Langa's body was tense, and he stood in his fighting stance, ready to strike as three people entered the tunnel: one halfkin and two goblinkin. The halfkin had her two shooters raised, her eyes scanning the surroundings sharply, while the other two flanked her and looked around alertly.

"Di Etta?" Langa asked in confusion as he saw that the newcomers were Di Etta and the two sisters. He put away the orb.

Before she replied, Di Etta holstered her shooters, ran towards him, and threw herself into his arms. “Langa! You're okay!" she said, breathing in relief as he held her.

“Um…” Langa cautiously placed a hand on her lower back, still confused. “I’m fine, but what are you guys doing here?”

Gertina rolled her eyes, her staff still in her hand. “We never even left. Someone suggested that we should hover above the void veil and wait, just in case you changed your mind and decided not to go in.”

Di Etta finally untangled herself from Langa as Gria went to check on the only body left in the tunnel, the eaglekin. He was still alive, just unconscious.

“You came back for me?” Langa asked in surprise. He wasn't used to people doing things for him for free, let alone people he only met earlier today.

Di Etta stepped back and bit her nails, “I was about to go when I realised you weren't coming down, really, but then the void veil went down, and we decided to contact the Federation Police and come down to the village. We didn't know where you were," she paused. "But then I felt the karma pressure of a Tier 2 player. I figured you might be in trouble, so we ran here as fast as possible. Where are they?”

“Gone,” Gria said, examining where Perinda had been standing before. “There’s barely a trace of him left to track. Was he some rogue class?”

“An assassin,” Langa answered, and turned back to Di Etta and Gertina. "He tried to take this skill book from me. According to the Guardians, it's a C-rank skill that Fidser found in the mine."

"You really shouldn't go around broadcasting that you have a brand new skill like that," Di Ette admonished him, but all three girls looked interested, "What kind of a skill is it?"

"I haven't checked," Langa said, shrinking Tonare and putting it back in the sheath before placing it on the slot in his belt.

Di Etta looked at him expectantly, and he rolled his eyes, opening the skill book.

 

[Skill: Lucent Enchanting

Active skill

Skill Rank: C

Skill description:

You gain the knowledge required to disenchant and imbue any non-living items containing lucents with glyphs, runes, auink and threads to give them diverse abilities.

Raise the skill level to gain more abilities.

Cost: 50 mana (Base)

Cool-down: 100 seconds.]

 

"Ew, it's a crafting skill," Langa said, closing the book in disappointment. It had been too much to hope for a self-healing skill from a mine. It made sense that since it was a lucent stone mine, the skill should be related to lucent stones or crystals. He never liked crafting games when he played with Khaya, he'd always preferred killing stuff.

Gria raised her eyebrows. "What kind?"

"Enchanting," he said, placing it in his inventory. He would have to ask Jandri to sell it for him. He did not want to put it up for auction, otherwise, unsavoury guys like Perinda would start hunting him to steal the skill.

"That's weird, normal enchanting skills are usually D-rank. There must be something different about it," Di Etta pressed, but Langa only shrugged, he had more important things to do than worry about a skill that he was not interested in.

He wanted to ask why the girls had come back for him—did they want something from him? Before he could, however, Gertina started to walk towards him.

“Who are you, really?” Gertina asked, and she watched him suspiciously. She had not put away her staff yet. “We saw the mess you made outside. I mean, sure, they were all below level 10, but I'm sure that the voidents here were at a higher level than you. Are you really a newbie?”

He supposed that her caution was valid, so he decided to tell them the truth. “I'm sure you scanned me before, so you know my name. You'll find my name on the tutorial batch #4 leaderboard.”

She lowered her staff and opened her comcer interface. A second later, her mouth hung open in surprise. Then she looked up and glared at Di Etta. She punched her lightly on the shoulder. “You made us abandon the Magistrate's quest because you were worried about the fucking fourth place in batch 4’s leaderboard? Are you kidding me?”

Di Etta blinked as the words registered in her mind. She glanced at Langa. “Fourth place?” she asked in disbelief, and opened her own comcer interface. “Oh my gods, it's true! Wow, you're awesome, Langa!”

