PftA Book 2 - Chapter 30

Chapter 30 – Sharing Secrets and Little Bribes

“You know, I’m hovering between being grateful and being truly pissed at you right now,” Bell said the next morning when she exited her room. “On the one hand, you made it so I can have a real impact on saving people in the future. I now know what’s coming and can prepare, which will let me protect my loved ones. So, for that, thank you.”

I nodded once in response. Given the situation, saying ‘you’re welcome’ just didn’t feel appropriate. “And on the other hand?” I asked, holding out a plate of scrambled eggs and toast.

She took it and narrowed her eyes. “I’m not really mad about you lying by omission – you didn’t have a choice. What I am mad about is you making me lie to everyone I care about.” Bell sat heavily on one of the stools next to the counter. “How am I supposed to build a relationship with Justin if I’m hiding something like this from him?”

I took a deep breath and sat down next to her. I could totally understand where she was coming from. Keeping a secret like this wore on you.

“Be as open as you can. Let him know that you got offered a position in R&D, and there are a lot of things you aren’t allowed to talk about because you had to sign a new NDA. Knowing my brother, he will respect that. He won’t push.”

“But it’s not the same,” she lamented, wiping the wetness from her eyes. “We’re supposed to move in together. How can I do that if I’m lying to him?”

“Just be as honest as you can. Don’t hide anything unnecessary, and let him know you’ll tell him anything he wants to know as soon as the contract expires.” I wanted to reach out, but I wasn’t sure how receptive she’d be to the contact. “Don’t throw your relationship away because you literally can’t share something with him. Do you get mad when he doesn’t tell you about some of the military testing he does?”

Bell shook her head and stabbed at the eggs on her plate. “No, but that’s different.”

“Is it?” I asked leadingly. “In magnitude, maybe. But fundamentally, it’s the same thing. You can’t share the truth about what’s coming, but you can help Justin and others prepare. That’s part of the reason I started the game guide. I plan to transfer it – or a version of it, at least – to Atlas’s servers once they open to the public. That way, the information will still be available afterward.”

Bell’s eyes grew wide. “Is that why? I always wondered why you bothered with the site. It doesn’t seem like you care about it all that much, but you’re always adding a lot of new material…”

I nodded. “Most of that is Lisa.”

“Your… AI?” she asked, sucking in a breath mixed with eggs and nearly choking. After a few moments of coughing, she asked, “That’s… real?”

I grinned as I retrieved a cold bottle of water from my storage ring and handed it to her, causing her eyes to widen.

“It is. The upgrade and everything else I’ve put on the site is real. I’ve only included things that might be relevant post-apocalypse. That’s why it’s focused on magic and skills instead of quests and game secrets. Speaking of—” I removed my tablet from my ring “—you should see if you can manually learn a few spells before using up your spell allotment. You can only purchase five spells per tier through the system. Everything else has to be figured out on your own or learned manually unless you luck into finding a spell crystal.”

“That’s… awesome,” she said, her eyes focused on my ring. “Spells and spatial storage…” Bell gave me a pleading look. “You wouldn’t happen to have another storage ring, would you?”

I opened my hand to reveal the latest – and best – ring I’d crafted. Nothing I’d made had come close to the quality of what Master Kairos had given me, but I continued to craft and hold onto them to give away later. Unlike stories, there was no issue with storing items inside each other as long as the devices were stable.

Bell gave a little ‘squee’ before snatching the ring from my hand and sliding it onto her finger.

“It includes [Stasis], so you can store hot food or cold drinks and save them for later. You also don’t have to worry about materials going bad, though you’ll need special containers for some more volatile materials like Moon Flower or Angel’s Breath.”

I mentioned both herbs because they were common enough for an Intermediate-level Enchanter to encounter but were notoriously difficult to store or cultivate. The minor fluctuations in mana from storing them was often enough to destroy the viability of the finicky herbs.

“Oh my gosh, this is so amazing. I almost forgive you, just for this,” my roommate gushed.

“Almost?”

“Well, yeah. You still indirectly interfered with my relationship and put me and your brother at risk, so…” Bell shrugged.

We rode the short distance to the office together, neither saying much. I messaged Deni to let her know about the changes, but it seemed Bell had already told her about the ‘promotion.’ Deni mentioned celebrating in the Junction later that night, and I promised to be there. Even if Bell was still a little angry about my part in her early awakening, I still wanted to be there to celebrate her good fortune.

Besides, it would be weird if I didn’t go.

When we arrived at the R&D suite, Bell immediately headed to my office and let herself in, causing my brows to rise. Seeing my look of surprise, Bell smirked.

“What?” she asked innocently. “Ms. Vasilla figured I could use your workspace since you won’t be here very often. You can make it bigger anyway, right?”

