Villainous - 57 Ring

“Ah, stupid!” Li Mei smacked her forehead as she reached the top of the basement stairs. She turned around and hurried back to frisk the bodies for valuables.

Naked lady aside, surely the men had something interesting on them! She was so distracted by the octopus head that she nearly forgot the basic principle of ‘loot everything’.

Her broken arm had to lay limp at her side in order to heal, but having it flopping around and jostling everything would be detrimental to recovery. She tore off her ripped sleeve and used a dagger to rip cloth from the hem of her dress, then tied it all together into a makeshift rope. This rope she fastened secure around her broken arm and slender waist, pinning it her side without further aggravating the injury.

Li Mei breathed a sigh of relief when her arm was no longer flopping about, and promptly set about carefully rifling through the body’s pockets.

“I thought my body was remarkably sturdy and tough,” Li Mei muttered under her breath. “Aren’t my stats amazing? I may not be able to utilize most of them to the best of their ability yet, but my constitution should be inherently ridiculous, shouldn’t it? Then how did my arm get broken so easily?”

—–

[Recovery]

★

Despite his best attempts, Keori failed to crush your arm into powder as he desired. Instead, his desperate yet futile manipulation of magic powered by the much stronger Master Octopus barely managed to snap a small child’s humerus bone in half.

Take it easy for the duration of this quest while your arm recovers. Avoid combat or athletic endeavors unless absolutely necessary.

A cleanly broken humerus bone usually takes a minimum of 7 Elysium weeks (A.K.A. 12 Earth weeks) for most humans, but that time can be accelerated by a high CON score and special medicines. The Quest duration will be updated in consideration of medicinal consumption.

Quest Duration: 5 Elysium weeks, accelerated by high CON score.

Reward: 10 EXP, a fully healed and slightly stronger arm

—–

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Li Mei let out a soft chuckle as she accepted the sudden quest. She counted herself lucky the Interface, Lina as she called herself during their one face-to-copy-face meeting, wasn’t mean-spirited like many systems in the novels she’d read back on Earth. Lina was not only helpful, but also quite sassy! “Thanks, Lina.”

She turned to looting the dead men, only to pause as she was caught by a stray thought sharp enough to pierce her focus. Li Mei looked at the dead men, then down at her own small hands, flexing each finger one by one. “When did it get so easy to kill people? Is it because I think of them as bad, that it’s become easier to commit murder?”

The first time Li Mei killed someone was on Earth, and it was to escape a life of confinement and torture. It took many years to recover from the deed as well as the circumstances leading up to it, and she’d just barely got her life back on track when she found herself pulled to Elysium and transmigrating into a foreign body.

The second time she killed was to get revenge for a little girl who died after a life of confinement and torture. She spent an entire night crying and reassuring herself it was the right thing to do, then got distracted by everything else that happened afterward.

The third time was in the forest, when she killed all the soldiers who slaughtered innocent civilians. 11 groups of soldiers, most having at least five to six men in their squad, all dead thanks to her and Bao. None of them seemed guilty or unsettled even though they’d just committed a massacre, except for poor simple Otto who was clueless about the whole thing.

That infuriated her, and fueled some creative terrorizing tactics. Li Mei didn’t regret killing any of them. She didn’t even hesitate, or think about it afterward except to analyze the fights and adjust combat tactics.

And now she’d killed five more people. Again, they were people who she felt deserved death. And yet…

“Distasteful. I don’t want to be the kind of person who kills without a thought just because it’s the easy or convenient solution, or because I’m pissed off. I’ll have to be mindful of that in the future.” Li Mei frowned and clenched her hands into fists. A faint light flickered in her mauve eyes. “There’s other ways to make people pay for their sins than just killing them… Ah? Wait, isn’t killing them letting them off easy anyway? Hmmm…”

She exhaled slowly, putting those introspective thoughts away for later consideration, focusing her attention back on looting.

The men each had some plain daggers hidden on their bodies, which she plundered without regret. Even if the quality wasn’t the best, weapons were weapons.

