Next Morning. University main gate.
A luxury car stood in wait.
Jareth sat in his car and ordered the driver towards the 'Romono market'.
While the car was on its way, Jareth contemplated in his mind.
'I thought that getting involved in the meeting event yesterday would earn me some CP but it seems it's not that easy after all, I need to do some major things… just scaring off someone's pet won't earn me CP….'
Yesterday's pet event was one of the few random events that the protagonist triggers during the start of the game.
This event helps the protagonist get recognized by the principal for the first time.
Whenever future events happen that involve the principal, the protagonist would be able to shine in his eyes like a bright star illuminating the night sky and would easily impress the principal from then on.
Jareth thought that if he got involved in this event too, he might earn some extra CP but since he didn't do anything major yesterday, he didn't earn anything at all.
(He can only earn CP when he changes the plotline somehow…)
'Such a headache…. I should have killed that animal yesterday… what a shame, sigh~'
…
After half an hour of a relaxed journey, the car finally stopped in front of a crowded market street.
A huge number of people were gathered in this area and the street was as lively as ever.
'This brings back memories… I used to loot all the stores in this market area in the game… well I can't do that now though… it's real life now….'
Jareth shook his head and stopped his 'gamer' urge to loot the NPC houses.
He got out of the car and ordered the Driver in a cold voice.
"You stay here; I will come back in half an hour…"
"Understood!"
This luxury car and driver are provided by the university itself. All professors have a personal car and driver given the moment they join as a professor.
'Ivan University' is the most famous and wealthy university of the human empire after all. It gives the highest level of benefits to its staff members and all the students studying at this university.
The original Jareth also liked to use this car to travel around whenever the need arose for it, and now he is doing the same.
…
With a cold look on his face, Jareth walked towards a nearby dark alleyway.
'I am here to steal a hidden piece from the protagonist's hand today…'
'It's not a major artifact for the protagonist… but for a weak person like me… it's like a blessing given by the god himself…'
Jareth shook his head and entered the alley hurriedly.
'Why do all these cheat items have to be located in these shady places… tch! The developers of this game are really lacking in originality…'
'If it were me, I would have placed the cheat items right in front of this market so that my character could get it easily…. But I guess that would have degraded the worth of that artifact….'
While playing that game, Jareth had to properly look at each nook and cranny in case he missed some hidden items that were supposed to make his character much stronger.
But since Jareth always played the game at 'hardcore' difficulty, he rarely ever found some loot. All that he found was some random 'moss' or 'stones'.
'Why do games do us so dirty with that miserable moss has always been a strange thing… like why do we even need that thing, The character can't even eat that thing…'
'This game didn't have the food or fatigue feature, yet there was moss all over the loot boxes… the only question in my mind at that time was, 'What this thing even is for!?'… Those were some interesting moments…'
While walking to his destination, Jareth continued to remember old memories of this game and how he was so excited when he found some better loot.
'I used to smile like an idiot whenever I got something other than that pitiful moss…'
…
After walking for a while, Jareth stopped in front of a small shop. Jareth raised his head and glanced at the shop's name and sure enough, 'Donna's magic books' was written on the entrance.
Jareth raised his hand and knocked on the small metal door lightly.
There was no response.
Seeing this Jareth wasn't surprised at all.
'It's this cliché plot of telling some edgy password to get in…'
Without wasting time in contemplating, Jareth said in a calm tone.
"To the stars and beyond, may Donna reach the heavens!"
*Clink*
At Jareth's words, a lock opening sound resounded.
Jareth pushed the door open and entered the shop easily.
'Originally a game mechanism, but now that I am in this real world, this password-asking door is just a magic item with a grade-3 magic circle embedded in it…'
'Even if you don't know the password, any grade-3 or above grade mage could easily break the magic circle and enter this shop without any problems…'
He had original Jareth's memory now, so he knew that this door was the result of barrier magic, nothing special.
"Hoho, it's quite rare for customers to appear in my desolated shop; moreover, you look like someone strong too…"
A Half-broken statue of a young girl sat at the counter and said in a robotic tone.
'Hhmm, so this is how Donna looks like in real life… the game had bad graphic design, but I guess things are extremely detailed in real life huh…'
"You are?"
Although Jareth already knew the identity of this statue, he pretended to not know about it.
Hearing Jareth's question, the statue's right hand pointed towards its head and a robotic voice resounded throughout the shop.
"I am Donna! I am the manager of this shop! The owner of the shop is still sleeping so please make sure you don't make any unnecessary loud noises… Master doesn't like to be disturbed in sleep…"
Listening to Donna's answer, Jareth nodded his head and replied in a calm tone.
"Okay, I will keep it in mind…"
'It's pointless; the owner is already dead after all…'
Donna was just a statue; after all, she didn't know that its owner had already died long ago in his sleep. Even his body has long since rotten away; only a skeleton sits on the chair of the owner now.
'This world is filled with sad tales… there's no helping it….'
Jareth knew the whole story behind this shop; the owner of the shop was an old grade-3 mage, who had no children. He lived his last days alone in this closed shop.
Donna was a statue that he created to survive those lonely days. He thought of Donna as his granddaughter. Donna has been doing her duty ever since the day she was created.
It's just she can't understand that her owner is already dead.
…
Jareth shook his head and stopped thinking about this all, He went towards the cabinet that had many books decorated on its shelves.
He reached out towards an old book placed on the lowest shelf. Its Book was covered in dust and looked extremely old at first glance. Its pages had all turned yellow by now.
'Here you are...'
…
…
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here! It seems the game that Jareth played had some sad lore hidden in its deepest corners… This is just the beginning of this journey though, who knows what else we may find…
Question of the day.
Do you also hate it when the games don't give you enough loot?
1. Yes
2. No
3. Others (Tell me in the comments.)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones and also leave a review if you like the story. Comment your opinion about the chapter. Your support is my motivation.