Chapter 672 - Chocolate

How interesting logs to be deciphered. But I should also take into consideration that it might have been planted and left behind to confuse us.

Or the Last Elf just doesn't care.

That second option is also very likely, because so far, all the attempts on our lives were half-assed. At this point, I think I would prefer my next opponent to be a demon. At least in that case, there would be no mystery, no backstabbing stuff.

Holding yet another halo from the Last Elf’s gilded monsters, I give it a thought and place it on top of my head. The vyssari woman next to me gives me a look that still says she suspects I might communicate with the guy. She isn’t wrong, to be honest, but it’s not like I do it to sell them off or anything.

“What?” I ask her.

“I don't trust you,” she says simply.

There’s something about her that feels off. Compared to everyone else, she looks like the weakest based on what she’s shown. Her personality also seems to lack confidence and edge. I strongly suspect she’s hiding something, and parts of her behavior are just a mask she put up for us.

“You do you,” I shrug. I don’t repeat it, but if I wanted to fight them, I’ve had plenty of opportunities. “Can you tell me about vyssari?” I ask.

She looks up from the ring on her finger, made of white wood that she was twisting.

“Why?”

“I’m curious.”

“Good for you.”

“Please?” I try.

“I don’t know if it’s all a mask you put on or if you’re really just that weird. ”

“You people always say that about me. That I’m weird, half-demon, twisted, or some other stuff. You know what’s the funny thing? So far, I’ve found myself the most normal one in all of the groups I joined. You should’ve seen my tutorial group, the people from our first Beyond expedition, my guild, or any damned Champion, Absolute, or Ruler I met or heard about.”

“You talk like a typical concentration skill user.”

“I’m not even using it for my emotions.”

And she gives me an ugly smile. “I didn’t talk about that. You don’t have to answer, but from what I’ve seen in your behavior, you started with a concentration skill. People’s starting skills are always at least partially based on either the personality or the talent of their owner, from what I have learned. Many people said to me that the system always prefers to strengthen and evolve what already exists. Starting with a concentration skill means you were probably like that even before the tutorial. A weirdo suppressing or hiding emotions, or just very capable of controlling them. In your case, someone who doesn’t seem to take things seriously.”

“Is that something you’ve really confirmed?”

“It’s from my experience.”

“I see. So, the vyssari?”

She looks at me for three seconds before shaking her head. “I also didn’t know anything about it before I appeared in that forest on the first floor, but apparently, my race is an experiment of one of the Rulers. Someone whose subclass we didn’t even figure out yet.”

That self deprecating smile is back. “My lord, my creator, my god. Long dead and almost forgotten. An asshole obsessed with dragons could not get any genetic material from them, so he used the blood of a powerful wyvern to play god and create us in a lab.”

She laughs. “On our planet, we had two main religions. Some people believed in a single, all-seeing, all-powerful god. Others believed in a trio of goddesses that created us and the universe. And then we show up here and find out we were just an experiment, and the one who did it had the nerve to die already. Funny, isn’t it?”

“If you say it like that, it is. So your legs are part of that wyvern bloodline? Also, wyverns, dragons?”

“Give me that thing I saw you secretly eating with that look of pleasure on your face.”

“It’s very expensive.”

“I am telling you everything and tolerating your questions while I suspect I might die in a day or two, maybe even by your hands. I deserve that much.”

I give her a longer look, then reach into my bag and take out one of my chocolate bars. It’s all broken up, melted, and reformed a few times, but it’s still the same brown sugary matter so many people are addicted to.

After I unpack it for her, I offer it, and she takes a few pieces, throwing them into her mouth. I take a few too, and side by side, we eat it.

“Not bad,” she says and closes her eyes for a moment. “Dragons existed, possibly still exist, from what I’ve heard. I met an A-rank vyssari in his last year of the tutorial, and he shared some rumors he’d heard about our race. Apparently, some vyssari with purer bloodlines have a chance to gain powerful traits from that little bit of genetic material that comes from the powerful wyvern the Ruler used for us, who knows how many generations ago.”

“And wyverns are related to dragons, but weaker?”

“From what I have heard. I do not know how many dragons or wyverns there are, but since there is so little information about them, they must be very well hidden, very powerful, or very dead.”

I offer her another piece of chocolate and take two bigger ones for myself. Unfortunately, she notices and quickly grabs a few more.

“Are you disappointed by finding out how your race came to exist?” I ask.

She seems to give it a longer thought and absentmindedly reaches for another piece, which she throws into her mouth right away.

“Before the tutorial, I was viewed as a kind of religious leader. Do you have people like that on your planet?” she asks.

“I guess. The best example that comes to mind is the Pope, head of a religion of over a billion people. But I think that role is mostly ceremonial now. Some influence, obviously, diplomacy and stuff. Still, a figurehead. He says a lot, but I doubt he really rules anything. Maybe it’s even intentional that he doesn’t.”

