". . . Please tell me." Luck nodded and tried to stare back into Darren's glowing eyes with resolve.
"One: you cannot tell Darren about my existence. Two: you will try to accomodate to Darren to the best of your ability. Three: what I'm about to tell you, Darren himself doesn't even know. You cannot tell him anything about what we will talk about."
". . . I understand."
"Remember, Luck. I watch over this mossbag. Not a single breeze of air hits his skin without me knowing. Break my conditions . . ." Ryn slid Darren's fingers of the table, his glowing eyes pinned at Luck's, "And I will kill your sister myself."
Luck couldn't help but gulp. It was almost exactly like a deal with the devil-- but he was prepared to shake the devil's hand if it was going to save his sister.
"Please count on that."
"Oh, I will." Ryn stood straight up and looked at Luck with a condescending stare. "Now, I don't stutter, so your loss if you fail to follow what I'm going to say. No questions-- I'll make it simple for your brain."
Luck nodded, running his arm against his forehead to wipe his sweat.
"First of all, I didn't choose . . ."
As she began her explanations, she shooed Luck off his chair and sat there herself. Ryn continued explaining everything relevant about how she was going to save Luck's sister, and she ended with, "Alright. I should go."
She stood up Luck's chair and lackadaisically walked back to the chair where Darren initially sat on. "Remember, Luck, I'm always watching you."
And right after she plopped back down on the chair, Ryn let go of control over Darren's body. She instantly returned to her white room of basic furniture, now back in her original body. She wore tank tops that had an extended hem and just her underwear.
"Sh*t." She cursed, dragging herself towards the nearest couch. "Agh, sh*t."
Upon reaching the soft armrest of the couch, she let herself fall into the couch, arching her back from the slashing pain all around her insides.
"Agh!" She grunted, feeling cold all over. "Gods-damnit."
Her expression contorted badly, she began running various powers to fix herself up.
"Ahh, seriously, f*ck the laws of exchange." Ryn assumed a more comfortable position on the couch, her head resting on one of the armrests. She threw one of her arms on her forehead, and continued on fixing herself.
The laws of exchange was the magical version of the law of conservation, and its rules were extremely vague compared to the law of conservation.
The laws of exchange dealt with everything that the laws of math and science couldn't cover. Basically, the amount of energy a person needs to expend depends on how badly the person breaks the rules of the universe.
And what Ryn just did-- taking over Darren's body just like that without undergoing the rules imposed by the universe upon her-- ate more than a fourth of her total energy reserves. Such energy was enough to make the solar system turn to dust.
But expending so much energy in one go had its disadvantages-- the receding of one's age.
Ryn knew the disadvantages of her age regressing. She would keep her memories, but her personality and physique would both degrade. As such, her ability to support Darren would get a little worse. However, she really couldn't let the chance that Luck gave Darren pass.
"With this . . . Darren should be able to quickly rise into someone that wouldn't instantly die . . ." She muttered, her body proportions slowly, but surely regressing.
The regression would last a few hours, so would the pain, so she really wouldn't be able to act as Darren's systems for a while.
As such, she flicked her wrist at the air and had a hologramic keyboard appear. She then began typing, mouthing as she went, "Please wait . . . the system is updating and will be temporarily offline . . . sorry . . . for the inconvenience."
After clicking on confirm, she dismissed the keyboard and went to sleep.
♦♦♦
A pleasant beep rang in Darren's head, waking him up from his sleep in Luck's office.
▬▬▬Notice▬▬▬
Luck has been added to the whitelist. The user is now free to tell him anything about the system.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Blinking a few times in surprise, he read over the text again one more time to make sure, before dismissing the panel. But after the Notice panel vanished, a sharp beep rang in his head, prompting an attention panel to appear.
▬▬▬Attention▬▬▬
Please wait for a few hours. The system is updating and will be temporarily offline. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Estimated Time Offline: 12h
[Learn More]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Darren wanted to click on the [Learn More] button, but Luck was still in the room with him. That was when Darren remembered that he pretty much lost consciousness.
With a gasp, he sat straight up and said, "I am very sorry!"
"Sorry about what?" Luck had barely recovered from all the stress Ryn gave him, but he had at least calmed down to the point that he could easily fool an unexperienced mossbag.
"I fell asleep . . . did I not?"
Luck just sighed and stood up, before making his way around the office table to get nearer to Darren. "Stand up."
Darren quickly obeyed, "Yes, sir!"
"I used . . ." Luck began, inwardly finding it unbelievable that he was going to brew up some bullsh*t about powers, "I used a family heirloom with mind powers on you, and I have discovered about how you are doing your cultivation."
When Luck saw Darren's dreadful expression, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty, so he slowly closed his eyes and continued, sounding unfazed, "So you're using something . . . called the 'System,' right?"
As multiple things ran through Darren's mind, he suddenly remembered about how the System had just also allowed Luck to know about the system. At first, he was worried about how the hell he was going to make someone else believe that he suddenly could hear robotic voices and could see semi-opaque panels.
Darren was thinking that it was a close call, and he just got extremely lucky this time.
". . . Yes sir. That's how I cultivate."
Luck inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. The being living inside Darren talked about how he just had to tell him about how he knows of the system's existence, and prove it by making up some bullsh*t. If Darren accepted his discovery of his secret this quickly, then it meant that the being in him really did something to convince him.
Steeling his will so that he could continue acting normally, he told Darren, "Honestly speaking, the . . . system you have there is enviable. With all the . . . the skills and . . . quests."
'By the deities above, good thing I remembered some of them.' Luck cursed inwardly, before continuing, "Although, I didn't find out about a crucial piece of information."