It had been a while since I last expanded the space, so it was stable enough to manipulate again without too much issue. I’d done a direct expansion using spells instead of enchantments, which ultimately made the space much more pliable as long as I was the one doing the manipulation.

With a sigh, I switched from the passive to the active form of Spatial Sense and directly manipulated the space, stretching and elongating the room. I only extended it far enough to accommodate another workstation, but that was all it needed.

“Go ahead and start if you want. You can have my old workstation. I’ll go get another one,” I said before turning around to find Bell gawking at me. “What?”

Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally managed to speak. “I was being sarcastic. I didn’t think… you can’t do stuff like that in the game. How’d you—”

“Oh, I have a Space magic mentor,” I said, suddenly understanding her surprise. Direct magic like this was impossible in Atlas Online. Of course, she wouldn’t expect me to be able to do something like this without a spell. “She’s helped a lot. The game isn’t really made for training magic, apparently. If you can find someone to mentor you, I highly recommend it.”

“Is that what Rhona meant when she said you were a disciple?”

“No,” I looked away uncomfortably. “That’s something else.”

“What?”

“Nothing important—” I started before Vasilla’s voice broke in.

“Don’t lie, Emie. You don’t need your friend believing something isn’t important when it is.” My quasi-mentor stepped into the office I now shared with Bell. Looking at my roommate, Vasilla said, “Emie was selected as the personal disciple of a prestigious sect Patriarch. Her Master is Tier Ten. Ten!” she repeated, throwing up her hands. “You can’t properly appreciate the power involved, so trust me when I say he could destroy this entire planet with little effort if he felt so inclined.”

I cringed at the mental imagery. She wasn’t wrong, but she made it seem like Master Kairos was an active threat, which he wasn’t. After spending months training with the man, I felt confident he was a good person. Sure, he had an insane amount of power, and honestly… even I couldn’t properly conceptualize just how strong he was.

But that was no reason to freak out my roommate.

“He’s not so bad. He’s actually really nice,” I said in Master Kairos’s defense.

“Wow, there’s a lot to unpack there,” Bell commented with wide eyes. “So you’re the personal disciple of some crazy strong Sect Master?”

I shook my head. “He’s the Patriarch, not the Sect Master. I don’t think he’s involved in the day-to-day of the sect.”

“When—” Bell cut herself off, and a look of understanding appeared. “When you decided to join a sect in the game for, like, a week… was that when it happened? Were you researching or something?”

“Basically,” I agreed.

“Are you like the ‘Young Mistress’ of the sect now?” she asked with sparkling eyes. “Is it going to be like a cultivation novel? I tested the sects before the Hadier/Olym expansion, and it didn’t seem much like the books.”

I shook my head. “I doubt it. I’ll just be another disciple, I think?”

“No,” Vasilla interjected. “You most certainly will not. As the Patriarch’s disciple, you will not be treated as ‘just another disciple.’”

“How’d it happen, anyway?” Bell asked, not paying much attention to the older Artificer.

“When the report of my awakening was released, he saw my Time affinity and immediately came to claim me as his disciple.” Bell made a face, causing me to laugh. “It isn’t like that. Who knows what might have happened if he hadn’t found me right away?” I asked pointedly, reminding her of the threat.

“So, what’s so special about your affinity? Is it really strong?”

I nodded. “Yes. It’s… really high.”

Bell hummed, taking the hint not to press further. “How do you find out how strong your affinity is?”

I looked at Vasilla questioningly. She sighed. “I have a crystal. I’m sure it’s already recorded somewhere, but I don’t have access to such records,” she said, leading us to her office.

“Fifty-nine for Light and forty-six for Force,” Bell said a few minutes later, reading her scores off the tablet while holding a small crystal. “Is that good?”

“They are both standard-strength affinities. The fact that you have two affinities is remarkable, though I guess it’s a lot more common here on Earth for some reason,” Vasilla answered, taking back the crystal.

“You can improve them with training and Meditation,” I said. “It takes a long time, but it’s possible.”

“How long?” Bell asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m still pretty new at this,” I replied, deflecting slightly.

It took me a little while to acquire a new workstation, though my new one was just a plain desk instead of a real workstation. It was fine, though. I’d start spending most of my time working with Stella in just a couple of days, so there was no reason to demand a full workstation for my occasional efforts in R&D.

Artificer Vasilla had gotten Bell started while I was gone, so I spent the rest of the morning doing the prep work for the next few tasks Vasilla had listed to make things easier for her later. I’d messaged Elaine during my search to let her know I was in the office, so I wasn’t surprised when I got a message inviting me to lunch a short while later.

