikumi narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure?”
“There were no speaker
tags.” Seiki struggled to recall the incident, which seemed like a lifetime ago. Now that he thought about it, the sensation was a bit like how the Enenra spoke to him, but perhaps slightly less faint and more human.
“When did this happen?”
“Quite a while back. I was trying to get out of the City for the first time to get to Master… I mean, my ronin class quest.”
Ikumi let out a sigh. “No offense, Seiki, but you were probably new to the game. Could you have been mistaken?”
Seiki shook his head. “That wasn’t all. This person who used Whisper to talk to me also helped me get out of the city gate. There was.. uh, something else.”
“Mirror Ward,” said Ippei.
Ikumi looked doubtful. “Okay, this one I’m not so sure. You can add a Modification to your Ward that does the same thing.”
Seiki supposed she would know, considering it was her own class abilities they were discussing.
“Not beyond the target’s total health, though,” said Ippei. “Seiki was, what, Level Seven?”
“I… don’t really remember.” Seiki wondered why his friend seemed to have a much clearer memory of the incident than he did, considering the samurai had not been there himself but had heard about it afterward. But then again, back then he knew absolutely nothing and had more important matters on his mind.
“A modified Ward wouldn’t have worked the way that ability did,” said Ippei. “It did serious damage to a.. Level Twenty-something?”
Ikumi looked a little troubled. “Can someone else verify this?”
“Yeah, there were other people…” Seiki suddenly remembered who they were. “Rieko and Kojiro… of the Rogami Clan.” He suddenly started laughing, even when he was not entirely sure why it was funny. “It’s gonna be difficult asking them about it.”
The Society houshi did not seem to fully understand the significance of the names, but, pre-occupied with Ippei’s theory, she did not follow up on the matter.
A few minutes later, they drew to a stop in front of the Society’s clan hall.
Seiki had no idea how the carriage managed to make its way through the crowded Trade Street, and he guessed there must be some phasing going on. The Palace Guards reappeared as soon as they exited the carriage and accompanied them until the limit of the clan territory on the second floor.
The entrance to the clan hall now looked different. Shoji partitions had been added to block the territory from sight. In the middle was a handwritten sign that said, ‘The Society is indefinitely closed. Please do not disturb.’
Within the territory was clear evidence of what had earlier transpired. The Exhibition Room was now empty, and several NPC workers were busy re-installing the panel Ippei had broken. Ikumi led the group up the stairs, where more damage was visible.
“Don’t worry. This is all... animation, as Kazuki would call it,” said Ikumi with a little laugh when she saw Seiki’s inquisitive look. “We got rid of the invaders, so nothing changed ownership, nothing was destroyed. We just need to pay for some repairs.”
The third floor was completely wrecked. The room partitions were riddled with bullet holes and the library was now a pile of collapsed shelves and scattered parchment. From Mairin’s vague remarks, it was the result of her playing hide-and-seek with one of the masked figures for a short while.
The houshi, however, did not seem concerned. The clan attendants who had respawned were now busy tidying up. Despite the destruction, it was, after all, a victory, and Seiki noted in surprise that the atmosphere in the clan hall was almost jovial. If the mood of war troops more or less reflected their commander’s, perhaps it was the same with clan attendants.
“Oh, nice, Sayuka, you’re back!” Ikumi called out to the Clan Attendant, who was carrying a pile of documents out from the library. “Would you mind getting combat logs for my friends for me? These three.”
“Kazuki-sama has already requested one for each of them,” said Sayuka. “Would you like to get another copy, Ikumi-san?”
Ikumi blinked. “Oh, we think alike. Never mind then. Thanks, Sayuka.”
Seiki understood what it was for. He did manage to get one hit on one of the masked invaders, and he wondered if the logs would show a missing name as the recipient for his single Sweeping Blade.
The fourth and top floor appeared slightly less damaged. The partitions for the street-side rooms had been removed, leaving a large tatami area. On the wall there was still a gaping hole where Seiki had dragged the looter through earlier. A few clan NPCs were pointing at it as they discussed repair options.
The Shinshioka Scientific Society clan members had gathered in a corner, out of the way of the NPC workers going about, with several pages of documents on the floor between them. Along the two walls were chests and boxes of different sizes. Seiki guessed they had decided to gather all their belongings in the same place and use the top floor as some sort of a war room.
