Chapter 23 – Ability: Master of Puppets
Lucan's eyes widened as he read his status, making an effort not to show his shock to the two girls in front of him.
[Name: Lucan
Age: 16
Gem: Ember
Color: Orange
Segment: Dissident
Element: Void
Description: You are lonely inside and out, a being of emptiness.
Abilities: [Intangibility], [Master of Puppets]
[Intangibility]: Those who inherit the Void must empty themselves; your intangibility allows you to pass through inanimate objects.
[Master of Puppets]: Your Void absorbed a powerful curse of control. In the end, the power that sought to control the Void failed, for the Void is infinite.]
What the hell does this mean? A control curse? What kind of nonsense is this? Was the diary going to try to control me? Damn it, this only gave me more questions than answers. This didn't explain anything. What does Puppet Master do? How do I even activate this thing? I don't know if it's safe… I mean, it came from a curse, right?
Luke furrowed his brow and decided to continue reading his status.
[Consumed Fragments of the Inner God 1 of 5]
Description: A gift bestowed upon the deserving one.
Fragment 1 [???]: Information temporarily unavailable.
I give up on understanding this…
Luke pressed his temples, trying to digest all this information. A million questions ran through his mind, especially about what the fragments of the Inner God meant and the fact that he possessed 1 of 5 fragments. He didn't know how he had found one fragment, let alone the other four. What intrigued him the most was the Puppet Master ability. For a moment, he was tempted to read the diary's card or even summon the diary to see if anything had changed, but he thought it best not to push his luck.
Noticing his strange expression, Alice understood that he was processing their explanations.
"Here," she returned the cards.
"They'll be very useful on our journey, especially this canteen," Anna commented.
"Yes. By the way, Anna, how did you get water during these days, and how did you manage to fill the canteen? I struggled to find anything until I found this pond and then had to improvise to purify the water," Lucan asked.
The two girls exchanged glances.
"Did you forget it's always raining in the Veil?" Anna said, laughing.
"Oh," Lucan felt like an idiot. "Right…"
"That place isn't good…" Anna looked down.
"Before your magic canteen arrived, we were using this small pond," Alice said, showing some pots.
So many pots, I wish I had found these when I was desperate to boil water.
"Anna has already seen me use it, but I'll explain it better. I'm a Transmitter... with the Element of Thunder."
A Transmitter? So she's physically strong... and with the Thunder element. Isn't that the rare element? Since it's classified separately from the others, it must not be simple to have. Damn, I wish I had the Thunder element...
"My initial ability allows me to have electricity running through my body. It's called 'Thunder Mantle.' If I touch something, I can transfer this electricity and shock it..."
Initial ability? Electricity? That's so cool... I wish I had a power like that. Can she shoot lightning? Probably not, since she's a Transmitter. Does she have an Aspect?
"That's just it... since we're all beginners here, our powers are still in their early stages, and we don't fully understand their extent or how to evolve them. So we need to work together with what little we have," she said.
Alice handed me her cards.
Alice's two cards were simple, except for her sword, which was in use and not in card form.
[Steel Shield
Description: A full shield made of steel]
[Wooden Boomerang
Description: A simple but sturdy boomerang]
Hmm... a boomerang, interesting.
Anna handed over her only card.
[Hawk Bow
Description: A lone and angry hawk decided to avenge its dead friends by making the same weapon that killed them, to hunt its enemies.
Effects: (Long-Distance Arrow), (Eagle Eye)
(Long-Distance Arrow): Your arrow travels faster over long distances without losing much altitude.
(Eagle Eye): When looking through the bow's sight, you can see much farther, like an eagle.]
"Good items, I can think of a lot of uses for it," Lucan praised.
I've never seen a boomerang in my life. Would I look foolish if I asked her to summon it? Better leave it alone...
"And your ability?" he asked.
"I'm a Dissident Healer," she said happily. "But... I'm not that good, and my power is just starting..."
"Excellent," Lucan said.
