It's a calm atmosphere, sunset and the beach. Thanks to Vince we didn't have to roam in a new world without a shelter. I mean, I am a narrator with no physical existence, it's Peter who is homeless.
*PFFT*
Anyways, Vince lives right across the beach. The view is quite nice and I think I can get used to the sandy beach as well.
What I can't get used to is the fact that we need to track down a mercenary camp called wakex militia, it means I would still have to see Peter killing others. Can't get used to it.
And something else I can't get used to is the fact that Peter is shamelessly gambling right now on beach, with grannies.
"HAHA, old hag, I called it, now give me them bucks." Said Peter with utter delight of defeating a few old ladies.
"Son, you don't seem to be someone from around here, are you a tourist?" asked a grandma with sincerity.
I have been observing these old ladies playing this game, they hide a coin in one of the paper cups, and then swap all those paper cups at a really fast pace, when they stop, the player has to identify the cup that holds the coin.
I have to admit, this gambling system is pretty unique, well safer than what Peter was used to in his world.
So, naturally, Peter is winning some cash.
"Why do you care where am I from? Just give me them bucks and I will leave" said Peter.
He went close to the granny and whispered in her ear, "Yo, Ms. Wrinkles, before I reveal your secret behind this game, you better pay me what you owe me"
"Son, please think of this old lady, my little grandson will need this money for his school, I am not doing this out of malice. It is out of helplessness." Cried grandma.
She isn't lying, as tears rolled down her face and I read her intentions, she wasn't lying, not one bit. For someone like Peter who has seen society and its rulers being unfair to common man, old people and ladies, he had a lot of sympathy for such helpless people.
He doesn't show it, but I know he's the champion of working class, that's why he not only filed lawsuit against the company where his uncle worked at, he also lead hundreds of other victims who lost their loved ones to the company's toxic fumes.
"Well, if that's the case grandma, then…"
He stretched his hands towards her for a friendly handshake with a smile on his face.
"Tell your grandson to come and gamble against me to get this money back" Peter snatched the cash from her hands.
Peter walked away with a fast pace.
Hey, Peter, what the hell is wrong with you? She wasn't lying, did you really have to rip her off like that?
"Well don't gamble with strangers if in the end you are going to play the helplessness card, plenty of things to do and she decides to gamble, I am not a charity, plus I needed some cash to get a train ticket, you know to get to wakex's camp."
*SIGHS*
Have you figured out their location?
"Not exactly, but I have narrowed down those intruder's location from their G.P.S. device they had on them."
Which means it is definitely outside my radius of observation.
"Yes, so the moment we get to the city, Mr. Narrator, you will tell me the base of their operations."
That makes sense.
"There you are" appeared Vince.
"Yeah, just enjoying the sunset and beach, where were you?" asked Peter.
"I was on my way to arrange some weapons but suddenly the quest on my system updated, it says we need to take out WAKEX MILITIA, a private military company"
"Cool, I have like a day worth of lore to share"
Peter quickly summarized the events of the whole day to Vince.
"That's weird, no involvement of cops and security? Shouldn't they have like arrested you for that? I guess they're on move."
"What's cops? And who are they?" asked Peter
"Cops are like an organization of many people with power over civilians, where only a few are honest and most are like abusive authoritarians" explained Vince.
"Do they take bribes and follow your rulers around?" asked Peter.
"Kind of, few of them are honest too, that's why people still believe in them"
"Good for you guys, back in my place we didn't have a single good person in our cop equivalent." Said Peter.
"Hey, Peter, Narrator I have something to explain" said Vince.
"Well, buy me an ice-cream and I'll listen" demanded Peter.
"FAIR ENOUGH"
These two guys sat down on the bench across the ice-cream stall, when Vince began explaining.
"Just like you and your narrator, various other characters from the novels of faction of authors have recently entered our world through various ways, according to my system inbox, all of them were antagonists in their novels." Said Vince.
"Wait, I don't think, I am an antagonist? Am I narrator?"
No, Peter as far as I have known you were the protagonist.
"Exception?"
"I don't know that, what I do know is that these antagonists had attained sentience and made contacts with their respective authors through the skill called fourth wall break" said Vince.
"All of them?"
"Yes Peter, not only that, they were given free will and a passage to my world by these authors, on a condition that they need to kill the main protagonist of this world."
"Aren't you the protagonist? Wait, is Earth also the part of faction of author's novels?" asked Peter, with a suspicion lurking.
"No, I am not the protagonist, main protagonist is the person that the Authors would have chosen if they had a control of this world."
"How do they even choose?"
"My theory is that they look for the being that has the potential to stand up to them and make them the protagonist" said Vince.
"Wouldn't it harm them?"
"No, a character is only as strong as its author wants it to be and I have already told you, at the end of the story, the characters cease to exist and are consumed by these authors."
"So the faction of authors, takes the primary being from a universe with highest potential and use them as a snack?"
"Ah…well…yeah you could say that" Vince seemed disgusted while saying this.
"So, Vince, your goal is to find that protagonist before these villains and authors?"
"Yes Peter"
"How would you make that person strong enough?"
"I have a key for another system, my quest is to share it with them if I do that my system will have its first arc finished and will level up , which will make me strong enough to compare with the protagonist." Vince seemed proud to share this detail.
"Your system is way too much like a giving tree, it's suspicious" said Peter expressing his suspicions.
"Anyways so what's my role in all of this?" asked Peter.
"I don't know, you were not the part of plan, but somehow you and your narrator gained the sentience on your own and since you were not an antagonist, my quest system gave me a quest to take you along as a wild card, the quest too was called, Wild Card. I mean it's better that you are with me instead of being with villains." Said Vince with a subtle hint of relief.
"Now, I have told you everything about your bizarre scenario, it's my turn to ask the question, what's your ability?" asked Vince, he was definitely weighing his options.
Peter, you can tell him, I can guarantee he's trustworthy.
"Well, if you say so narrator"
"So, my ability is called 'Loading', first, It is categorized in 5 stages called 'CONTROL', out of which my body has activated 2, first stage can give me control over my senses and organs which is beyond any human's capability, way beyond. Second stage gives me a telepathic access to a person's skills and abilities, only if I kill them. I can choose to keep those skills or abilities for myself or reject them, I can at maximum only choose 4 abilities and in order to get a new one I must remove one of my pre-existing abilities from those 4 skillsets I previously had. If I remove one of my 4 abilities to gain a new one, then it takes me 2 months before I can add a new skill by removing another. I don't know what the other 3 stages do, I haven't achieved them through my body yet." explained Peter in as much of a detail as he could.
"Well, it will be easier to understand when I see it in action, for now, first let's track down this wakex militia" said Vince.
"Oh actually I do have a pla…"
PETER DUCK
As soon as he heard my order, he ducked quickly, a military grade knife went over his head and landed in front of him.
"That's my greeting yo"
This was said by this giant dude, with a tank top and a buzz cut, he looked like an everyday thug, only that he was all buffed up and way too tall for your average human. Behind him was his posse of young men armed with knives.
"Not lying my ass, that dude is the grandson of that gambling granny alright" said Peter pointing at the kid behind the big man.
"Is he the one who conned your gran?" said the giant ass thug.
"Yeah" replied the supposed grandson.
"Yo, you guy with red tie, I'll fuck you up for conning old ladies, ya hear me?" he said pointing fingers at Peter.
Peter picked up the knife that landed in front of him and pointed it towards the posse.
"I am about to demonstrate the art of precision persuasion"