After spending some time killing slimes for his Daily Quest, Darren leveled up to LVL 4 and got 5 stat points plus a skill point. He invested all his stat points to BRU and chose to learn the passive skill [Passion] that fell into the TEN category.
▬▬▬Skill Details▬▬▬
Passion: Grants the user a tiny increase in EXP gain
Costs 1 Skill Point
[Learn]
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The boost in EXP gain was called 'tiny,' but however big the boost was, having the boost early was essential. To add, it only cost one skill point. Apart from him having few Active Skills in his arsenal at this moment, there was no reason to not learn [Passion] first.
After doing everything he needed to do with the system, Darren prepared and left to meet Luck. He was joining Clover Brigade that day.
He was supposed to be happy-- no, Darren really was happy. But he was also bothered by how he was a mossbag-turned-'cultivator.' What exactly was Luck's motive for wanting him in his brigade? Was he going to be studied or something?
"System?" Since Darren was alone in his little abode, his siblings in Naphaela's, he was able to use his voice to interact with the system without anyone looking at him strange. "Do you . . . Do you recommend I join Luck's brigade?"
▬▬▬Answer to Query▬▬▬
By the time the system gave the user the task of receiving Luck's punch, it has already seen that he will invite you into his brigade after you receive the punch and stay conscious.
As such, the system strongly recommends that the user joins Clover Brigade.
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Darren took a deep breath and muttered, "Alright."
He pretty much had faith at the system at this point. If something goes wrong, then that'd be the time he would begin thinking for himself. One could call it irresponsibility, but he didn't have much power-- meaning, he didn't have much responsibility either.
"Let's take sir Luck on his offer."
♦♦♦
"You are early." Luck muttered with his deep, morning voice as he approached Darren, sitting on a shed near the town center.
Upon hearing Luck's voice, Darren immediately stood straight up and said, "I didn't want to make you wait, sir."
Luck just glanced at Darren with unamused eyes, "Ease up. I don't bite."
"S-Sorry."
"Follow me."
Not wasting any time, Luck led Darren to the Clover HQ, a three-storey building that was made of gray bricks, and laden with colors of green and gold here and there. Luck opened one of the double doors and didn't signal for Darren to enter.
Not surprised that he wasn't being treated nicely, Darren entered the HQ and closed the door behind him, his pace hastened until he caught up to Luck.
After climbing all the way to the third floor, the two entered Luck's office.
"Sit wherever." Luck muttered, gesturing roughly at Darren before sitting down on his chair behind the table.
Awkward silence reigned over the room, forcing Darren's mind to drift off. He noticed how the morning sun shone warm rays of light into the room, through the wall of glass behind Luck. Paired with the cool air circulating around in it, Darren could only think of the status gap in between them.
But before his mind wandered too far off, Luck broke the silence, "Before you sign the contract of joining us, I want to ask you about something. I didn't want you to think that I tricked you by offering fine things to achieve my ulterior motives, so let's do this before you join."
Darren nodded seriously, prompting for Luck to continue.
"How did you become able to cultivate?"
Darren's eyebrows furled slightly at the question. He spent quite a while trying to guess what would happen once he's talking with Luck, and he imagined something along Luck's lines being asked to him. Still, it wasn't as if he could just answer immediately. One wrong move might cause the system's deactivation.
Pressing his lips together, he opened his mouth and inhaled, about to say something, but the system's loud beep rang in his head as a red panel appeared before him.
▬▬▬Attention▬▬▬
This is a guide that will help you along with this conversation. It is strictly recommended that the user follows this guide.
1. The user must discover about why Luck is interested in his sudden ability to cultivate. The user can hint about how secrets should only be traded with secrets.
2. Wait for the system's confirmation before doing anything else.
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Blinking rapidly, Darren quickly read over the panel text, before looking at Luck with hesitation. "I'm sorry, Sir Luck. I can't just disclose this to anyone . . ."
Luck nodded, intertwining his fingers together but keeping it unclenched on the table, "I see."
". . . But sir, something might change if you tell me why . . . no, I'd like to make sure if the reason you invited me is because of my ability to cultivate."
"Yes, that's exactly the reason."
"Then sir . . . may I know why . . . it interests you that much?"
Luck gave Darren a glance of slight annoyance, but he closed his eyes, shook his head, and sighed. "Fine then. I won't be expecting too much, but--"
He paused, taking his hands off the table and reclining in his chair.