There were also small metallic plates of different warm autumnal colors hidden in creative places like the lining of their coat or in their boots, which Li Mei only found thanks to Mana Sight making those parts of their bodies glow. The cards had a silver symbol stamped on the left of one side, a stylized lizard curled around a faceted gemstone. On the opposite side was a complicated circuit engraving glimmering with the mana of their previous owners.

—–

[First Merchant’s Bank Card]

A special card made of a mithril alloy which has a high capacity for storing mana. Mana is used as currency on Elysium and is abbreviated as ‘c’ when referring to definitive monetary amounts. Since the cards store mana, you can find them using Mana Sight.

It only stores refined mana, which means you can deposit mana directly from your Core but cannot passively collect currency from the air just by keeping it in your pocket.

The color of the card indicates roughly how much mana is stored within. Brightness indicates how close it is from changing to the next color tier – dull colors are close to dropping tier, while brilliant colors are close to rising.

Gray: 0c – 100c

Red: 101c – 1000c

Orange: 1001c – 2000c

Yellow: 2001c – 4000c

Green: 4001c – 8000c

Blue: 8001c – 15000c

Indigo: 15000c – 30000c

Violet: 30001c – 50000c

White: 50001c – 100000c

Black: 100001c – 200000c

Gold: 200001c – 999999c

Mithril cards cannot store more than 999999c. Attempts to do so will cause the metal to shatter, aggressively dispersing mana back into the atmosphere with terrifying and horrific force. As such, the color of the logo will change from silver to black to indicate the card is full.

If you refine a card much as you did with the ghost anchors – by overpowering the mana signature of the previous owner – you can transfer mana from that card to your own card, to your Core, or channel it directly into a circuit. This process becomes astronomically more difficult and time-consuming with each color tier as the volume of mana increases. It is recommended you perform this task incrementally.

Owning a bank card without opening an account with them is not uncommon and it isn’t required for their use in everyday life, but having an account lends a certain amount of respectability to your background. Having an account is required for most businesses seeking to establish themselves in a settled city, or if you wish to partake in large-scale transactions such as buying materials in bulk or using an auction house. It also acts as a form of identity verification.

—–

“First Merchant’s… Ah, the same bank as the token I pilfered!” Li Mei grinned, stashing all the cards away. “Looks like I’ll have to open an account. Anyway, these cards are very convenient.”

Finally, the last thing of value she found were small rings on the pinky fingers of Keori and one of the men who had slightly higher quality clothes than the others.

The rings were very strange. Not just in design, but in the fact it took so long for her to notice them. After a moment she realized she’d actually glanced at them a few times as a glimmer of grayish-green mana sparkled on their smooth polished surfaces, yet each time her eyes slid away and she promptly forgot about them again.

Li Mei’s eyes narrowed. She plucked a ring off one man’s finger and held it close to her eyes to keep from losing focus before using Scan.

It looked like one long tentacle weaving around into intricate knots around an inner band of green jade, folding itself in impossible patterns that gave her a headache to look at. Delicate little suckers and life-like skin patterns decorated the tentacles, tiny details that could only be carved by a true master. If she stared too long the tentacles seemed to move a little. The engraved circuit on the inner band still glimmered with mana, and was what caught her eye initially.

—–

[Odd Signet Ring]

Enchanted with a very high-level cloaking array, powered by the same mana the octopus head channeled through Keori. Further details unknown.

—–

“Tch!” Li Mei clicked her tongue. Once more, Scan was unable to delve up answers. That octopus head was really annoying!

She stashed the ring away in storage. Then Li Mei left the basement, shutting the heavy banded cellar doors and barring them shut with a barrier just in case, stomping her way back into the empty house. She barred the front doors in the same way.

If anyone tried to force the doors open it would break the barrier and she’d immediately know. Whether it was burglars looking to take her hard-won loot or zombies from the basement seeking revenge, neither were visitors she wanted to be surprised by.

She spent the rest of the night flipping through books in the house to fill out her Archive, devouring the delicious packed lunch Faust provided then eating snacks stashed away in storage to keep herself awake and avoid sleeping alone in a dark, empty, previously haunted house. She’d pilfered many treats from the hidden research facility’s vending machines, which turned out to mostly be crispy spiced vegetable chips or plain dried fruit. They didn’t have anything like salty flavored potato chips, watermelon seeds, crunchy rice rollers or haw flakes which she missed so dearly from Earth.

