Chapter 35

System appeared out of nowhere, as always. “I am not able to speculate on the motivations of the gods or any vendettas they might have against you.”

“Don’t you give me that bullshit. This has something to do with my being an off-worlder. Tell me what you know.”

“What would you like to know about, specifically?” System asked, ignoring the heat in Luke’s voice.

“Well, let’s start with the gods. Who are they? What do they do? What do they have to do with the God Machine?”

“The gods? Very well. Would you like general information or are you interested in one specific god?”

Luke’s eye twitched and he glared at the apparition. “How the hell am I supposed to know what I’m looking for? I don’t know a damn thing about these gods. Let’s start with how they’re tied to the God Machine.”

“They are not. The God Machine, the system itself, is a separate entity from the Pantheon. The God Machine’s divine energy permeates this world, though it is a somewhat delicate thing, and the gods dare not act overtly on Aros lest they disrupt it.”

“So that’s the… the thing. The concord the bird-man was talking about. No, uh… covenant? That sounds right.”

“The Covenant is a pact between the various gods of the Pantheon to act only through their intermediaries in order to preserve the world itself. Should any single god wish it, they could destroy this world easily. They avoid this by agreeing not to directly intervene on Aros.”

“Plus it’d fuck the whole system up, which would be bad.”

“Indeed.”

Luke sat down on a convenient rock and scrubbed his hand over his face. “Okay, so, tell me if I’ve got this right. A bunch of incomprehensibly powerful things want me to go away, and they’re sending their minions to kill me? They won’t do it themselves because it would piss off their buddies if they interfered, plus it might fuck up the system if they act directly.”

“That is essentially correct, though again, I cannot speculate on the reason they are trying to kill you. I can tell you that it is very unusual for the entire Pantheon to agree on something. The Sign of the Six is rarely seen.”

“Alright. Cool. Fuck these pricks anyway. Who are they?”

“They are Luos and Zixin, Hestoc and Nuvari, Dar and Ramira.”

That meant nothing at all to Luke. Just a bunch of random sounds that he was already forgetting. It was kind of funny; he’d have thought the name of the assholes trying to kill him would stick with him, but nope. It was in one ear and out the other. It didn’t really matter anyway, since he wasn’t about to go pick a fight with them.

What he needed to watch out for was people with that rainbow ring symbol on them. It was only six colors, one for each god he assumed, and they were woven through each other in a circle instead of being an arch of separate colors, but close enough. Those people would be the humans taking orders from on high, like that guy who’d tried to kill him. Fucking fanatic about it too, more than willing to betray someone who’d saved his life.

Luke didn’t want to meet anybody else like that. He just wanted to find the God Machine, access the command console, and get his family back. If he could open the door back home and take everyone with him, that would be the last thing he’d do in Aros. Really, the gods should have just offered him a lift. He’d be home by this time tomorrow and it would save everyone a lot of effort.

“Is there anything else you’d like to know?” System asked.

“Tons of shit. But you’re about useless when it comes to answering questions.”

“My apologies. I would like to assist you further, but I am bound by the rules of the system. Your SysAdmin bloodline is not pure enough to grant full access. If you are able to purify it, please consider asking your questions again.”

“Well if I ever find a ritual master willing to do it, I’ll make sure I get it done,” Luke said dryly. “In the meantime, is there anything else you can tell me right now?”

“Certainly. I have the accumulated knowledge of an entire world stored.”

“Anything useful to me?”

“Yes. What topic would you like to discuss?”

“Shittiest bloodline ever,” Luke muttered before clarifying. “Anything useful and relevant to the conversation?”

“I could tell you more about individual gods, if you would like.”

“I don’t give a shit about them. Can you tell me about their, uh… churches? I guess? The people who worship them, specifically the ones who would be sent to kill me like that guy back in the valley.”

“He was a Daranite templar, human, and level 23.”

“Yeah, I already know that. I got a notification from the system. From you. What else can you tell me about him?”

“I’m afraid you don’t have access to additional information with your current bloodline purity.”

“Mother fucker,” Luke swore. “You are pissing me off now. Quit running me in circles and tell me something useful. Don’t! Don’t you fucking say it”

System, who had started to ask what Luke wanted to discuss, closed his mouth. “I am afraid there has been a misunderstanding, Luke. I am not a person. I cannot draw the logical conclusions you do. I can volunteer information about a topic, but I do not possess the ability to make connections or infer from context what specifically you want to know about. I can only answer your immediate questions as thoroughly as I am allowed to with your current access level.”

“Like talking to a computer,” Luke muttered.

“I do not know what that is,” System replied.

“Don’t worry about it, doesn’t matter. Sorry for yelling at you.”

“There is no need to apologize.”

“Still. Sorry.”

