As the coin spun through the air, Kalisto held his breath. The room felt heavy, as though every flicker of the candlelight had stilled, watching the outcome with him.
Tension gripped him, his fingers twitching slightly by his sides.
Across the table, the hooded figure seemed unfazed. Unlike Kalisto's nervous demeanor, the figure radiated calmness, leaning back slightly as if the result didn't matter at all.
The coin hit the table with a sharp clink before spinning in a lazy circle. Finally, it settled flat.
Tails.
The sound of the coin coming to rest echoed faintly in the still room. Kalisto let out a long breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"I won…" he muttered under his breath, feeling the weight on his chest ease. A small, triumphant smile spread across his face.
For a moment, doubts had gnawed at him. Was the game rigged? Would the hooded figure simply cheat him out of whatever the stakes truly were? But now, seeing the outcome in his favor, relief flooded his system.
A glowing prompt appeared before him, its light soft but commanding:
[Congratulations! You have won the task!]
[The System asks the Reality Master to fulfill his duties as the task-bearer.]
Kalisto's eyes darted toward the hooded figure, whose posture remained unbothered. Slowly, the figure picked up a silver coin from the table and rolled it between gloved fingers. A long sigh escaped him, breaking the silence.
"How disappointing," the figure said in a smooth, almost melodic tone. "I was quite looking forward to gaining something valuable today."
He paused, the flickering light casting shifting shadows on the hood that concealed his face.
"I've been bored these past few days. Some entertainment would've been nice."
Despite the playful tone, Kalisto couldn't help but notice a faint edge of genuine disappointment in his voice.
"I hope you honor your words... Mr… uhm…" Kalisto began, hesitating. He wanted assurance, but he didn't know how to address the figure before him.
The hooded man chuckled softly, the sound echoing lightly in the confined space.
"I have no name yet, so I'm afraid I can't help you finish that thought," he said, the teasing lilt in his voice oddly comforting. "But don't worry. In time, you'll understand why we've met today. Perhaps then, you'll know what to call me."
Kalisto frowned slightly, the cryptic reply weighing heavily on his mind.
A prophecy? he wondered.
Unease prickled at the back of his neck. The figure's words felt significant, as though they carried the weight of something far greater than he could grasp.
Before Kalisto could speak, the hooded figure ceased twirling the silver coin in his hand. With a quick flick of his wrist, the coin shot through the air.
Instinctively, Kalisto caught it. He stared at the coin in his palm, its surface cool and smooth, glinting faintly in the dim light.
"To win against the Spirit blessed with good luck—that's quite the accomplishment," the hooded figure said, his voice carrying a strange mix of amusement and sincerity.
He laughed softly, the sound light and unburdened. "In any case, a deal's a deal. I honor my words, as promised."
The glowing system prompt appeared again before Kalisto, its text steady and clear:
[Would you like to become a Reality Walker under the Spirit with Good Luck?]
Kalisto's eyes flicked between the coin in his hand, the hooded figure, and the system's prompt. The air around him felt charged, as if the weight of this moment stretched far beyond the confines of this small, dim room.
"Finally... an opportunity to change my daughter's life."
Kalisto's heart raced as he stood in the quiet room, the weight of his decision settling in. Without hesitation, he accepted the system prompt that had appeared in front of him. A long notification blinked into existence, its contents clear and cold.
[User Profile]
Name: Kalisto Owen
Occupation: Reality Walker
Reality Master: The Spirit with Good Luck
Rank: Supporter
Abilities
[Coin Luck Accumulation] (Memory Lower-tier)
Doing good deeds with a coin in your hand allows you to accumulate Good luck inside the coin.
Kalisto stared at the notification, his eyes narrowing as he processed the information.
'Not a combat ability...'
There was a fleeting sense of disappointment, his mind initially searching for something that could help him protect his daughter, something more tangible. But as the weight of the ability's true nature sank in, his lips curled into a smile. Endless potential.
The excitement bubbled up within him. I don't need combat to change our lives. I can still win. I can still provide.
He could use this. The possibilities danced before his eyes—he could go to casinos, enter lotteries, or gamble in places where luck reigned supreme. With [Coin Luck Accumulation], winning was almost guaranteed. And even when he lost, the stakes wouldn't be high. The worst case was a minor setback.
His mind raced, imagining the fortune that could build. 'This is it. This is how I can secure a future for her. We'll be free.'
