I ran as I navigate where I go, there were many trees and many paths to go, there were no signs so I just used my memory from what direction I remembered the town was at and followed the path.
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It took almost all of my energy but I finally made it to the gate, The stone walls were tall and had many guards on top patrolling, there were two guards from what I saw between the gate and a weird door just beside the right guard.
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as the guard spotted me, he pointed his spear at me and asked "are you a traveler or an ex-member of our town?", with a look of confusion I simply replied "I do not remember". "very well, please go inside the room and look at the purple light" he said as he pointed his spear at the door.
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I then gone inside since I had no other choice and what was in front of me was a dead lamp, as the door closed the lamp lit up in a purple color for a few seconds after its gone out again, "Sir, You may leave the room now" the guard said. I left the room and the guard opened the gate, I asked "what was that?", "That is a mandatory for all visitors and citizen of the town to keep everything at peace, that lamp is connected to a system that stores data about people and is a common use for all continent, if you want to know more please go to the data bank and ask more information there" he said in a serious yet prideful tone, it was like an npc that gave direction to go to the next step of the tutorial, I of course headed inside and explored the town, it was massive from what I had expected, so many buildings and people there, there were beast people and elves and there were shops selling foods and potions, I was so excited but I had to get back on track and find whatever the data bank is so I asked a merchant. The merchant I approached looked to be the same age as me, he had brown hair and wore a bandana, he had green skin and a cheap sleeveless shirt with healed slash wounds showing on his arms, and in his hands he wore many gold rings with some being in the same finger and a silver dagger that he is playing around with
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I kindly asked him "Can you help me find the Data Bank"
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"Ya new here?" he said as he stabs the dagger at the wooden table
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"No, I'm just trying to get some direction" I lied, I have some suspicious this man was trying to
scam me or something bad like it
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"Cut the bullshit mate, what kinda townsman doesn't know where the Data Bank is?" he boldly said
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"Fine, I'm new here. Can you tell me where it is"
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"Yeah sure I'll give ye a map if you give me that sword of yours" he said as he opened a chest right next to him and dug through
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I looked at my weapon for a moment, wondering if the trade is worth it, accepting and declining can change the way I play, when I have a map I'll have more information from the start and it'll be much easier to navigate but the grind would be a problem especially since I don't have a substitute. While on the other hand I can decline and just roam around aimlessly but that would be a huge gamble as I can either find my way to it or just get punished for my lack of knowledge. As I think the man shouted at me "Hey"
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I looked at him, "I was just fucken with ya, here" he said as he threw me the map
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I look at the map and looked at him with suspicion, "Are you really giving me this for free?"
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"What?? Ya think this isa trick on some shit, oh I see, YA THINK ALL GOBLINS ARE GREEDY MONEY HUNGY SCAMMERS DON'T YA. RACIST ASS CUNT" he shouted in a vulgar manner with eyes look at me in disgust
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"No no no no, I was just wondering because I haven't given anything to you yet" I tried to explain
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"Yeah of course you haven't given me anything, your a fucking nobody, giving even a single one of your shit would probably be like trading your organs for a piece of bread."
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He was harsh but he was right, giving anything to him would give me a disadvantage since all of what I have seems essential to my journey and I don't know the value of what I have or could get. Even though he's not the nicest person, he is a great help.
"Thank you, I'll remember to repay you someday" I said to him as I bow
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"Nah, it's fine. You'll buy from me anyways, I'll profit out of you more than anything else" He said while chuckling, probably what he said is true though I'd buy from him but not because he's someone I owe, he just seems chill and down to earth kinda guy
"I'll be on my way now, may we meet eachother again" I said leaving with the map in hand
"See ya ley-ta play-a" he said as he drinks a round hip flask that he grabbed from under the table
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I used the map then something happened
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*🔓 New Tab UNLOCKED: Map 🔓*
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Tab... I think I remember something that guy said back in the void, something about breathing I guess? I tried breathing in and thinking about the map then a sci-fi like screen vector popped up in front of me with the map, it showed where I was and while it was kind of empty, which I'm guessing means I just need to explore more, it did show names of landmarks like "The Guild" And "Shops" And of course, "Data Bank". Using my map to navigate I had successful made it to the Data Bank but holy shit was that absolutely tiring as It was a long way and I my armor and sword was so heavy not to mention everyone looking suspicious if not terrifying as fuck. But finally I made it, what stood before me was a giant-ass Dome with probably 5 floors from the looks of it. I had gone inside and asked at the front desk, "This is the Data Bank, right?"
