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Arthur Ishviel POV...
Opening my eyes, I'm greeted with a dingy ceiling and the stench of sewage. From my stay in the dungeon, the location is instantly recognizable as somewhere in the sewers.
My arms are covered in some bandages, another one running across the bridge of my nose.
Pierce is crouched over me, looking down at me face. He frowns slightly before standing up and turning around. He puts his hands on his hips and shouts to someone.
"The elf's awake!" He states, looking back down at me. He lowers his tone to a whisper as he walks away. "Sadly..."
Wow... he's still racist. I didn't much expect him to change, but still. Maybe he'll mature eventually... that's a big maybe. I sit up, looking around the chamber. Gram, Valory, Pierce... and a few rats.
Gram looks relative unscathed, Pierce looks pierced, Valory looks like she just escaped a landslide and the rats... are rats. Me and Pierce look the worse, being covered in the most bandage.
"I have a name, douchebag," I respond, standing up and brushing off my back. I think I've been here the longest... I'm also the strongest when it comes to base mana pool.
"What's that? Your name is douchebag?" He says, looking back at me. God, I get why Variel hit him with the chair.
"Whatever..." I mutter, not wanting to push that any further.
Seriously, I wanna make his face fist-shaped so bad. I must restrain. Why push further when it could cause fighting within the group?
"So... we all just happened to enter the same extremely remote dungeon?" I ask, crossing my arms. I might believe it if the dungeon wasn't at the bottom of a ravine.
Everyone just looks at each other like no one wants to reveal why they were here. Am... am I missing something here? What does everyone have to hide here?
"Well... I was following a trail of blood during my hike," Gram states, looking around.
"That was probably my blood..." I say with a shrug, leaning against the wall and putting my hands in my pockets.
"What happened?" Valory ask, looking over at me. She looks curious.
"Bear," I respond simply, nodding. "By the way, what sector of the sewers is this?"
"32," Pierce says, looking blankly forward. He's got bandages on most of his joints and some on his shoulder.
"Thanks."
Well, at least he seems familiar with the terrain. I'll ignore the elf hate... for now. Maybe it's because I still identify with my old life rather than my new one as a half-elf. A silence returns to the room, everyone just looking at each other.
"So does anyone have a way out or do we have to live in the fucking sewers for the rest of our lives?" Valory is the one to break the silence, questioning escape.
Before I can respond with my findings (Absence of findings), I see everyone look off to the side. What are they even looking at? It's not like there's anything there... but it's super suspicious.
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Gram POV...
Well... now I look super suspicious. Still, this is the second time.
[Total system announcement: Planned quest.]
[Find the relic and escape from Cleraster.]
[Participants present 4/3.]
[Objectives complete 1/???]
The fact that everyone here averted their gaze at the same time besides Arthur leads me to think that they're the other participants... which also means they all have systems. Also, 4 out of 3? Arthur is probably the fourth, but why is it not 4 out of 4?
It's a Mexican stand off, all of us looking at each other. Do I risk it and ask? I'm definitely the most likely one to talk about it, but what if I'm wrong?
What if it just so happens to be 3 different people and we all just flinched at once for no reason? Actually no, it sounds stupid when I put it like that.
"Hey, uhm... do you guys ever have a voice talking in your head?"
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Arthur Ishviel POV...
Looking at Gram, I become far more suspicious. It's too drastic of a topic shift to be normal. I see Sword Grandpa appear in front of me, invisible to everyone in the room.
"Don't tell them, Arthur. It will set the expectation too high," He states, walking around me.
I can see them talking with each other whilst I stare into space like a crazy person. I decide to finally join the conversation and stop acting like an NPC.
"I have a man speaking in my head," I say, looking over at Gram. "He showed up ever since I found my sword. He sometimes shows up in front of me, but he's kinda mean."
"I... that's not exactly what I meant," Gram responds. Wait, did I say something wrong?
"You weren't all that specific."
Geez, now everyone's looking at me like I'm mentally ill. I'm not mentally ill, there's just a dude in my head. I don't see how it's any different from whatever he has.
"I get that, but still," He states, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Describe specifically what you've got," Pierce butts in, crossing his arms. He looks from me to Gram, seemingly asking Gram. "As long as we're all civil, we can all cross-reference from here."
"Fine, but you say yours first," Gram responds, gesturing towards Pierce.
"No, that's dumb. You go first," He responds, deflecting back.
"And why should I?"
"Why don't we all just say it at once, okay?" Valory asks, putting her hands up as if she's fed up.
These guys definitely have systems and all I have is a shitty mental illness ghost who's taught me one thing that I can't even properly use yet! He hasn't taught me to utilize my flames at all, because I had to teach myself and it's still mediocre.
And they get systems? I'm from a different world and these teenagers get systems? That's... it's just unfair. I begin zoning out, a green sense of envy overtaking me.
If that weird feeling indicates people with systems, then the tally count is 6 people from the modern day and 4 people so far from Cleraster. My heart beats slightly faster, my mana swelling slightly.
I'm not special in comparison to these people. What makes them worthy? Why am I not worthy? Why am I still second-best despite my efforts to the point of the universe ignoring me?
Pierce is literally racist, how come he gets a system?
"Arthur?" I hear Gram call out my name, looking a little concerned towards me. "Are you okay? I've been talking to you for like 20 seconds straight."
"Oh, yeah. I'm just... I'm gonna go on a walk really fast... fresh air and all," Despite how childish I feel, I turn around and begin to exit the sewers.
I don't leave time for deliberation, making my way out relatively fast. It's all so unfair.
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