But before he could fall too deep into his fantasies, he snapped back to reality, the smile fading slightly. He knew how these things worked. Nothing came without a cost, especially not from a Reality Master.
He pushed aside the daydreams and put on a more serious face, looking up at the hooded figure before him. 'Seeing as to how quirky this Reality Master's personality is, he'll definitely want something in return...'
After a moment of quiet contemplation, Kalisto's gaze sharpened as he asked the crucial question.
"Mr... uh, I mean, is there anything else you'd like as an exchange?" His voice held a trace of hesitation, the unease growing as he waited for an answer.
The hooded figure didn't respond immediately, remaining still and silent for several moments. Then, with a tilt of its head, it regarded Kalisto, its eyes hidden behind the shadow of the hood. It almost seemed as though the figure was amused, like it could see right through him.
"Didn't I tell you already?" The voice was rich, yet lightly mocking. "You're free to do anything you want. I will not bind you, Kalisto."
The figure's voice softened with a strange warmth, almost as if it were reassuring Kalisto, though the underlying tone was anything but comforting. "I honor my words, after all."
Kalisto swallowed, but the uncertainty in his mind didn't quite dissipate. This can't be it. There's always a catch.
The figure chuckled, a sound like rustling leaves, its tone knowing and playful. "Don't worry. The power of fortune has its own price…"
Kalisto's breath caught. There it was. The unmistakable hint that this was far from a one-way transaction. His fists clenched at his sides, but he stood silent, waiting for the inevitable.
The figure extended its hand slowly, and Kalisto's gaze followed. The hooded figure's movements were deliberate, as though drawing out the suspense. It reached toward a single candle flickering nearby.
The figure's hand hovered near the candle's light, and Kalisto's breath caught in his throat, the flickering light casting an eerie shadow in the space between them. As its fingers brushed against the flame, the figure pinched it out with a single, almost delicate motion. The sudden sizzle of the flame dying sent a chill through the room.
The figure's voice dropped to a whisper, its words now laden with a subtle but undeniable threat. "And once that price comes to settle and asks you to pay…"
It paused, the flickering candlelight now extinguished, and Kalisto felt the oppressive weight of the figure's gaze, as though the shadows themselves were pressing in on him.
"...You'll eventually come to need me again."
The room seemed to shudder around him, and suddenly, everything shifted. The walls blurred and twisted, the shapes of the space warping like liquid. Kalisto's stomach lurched as reality itself seemed to buckle beneath him.
He tried to move, but his legs were frozen, his body unwilling to obey. Darkness closed in on all sides, and the figure's chilling voice lingered in the air, like the last echo of a fading nightmare.
"See you soon, Kalisto." The words hung in the air, a promise—or perhaps a warning.
With a sharp jolt, Kalisto was thrust into the blackness, the environment warping further, disintegrating entirely around him. His senses swam in a sea of confusion, his mind struggling to process the sudden loss of form and function.
Then, without any further warning, the disorienting swirl of the Fractured Reality ceased, and he was cast back into his own world.
[You have been forced out of the Fractured Reality.]
...
[Title: Spirit with Good Luck]
Fractured Reality: Temple with Good Luck
Rank: Memory (lower-tier)
Abilities
[Coin of Fortune]
Allows the user to create a coin imbued with tiny amounts of good luck. Anyone who wields it will find themselves a little luckier than before.
Believer Count: 1
Authority Held
Fortune: Memory-level (lower-tier)
'Finally, a believer... Although I can't tell if I should be proud of just having one...'
Ivaim exhaled deeply, the weight of the moment settling over him. One believer, he thought, his voice in his head sounding half amused and half frustrated.
It's a start, but hardly impressive. I'll take it, though. At least it's not zero.
His thoughts drifted back to when Kalisto first walked into the temple. Ivaim hadn't been prepared for it—he hadn't been sure what he was expecting, but the reality had caught him off guard.
He hadn't known how to approach Kalisto, or even how to convince him to become a believer. He barely knew anything about Kalisto's life, his motivations, or his true character.
It had all seemed so… random.
Ivaim's mind wandered as he replayed the conversation. He had needed something to spark Kalisto's interest, something that would guide him toward becoming a part of his temple.
So, naturally, his thoughts had turned to the coin-flip trick from his past life. It was a simple sleight-of-hand magic trick, one that involved tilting the hand at the right angle and flicking the coin at the right moment.
With the right touch, the outcome could be manipulated. A lower angle, and heads would appear. A higher angle, and tails would show.