She chuckles with a half-bitter smile, licking a bit of chocolate off her thumb.

“I see. Then maybe I was something similar, but on a much smaller scale. I spoke, guided, wore beautiful robes, and people listened to what I had to say, and that was passed to me. It all felt important at the time. But now, knowing we were made in a lab, for fun, by someone who came from normal people like us, it just feels... hollow.”

“Does it really matter?” I take one more piece and offer her the rest, which she takes. “I mean, your origin was the same—before the tutorial and now. It’s just that now you know the truth.”

“Same origin, huh.”

She doesn’t say anything for a few seconds. Just breaks off another piece of chocolate and eats it slowly. Then, finally speaks.

“You’re technically right. I didn’t change. I was like this before the tutorial. These legs, this blood, all of it. Just didn’t know what it was.”

She points the chocolate at me a little.

"I think you're overlooking something. People aren’t so logical. Knowledge does matter. Information changes people—how they see the world, how they choose to act. In my faith, we believe that our emotions were given to us for a reason." She pauses, shakes her head, and laughs softly before looking at me, "Emotions are not flaws to overcome, they're part of what makes us. Logic has its place, but it’s not the whole picture. I think, deep down, you know that too."

"You think so?"

"Obviously, otherwise you would be like every other concentration skill user jerk who keeps their skill activated all the time."

"I guess." I nod.

"Now leave me alone. I want to prepare for the fights."

I leave without any further words.

***

An hour later, while I'm working on the lock, a disruptive wave washes over the entire room, blocks all my senses for a few seconds, and a big crack appears in the massive window. The suction starts pulling the air from inside the room until Io and that gray man get there first and patch it up with some items lying around and some mana.

The lights in the room flicker, then fade, until most of the glow comes from the planet below, a dim reddish hue that spills across the room.

As I regain my senses, my suspicion is confirmed. With the use of Wraith Dance, I reach the body resting against the wall.

The vyssari woman, whose name I didn't even know, rests against it with her mouth agape and blood flowing from the corners of her lips. Both of her eyes are gone, exploded into gore and pieces. In her mouth, something is stuffed, and I quickly recognize the color and material. It's a plastic package of the chocolate she and I had shared.

The movement of my mana isn't even the slightest bit affected by the sudden spike of emotion. My hand doesn't shake and is calm as I reach out towards the body. When I touch her and check her body, it is still warm, and I identify that her brain was turned into mush, as if a big fist squeezed it.

The gray man starts panicking audibly and shouting at Io. He points his finger at Tacita for killing Barion, he blames the crazed demon for now killing the vyssari, and he points at me for being greedy for better rewards and organizing it all.

Barely two days have passed, and two out of the seven people who came here are dead.

I tune out most of the conversation and let Io handle it. I take the chocolate I had opened earlier, break off a portion for myself, and leave the rest in the wrapper. I place the closed package in her hand, curl her fingers over it, and cover her with a cloth from a nearby box.

***

After a bit of working on the locks, Io stops by me and asks, "How does it look?"

"I had to start all over again. That pulse, whatever it was, reset and changed the defenses. You remember that thing Barion mentioned the room with the cage had, right? It is here as well."

Io groans audibly, and two of his hands cover his face as he wipes it down. "So we are locked here? The door we came by locked again? Do I guess correctly they all are reset?"

"Yup. I also think there might be bigger groups of gilded monsters behind them."

"Understood, thank you. Please keep trying. We will try to come up with two or three more ways to get out. Through outer space is also an option, but I would like to avoid it as it is the most risky one, and the replica will likely be prepared."

"Okay," I confirm.

He moves away just a few steps. This time, all of us are gathered near each other. Everyone is in the eyes of everyone.

It might be because I likely have the lowest constitution here, or lowest after Tacita, but I start feeling lightheaded and my head hurts as well. Either the replicas are trying to poison us, or some air keeps leaking out. Even though I'm sure at our levels we don't need that much air, so I would probably suspect some poison or something.

Not that elegant or satisfying, but a simple way to deal with intruders. Just like a bunch of ants sprayed with Raid.

I allow my sealed ignition heart to beat slightly faster, and more thermal energy floods my body, activating combustion and sending some healing through me. In combination with the healing marks Lily left on me, I should be fine.

Just a glance at Tacita tells me she is fine as well, and noticing me looking her way, she draws with her finger into the air.

(￣▽￣)/♫•¨•.¸¸♪

This time, I don't even have an idea what she means, and I lift my eyebrow to show her my confusion.

She smiles and tilts her head while moving aside her hair covering her ear. It reveals a wired white earphone put there. I follow the cable that leads into one of her pockets, where she likely has either a smartphone or some music player.

It's safe to say she isn't that worried.

***

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