"Do you know of Flux Stroke?"
". . . Yes."
"My little sister has it."
"Oh . . . I'm-I'm sorry."
"I'd like it if you expressed your pity or condolences by lending a hand, Darren."
Darren bit his lip and blinked a few times, his sweat cold from embarassment.
Flux Stroke was something that didn't occur to cultivators, only mossbags. Mossbags didn't have Flux Roots, and thus, they are unable to refine Flux from other creatures. But that didn't meant they didn't have flux circulating in their bodies.
People with flux roots cultivated and refined Flux from other creatures, so the circulation of flux grinding to a halt was theoretically impossible. But for mossbags, who couldn't depend on themselves to stimulate the flow of their energies, having a Flux Stroke was possible-- albeit still rare. There were only a few dozen people who had Flux Strokes in this universe.
Flux Strokes always led to death. The diseased would have their consciousness blink in and out repeatedly, with no gap in their memories. Soon enough, when years pass of having the complication, the consciousness that have left wouldn't return.
While it could be prevented by having cultivators run their flux through the mossbag's body, it didn't mean it would always be effective. It was like cancer. No matter how many tips and advice there were about how to prevent it, being cancer-free for a whole lifetime wasn't guaranteed.
As for forcing the Flux circulation to resume by outside interference of flux, it never worked.
"So that's it. If there's a way to turn her into a cultivator, then I'd grab that chance no matter the cost. The reason why I invited you to my brigade is that, on the off chance someone else notices you and your strangeness, I might not be able to come to you anymore."
Darren slowly nodded, looking at the floor and waiting for the system's response.
A pleasant beep rang in his head, followed by a system announcement.
"The user's consciousness will be temporarily forced to shut down in three, two, one."
Too surprised to say anything, the end of the countdown came and made Darren's consciousness blink out of existence. However, his body in the world didn't fall asleep. Instead, Darren's eyes glowed faintly in red, his initially timid posture becoming overflowing with confidence, and his polite expression turning condescending.
"Hey there, Luck." Darren's lips moved, but the voice of a woman came out, making goosebumps flare up in waves all over Luck's skin. Ryn had taken over Darren's body temporarily.
"Who are you?" His survival alarms screaming, Luck stood up from his chair and flicked his hand near his waist, and instantly, he was holding a dagger.
"I'm the human living in this body. I'm not a god, but I'm stronger than most of them." Darren, with Ryn in control, stood up from his chair and walked towards Luck.
Luck's eyebrows furled as he muttered in gritted teeth, "Blasphemy."
"Oh, no, no. It isn't blasphemy. I'm the real deal. The gods were so afraid of me they banished me to living inside a f*cking mossbag. I mean, look at this." Ryn raised Darren;s hand up to face level and snapped with it.
The space in the room made a pleasant buzz, and instantly, all the furnitures in the room were rearranged. She snapped his fingers again, rearranging all the furnitures uniquely. Then again, again, and again, she snapped his fingers.
Space magic was something extremely hard to control, and continuously teleporting things around a small room without causing any damage could be called 'godly.' Luck knew about the difficulty of wielding space magic, but his inexperienced brain couldn't comprehend it properly yet.
"Just please, for f*ck's sake, believe me." Ryn spread his palms wide in front of him and shrugged. "I don't have much time but here's the basic gist of it. I'm trapped in this body, but I can still influence Darren using my power. When he reaches a high enough level of power, you can rest assured that I will cure your sister."
Luck hesitated with firing a question, but in the end, he did, "How can I make sure . . ?"
"Oh, you can't make sure-- I can." She leaned in towards Luck, Darren's palms planted on the table. "Luck. You still cannot imagine how powerful I am. Even in this weak form, I can completely obliterate your pitiful headquarters. All other creatures should rejoice that I had been a pacifist until the day I got trapped in this vessel. Because I could've imploded planets and played with stars."
Luck broke out in cold sweat as Darren's now red eyes seemed to peer in his soul, his grin wide and devilish.
"How long will your sister live minimum?"
". . . Less than two years."
"Plenty of time." Ryn rolled Darren's eyes and faintly shook his head. "I'll let her cultivate. Count on that. But before I tell you how exactly I will save your sister, I'll have you know that I have my conditions."