It was late afternoon when Michelangelo Rizzo walked through the doors of his Guild. He hung the suit jacket that he had carried all the way home on a coat rack because it was too hot. He normally liked to dress in formal clothes when the weather permitted. Sweating annoyed him. On that day, he would have preferred to show up at the meeting in a short-sleeved T-shirt and Bermuda shorts, complete with flip-flops. Unfortunately, his image depended on it and he preferred not to.
'And to think it's not even summer...' He cursed the weather to himself for being inconsistent and made to walk to his office on the top floor.
"How was your trip to Rome?" A very familiar voice asked, which made him stop in his tracks and turn towards it.
"If you don't count this incomprehensible heat, everything went well. What brings you here, Albi?" She asked him in a curious tone. That day was Sunday and the Guild closed around lunchtime.
Alberto Ricci was drinking his glass of wine as he had just placed some files on the table.
"A curious thing happened... But first tell me how the meeting with the President of the Association went." His eyes focused on his friend and Guild leader Michelangelo, giving him his full attention.
"What, are you curious about what happened?" He joked.
"It's not every day that the President calls a meeting with all Guild Leaders... and I'm sure it's about that object in your hand."
Michelangelo looked in his hand at the object he was talking about.
"Come on, I'm all ears." Affirmed Alberto again.
Michelangelo was at the meeting with all the other Leaders of the Italian Guilds, sitting in a conference room large enough to hold the hundred or so people there. Everyone was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the President of the Association. An incredibly important figure, if not the most important figure of the current era, who kept Italy on its feet at the most difficult time in history: the appearance of the portals.
Thanks to his charisma and strong leadership skills, he managed to guide everyone towards a solution that would have been impossible to find in a short time. He first established the Association of Adventurers in Italy, the first in the world to welcome those who had awakened the System. Subsequently, all others took his example and founded their own national associations.
Sergio de Luca also established the International Council of Portal Keepers and Adventurers, with the acronym ICPKA, the body in which all the Presidents of the Adventurers' Associations meet to discuss world-wide problems relating to portals and everything that revolves around them.
Michelangelo admired him. Who did not admire him? A man who was able to revolutionise the world for the better, and not let the whole world go topsy-turvy. As he thought about this, a figure appeared and everyone immediately stood up in greeting.
The President of the National Association, Sergio de Luca, walked towards the conference podium in the centre of the room where the microphone was placed. He greeted the Guild leaders present there and everyone resumed their seats.
Total silence enveloped the conference room, with each of them waiting for the President to speak. It was not often that Sergio de Luca summoned Guild leaders from all over the nation.
"Honourable Leaders of the Guilds of Adventurers, I thank you for your presence. I think you all know why I have gathered you here today. The System we have been using so far to assess the level of portals is beginning to show weaknesses in its ability to measure. This has led us to look for new solutions to ensure the safety of our adventurers.
Our first solution, momentary of course, was to get the help of the Gift Clarissa Amanti, the woman who is able to know the actual value of a portal without the help of the System. I'm sure some of you recognised her value when a portal was discovered.
Unfortunately, however... Clarissa Amanti is only one person and cannot be in every portal that is discovered. Therefore, our research team has developed a prototype, this tiny object I have in my hand that I would like you all to use to evaluate Portals and see if it has any problems whatsoever. Obviously, we have already tested it together with Lady Amanti, but it seemed more appropriate for you Guild Leaders to test it as well.
I understand that you have many questions and expectations about this new tool. I want to reassure you that the National Association of Adventurers is committed to sharing further details and keeping you informed throughout the development process.
I thank each of you for your commitment and dedication to being leaders of your Adventurer Guilds. Together, we can overcome challenges and build a safer and more exciting future for all adventurers."
"Once again he has proved to be an innovator, our dear President..." Said Alberto.
"So we will be using this on all our portals from today?"
"I guess so. It was an unexpected thing, honestly. We all knew it would affect the latest Portals incidents, but no one would have thought of a new tool that would prevent them."
"That's Sergio de Luca for you. He may not have great combat power, but he has certainly been blessed with other gifts that few possess." He said in an admiring tone.
"You, rather, what are you doing here? And what are those papers?' Michelangelo asked this time. It was his turn to get answers. Alberto took the papers in his hand and looked at them.
"As I had just mentioned, a curious thing happened. It concerns a portal."
"Another accident, right?"
"That's right, but that's not the curious thing. In a level 15 portal, a level 20 Adventurer died."
"Oh my goodness... who was the enemy this time?"
"A normal level 15 boss, according to the Adventurers who came out of there." Michelangelo made a confused face.
"Then how did he die?"
"The Adventurers claim it was a mistake of distraction. They all spoke of him as a hothead, someone who found pleasure in killing monsters and doing everything himself. Others who worked with him outside of that Portal have also been asked and they all claim the same thing."
