His account had been under review and with not even a message or inquiry from Oddnet, his console simply unlocked, he only knew by the sound of a slight chime that came from the helmet at the twenty four hour mark, and the systems bar on his monitor lit up and open for him to browse the consoles store. He quickly laid on the floor and put his helmet on. After a brief pause he entered his consoles specter space. The first noticeable difference was that the floor as far as he could see changed, to that of the wooden floor of his tavern. It was a nice touch though he almost felt it was odd without walls. He walked forward to his chair and crates of goods. With a simple thought Spex appeared, which didn't surprise Lance it was one of a handful of hypothesis he wanted to test.
“ Spex, hello.” Lance looked her up and down for a moment, as her attire had also changed. She went from a pure white flowing dress to being garbed in a beautiful dress similar to Reilly’s but a deep mauve color, and ruffled from the waist down. “ Great touches this time around, I’m happy with your wardrobe change as well. Could you perhaps bring out Grax?”
Spex nodded and with a wave of her palm Grax appeared, frozen upright like a statue. Lance let out a slow exhale, he wore clothes now, although they were very plain. “ Is this better than last time?” Spex asked without any guess in her tone. Lance gave her a side eye and nodded as he crouched before him.
“ Spex, does Grax do anything else here? Could he become what he was from my memory in the game?”
“ Unfortunately there is not enough information on “Grax” for anything other than a trophy.”
“ Thank you. I will be returning to regular play speeds today, one for one. And please record as usual. I will see yo- Lance paused for a brief moment in his space.
“ We will be unable to return to regular play speeds on your profile for the time being, I have some new rules on your use of the console from Oddnet. You will play games solo for the time being. All interactions with other users are on pause, including the store. You may continue to play online games but Oddnet will cancel any methods available for cooperative play, however your chats will function as normal, though they are monitored. And you must sign an NDA to continue to use the console or this will be the last moments you have with it. You may read this, but to summarize it for you, you will continue to test the console in its functions, Oddnet will harvest data and use it to understand how you jailbroke the device. It is obvious it was not your intentions to do so were not conscious decisions, or you would have not returned. And no it doesn't matter that you emptied your stomach in the device, it is waterproof.”
Lance’s foot finally fell from his step “oou… *sigh* Fine. But tell oddnet or.. Oddnet, I truly didn't do anything intentionally. I’m sure you're sweating about what's happened so far and I'm sure I'm not alone. I will agree to your demands but my counter - When this phase of testing is done, You will give me your full understanding of what's changed about the human mind, and what you conclude with the data from me, in its entirety. I will wait for your reply here.”
Lance stood for a few minutes in silence, and the documents Spex held burned away from her hands, and a new stack appeared. “ You have been given agreement on the matter, but I’m told that you need to be aware that any dangers that arise from its use are not at fault to Oddnet, You agreeing to continue is your consent on that fact.”
Lance smirked and signed. “ Agreed, Well, Wish legacy Spex.” Lance walked past her and the door to his tavern appeared. His eye burned a subtle glow of red and he stepped through the door.
Lance entered his Tavern to the hum of a tune coming from Wellyn behind the bar, only after noticing Lance did he sit up and Violet bounced to the top of the counter.
“ Lance my boy… Look at you.”
“ Wellyn… “ Lance came to a stop in the center of his sitting area. “ Let's talk.”
“ Aye.. Lets.” Wellyn rounded the counter and came to sit near Lance, bringing two mugs of slime soda that had already been prepared. Lance eyed them curiously as Wellyn sat one down in front of him before sitting across the table. Lance sat and looked over Violet who seemed happy too see him, she slid across the table and plopped into his lap where lance began to pet her.
“ Go on ladd whats the first question.”
Lance was about to speak but instead he threw up one hand making Wellyn take pause as he looked over his status screen.
Sammich level 8
580/1200
Chef
Role - Fill
Health - 36 ~~ 54
Attack - 6 ~ 10
Defense - 3 ~ 6
Agility - 2 ~ 6
Mana 1 ~ 5
Intelligence 3 ~ 5
- 2 available stat points
Gear stats
+4 Attack
+2 Defense
Active Skills -
Cook level 3 - Create food, Taste determines an amount of mana, health, and stamina restored by product. 0 mana required.
Pan Sear level 2-
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
While holding a pan, heat its bottom without a fire for a flash sear finish, control its temperature for extended duration -Active time 2 minutes per 1 mana
Spore Lv1
Rare Racial Ability: Redcap
Cooldown: 1 hour Activation: 1 mana
Description: Plant mushroom spores with a touch, requires a source of nutrition. The type of mushroom is dependent on the food source.
Enstone Lv2 - Rare Racial Skill - Troll
Description: Encase a small object in the surrounding stone. Activation - 1 Mana
Dinner Bell - Create a dinner bell that when rang bolsters your party, giving them a party buff of - Hungry. Lasting 2 minutes
- Hungry- For tank rolls allows Damage reduction, Dps increased speed of attack or spell casting, For healers increased mana pool, party must have assigned roles to receive buff.
Activation - 3 mana
Cursed Skill ~ Mana Sight - ???
Class Passives -
Full stomach - While full you can determine more ingredients when using class skills, as well as Regen (Level) health per minute.
Discern Ingredients (Middle Mastery) - Determine edible ingredients from your surroundings. ~ Always active unless dismissed.
Scent - Determine quality of ingredients by smell.
Appraise - Determine the value of an item with a discerning eye, available at ranges of ten feet per point of Mana used.