She seemed impressed with him, and while it was nice to be praised, Langa still wasn't sure if he deserved that fourth-place ranking. Although he knew that he should be more confident since this battle had also proven his strength, he still felt like he needed a lot more training and experience, especially in combat.

"Thanks," Langa said, but he was still curious. “Why did you come back for me? It's not like we are friends; we literally just met today.”

She pouted and gave him an indignant look. “What do you mean, why? You saved me, and you bought me purblans.”

“But that was-” payment for the ride. That was it? He was sure that Gria could have saved Di Etta earlier, so he was putting aside the fact that he saved her. Had she abandoned a quest to come to rescue him just because he gave her the money to buy some fruits? With a start, Langa realised that that was probably what he'd sounded like to Perinda too.

It made him think that Di Etta had a good heart, so she must be a good person. She was only level 17, but would she really have fought against a Tier 2 player to protect him?

“Don't think about it too hard. She's always like this, too damn soft,” Gria said with her ear to the wall of the tunnel. She listened for a moment with her eyes closed. “The Federation Police are on their way here. I think they took down the red NPCs in the mine. I'm sure they'll be happy to show gratitude and appreciation for the village’s hero, who took down the void veil and defeated two voidents.”

That thought just made Langa shudder. He never knew how to respond to people showing him gratitude, and it made him want to shrink away from it. Besides, there was no way that a cursed person like him could become anyone’s hero.

“I'm not interested. Are you guys going back to the city? I'm hungry,” Langa said, anxiously wanting to get out of there before the Federation Police arrived.

The three of them gave him surprised glances, “You’re not going to check on the village?” Di Etta asked. “I’m sure they'll give you a reward for saving them.”

But Langa shook his head. “I already took my reward,” he said, thinking about the lucent stones he'd taken from the goblinkin. “Come on, I’ll buy you guys dinner and some drinks to celebrate my victory.”

“Dinner sounds great, and I could use a drink,” Di Etta said, starting to drool. “We can't go to the gorge anymore because it's getting darker now. Come on girls, let's take him to Kuruo's.”

That sounded just fine for Langa. "Yeah, let me send this video to the Guardians real quick. They said that they'd upload and edit the videos for me," he said. He had initially planned to send the video to Jandri, but after speaking to Perinda, he wanted some answers, so he sent the video to Alfsol.

He could have kept quiet about it and investigated if the Guardians were truly setting him up, but that sounded like long and troublesome work, and Langa was nothing if not lazy. He'd rather face the issue head-on and hear what the Guardians had to say.

 

To - @AlfsolSereneDulenta.Guardiansguild

Here's the video of me taking down the voidents. I think you'll be interested in what the Tier 2 Assassin had to say about your guild.

 

*

At night, Risa's Plateau seemed to be even more alive than it was during the day, as brightly coloured lucent crystals lit up the city streets. The girls led Langa towards a street away from the shrines, towards what Langa guessed was the entertainment district. The narrow streets were bathed in a sensual glow emanating from lucent crystals in front of both elegant and rowdy-looking establishments.

Anticipation lingered in the air as the streets filled with not just the native goblinkin and birdkin, but players of all shapes and sizes getting into the establishments after a long, hard day of hunting. From some of the shops and buildings, bright lights and loud music filled the air as people lined up outside.

Various lucent tiles advertising adult entertainment venues could also be seen on this street. Langa had come from a country that was both conservative and progressive, so while adult entertainment workers existed and comfortably did their business, you were unlikely to see it advertised openly like this for everyone to see back home. It was honestly a little fascinating.

“Wanna go in? They have everything you could ever desire,” Gertina asked, nudging his shoulder with a smirk. “What’s your type?”

Langa blushed slightly at being caught staring at the image of a beautiful, scantily clad elven woman displayed on one of the lucent tiles. He was not someone who dated a lot, thanks to him pushing people away because of his curse, and most of his relationships had been short-term casual flings. However, that did not mean that he had no type.

“Older women who can protect me,” he said honestly. His psychologist had a lot to say about why that was his type at one of their sessions. “And no, I’m not going in.”

“Stop teasing him, Gertina!” Di Etta grabbed Langa’s arm, forcing him to turn the corner. “We’re almost there.”