"I see... so what is the curious thing?"
"Out of curiosity I got the details of the group of Adventurers who entered that Portal and requested their files."
"Did you find anything interesting about them?" Michelangelo asked with visible interest.
"Absolutely nothing."
"What is it with you today? You keep putting me on tenterhooks by disappointing my expectations every time. Be less enigmatic and clearer."
"The fact is that out of ten Adventurers who participated in the mission, only out of them nine I have all their data here. I called the Association about this mistake, but they told me that there had been no mistake and that they had received instructions from the President not to give the data of a specific Adventurer to anyone who asked for it."
"And for what reason?"
"They didn't tell me, but I can tell you who it is."
"I've been waiting for half an hour for an answer." Said the Guild Leader, slightly annoyed.
"It's about a level 14, Samuele Rua."
"Samuele Rua... Samuele Rua... I've heard that somewhere before."
"It seems obvious to me, he was one of the Newbies whose data you were looking at a few weeks ago." Michelangelo opened his eyes wide, remembering who his friend was talking about.
'Him, seriously?! And the President forbade sending his data to anyone who asked for it..."
"Strange, isn't it? It must be someone important if the President doesn't want his data shown, like..."
'Like a Gift... No, that's impossible. Whoever possesses a Gift, awakens it along with the System. In the data I have from when he was a Probie he did not possess any Gift."
"It is impossible, you are right... but it is also impossible for the System to misjudge the danger of the Portals, and yet..."
Silence fell in the entrance hall for a few seconds.
"What do you plan to do, now that you have this new information?" Aberto asked.
"What am I supposed to do? Nothing. My curiosity about him has skyrocketed, but there is no way I can get his data from the president once he has already said no."
"Not from him, but maybe from the person concerned, yes."
"Alright, I'll be there tomorrow. Thank you!" Samuele ended the phone call with the Association telling him that he would have to attend another mission the next day.
Samuele yawned. At that moment, he was at home and had just woken up from his long sleep.
It had been just under a week since he had been on his last quest. Another quest where something had gone wrong. Samuele was beginning to lose count of every time something too unusual happened inside the portal. Moreover, two had happened in the last one. The boss coming out of his room and an Adventurer killing his teammates.
In what little time he had had to think inside the portal, he had theorised that the real boss of the mission was Claudio himself for who knows what strange reason, and the proof was that once the boss was dead, the quest was not completed and they could not escape from the portal.
But for what reason? It could be that the System recognised the boss as the greatest threat to the group of Adventurers, so perhaps the System had seen Claudio as an even greater threat than the boss himself and had changed the quest's target for that reason. It was only a guess, but it worked for Samuele.
He also wondered if something similar had happened before. He turned on the phone already in his hand and decided to do some research, but before he could type a single letter into the search engine the phone rang.
He received a call and opened his eyes slightly wide in curiosity as soon as he read the name. The call came from Sofia. She answered after a few seconds of trying to imagine why she was calling.
"Hello?"
"Hi, it's Sofia. Did you also receive the call from the Association?"
"Yes, why?"
"And did you accept?"
"Yes..."
"Perfect! We'll be together then! See you tomorrow!"
"See you... tomorrow..." Sofia ended the call even before Samuele could say goodbye.
A few seconds passed and still Samuele wondered what the hell she had.
END OF CHAPTER.
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I'M BACK FROM HELL!!!
Joking aside, it has been months (half a year if I am not mistaken) since the last publication. The reason? I lost all my files, not only of this story, but of all my (written and never published) fanfiction. I can only tell you that the words I shouted that day are unmentionable. So the reason is that I was literally fucking sick of re-writing this story. Also because I had published up to 14, but I had written 32 total chapters at the time. For months I put the writing of this novel aside and only resumed it in August, with the intention of finishing the first part of the story. And now it is finished. Bad or good, therefore, from Monday I will start publishing all the chapters I have written. That is, up to 34 (with which the first part of the story ends). On this site I can rest assured that I will never lose them again, at least xD.
Once the first part is finished, this story will go on official hiatus. I don't know if I will ever continue it. I mean, I'd really like to finish it, but by now I think those few who have followed this story from the beginning know what a fickle 'writer' I am. In any case, even if I do continue it, don't expect more new chapters right away. I plan to structure this story better. I already know what some of the nodal points of this story will be and above all I know what this story is supposed to be (the title already explains that), but I want to have at least most of the things ready before I resume serial publication.
That said, I hope you enjoy the next chapters, which I repeat will be published from Monday. I apologise for the long rant, as long as the months off, but I needed to give some explanations for everyone, readers and non-readers of this story.
See you in the next chapter!