In a research institute, where different people in black could be seen holding weapons, another group of people were in a different location and some of them smiled as they looked at the bodies on the floor.
"I guess they're not all too strong." Justin commented
"Of course, they're not. These idiots only always use their brains, never bothering to train their physical abilities. Being smart is good, but intelligence without power is pure stupidity. Look where it got them to." Suzie replied as she stared at their lifeless bodies on the floor.
"Search this place! The job was to kill these people and now that we've done it, nothing is stopping us from keeping the loot." Derolo ordered and they got to business immediately.
"Uh, guys…I think I see something." Justin called out and the group moved towards him.
Behold, there was a wooden box that looked to be locked. It had strange design patterns on it,some of the designs were in animal forms, wolves, foxes,bears and dragons.
"Can you open it, Suzie?"
Suzie bent and picked the lock so she could inspect.
"It looks really old and these types of locks aren't or they haven't been in use for the longest time."
"So, you can't open them?" Derolo asked, a little frustrated.
She raised her head up to him and smirked. "Now, I won't be the greatest pickpocket if I let something as trivial as locks stop me."
Derolo smiled.
"Give me a little time." She said and brought out some pins from her hair.
Justin opened his eyes when he saw the amount of pins she kept in her hair.
"Isn't that dangerous? Like what if they got through her skull? How many pins does she even keep there?" He wondered aloud when she changed the pin in her hands because they didn't work.
They all watched in silence as she tried to open the lock. And when they felt like she couldn't open it, she looked up with a smile.
"I opened it…"
She carried the box and placed it on a table so they could see without needing to bend.
Inside the box, stones or rather gems were neatly placed. Their eyes began to shine as soon as they saw the gems.
"We can keep this right?" George asked, unable to take his eyes away.
The gems seemed to be having a pulling effect and they found it hard to look away from them. Slowly, they picked up one gem. There were five gems there in total with different colours.
Suzie picked up the silver colored gem. "It's my favorite colour!!" She exclaimed.
George went for the blue colored gem and looked at it like it was his baby.
Justin picked the red gem since he naturally liked red.
Derolo took the purple gem and attempted taking the black gem but as soon as he put his hands on it, he was pushed back and he hit his back against a wall.
He stood immediately and walked forward so he could take it again but when he saw the gem,he could also see a force field around it. Something that wasn't there before.
He looked at the others to see if they would notice it but they weren't even looking at him as they were too focused on the gems in their hands.
Derolo was left to himself and even when he tried asking them questions, they didn't give him a reply or more like they weren't hearing him speak.
"What the hell is going on?" He questioned but he knew he could get no answers until…
[Congratulations! You have acquired the shadow stone! It has deemed you worthy to be its master!]
[Do you accept? Yes/No]
[If you do not accept, you will lose any connection you have to the stone and you will forget about the existence but if you accept, the shadow stone will be with you till death]
Derolo almost screamed when he saw the screen that suddenly appeared in front of him but he was quick to calm himself. He reread the contents on his screen.
"Shadow stone? What the hell is that?"
The purple gem in his hand rattled like it was trying to let him know that it was the shadow stone.
He raised the stone and inspected it further, and he could see a purplish substance inside. It was constantly twirling and looked to be alive.
"So, I can decide whether to accept this stone or not. But if I don't accept, I will lose any memory of it and on the other hand, if I accept, it will be stuck with me until I die."
He kept quiet for a while before speaking again.
"Normally, I wouldn't accept it because I do not know what it is and what it does. For all I know, it could be a prank or an invention of these godforsaken people. But, I can feel something. Power. If I accept it, I know for sure that I will get stronger. And if I get stronger, I can finally stop doing puny jobs like this."
He looked around and noticed that all of them were focused on the stone in their hands.
"If my guess is correct, then they must be going through the same thing as me." He said to himself.
He was about to pick the Yes option but hesitated at the last minute as doubts began to creep into his mind.
What if the people on the bright side did actually plant all this so they could experiment on people of their kind? He remembered Suzie saying these people were smart and he couldn't help but think that they planned it. The gems looked precious, only a foolish person would keep it an open area.
His eyes caught the box and he discovered something. The lock that Suzie had opened was locked again.
This led him to an hurried conclusion and he selected Yes. They hadn't left it in the open because they planned all this but rather they had left it because they wanted to open it. He and his people just happened to walk into the process.
"There's something going on here.." Derolo muttered as he stared at the screen in front of him.
[Congratulations! You have acquired the Shadow System!]