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"Yes, It is, How may I help you today" a child like voice said to me. What appeared before me was a someone who looked to be 13 years old with short teal hair, and with the brown outfit they wore they have a black blindfold.
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"I want to ask about the... Purple things, fuck, I forgot the name" I said out loud, I don't even think I asked about the names of the damn thing
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"If you mean the magic infused lamp that glows purple then that would be called Tokanaha. Is there any problem you have with a Tokanaha" He said it like he was reading from a script
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"No, I want to learn about the information that it has on me" I said to him
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He then pulls out a thick stick that flashed me with a purple light, I block my eyes with the back palm of my hand for protection. "Hmm.. No major criminal records, sorry if that was sudden, most people who ask for that favor are criminals that want information from them erased or have information on others" He said as he hides the flashlight-like thing. "It's alright, the execution of my request didn't really help me on my case" I said as I rubbed my eyes. "Please go to the fourth floor and go to room 607, and meet with a Ms. Pumya Hexia" The boy said as he points his hand to the elevator.
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I had gone inside and pressed the button, but at the 2nd floor it's stopped and what entered shocked me, it's was two kids who looked exactly the same and not only that, it's the same as the boy from the front desk. It took me atleast 5 minutes to process what's in front of me as I'm still even confused on the blindfold even though I just didn't ask about it to the front desk. I broke the silence and said "We'rent you in the front desk? and why is there two of you?", " Well you better get use to us" He said in a cheerful voice, "Most of the people here are just the same young clones of our creator, you would see us mostly outside helping but ever since the Iba-san incident, we could never leave this facility...without the risk of getting destroyed".
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"Iba-san Incident?" I asked
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"Well It all started when somehow one of our brothers gained consciousness, our master gave us great power and vast knowledge so that we can serve our purpose which is to help others and make our kingdom strive yet because he had free will he had the choice to not do that and be selfish, which he was. Stealing, Fighting, Blackmail, and the property damage that he inflicted. It was all to much so our creator decided it was best to just keep all of the good clones in one place while the military takes care of this rouge, our creator is hard at work as we speak as he putting his blood, sweat and tears just so that there could never be another Iba-san ever again" He answered
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"What's with the name Iba-san? if you don't mind me asking"
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"Well funnily enough it's actually not a name we made nor did our creator, his original name was Lost but now he kept insisting his new name was Yung Kakaiba or Iba-san which is what we call him, and fun fact: his name is actually in a demonic language which means "Very Different One" while "Iba" just means "Different" in our language" the happy one said
.
"His name is just Lost? I thought clones usually have like numbers and letters and stuff"
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"Our creator wants a more simple way of things, the only thing that differentiate anyone of us from each other is the tone of our voice, which relates with our names most of the time. That's usually why he's called Bubble and I'm Gray" The serious one said
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The elevator rang as the door opened "Ok then I'll make sure to remember that" I said as I left the elevator
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"No, you won't" Gray said as the of the elevator closed
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As I looked straight ahead, there was 3 paths to my right and a dead end ahead of me. I looked for the number 6 which led me to the hall at the end. I walked until I got to the number 7 which wasn't so bad. I knocked, there was no answer, I knocked again which still gave me, no answer as usual. I was ready to leave as to try the other door but then a mature voice shouted "WAIT DON'T LEAVE YOU IMPATIENT BITCH, I'M JUST FIXING SOMETHING", The door opened and a Woman with Long yet messy Magenta hair and was in front of me, she had white gloves and a yellow bow on the right side of her head, she also wore a sweater under her dress which was also magenta but darker, she had eye bugs which wasn't as large as the dude from the void but still visible enough and visible coffee stains on her clothes and papers which are just scattered around the floor. I wished I was at the wrong place because I don't trust her even with just my name
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"Hey, are you Sakuto Komori?" She asked me
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"Umm...yes." Well fuck
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"...god why is it always the Teenage boys that they send to my way" She said in a tired manner
.
"Come on in and tell me what you need" She said as she turned around and walked
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TBC