"Hero's… Party?" Miles unconsciously muttered.
[Hero's Party Status:
Party Size: 2/3
Party Members: Miles Trainer (Hero of Fate), Yvette (Selenaut), Open.
Quick Status:
Name: Miles T. (Hero of Fate | Locked)
Health: 66% (Common Bleeding)
Stamina: 77%
Magic: 3% (Rare Meridian Degeneration)
Name: Yvette (Selenaut | Options)
Health: 1% (Extreme Form Reconstitution)
Stamina: 1% (Extreme Form Reconstitution)
Magic: 1% (Extreme Form Reconstitution)]
Options...' Miles commanded.
[Options/Settings:
-Invite
-Kick
-Privilege]
"Hmm..." Miles paused as he intuitively understood what "kicking" Yvette would entail. He presumed her to be unconscious, and likely unaware of the current situation regarding her, and his System.
Instinctively, it felt like he would be better off kicking her from the party and not risk her waking to the potential realization of his true Class and ability. However, a second of consideration was all Miles needed to realize that kicking her would almost guarantee losing the chance to check what her "privilege" settings were; what it meant to have Privilege.
There was no telling if he would be able to invite her back into the party as easily as kicking her out appeared to be. So, naturally, Miles spared a moment to check…
[Privilege:
-System Acknowledgement ("On"/Off): Events have transpired that inspire enough confidence of Yvette in you and I, the System — by proxy of being your soul made manifest. Acknowledged as a trusted ally, lesser aspects of the System can be "shared."
Current Shared Abilities: Skill/Ability Status Announcement, Party Exclusive Quick Status View.
-SS Link ("On"/Off/Additional): Both of you, Yvette and Miles, have exposed your Soul Signatures to one another whilst facing a calamity together. With them recorded, the System can relay Status updates of either party to either party irrespective of distance.]
"How convenient," Miles muttered as he found he could customize the SS Link he and Yvette shared such that only he would know her position. He could eliminate the chance of showing her any proof of his System's existence and keep the benefit of their formed party to himself.
'But... Do I want to hide the System from her?' Miles brought a hand to his chin as he carefully considered, 'I haven't exactly spent a long time working with her, but so far she's shown herself to be a patient and supportive companion; even if I supposed to be the support… She's helped me develop as a fighter, and hardly complained as I took the group's leader position.'
'She's also saved my life, twice…' Miles took a second to look back to her inhuman body as he thought, 'Whatever her transformation was, I'm sure it's the only reason we're alive. Moreover, the System claims we've shared Soul Signatures...'
Soul Signatures are what defined a person in the post-magical world. It was what gave one their Class and normally, it was almost impossible to interact with.
At the very end of the Primordial Magic Era, it was discovered that the Soul was a very closed off entity within a person's body. It was an organ like any other, which sourced the Magic in everyone's body, that connected to the rest of the body through a pathway of what were called meridians.
However, while the transport material of that organ, Magic, worked similar to other transport materials — like blood to the circulatory system or oxygen to the respiratory system — the source of the transport material itself was immaterial and for a time, theoretically nonexistent. That was one's Soul Signature and to this day it was barely understood.
The only thing Miles knew for a fact was that every single time one's Soul Signature was exposed for whatever reason, said person ended up growing into a famous figure. Recorded instances of Soul Signatures being exposed were all documented to have occurred in moments of extreme pressure; life or death moments, in the midst of war, there were even a couple cases where it happened to people during moments where they experienced emotions at peak intensities.
'This is a chance I shouldn't waste,' Miles thought. 'For both of us to have been tempered here and received this boon, I would be foolish to even think of discarding Yvette from the party; all things considered.'
Miles sighed as he made up his mind, 'To keep things smooth between us in the long run, I won't do something like hide the System. Especially...' Miles shook his head as a fleeting thought nearly knocked him off his feet, 'if I want to keep things smooth for us in the short term.'
He kicked a rock on the floor as his thoughts returned to the first life or death battle he survived against Harrold and his group. 'There's a fucking ten-million Krilp bounty on Yvette's head...' Miles narrowed his eyes at the thought. 'It's possible that there are going to be more people heading to this Dungeon to see if they can bag her for the ten-million Krilp, and even if we managed to escape, every sighting of her will bring tons of bounty hunters our way.'
"Ngh..." Yvette groaned as she started regaining consciousness. Her appearance was also regressing back to normal…
'There goes our one significant chance of disguising her,' Miles thought as he palmed his face in dejection.
'Welp, the only way I can see us getting anywhere together is if I start spending System Points which would make hiding the System from her obsolete, so...'
"Uh, Miles..." Yvette, weakly said.
"I'd heal you," Miles lamented, "but I'm out of Magic right now."
"Yeah… I know."
"Oh," Miles realized Yvette hadn't been looking at his eyes. Rather, she was looking over his head. Right where his All View would keep Quick Status View available for people in his party.
"Well, we've got time now, so… I guess this is as good a time as any to have 'the talk.'"
And so, they had 'the talk.' The talk about his True Class, the System, and... how they both were almost taken about by a group of four E Ranks; arguably, that last part was the most embarrassing.