"Yes. When my parents found out about my power, everyone praised me. But it's very difficult for a healing ability to progress much," she commented.
"Don't put yourself down; you were considered one of the best students at the academy. Your power has potential, and it's rare to have someone with healing abilities," Alice remarked.
"She's right. Your power is a rare and unique talent in society. I've even encountered people with this ability. They are sought after by various nobles and automatically gain citizenship in the Oblique World. Basically, your future is guaranteed," Lucan said, complimenting her.
His mind drifted to that person.
How I studied this power back then... healing... and to think fate would put me in front of someone with this ability.
"You're right. There's a lot of pressure on people with healing abilities. I remember Mom and Dad being happy. But I basically became the future of the family."
"Can I ask you something about you students on the expedition?"
I had to change the subject. Talking about family and healing abilities... I'm not in the right headspace for that, and maybe I never will be.
They looked at him.
"Ahem!" Lucan coughed deliberately. "Sorry to say this, but I always thought you guys going on an expedition were like the best of the best, especially students on an expedition. I'm not saying anything bad, but in my mind, you were legendary warriors. At least, that's what I heard from where I came from."
Lucan forced a laugh, trying to pry out some information.
"I knew everyone thought that!" Anna said enthusiastically. "My friends from my old school thought the same thing."
Good to have someone talkative in the group; Miss Thunder here isn't much of a conversationalist.
"It's the way the kingdom propagates things," Alice commented. "We weren't on some legendary expedition to defeat powerful beings, monstrosities, and gigantic bosses... it was a school trip."
A school trip? A trip?
"Like a visit to ancient museums?" he asked incredulously.
"Exactly," Anna said. "The best students from the Earth Academy got a trip to see how an expedition in the Oblique World works up close. It wasn't hard or anything. Basically, we walked around with teachers and novice soldiers. The teachers would walk with us through ruins, telling stories and showing materials found in excavations. We also learned a bit about the culture of the ruins, the customs of the people, language, geography, and even saw some monster corpses to note their biology. I bet it was nothing like what the kingdom propagated. We were there for a field trip, and there was supposed to be a test based on what we learned there."
Holy shit... they're just ordinary teenagers...
"Wait, but Alice mentioned you fought bosses."
"Oh, about that," she looked aside, embarrassed. "The students with the highest combat scores were given the opportunity to help fight a boss, but... it wasn't very powerful. While the veteran warriors subdued the monster, we had the chance to fight it a bit in a controlled environment."
"I see, that explains why you don't have a bunch of powerful cards."
Assuming what they told me is true. Because just as I hid the diary, they could also be hiding other cards, and there's no way to prove it.
"But Alice is excellent in combat; she always topped the academy. She was our Valkyrie Princess."
"Hey! I don't like being called that!!"
Anna laughed, and Alice looked a bit embarrassed.
My instincts tell me she's good. She surprised me twice, the first time while I was sleeping and the second when I was intercepted by the archer... she approached me without me noticing. That requires rigorous training to hide her presence and suppress her noises, or maybe she's just that fast because she's a Transmitter?
"This really helps me understand the gravity of the situation you students are in."
"Yes!" Anna nodded. "I'm lucky my parents spent a small fortune gifting me the bow card because all our items were provided by the academy on the expedition. The given equipment wasn't cards; they were normal equipment and were collected by the academy's teachers afterward. Everything was going fine, but when I went to the Bonfire to return, I ended up being teleported to this place. I'm glad... I'm not alone."
She uses a bow; does she shoot regular arrows, or perhaps she has an Emissive Aspect?
"We'll need to work hard to organize and prepare. We need to know each other's capabilities. The wolf in the cave will last a few more days, and combined with the smaller wolves Luke killed, we have enough food for at least ten days. I sincerely hope a search team shows up before we need to hunt or, worse, before we have to prepare to go to the Veil," Alice said.
While listening to that, a thought crossed his mind.
What the hell is this Veil?