Nothing happened a few minutes ago. A pixie got angry and I got scared into saying something? No clue what you're talking about.
'Nothing happened nothing happened nothing happened.'
Self-brainwashing was a painful process.
"Phoo..."
'So that was a bust.'
It seems that I just don't know how to study. Considering that I was about to enroll in an academy where about 50% of the coursework was based on academia as opposed to practical work such as training, this was a scary thought to have.
'I need to fix that asap.'
Sadly there wasn't much I could do in that regard, for now, other than just pushing myself a bit harder every day.
'Artifacts still hold the number one priority.'
I knew that one of the artifacts was near me already, most of the academy was closed off for students until the trials were finished but from the scarce areas we were allowed to explore, I remembered one side-quest that had me going crazy for a few hours that involved the hunt of an artifact.
Under the assumption that things progress the same here as in the game's timeline, the artifact should not have been taken by anyone else yet.
I only went back to my dorms since I knew the pixie was watching over me, there were better things to do than wallow around my dorm.
Ensuring that the pixie wasn't following me anymore, I left the dorms and made my way to a signpost that depicted a large map of the available areas for trial students.
'There! Cloverfield!' I thought, having spotted my destination.
----
30 minutes and a bucket of sweat later
----
"HAA...Haaghh... hoo"
Resisting the urge to collapse, I strained my head up and looked at the valley before me.
I had foolishly run up the hill too excited to see the famous Cloverfield in real life to wait any longer, with my stamina, that was a fool's errand.
Cloverfield consisted of a deep valley filled to the brim with three leaf clovers, each sporting a stunning emerald hue that reflected the sunlight, the valley was about 40 meters in width and extended a kilometer into the horizon. Gazing at this scene, the riddle that caused me much agony burst into my mind.
< Seek a charm of leaves, not three, but one more you'll see, Luck's emblem, a clover's find, where the hills and meadows bind, What am I, at valley's death, with a rare leaf to transcend?>> Ah, the pain that comes from being dumb. The riddle was pretty much useless to me, I read it over and over again but it made little sense no matter how much I read it, I even remember reading it backward as a hail mary but as you can expect, it didn't work. When I finally found the artifact, I wanted to hop in a time machine and deck my past self in the face for being a dumbass. The key part of this riddle was hidden in its fourth line, specifically where it mentions "Valley's death". I remember thinking that this meant that the artifact was found near a dead body or something similar but it wasn't. The valley's death. The very end of the valley. That's all it meant. My character scoured the entire valley, trudging through the clovers on his knees from the start to the end not missing a single leaf in my pursuit of this artifact; somehow I had created the very worst technique to brute force this sidequest and found the four leaf clover at the very end, sticking out from the apex of the valley. 'Not this time though!' The valley was stunning to look at but my heart beat faster each second as I got closer to the artifact. This was the most excited I've been since I first laid eyes on the banquet, ignoring the small 3 leafed clovers beneath my foot, I stomped over them and hastily made my way to the end of the valley and before I knew it, I was there. I bent down, my knees touching the soft dewy clovers that lightly wet my trousers but I didn't care as my eyes were transfixed on the small leaf poking out in front of me. Its 4 leaves seemed to be beaming a welcoming shine, urging me to pluck it out. And so I did, there was no fanfare or magical phenomenon when I did so, it came out as easily as any other leaf would, the real magic would happen later. 'Right about now...' I thought, bringing the leaf to my mouth and opening it as I got closer. And then... I ate it. 'Mm... minty!' All artifacts have special ways that allow them to be bound, some require you to do enough damage to them until it surrenders itself, others need you to bleed over them, and there was even an artifact that you could only bind if it deemed you "beautiful" enough. I felt a cooling sensation overwhelm my body, a chill that somehow felt comforting hugged every atom that comprised my body. It felt amazing. No sooner did it start that the feeling went away, instead, the chill seemed to be concentrated on my left hand, growing stronger by the second. I grit my teeth and looked at the back of my left hand, a black symbol of a four-leaf clover forming as the chill grew ever strong. I toughed it out but the pain was nothing to scoff at. Eventually, the chill started to dissipate, the four-leaf clover no longer twitching and assuming a static shape. I felt the same as normal. But I knew that the change my body went through was anything but temporary. This artifact, while being one of the weakest in terms of its capabilities, was quite literally a lifesaver. Cloverbound is its name, this artifact saved me many times during my playthrough of the game, in my opinion, it was severely underrated by most other players. Cloverbound is a sensory-type artifact that detects attacks too powerful to be handled by its owner and forcefully rockets them aside, allowing me to dodge attacks that I would've been too slow to dodge or wouldn't have known about entirely. It wasn't as powerful as some other sensory-type artifacts but for a weakling like me this was a boon I wouldn't shy away from. "I can't believe I have a fucking artifact..." This whole thing seemed to get crazier by the second, me getting transported into my favourite game, gaining 3 kgs of weight in one meal, getting harassed by a pixie, and now obtaining an artifact. The reality of the situation seemed to set in more and more as time passed but I couldn't help but feel slightly giddy as I stared at the now disappearing tattoo on my hand, it would resurface when it feels that it's needed; until then my hand was reverted to its natural state. "I should probably get outta this field now...' I was a bit muddy.