I had been hoping to get them together now that they were both awakened. They’d interacted a few times and seemed to get along well enough, so I hoped they’d connect now that they were both aware of what was coming.

It took very little coaxing to get Bell to accompany me to the ‘restricted’ cafeteria. She was eager to try it out once I mentioned they incorporated mana-infused foods into their meals.

Elaine’s eyes lit up when she saw Bell accompanying me into the cafeteria. It was still a bit early for lunch, so there weren’t many people present.  I wondered if she’d come early to avoid her former party members, but I didn’t want to jinx us by bringing them up.

I’d already warned Bell to be wary of the alphabet agents, but I really didn’t think she took me seriously.

“Oh my gosh!” Elaine gushed, rushing over and enveloping Bell in a hug. I stepped back a little to get out of the way. “I’m so glad you’re here! It’s so nice to finally have another female I can talk to!”

I wasn’t sure if it was intentional or merely representative of the makeup of the organizations, but females only made up around a quarter of Alpha and Beta Group. Consequently, only one other female had awakened in either group, and she seemed completely uninterested in developing a friendship with the lonely Airman.

“Uh, thanks. Me too,” my roommate said stiffly. I chuckled at Bell’s awkwardness. While Bell was friendly and never seemed to have a problem with physical contact, the action obviously surprised her.

“Sorry! Sorry. I get a little excited sometimes,” Elaine said, flushing slightly. “Go grab food! I’ll be over here.” She pointed back at her table.

A few minutes later, Elaine and I watched as Bell tore through her plate of food while making little noises of happiness. The food was good, but I felt like she should have already been accustomed to mana-infused food by now, especially with how often I gave it to her.

When everyone was finished eating, I cleared my throat and glanced around before telling them about Rhona’s request. Knowing it was possible – probable, even – for others to listen in, I had Elaine follow us back to our shared office before providing the details.

“Wait, why would she have you protect people who just gained access to the system?” Elaine asked in confusion. “No offense, but you’re level two…”

I shook my head and handed each of the young women a necklace. “I’m not level two, but I don’t want to be bothered by Xavier and his ilk, so I hide it. I’m not against helping others, but I have no desire to play political games or get involved with the shady garbage that you know has already started.”

“What level are you, then?” Elaine asked. Bell also seemed very interested in the question.

I sighed and contemplated whether it would be better to be honest or continue deflecting. As much as I didn’t want to share, it would be easier if they knew. At least then, they’d understand why I couldn’t party with them in rifts.

“I’m level fifteen,” I admitted before glancing at my simplified status.

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Name: Emie Mercer

Level: 15 (11006/17700)

Profession: Enchanter

Affinities: Time, Space

[Alliance Contribution Points: 792]

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Health: 200 (4/min)

Stamina: 350 (14/min)

Mana: 360 (12.5/min)

͠ ͠ ͠

Attributes

Strength – 15

Agility – 20

Vitality – 20

Intelligence – 36

Wisdom – 25

Perception – 23

Unallocated: 0

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Spells*

Skills*

͠ ͠ ͠

Splitting the experience with Robert had certainly slowed my progression, as had the limited number of Tier Two rifts. While the Antarctica rift was basically a private rift, it wasn’t feasible to delve it back-to-back, given how long it took to fully reset. We were able to get on the schedule for some of the few Tier Two rifts as well, but that still only allowed two delves per week, given the limitations on both of our schedules.

Getting stronger was important, but I was already on track to hit Tier Three before the reintegration, and there were no Tier Three rifts available to push higher. We could continue delving Tier Two rifts, but the experience penalty would severely slow any further progression. It made more sense to continue at our current pace until something changed.

If a Tier Three rift appeared, I was sure it would be in high demand anyway.

“No way!” Elaine gasped. “There is no way you’re already that high of a level in just a few months.”

“I can teleport. Most rifts have a beacon nearby,” I replied evasively, not that I needed a beacon to find rifts. That had been one of the first lessons Stella had given me.

“So you just,” Elaine waved a hand erratically, “hop around the world and delve whenever you want?”

I imagined her description and chuckled slightly. While I could, technically, do that, I didn’t want her to think too highly of my abilities.

“There are some limitations,” I hedged. “Teleporting became a lot easier once I reached Tier Two, but there are hardly any rifts for me now, and I honestly don’t have enough time to dedicate to leveling anymore. Also, instead of having almost no competition for Tier One rifts, now I have to get on waiting lists since a lot of Atlas personnel are Tier Two and want to delve.”

I spent a few minutes answering their questions after reminding Bell that I did NOT want anyone to know how long I’d had access to the system. She nearly slipped a few times but caught herself before saying too much.

“So, how long do you think it will take us to reach Tier Two?” Bell asked.