To add to the mystique, Ivaim had fashioned his persona as a robed, hooded figure—shrouded in mystery, his intentions unclear. It was all about setting the right atmosphere.
He had learned that sometimes, a little vagueness, a little ambiguity, could do wonders for convincing someone to believe in something that seemed unexplainable.
He had asked Kalisto vague, open-ended questions, carefully watching his responses. Each answer was a clue, a small piece of the puzzle, that would help him decide whether or not Kalisto would be worthy of being his believer.
If Kalisto had been negative, aggressive, or simply unpleasant, Ivaim would have tilted the coin lower. A loss for Kalisto, a gain for Ivaim—he would've gotten some valuable items, perhaps even a bit of leverage over him.
But Kalisto had not been like that. His answers had been open, calm, even thoughtful in a way that had pleased Ivaim. There was something about him, a quality that resonated well with the kind of believer Ivaim wanted.
So I let him win, Ivaim mused. Maybe I misjudged him. Maybe he's better than I thought.
[Believer count is no longer zero]
[Body is delaying self-destruction...]
[Warning! Current state is still unstable!]
'I need more believers, huh?' The notifications continued to blare inside Ivaim's mind. He clenched his teeth, frustration mounting.
'Who else am I supposed to scam— I mean, convince to join my temple…'
The pressure of the system's ominous alerts, the threat of his own instability, gnawed at Ivaim. He glanced around the room, his thoughts spinning faster now.
'One believer is a start, sure, but I can't afford to stop here. This temple's not going to sustain itself with just one person. I need more. I need a plan. And I need it fast.'
He sank deeper into thought, his mind a whirlwind of possibilities. What if he tried to charm others with his luck-based abilities? Or maybe he could leverage his mysterious powers to draw in those desperate for change, for fortune. He could manipulate, convince, and bend people's desires to his will.
A small smile tugged at the corner of Ivaim's lips as he began to formulate his next move.
'This isn't just about luck—it's about control. I have something they want. I just need to find the right people, the right targets.'
Ivaim let out a soft sigh, steeling himself for the challenge ahead. His temple might be in its infancy, but with the right believers, he could turn it into something much more. The system's warnings would fade with time, but for now, the pressure was a constant reminder that he needed to act quickly.
He needed more believers. And he wasn't about to fail now.
With a snap of his fingers, he rose from where he sat, his thoughts already racing toward the next phase of his plan.
"Time to start looking for more," he muttered under his breath.
And as his figure disappeared into the shifting corridors of the temple, a quiet resolve settled within him.
...
At the same time, that night, Williams sat alone in the living room of his household, idly fiddling with an odd-shaped button in his hands. A faint smile tugged at his lips, but the exact nature of his thoughts remained hidden, shrouded in mystery.
Despite his calm demeanor, a sense of frustration lingered in him. He had tried—and failed—to follow the Walkers of the Minotaur of Chivalry.
He had glimpsed fragments of the future with the peculiar button he held, but despite this strange advantage, he lost track of them as he trailed behind, unable to keep up with their movements in secret.
This, however, was not the first time he had tried.
'I wonder where that Justine guy went...'
The thought lingered in his mind. Williams had always been puzzled by the disappearance of the student from their school. When he first encountered Justine, he had been struck by the young man's amiable personality.
Instinctively, Williams had considered him a perfect pawn, someone he could use to further his own plans—someone he could sacrifice during their mission to take down the Walkers.
If Justine had agreed to Williams's offer to join them, he would have quickly become the scapegoat—someone to take all the blame for whatever went wrong. But fate had other plans. Justine disappeared before Williams could even hear his response.
Williams was about to dive deeper into these unsettling thoughts when a voice suddenly interrupted his musings.
"Williams, have you seen the local news online? You need to look at this!"
It was Nolan, standing beside him, holding up his phone and showing a photo of a news report. The headline was chilling: Dead Body Found near Local School.
Williams frowned, his eyes narrowing as he studied the image of the body. "Is that someone from our school? Doesn't look familiar… Do you know him?"
"No..." Nolan replied, a puzzled look on his face. "But it's... quite odd."
Williams's curiosity deepened. "What's odd?"
Nolan hesitated for a moment, his brow furrowing as if considering how much to say. Finally, he spoke, his voice quieter than before.
"The student's name..."
Williams leaned in, feeling a shift in the atmosphere. "What about it?"
Nolan's voice dropped to a near whisper. "It's Justine."