He opened his eyes and looked at Darren with a cold gaze, making him falter. "I still don't know where you got this system."
Darren quickly threw his arms up in the air and solemnly swore, "I swear to the gods above I do not know how I got this! I just woke up one day and I could see floating things and here a voice in my head!"
Once again, Luck inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that this facade was almost done, "That's why you need to join my brigade. With your identity as a mossbag, you'll have a hard time accessing beast areas. As for me, if I want to discover a way in which my sister can also gain this 'system,' then I need you to be in my brigade. Do you understand what I'm saying here?"
"Y-Yes sir!" Darren nodded hurriedly.
Luck also nodded, quite satisfied, "By the way, we just struck a gigantic deal, so we are now on equal standing. Stop calling me sir."
In his heart, Luck didn't really mind. He was able to go so far as to making a deal with a seemingly evil-incarnate, laying down his pride for his sister was nothing. To add, he didn't really discriminate against mossbags, since the acquisition of flux roots weren't hereditary. Though he would admit, that there were times that he looked down on mossbags for being unable to surpass the limits of the human body.
"O-Okay . . . um . . ."
"You can just call me Luck."
"Is . . . Is it really okay though?"
"Yeah, it is." Luck shrugged and crossed his arms, "You should stop treating yourself as someone inferior to me. I told you that we're equals now." Luck then sighed, "Though I guess it's also my fault since I talk this way . . ."
He uncrossed his arms and tapped at Darren's shoulder, "Call me luck."
Darren gulped, unsure about what to do for a while, but he ultimately uttered a nervous reply, "G-Got it."
"That's better." Luck pressed his lips together into a thin line, before saying, "Oh, and before I introduce you to anyone else in the brigade, you should fix yourself up. The brigade's vice leader is huge skeptic. We can't afford her discovering you are a mossbag . . . Also, I have an idea about how to convince other people that your way of cultivation is just weird, but nothing too special. I don't think you'll want tons of attention for having the system."
"Y-Ye-- Yeah . . . I don't."
"Then how about this: if someone asks you about anything regarding the system, say that you made a pact with a demi-god. That way, the masses wouldn't mob you for uttering blasphemy, since it's only a demi-god."
"That does work." Darren nodded frantically, before scratching at his head, "I didn't even think of that, so . . . th-thanks."
"No problem."
"Anyway, follow me. Let's get you to look better." Luck opened the doors of his office and began walking to the left corridor, and Darren followed after him.
♦♦♦
In the air-conditioned room of the VIP lounge, there was a bald man sitting in one of the couches, and a long haired man sleeping on one of the long couches. The suddenly, the silence and peace of these two were broken.
"Mug!" A woman in her late teens shouted in the VIP lounge of the Clover HQ's top floor. She stormed into the room and directly confronted the man with a shaved head, "You stole my wallet again, didn't you?"
Her name was Ellia, and she was one of the starting members of the Clover Brigade. Her liveliness was something she always had, and it helped her hide the fox-like slyness of her personality. She was skinny, not quite well endowed, short, and had long, blonde hair.
"I won't ever try steal from you, El." Mug was seated in one of the couches in the lounge, and he just looked at Ellia with a calm expression.
Clicking her tongue, Ellia's eyes began to emit a faint yellow light, her irises turning into slits, "You always say that right after stealing from me . . ! I literally had to go all the way back here from the Tents because I had no money!"
Mug shook his head and smirked at the lady, "You should really stop gambling."
"Why should I? I'm good at it-- And don't change the topic--" She stiffened her hands as thick, dark green scales began covering her hand all the way to before her elbow, "Give. Me. Back. My. Wallet."
"Just-Just give it to her, Mug, I beg you." The sleeping person muttered, his voice slightly muffled by the blankets he had over him, "I finally fell asleep and you just had to be sooo noisy."
Mug and Ellia turned their heads towards the speaking bundle of blankets, their expressions turning to one of shame and apology. They both knew that the guy always had hard time sleeping.
"It's your fault!" Ellia undid the transformation of her hands and exclaimed in a whisper at Mug's face, before saying in a fairly audible voice, "W-We-re sorry about that Ranfel."
Mug just sighed and caressed his shaved head, before flicking his wrists. Instantly, a black, square purse was in his hands. "Here you go."
She swiped her purse off Mug and exclaimed, still in a whisper. "Finally!"
"Oh, and I ordered a shrimp pot with your money."
"What?! I swear, if you eat it all I'll kill you."
Mug glanced at the lobby window and said, "It should arrive by noon. Good luck."
Ellia just clicked her tongue and turned sharply to head out the lobby. But as she opened the door, the brigade leader was standing in front of the lobby's double doors, with another handsome man standing behind him.
"O-Oh, brigade leader." Ellia stuttered in surprise, stepping back a few times.
"Are you all the only ones in the quarters right now?" Luck glanced at Ellia, Mug, then Ranfel.
Ellia pressed her knuckles lightly on her lips before she answered, "Lyssia should be working in the workstation."
"Can you get her?"
"Got it." Ellia then went through the brigade leader and the stranger, making her way all the way down to the HQ basement, where the workstation was located.
"As for the rest . . ." Luck swept his gaze on the room again, and found that Ranfel was rising up from his cocoon of blankets, while Mug was just there, sitting with arms crossed, "We have a new member." He glanced at Darren beside him, who was now neatly dressed and had trimmed hair.
Darren pressed his lips together, subtly took a deep breath through his nose, and stepped forward.
"You can call me Darren. Pleased to meet all of you."