Curse: Avatar of Terror
Lance had previously paid little attention to his stat screen or the specific wording of his abilities. Now, with his increased understanding, he began to examine every detail with close scrutiny. Small changes here and there began to stand out and feel more profound, a few in particular. Only after memorizing their wording did he finally speak to Wellyn.
“ Well my first question is, what level are you Wellyn?” Lance felt his heart pound as the words left his mouth. He had a whole day to prepare a list of things he wanted answers to.
Wellyn’s brow arched at his question behind the mug he sipped from before he sat it down.
“ 72. My turn, How did you gain Mana sight at your level?”
Lance’s stomach felt like a stone hit to the top of his ass and if not for the sac on his head hiding the pale of his face he was sure that Wellyn would think Lance would faint. “ My curse. What level did you and your guild make it too?”
Wellyn sighed. “ 100, And before you ask anything more about that, I can't tell you anymore.” Wellyn pulled out a piece of paper, He unrolled it across the table, on it were enough signatures boxed, and separated in sections. Lance couldn't read all of its writing except a few random names here and there. Before the moment lasted too long and Lance gathered the courage to ask more about it, Wellyn rolled it up again and flicked his wrist making it disappear. “ That was my merit board, with levels and accomplices. It's what gained me the position here as a Legacy space tutor. Other than me showing off my accomplishments I’m not at liberty to discuss why, how, or anything about the levels, by conventional conversation. As I’m sure you understand. What is the name of your curse?”
Lance clenched his jaw tightly. For a moment a pull on his inner mind like a scratching gnaw climbed forward towards his mouth he knew his next words wouldn’t be his. He heard the sinister laugh echo, while the tension receded. “Goood shhhh Lance… Bad way to ruin a good thing..HA …hahahah”
“ It’s hidden on my menu, the only thing it shows me is Mana sight now. Are you truly an ally?”
Wellyn nearly frowned but a pout to his lips with a quiver came forward while it seemed he stifled a cough. He put his hand forward onto Lances. “ Forever ladd.. “ He knocked back a long gulp from his mug and swiped his lips. “ There are so many things I can’t tell ye boy. It's for your own good, I swear it. Knowledge is a burden, and in time you will find your own way. It's not for me to guide, merely nudge, prod and push. Has it happened then? You got yer first piece.. A taste of the wish you made ?”
Lance looked down at the table for a moment. It took a moment for the answer to come to him. “ Yes, though your tincture… made me shit my whole ass, puke my whole dinner, ruined my bed and my poor mother and sisters idea of me… A little warning would have been nice.”
Wellyn choked on his drink and broke into a fit of laughter. After a few moments of trying to talk through broken breath he regained his composure. “ *ahem* Looks like it did you some good, I’d say you needed it more than most, It was meant to scrub the foundations, reveal the stone. You’ve got a good foot forward now though, I’m sure you fell better now eh?”
Lance had to be honest with himself there were a lot of changes, his mind felt clearer, he felt lighter, stronger, less tired, and a new form of calm that made even his regular nature shift like he was granted a deeper wisdom than his age would merit. “ Yes actually, Okay so everyone else is fine right? They said we all could have died? Is that for real I thought it was only them?”
“ Yes, it's true. Part of why I couldn't tell ya. You had a low chance, twenty percent or lower by my estimate, I wagered it would be better this way. I know that’s hard to hear. But I would rather wait on the next wave had you failed. I promise to stick it through to fifty now, the full teachings. Yes I wagered your chance at your wish, but had you not made it through then it’d be better that way i promise ya.
Lance wanted to be upset, but looking into Wellyn’s eyes as he danced around a topic that Lance knew meant more than he could say he decided he would file away his anger for later and ask more about it when he had more information. “ So… You said hundreds of times before.. Whats the truth? Are you really alive here.. Are you real Wellyn? Really real? This is not a game is it?”
Wellyn stared into Lance’s eyes deeply for a moment, his eyes darted between each of Lance's pupils. “ Real as that stain that wont come out of the bed you soiled boy. I know every Wish comes at a cost, I know that every game feels like an escape, and the truth is, the only escape you have is stepping out that door to wherever the hell it is you come from. You will see them, the false wishes, the dream that won't be regardless of its sensation. Your first is your only, and unless you free yourself from the future nightmares at the last floor, your world will fragment and shatter like the rest, pieces into the dustpan swept up by the broom of the cosmos. Take a deep breath and tell me you don't breathe truer here, fuller. You knew the moment you walked in here, just took you awhile to notice. That’s fine, some never notice, thinking themselves bigger, more worthy of memory than the rest. Only those of true strength ever leave impressions on the next generations.. Its just the way it is lad.. So change it..”
Lance sighed before slamming his hand on the table. “Gosh damnit Wellyn.. How do you do that? How do you make me feel so important and so small at the same fuckin time? Does this happen the way it has every time? People can’t all be that fuckin blind! So what is the new wave? Just new people coming to a new world with more problems than their home? How many things could we make worse that way? What about what has already been done? This is not how you have people FIX anything… they don't even know it's broken.”
Wellyn let Lance pout and yell whilst helping himself to Lance's mug. When the tirade ended Wellyn stood up and patted Lance on the shoulder. “ Yes ladd, thats right, its allllll wrong aint it.. Nevermind all that stuff. Your level what 10? 12? Let me show you how to really use that training room. Follow me.”
Lance stood still, observing, as Wellyn didn't even pause to look at him, instead continuing upstairs. The mask of wonder covering this world had just slipped slightly, revealing a face that only brought to mind the sinister cackle lurking within Lance's own depths. For a moment he felt like laughing alongside it.