It was when she was in front of all her students when it suddenly hit her. At first, it was just a bit of dizziness when suddenly her vision started becoming blurrier, across her, she could see Lucien faint right before her vision blackened.
Although slightly alarmed, she could not tell that it was not anything with malicious intent surrounding her, unlike those of curses, so she gave into the darkness that was calling to her. There was no time for her to allay the fears of those around her, calling out in alarm.
The next time she woke up, she was lying next to Lucien, who still hadn't awoken even though he had passed out earlier than her.
She woke up due to the incessant noise from the System. Though she had only heard it a few times, she could easily identify it, mainly because nothing else on this planet made a similar sound to it.
Not only was it easily identifiable, it contained a strange quality to it, almost as if a sort of echoing volume, that wasn't readily replicable without the proper tools.
[Unlocking System]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
.
.
.
[Skill Attempting to Evolve]
[Skill Evolving]
[Skill Evolving Failed]
[Skill Attempting to Evolve]
[Skill Evolving]
[Skill Evolving Failed]
[Skill Attempting to Evolve]
.
.
.
[Skill Evolving Failed]
[Skill Attempting to Evolve]
[Skill Evolving]
[Skill Evolving Successful]
Nine cradled her aching head, feeling the sensation akin to something of a hangover as her head throbbed. Thankfully, it got better as her head cleared up.
"Nine," Nocturne called out, genuinely worried. Though they had speculated that something like this might happen to Lucien, they hadn't expected it to happen to Nine as well. It was rather terrifying, how the both of them had collapse like puppets with their strings cut.
The brief moment of flared panic he had was so strong that he never wanted to feel that way again. There was no guarding against the unknown, unlike where he could see an enemy that he could dispose of.
Nocturne worried but tried not to show any outward signs. At times like this, it was important that the closest person to Nine didn't look worried to alleviate the fears of everyone else.
"Mm, I'm fine, Nox," Nine said, eyes gentle. In fact, the symptoms of pain had quickly faded. It had faded so abruptly that it left her a little uneasy.
As she spoke, she noticed how Lucien showed signs of waking up as well. He cradled his head and struggled to get up, blindly grabbing for his glasses.
It amused her a little to see Lucien looking so dishevelled instead of how he usually looked, which was well-put together and in control. Though he still had a bit of a baby face, his oversized glasses just somehow managed to inspire one to trust in him and believe what he said.
It was almost fascinating, watching how he affected the people around him unknowingly. As far as she could tell, he himself didn't know he came across as reliable and gentle.
She wondered what he was seeing that made his eyes go wide, but she likened that it was similar to what she was seeing from her own screen right now.
When she opened it to check her own stats, she silently closed it again, feeling a bit stunned.
The Truth skill that she had previously evolved into [Veritas]. Indeed, looking at it in writing form did not have much of a difference other than the name change, but even in her head, there was the ring of something more than human when speaking the words. It wasn't the System either, but something… more.
[Veritas]
[Skill Type: Passive]
[Honesty, Reality, Validity. Goddess who judges the Truth, may the Truth lead the way.]
Though, just looking at the skill name caused her to feel rather speechless. How could her little fan club stumble upon the name so aptly?
For a brief moment, she wondered if this was all the play of those game developers, but she pushed aside the thought. No. This was something more. This world was not a mass of data, but truly did exist in the cosmos. She just hadn't yet linked it together.
The people in this world had free will. Even if they had been 'created' they now existed as a whole different entity.
"Lucien. How are you?"
Lucien snapped out of it, sheepishly placating the others, putting aside checking out what had unlocked for the time being.
Deltan glared at his friend and his younger brother. "Now, spit it out. What are the three of you hiding? People don't just collapse at the same time like that, let alone mages like you who are practically untouchable by both natural and unnatural disasters."
Nine nodded to Lucien, unapologetically throwing the entire burden to him. What was the use of students if she couldn't offload the work from time to time? This was the reason why students existed in the first place.
Lucien explained the situation succinctly and efficiently, covering all the topics in a manner that everyone could understand.
Those who were listening to this for the first time were understandably sceptical, but they reluctantly trusted Lucien, who was known for never telling a lie. On one hand, they didn't want it to be true. Were their lives really artificially created by someone? Were they truly alive? On the other hand, both their Teacher and Lucien could be fully trusted.
In the end, they listened with an open mind, quickly absorbing the information for later use.
Nine watched with a gleam in her eyes. Truly, she did not choose wrongly when she accepted them. They were all quick on the uptake and intelligent. She expected no less from her students.
The first batch of players should already be inside the game. This was confirmed to her when Mephisto sent her a voice transmission, telling her about the newly found information that she had gathered.
"Good job, Mephisto," Nine praised, patting the little spider on her head with her index finger.
Mephisto preened at the praise, waving her little legs in the air. Nine barely resisted the urge to coo over her adorable familiar.
Nocturne coughed to hide a laugh when he saw Nine staring intently at Mephisto. He knew that was how Nine looked when she wanted to dote on her familiars, having seen her do so numerous times in private.
He had to admit, they had grown on him after a while, especially after he got his own familiars from Nine, matching hers. Just with their genders swapped. Regardless, anything that Nine liked, he liked as well.
It was at this moment when Seyton quickly entered the room after knocking.
"Master, the Undyings in the outskirts of Day Light," he said, his perpetual calm look on his face.
Nine raised a brow but wasn't surprised at the place where they were appearing. From what she knew about games, they had been set in a 'beginner village' to start off their journey. It was also the place where beta players first started appearing.
"Very well," Nine said. "They shouldn't be approaching our city too soon, so we still have ample time to prepare. Make haste."
When almost everyone left, leaving a few of her students who hadn't filed out, Nine spoke again. "Lucien, create party."
"Create party?" Lucien unconsciously parroted back. "Oh," he said.
"Mm looks like it works for you. But not for me. I wonder why?"
"Invite to party," Lucien prompted.
Nothing happened.
"Invite 'Nine' to party," he tried again.
This time, a screen popped up before Nine, causing her to nod, accepting the prompt.
"Invite 'Deltan' to party."
Deltan's eyes widened. "Woah. What's this," he said, waving his hand at the screen. His hand passed through it harmlessly. He cautiously clicked on the accept button, looking around with wide eyes.
"Ooh, what's this," Deltan murmured, incessantly fascinated.
"Me too," said Aciel, eyes wide and expectant.
Lucien sent everyone left in the room party invites.
The group of five played around with the interface for a while, whilst Nine nodded solemnly.
"This is great. Now I can tell how far I can go before hurting you too much," Nine said, her face completely serious. A smile slowly spread on her lips, frightening her students immediately.
Her students struggled to keep their protests to themselves, only Lucien looking expectant.
Nocturne struggled to keep his face impassive. Their faces were always so funny whenever Nine said something like this. Not that she wouldn't go through with it, but they always reacted the same way, never changing even once.