I bolted back directly to Culsan. There, I plan to sell the [Cloaked Dagger] to anybody with enough cash. I am certain nobody has close to the amount of coins needed to pay for the thing at this point in the game.
My other loot, though, will go straight into the Auction House.
Auction Houses are pretty straightforward. Give your item to a receptionist, choose a price, profit. Players can bid on items until they either reach the item's coin limit set by the seller or (more commonly) the time on the sale runs out. Cities/towns will take commission on all sales.
I don't really need the coins at the moment (however that will change in the future). The cash, though, is for me to stay independent of my parents. As long as I can at least keep them from having to pay for me, they probably will be fine till I make enough to cure them.
Fortunately, there is a special part of the forums in-game that allows you to put up things for sale. You aren't allowed to do the trade through it, you have to meet up in game for the transaction to be completed. I posted the cloaked dagger there.
After finishing that, I reached the Auction House. There were quite a few players inside, with some obvious guild scouts looking for deals/good items. At an empty counter near the corner, I spoke with the receptionist to get my items up for auction. The process was relatively quick. The deduction for this place was 5%, normal for towns.
All of this took around 15 minutes (counting travel from the entrance of town and all the other stuff. Now I headed over to Maximus.
~
"He-ey kid! You're back. Yer' looking for more skills, I assume."
"Yes sir, esteemed elder."
"*Cuckle* Okay. Here ya are;"
My interaction with Maximus was, as normal, short and sweet. He's luckily not one of those chatty types of people, fitting for an old master wanting to keep it low.
[ You are now able to learn skills from him in exchange for coins.
Choose:
=
- Past choices. [+]
=
- [Tempest Swarm (Lv.1)] <★★★>: (Action) With a single thought, weapon and player weight are reduced by 75% for 7s. [+]
^5si
=
- [Roaring Winds (Lv.1)] <★★>: (Action) Perform a forward charge to surround yourself with powerful winds, increasing your movement speed temporarily by 75% with an added +25% damage. [+]
^4si
=
- [Splintered Earth (Lv.1] <★★>: (Action) Smash and drag your weapon in any direction to shoot out shards of the earth dealing +70% damage (added to your weapon's damage) each in a cone. [+]
^4si
=
- [Piercing Burst (Lv.1)] <★★>: (Action) Lodge your weapon into your enemy to deal 50% damage .2 seconds after initial damage. [+]
^3si 500co
(More will unlock after Lv.20) ]|
"[Tempest Swarm], [Roaring Winds] and [Piercing Burst] please." I handed my coin over for a second time, obliterating half of my wallet. This was something a normal player at level ten could never do.
It may seem easy because I got it just by playing the game, but only super lucky, skilled, or business savvy players can earn as much as me. I am a mixture of the first two. I never really had a knack for big business.
"Okay kid. nice choices. I can see you want to be a speed-focused warrior, eh?" Maximus asked.
"Well… sort of. Yeah."
"Hmm…"
Max took a second after handing me the skills to think. 'What's he doing? I got these exact same skills last time, even replied similarly. What is this interaction?
Maybe I activated something special!'
"Kid… can I talk with you for a second? Inside."
I obediently nodded and followed him through his front door. There was no way I could miss a possible quest or reward, whatever he is going to talk to me about.
One should know that quests given by one's master will most certainly be some of the best for you personally. More quests will come later though.
Maximus' house was decorated with many photographs of his comrades and landscape paintings done by Maximus himself. It had a nice smell and was quite warm and cozy more akin to a house up in a snowy mountain, not in the valley beneath them. I kept these thoughts to myself as I was being led into a room oddly placed at the center.
I hadn't been there before. In the "past," there wasn't anybody I've heard of that he let there either. '...hmm...'
"Make yourself at home, please."
I complied by sitting down in the chair next to his (it wasn't hard to tell).
"Tea?"
"No thank you."
"*Sigh*.... Kid.
You seem like a good person, so... I won't lie to you.
I've noticed some… things… about you that are peculiar to say the least." He took a short moment to gauge my reaction. Inside and out I had no idea what was going on.
"Now, don't freak out on me.
But I know you are a halfling, also you are connected to that… person."
"Hick!~ Wh-"
There was no word to describe how horrified I was at that moment. Being found out this early in the game was crippling to say the least. If he wanted to, he could take me to the capital in an instant without me being able to even breathe so long as he didn't allow me to. "G-g-g-go o-on."
"*Chuckle*
I guessed this would have happened. I won't turn you in. I swear on the goddess' name. If it were at another time, I probably never would have mentioned it. As of right now, though, I have no right to keep my knowledge a secret from you."
"*Gulp* W-well, Maximus, sir. I thank you for your reassurance, but what do you mean by me being connected to 'that person?'" I now understand why he is talking about this now, it was because I met him too late last time.
"Oh~ him. He's connected to the sword in your room."
"!!! How do you-"
"It's pretty easy for me to tell, kid. Don't think all your secrets are safe." He cut me off, "I used to know him, and I can sense that thing from a mile away, trust me. Before he left, it was requested of me to help his successor out in any way I see fit."
Another long pause so I can take all this information in and digest it. 'So… he knew? Last time… why? Was it because I was too unstable? Damn, so confusing.'