Still, snacks were snacks. She ate them happily even if they weren’t the junk food she wished for.

Once all the books she could find in the house were added to the Archive, Li Mei made her way to the attic. First she glanced in the deepest shadows, checking for remnant refugees of the Great Spider Massacre. Finding not so much as a cobweb, Li Mei heaved a sigh of relief followed by a confused frown.

Did the huge spider colony outside keep other smaller insects or arachnids from infesting the house?

Ah well. Made it easier to clean up.

She created a barrier at an angle to act as a ramp right up to one of the broad beams crossing the peaked ceiling, and pulled some blankets out of storage to make a little nest after sweeping away a layer of dust with her feet. Once her nest was complete she dispelled the ramp barrier, stashed away the heavy boots, scattered some insect-repelling flower petals just in case, and laid down with her broken arm dangling pitifully off the side of the beam.

Li Mei fell asleep in seconds despite the constant pain and awkward laying position. Gray beams of sunlight filtered through cloud cover streaming through the windows, the girl already dreaming of savory hot mantou and fragrant mapo tofu.

—

While Li Mei was having an exciting necromantic adventure in her new haunted house, Faust was also keeping himself busy.

Bad weather chased people off the streets, but it didn’t stop most businesses from keeping a lantern lit in their window for those few ambitious tourists or errand boys. After he left Li Mei to her own devices, Faust strolled casually through the narrow winding side streets until he found a book store with a lit lantern. Prices were engraved on a wooden board that sat in the window next to the lantern in front of several piles of stacked tomes, clearly and honestly displaying their cost to the public.

The store was narrow and cramped, filled with books of all kinds with the only open space occupied by a wooden table next to a wide stone pedestal. Tools and instruments occupied the table, while the pedestal only had two circuits carved into its surface. Beneath the pedestal were several shelves holding stacks of parchment paper, inkwells, spooks of thread and treated hides for book covers.

A bald old man looked up from the table where he was rebinding an old tome, a smudge of ink smeared across his crooked nose. His ears were sharply pointed, and his hunched figure seemed very small even for an elderly.

Faust once more adopted the ‘Professor Bishop’ persona, keeping his body language and expression amiable. “Good day, sir!”

The old man smiled. “Good day indeed, young man. Welcome to Beckett’s Books. I’m Benjamin Beckett, avid fan of alliteration and literature alike. May I help you?”

“Indeed so, Mr. Beckett!” Faust clapped his hands and grinned. “Might I order a book?”

“Certainly, certainly. Are you looking for something in particular, or would you like a recommendation?”

“A recommendation would be greatly appreciated. You see, I find myself in a troublesome situation…” Faust pulled a face, looking both excited and slightly terrified. “I find myself suddenly the guardian of a particularly stubborn young child, and I… Well, I’m a scholar, sir! Unmarried, at that! I have no idea how to… to…”

“Be a parent?” Benjamin chuckled again and stood up from the table, stretching until his back let out a series of loud cracks. He hopped down from a large cushioned stool, revealing himself to be about a meter tall. “A scholar indeed, if your solution is to find a book. Well, let’s see what I’ve got.”

Faust waited patiently as Benjamin puttered around the store for quite awhile, muttering to himself. Occasionally he would raise his voice to ask questions about the age, gender, and species of the child, as well as Faust’s own prior experience with child-raising. Each time Faust responded, Benjamin would discard some books he’d pulled from the shelves, only to replace them immediately with different ones.

By the time he emerged from the maze of shelves, he narrowed down the choices to three different tomes. “If you only want or can afford a single book, I suggest the top one. Otherwise, I heartily recommend studying all three and formulating your own opinion once you’ve fully absorbed these three perspectives. Parenthood is complex, after all. Even if the child is not your own flesh and blood, as her guardian you are responsible for not only her well-being, but her happiness and her entire future! Take all this into consideration while reading.”