There were two others beside Kazuki: a man and a woman. One of them was the pony-tailed swordsman Akuma of the Shinshioka Scientific Society [Level 27], who Seiki had caught a glimpse of during the invasion, and who had now changed into his normal Shinshioka Army set. His long curved sword was on the floor by his side, and Seiki could not resist a quick inspection.
Ikazuchi. +116 attack. +64 speed. Effect: grants the user the ability to triple their speed for 1 second once they have accumulated damage dealt and received equal to 100% of their maximum health within 2 minutes, available no more than once every 2 minutes.
Seiki stared. Ippei was also staring. The blade alone came with +64 speed. Tripling that would be the fastest speed Seiki had ever seen on a piece of equipment. If the man also prioritized speed for the rest of his gear, his burst speed would practically stop time.
Seiki had seen named weapons with impressive stats, but never one that suddenly made him feel like he desperately needed it.
Akuma noticed them inspecting and an amused smirk flickered on the corner of his lips, but he said nothing.
Next to the two men was Suzuyo of the Shinshioka Scientific Society [Level 26], a cheerful-looking young woman in a casual light green kimono, whose brightly rouged cheeks made her more childishly cute than beautiful. She had no visible weapon on her, making it impossible to guess her class.
This left only one Society member missing. It was still difficult to believe that there were only five of them in the clan, not counting the mysterious Reiji.
“Ikumi!” Suzuyo leapt up to wrap her arms around the houshi. “Oh my God. I should have been here. I can’t believe… well, I can’t believe it was Kaji. I know he’s a bit weird, but, well, considering his profession, you know.”
“So, Mairin, Seiki, Ippei, this is Suzuyo, Akuma,” said Ikumi. “Everyone nice to meet everyone. I’m sure we can skip all that.”
Akuma smiled, and Seiki caught a brief look between the man and Ippei. Beta players seemed to have a mysterious way of recognizing one another even when they were not acquainted.
“I still can’t believe we were invaded,” said Suzuyo. “And Kazuki told me Kaji didn’t even invite. Or maybe… did he kill Sayuka to disable her? No, PVP was disabled, so he couldn’t have. How did they even get in? And, look at this!” She bent down and grabbed the documents they had been studying and practically thrust them into Ikumi’s hands. “Nothing in the combat logs. Nothing!”
Seiki took a quick glance at the records. The log confirmed that Akuma was a samurai, as one of his last entries was a Mounted Slash, six hours ago, dealing over four thousand damage against something called an Omukade.
Kazuki’s and Ikumi’s logs also showed combat from much earlier. For the latter, the houshi had not been in combat at all in the last two days.
Mairin’s latest log showed her activities from the Patriotic Spirits quest earlier in the day, so did Seiki’s and Ippei’s, except for their last entry that showed the Upslash that sent the samurai to the City Morgue.
Seiki noted
that training combat, like him against the Enenra, did not register.
“How can someone not show at all in combat logs?” cried Suzuyo. “They don’t even show any of you dying from the… things.”
“Yeah, about that,” said the houshi with a grimace. “Our friends here have a theory.”
That caught Akuma’s attention. He looked up from the documents in front of him. “Wait. Don’t tell me.” The man paused for a moment to study the group, his gaze settled on Ippei, before he finally said, “Beta abilities.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The suggestion from the Society swordsman seemed to surprise his clan mates more than it did Seiki and his friends. Ikumi raised her brow, while Kazuki and Suzuyo turned to stare at him, a blank expression on their faces.
A smile lit up on Akuma’s face as he looked at Ippei, pleased he was not alone in his guess.
Ippei opened his mouth to say something, but then decided otherwise. “All right, hold that thought for a sec. First let me unload these.”
Ippei sat down and reached into his inventory, and quickly laid out all seven unique named weapons on the floor.
Seiki took the chance to study them again, daggers, a wand and a staff, the last of which materialized on its own in the samurai’s hand as it was impossible for Ippei to physically pull it out from his leather pouch. If the weapons had a theme to them, Seiki still failed to see it. They were simply a random collection of mostly low-stat items with strange abilities. Only the [unique] tag in their object label grouped them together.
The Society members fell silent for a brief moment as they all inspected the weapons. Satisfied they were originals, Kazuki gathered them up, turned around, got to his feet and went to store them in a large chest behind him, one of the many that lined the wall.
“Meanwhile, before we get into wild theories, let’s lay out all the evidence,” said Ikumi, a tinge of urgency in her voice hinting at how troubled she was. “Seiki has something to show you.”