They left the adult entertainment street and entered a new, narrower street that had only one large building, an inn. The scent of various foods wafted through the air the moment they entered the inn, making Langa's stomach growl. The ground floor looked like a mixture between a tavern and a restaurant. The smell of ale clung to the air as the waiters and waitresses busied themselves collecting and serving orders.

Lively chatter filled the run-down wooden tables, as most of the people dining here were players, adventurers, and warriors. Langa could tell because of their armour and how they stuck to their groups. From knights in plate armour, to the Federation Police in their uniform, to hooded rogues in the back, and mages in cloth armour, the tables were full of various characters.

“Gria!” A loud voice boomed from the bar.

Gria smiled brightly and rushed over to the large ogrekin sitting by the bar. His skin was dark green, and his face was wide, with large eyes and two horns protruding from the bottom of his chin. He was in full plate armour, a sword on his waist, and a full body shield leaning on the stool next to him. Gria ran straight into his arms, a wide smile on her face, and Langa stared at the two of them in disbelief.

“She can smile?” he asked incredulously. The girl had been nothing but sour the entire time he'd known her today.

Gertina laughed, “Occasionally. But Chergoh is usually the cause.”

The three of them headed towards the couple, and the ogrekin was saying, “I thought you guys wouldn't be back for hours, what happened? Did you find the sceptre?”

“I wish,” Gria grunted, held in the orgrekin’s arms. She jerked her head at Langa, and her boyfriend’s large eyes fixated on him.

Now, after spending seven days in Liv’s presence, Langa was not intimidated by men who towered over him, however, this guy’s arms were bigger than his thighs. He could crush him without Langa even being able to resist.

“Ah, say no more. Did she pick up another stray?” he smiled, his fangs slightly bared. “I’m Chergoh. Let me take a guess, you’re another lost soul that got dragged around by Di Etta?”

Gertina laughed, but Di Etta frowned in disapproval. “Something like that. I’m Langa,” Langa said, extending his hand. The ogrekin's hand was rough, but he was not trying to crush his fingers.

“I'm hungry,” Di Etta said, looking around. “Let’s find a table.”

“Yeah, you guys do that. I'm leaving with Chegoh,” Gria said, not even sparing them a look. Langa thought that she was a prime example of how quickly people changed in the company of those they loved.

The ogrekin smiled down at her softly. “See you tomorrow, guys,” he said. “It was nice to meet you,” he added to Langa.

Gria left with Chergoh a few minutes later, and the remaining three found a table to sit at, next to some young elven witches.

“What's good to eat there?” Langa asked, as there was no menu. There was only a small lucent tile in the middle of the table that fit into his hand.

“It’s a mindbox restaurant. Have you never been to one?” Gertina asked him.

He shook his head, "No, I’m from a lost world. What’s a mindbox restaurant?”

Gertina eyed him in disbelief, “You’re from a lost world, but you did so well in your tutorial? Were you like an adventurer in your old world?”

“No, we didn't have-“ he started to answer, but Di Etta banged on the table furiously. She looked at both of them, clearly upset.

“You can talk after we order!” she told them sternly. “I’m hungry. Langa, in a mindbox restaurant, you can order anything that you want, and if they can, then one of the cooks makes it for you.”

That made no sense to Langa. “What do you mean?” he asked in confusion.

“You just think about a food you want, how it's made, and what it tastes like, and then the cooks read that from you and make it. The skill is rather uncommon and it's an A-rank skill. There are plenty of these restaurants scattered all over the Tower, but they're not very popular on the higher Floors because people aren’t comfortable opening their minds up to others,” Di Etta explained.

Langa found the fact that he could just order anything from his mind and it would be delivered to him, interesting. “Then can I order food from my homeworld, even though that Floor hasn’t opened up yet?”

“Yup!” Di Etta said, infusing the lucent tile with mana.

In less than a minute, a middle-aged goblinkin lady in a red dress with a lace-up corset top on top of it came to their table. “Hello, my name is Brufu, and I will be your mindbox cook for today. What can I make you?”

“I want pap and braai with salsa salad and baked beans,” Langa said at once.

“Alright, I have no idea what that is, but please open up your mind, think about the ingredients used, how it’s made and how it tastes, and I’ll extract it from your mind,” Brufu said. She closed her eyes and muttered an incantation.