Luke didn’t want to be one of those assholes yelling at their phone in public because they couldn’t figure out how to make it do what they wanted. System looked like a person, kind of, but it wasn’t, and he knew that. He was frustrated and stressed, and what should have been a milestone in having finally escaped Tenebrous Valley was instead starting to sound like he was walking into something even more dangerous.

“You can tell me which direction to go though, right? In a general sense.”

“Certainly. Where would you like to go?”

“You said the nearest human city is a few hundred miles away. Which way do I need to go to get there?”

“Valtira is the name of it. It is approximately one hundred ninety miles east of here.”

“And the God Machine? If I just decided to walk straight to it, how far would I need to go?”

“That is impossible at your current level. You would need to greatly increase your stamina in order to survive several thousands of miles of walking underwater.”

Luke gave System a sharp look. “Where the hell is this thing anyway?”

“The God Machine is located on the continent known to humans as Sastilun. It is in the center of a circle of mountains known as the Crown of the World. To travel there directly from your current location would be a journey of roughly twelve thousand miles, assuming you could move in a straight line and bypass all obstacles.”

“Jesus, could they have put this thing any farther away?”

“No. The Door and the God Machine are on the exact opposite ends of the world.”

Luke just stared at System for a second. “It was a joke,” he said. “Nice to know they’re not making this easy or anything. I’m going to assume that was on purpose.”

“My apologies, but I am not able to speculate on the motivations of the gods when they built the world.”

“Too much of a coincidence otherwise,” Luke said, ignoring System. “Okay, can you tell me the best way for someone like me to get there?”

“The most significant form of travel between continents is done by ship. That would likely be the easiest way to reach Sastilun, though not the fastest.”

“And what would be the fastest way?” Luke asked.

“[Teleportation]. It would cost 100 AP for the skill alone, not including any other prerequisite skills. It also has a few restrictions that do make it more difficult to use, but once you overcome those hurdles, it would take you less than an hour to traverse the length of the world.”

“Shit, even magic teleportation isn’t instant? Not that it matters, since I don’t have access to it anyway.”

“Indeed, nor have you obtained any of the other prerequisites. You do not have intimate knowledge of the location you’d be teleporting to. You would also need at least a few skills to survive the open water between continents, as there are no two places on solid land within range of each other to make the jump in one teleportation.”

“Then why the hell are you suggesting it to me?” Luke asked.

“It would be the fastest way to travel if it were available.”

“But it’s not, so don’t suggest it.”

“I understand. I will also remove ship travel as a possible suggestion, as you do not have current access to a ship.”

“For the love of- No, just, no. Okay? No. Leave everything on the list.”

“I understand. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No. Please, just… I need some time to think.”

“Very well.”

System disappeared, leaving Luke alone in the forest. He sat there for about ten minutes, just mulling things over. Having to go on a cross-continental journey was a bit more than he’d expected. A few thousand miles was one thing, but this was literally the end of the world. Hell, it might even be farther than that. He wasn’t sure if Aros was bigger or smaller than Earth.

He could theoretically devote his AP to acquiring everything he needed to teleport himself there, but that would be a huge investment. He was honestly sick of killing monsters, and the thought of a few months chilling on a boat was much more attractive than thousands of kills. He wasn’t delusional enough to think that he’d get all the way there without fighting, but still, the thought of grinding out forty or more levels made him want to stab his eyes out with a rusty spoon.

So the trick was getting a ride on a boat across the ocean without attracting the notice of every fucked up religious zealot who’d be happy to slit his throat as soon as they knew who he was. Luke didn’t think they were carrying around his picture or anything. The one he’d fought only recognized him from his clothes, and he’d replaced half of that already.

He could find new shirts and pants. That was a nice, easy, accomplishable goal. He’d want to practice speaking the local language, but he’d already spent the AP to obtain that. That reminded him, he was still sitting on 15 AP, and he wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to spend it on. Straight stats didn’t feel necessary at the moment, and now that he’d learned more, his backup plan of ranking up a combat skill might not be the best choice either.

“System, is there anything you’d recommend to avoid notice? Any skill to help with that besides Stealth?”

“[Disguise] might help,” System said as it reappeared. “It costs 3 AP.”

“What else?”

“It would depend on what you are trying to accomplish. Many skills are situational. Can you tell me more about your goals?”

“Okay, let’s start at the beginning. I need to get across the ocean, which means ship travel. Where is the closest place with a port?”

“Valtira,” System replied promptly.

“Convenient,” Luke said. “So I walk there, spend some of the templar gold I looted from their wallets, er, purses. Whatever. I get a ticket and ride across the ocean. Then I land, start walking, and bang, I’m there.”

“That is theoretically possible,” System agreed. “I suspect there will be many smaller matters to attend to along the way.”

“Sure, but broad strokes. So I need to walk to Valtira. No special skills required. Then I need to catch a ride without getting murdered by some church zealots. So I want to avoid being noticed. What skills do I need?”