"I think, right now, I will give you a foundation. He has a good heart, my old friend, and anyone considered has it in them to not turn into a monster when going down that path."
*Fffwoooshhh~~~*
...
~
…
After that final sentence I was shot unconscious, with the last thing I heard and felt was a calming gust of wind.
"*Groooaaannn~* Where…"
Slowly, I opened my eyes. Next to me was Maximus.
"In here, I will give you the basis of my and… his abilities." Maximus started, "It won't be easy, though. Accepting this will be horribly painful. Your will will be tested.
All I ask of you is to keep whatever I have said to you and taught you a secret. Not those punny skills, no, but this."
In the center of this windy space floated a ball of…
"STORM ENERGY!
How can you..."
"Yes, yes, your observation is correct. That is storm energy. A special type, too. It is known to only as the [Heart of the Storm]."
…
Different things have certain energy related to them. Water, Earth, Fire, Air, those are what most would think of as having an "energy" associated with them. While that may not be entirely wrong, that isn't technically correct either.
Things that have an "energy" to go with them are much harder to categorize. Storm energy is one of them. Another is volcanic energy. Stellar energy. All of it, however, is something so scarcely seen that most renounce it as a hoax, something people of the past used to explain natural phenomena too complex for their understanding. If I had quit before the end of the first year of this game, I would have thought that as well.
The event that brought this out of being a simple piece of lore, a way to show the intelligence of the new age compared to the societies of old, was a war. Two energy hearts, one in the west, one in the east, had their existence leaked.
It just happened that, in both sides of the world, the biggest powers of both all needed an energy heart.
Alone, they don't amount to much. Energy Origin Stones are the more obvious choice for a major power to want due to their endless supply of energy and connection to the gods. Their true use is as a key, or foundation, to certain classes.
Coincidentally, the heirs of the Human Empire and Beastmen Empire of the east came across pinnacle unique classes (otherwise known as Legacies) that required the same energy heart to unlock their full potential. Near that time, as previously stated, the existence of that very heart was leaked by an unknown player.
This was the spark that lit the flames of war between the powers. This thing was of a scale nobody could have ever dreamt of. With huge monsters and legendary heroes being flung around like a massive game of table tennis, eventually reaching a stalemate between the two. It came to a point where the Temple of Cosmos had to confiscate it.
I don't remember much about the west's war, just that it was uncannily similar to ours.
"Are you sure?!? T-this thing…"
"I am not making a mistake, kid. I am getting old, and keeping this thing isn't something I want to have to deal with anymore."
"W-
*Sigh*"
'You're making it hard to not accept, Maximus.' I started to tap my foot on the ground in contemplation. Having this would increase my potential past what a normal reincarnated person's should be. But it'll also make me a target if something I can't beat notices it...
'Naw! Fuck it!'
I'll do it!"
He seemed relieved, "Good. Step up to it."
I followed his orders.
"Now, place your hand into the center, you'll know what to do from there. Just... please. Don't die.
Good luck."
*Shua~*
He disappeared, just like he was only a figment of my imagination. Probably back to his house for a drink of tea.
I turned back to the heart while steeling my own. Just like one, it was beating. Short, deep pulses flowed through my very soul. All the hairs on my body stood up. For a moment, it talked to me. Not in any language, but spiritually, turning all my attention onto it.
I reached in.
"You~ Have~ Been~ Warned~"
*Zzztzzttttzz!!!*
A jolt of lightning shot up my body, straight into the center of my chest. Every nerve in my body was activated in a panic, totally engulfing me in a great feeling of torment.
"GGGGGUUUUAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!"
I wailed in pain. My mind was being tortured as my soul was being invaded by a foreign power. In the real world, this pain is nigh-impossible to feel because no real thing can invade your soul as directly as this.
[ Progress to absorption:
1%
…
…
2%... ]|
Finally, the progress bar was shown. For better, or for worse, didn't even see it.
At this moment, I had tapped into my [Rage Room] directly. The fury I held deep within placed me into a new kind of trance. This wasn't some sort of anger felt from a simple death or a betrayal from your most trusted friends. It was just primal, something long since locked away, never to be used again.
Something so rule-breaking even transcends realms. The [Heart of the Storm] reacted. The gods noticed. And the true peak existences felt a tremor. My fury was fuzing with the storm, creating something more.
A new heart, [Óðr] is being composed. The god it is named after has long been forgotten, but the energy he left behind has found a new home within my pain.
The entirety of the room has long since been painted a deep shade of red. The previously pure blue plasma soaking in this new color of blood.
It seems as it was all leading up to this because now my demonic roots finally paid their rent. Sent directly from the lord of Hell, Lucifer, was a pure hellfire that lit up my eyes. They helped control the heart and finally move it in the right direction.
The arbitrary line has finally been crossed. The lighting gets even more restless, striking my body creating a web of deep scars chin down. They light up to give a more direct path for the heart.
[ 49%
60%
8… ]|
…
…
…
Even the movement of an electron could be heard at the absolute silence of this moment. Somewhere, deep within my soul, the final battle was being fought. A unique bond was being forged between this new heart and its creator.
[ 99%...
…
99%...
…
99%...
…
100%! ]|
"*Gasp!~
Huff~ Huff~ Huff~*"
*Flump~*