Langa’s mouth watered as he thought about the food. He remembered the braai that his brother-in-law had hosted one New Year’s Eve when he was seventeen. He thought about how his sister and the other women had made the soft pap in the kitchen to perfection while the men braaied the meat outside. He remembered how good the beef chuck and boerewors smelled as they sizzled on the braai stand until they were grilled to a perfectly tender texture.

They had all sat in the shed, playing loud kwaito music, talking and laughing pleasantly. He and Neo had managed to steal 4 bottles of Savannah from the fridge, and they drank the alcohol behind the house where no one could see them. It was one of his favourite memories of his family in his life, including the shouting match afterwards when his sister and brother-in-law found out what the two boys had done.

“Asmodeus’s tits, man. I said think about the food, not open your whole damn mind to me, gods,” Brufu said, shaking her head at Langa, and blinking rapidly. It wasn’t his fault that he had low mental resistance. Or was it? “Alright, I get the picture. The meat won’t be an issue, but the pap... I don’t have what you call maize meal, but I think I have something perfect to substitute it with. What will you ladies have?”

“After seeing Langa drooling like that, we’ll have what he’s having,” Di Etta said hungrily. “And um, bring us six bottles of lavaspritzer.”

Brufu wrote down the order, nodded, and left.

There was a low tune that played throughout the entire inn below the idle laughter and chatter of the customers. Langa looked around to find a minstrel in the back playing the tune on her fiddle. It gave the place a calm atmosphere, despite the rowdy voices of some of the adventurers.

The drink that Di Etta ordered tasted like cider, and it burned Langa’s dry throat. After all that fighting, nothing tasted better than a good, cold drink.

“So, what were you guys supposed to do today? You said something about a quest?” Langa asked, putting down the drink. Di Etta was buried deep in the weird dried fruit starters that a waiter had brought to their table, so it was Gertina who answered him.

“Yeah, we’re doing a hidden quest for the Magistrate of this province. We’re looking for someone and something that’s missing, and there are rumours that they were last seen around the gorge,” she said, leaning back on the chair. “I can’t say more than that due to the nature of the quest.”

Langa nodded, he’d just been making conversation anyway. He knew that you could get quests from NPCs as well as players too, but he wasn’t sure how that worked.

“So, what’s up with your skill book? How come it’s a C-rank enchanting skill? I mean, the basic ones are usually D-rank or E-rank, what makes this one so special?” Gertina asked curiously.

“It just says that the skill can teach me to enchant items with lucents, so I don’t know,” he shrugged, enjoying the burning sensation of the lavaspritzer.

Di Etta banged her hand on the table again. The priests from two tables away looked over at their table, casting disapproving glares at her. She either didn’t notice or did not care.

“What?!” she asked. “That’s huge; I mean, I know lots of NPCs would kill for a skill like that. Lucent crystals are the most important energy source in the entire Tower. Sure, some Floors don't use lucent crystals, but even living things that can process mana have lucents. There aren't many people who can enchant lucent crystals, so being a lucent enchanter is a good way to make money.”

Langa understood half of what she was saying, but all he could hear was that it was a skill in demand, so he'd make more money by selling it. "I don't like crafting. Even when I was playing video games, I avoided the ones with lots of crafting, it's tedious and hard work. I hate working hard for things I don't enjoy, that's why I'm going to sell it.”

Gertina shook her head at him as if he were being absurd and shoved a handful of dried fruit into her mouth. “It's not that bad, you only need to work a little hard, but lucent crystals are useful for many things. They can be enchanted to be lamplights, to make warm water, and for all the lucent tiles you see all over the city. There are even the lucent crystals used for the helms of the lucent carriages.”

When Di Etta saw that Langa was unimpressed, she said, “You could work with a weaponsmith and sell your enchanted lucent crystals to them, and they can put them inside weapons to enhance their functions. You can even use it to make enchanted lucent crystal orbs or explosives, or some people even use lucent stones as bullets in their shooters and guns, so you could do that too.”

“I can make bombs with this skill?” he asked. Now that piqued Langa’s interest.