“Mr. Beckett, I will follow your recommendation. I’ll take all three!” Faust smiled and pulled out a white bank card.

“Just a moment, dear boy!”

Benjamin placed a book on one of the pedestal’s circuits. Atop the other circuit he stacked a leather hide, several sheets of parchment, a spool of thread and three inkwells. Flooding the circuits with mana produced a brilliant verdant light, and when it faded the stack of assorted items had transformed into an exact copy of the original book, alongside three empty inkwells and an empty spool.

He repeated the process for the other two volumes. Only then did Benjamin pull out a small device. A brass box with slots on two sides, six rows of rotating numbered discs on a third side, a crystal panel on the fourth side, a clear domed crystal on top, and a circuit on the bottom. Benjamin used the discs to set the price for all three books, then inserted his own bank card in the slot to the right of the rotating discs. The price displayed clearly on the front-facing crystal panel, after which Faust put his card in the left slot and the domed crystal on top of the box until it lit up green. Then he retrieved his card and tucked it away safely.

Their transaction complete, Faust stashed the books in his spatial magitech ring and exchanged friendly farewells with the little shopkeeper.

Book stores in Brittalund only sold copies of books using a Synthesis Circuit, and rarely parted with their originals. Copying books used special mana-laced ink – unique to the scribe making them – that couldn’t be synthesized by anyone else. Handwritten originals or synthesized copies both were legally required to have the scribe’s business stamp, their own unique logo, imprinted on the inside cover so it could be traced back to their shop for any verification purposes.

Some books contained very important knowledge! Or claimed to. A phony book containing a harmful spell circulated in the public could cause great harm if it wasn’t nipped in the bud, so the rules regarding literature distribution were strict.

Technique books, or just tech books, when written by an expert would even contain traces of the expert’s comprehension of said technique within the ink, something which couldn’t be copied over with synthesis. This made originals incredibly valuable and sought-after by the nobility or wealthy elites. Scribes who could get their hands on tech books, dealt in their trade, or were capable of conveying intent through dictation when creating originals on behalf of illiterate experts were no ordinary people, either.

Faust’s eyes gleamed as he left the shop. Benjamin Beckett had no reaction when he pulled out the flashy white bank card, merely continuing his work with steady hands and a faint air of indifference. There wasn’t even a trace of greed in his beady eyes, and he didn’t seem surprised by Faust’s use of a spatial tool either, an item one would have to be wealthy and well-connected or very, very lucky to obtain.

Within the crowded little shop, Faust spotted numerous faint lingering auras of tech books hiding amongst the other plain novels. Multiple original tech books with lingering comprehension, at least two dozen of them!

Hilda’s information was right as usual, so he’d have to get closer to Mr. Beckett. Faust smiled as he shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled to his next destination, whistling to himself along the way. He seemed exceptionally cheerful and out of place in the foggy late afternoon.

Two weeks of bullying helpless children to tears with an unforgiving study schedule left Faust feeling energized and refreshed. Li Mei’s little strays were ensconced in the traveling cottage with the Great Crested Roc watching over them, out of the way where they couldn’t accidentally blow his cover. Li Mei learned quickly and rarely made mistakes in her expressions, reactions, or conversations, but those strays of hers were bumbling amateurs who needed a lot more training before he’d allow them to be seen in his company.

His newly assigned mission was comparatively short, slated to take around seven years, and quite simple as far as espionage ventures went. He specialized in deep cover missions that took a decade or more to produce results, thanks to the ridiculous natural longevity of his race combined with a high Rank extending his youth and lifespan even further. He was used to changing personas and faces as one might change their coat.

During the year they were apart he had Li Mei listed as his official disciple in Erebus’ personnel files, and as such Faust had to make sure she was capable of keeping any cover he established. Even if she stubbornly refused to join the organization, as the direct disciple of a prestigious Dolos how could she not meet their most basic standards for agents?

The seven-year mission was as much a test for her as it was a vacation for him. If she passed, Erebus would have no objections to Li Mei being his disciple.

If she failed…

Faust stopped whistling, furrowing his brows.

Well, he’d just have to make sure she didn’t fail.