He was now on his third bottle of lavaspritzer, and his thoughts were starting to scatter. If he could make bombs, that would make his fighting style even faster. He'd worked well today with the Exploding Wind Orbs; so he wondered if he could make some Exploding Lightning Orbs from the lucent crystals. That way, when fighting a group of monsters, he could throw a lucent crystal at them and it would explode. He would be able to leisurely defeat them in one hit and collect his loot and experience. Maximum rewards with minimum effort was the key phrase in his life. Besides, he loved watching things explode in action movies andthe heroes always looked very cool when walking away from explosions.

“Yes, absolutely!” Di Etta grinned. She opened her second bottle, leaning back on her chair, satisfied that she had said something that drew Langa's attention.

“Don’t try to dupe him, Di Etta. Langa, lucent crystals are expensive, especially the ones not from the 13 mana disciplines. Even then, most mines on this Floor yield lucent stones, not crystals. It’s hard enough to get lucent crystals with affinities for the base 13 disciplines, but for an enchanter, you’d need to work on different types to raise your skill level. You’d need crystals with an affinity for the other 130 mana disciplines as well. Good luck finding someone willing to sell you even a common rank blood discipline crystal or a common rank time discipline crystal for less than 5 gold,” Gertina argued.

“So, I can’t make bombs?” he asked, disappointed, putting his empty bottle down.

“You can, but Langa, enchanting is different from most other crafting skills because the main aspect of it is that you need to study. You have to understand the 130 mana disciplines and how your mana signature interacts with them, and how they interact with each other, to make stable enchantments. That's especially true with things like lucent crystals,” Gertina said, raising her hand to call a waiter. "Well unless you cheap out and use skill points." She ordered twelve more of the lavaspritzer bottles, making Langa wonder if they would be able to finish them all without getting drunk.

Actually, he didn't care. He'd had a long day of fighting and a fucking terrifying prophecy. He'd earned a good drink to numb his mind. He decided to ask for some more information. “There are 130 mana disciplines? I thought that there were only 13 disciplines, the ones that we have affinities and resistances for.”

“Those are the 13 base disciplines, but there are 130 in total. Go read The Relgte of The First Pioneer of Arcane Magic, and you’ll see how great his work with the Neutriarchs on mana disciplines was. The other disciplines are related in some way to the base 13, whether they are a combination of two or more disciplines or the absence of one or more of them,” Gertina said, a note of excitement in her voice. She seemed very animated when talking about magic. “Then you have outliers like time magic or space magic which encompass almost all of the thirteen in one. Anyway, I mean, you have to be careful with how your mana interacts with the rest of the disciplines, especially if you have full affinity for any one of them, because they can change the properties of your enchantments. Also-”

"Oh, thank the gods!” Di Etta interrupted her as their waiter came back to the table with their food and the new drinks. “Here’s an important life tip, Langa. Don’t ever ask Gertina about mana disciplines. Her mum is a Grandmaster in the Magic Educator skill, and she is a teacher in the Arcane Clable Magic Castle on the 5th Floor. Now enough of that boring shit, let’s eat! And let's drink to celebrate Langa's first victory!”

Langa had no complaints there, the scent of roasted meat and the warm, steaming aroma of what looked like wheat-meal pap filled his nose. The waiter placed the plates neatly on the table, and Brufu came and stood behind him anxiously. Di Etta drooled as she picked up the spoon and looked expectantly at Langa for how the food was supposed to be eaten.

"Don't be a snob. Pap is eaten with your bare hands," he said. There was a pitcher of water and a dish on their table so Langa just washed his hands and dug in. He had been uncertain how this pap would taste, but it was hot, and it melted in his mouth. He quickly took a bite of the sausage with it. It tasted almost as good as Khaya’s cooking, or perhaps it was just as good, but without the sentiments attached to it. The three of them dug into the food, and for a whole minute, no one said anything, just wolfing down the food.

Finally, Di Etta looked up at Brufu, with tears in her eyes. “Brufu, you’re a godssend, this is amazing! Will you marry me?”

Gertina choked on her drink, and Brufu burst out laughing. "Sorry, sweetheart,” she said, raising her left hand where sat a pretty silver ring. “I’m already spoken for.”

The spicy salsa salad went down really well with the meat, and Langa looked up at Brufu, also content. “Are you sure, because I currently share the same desire with Di Etta? I think you should consider me, I'm strong, I love good food and alcohol, and I can fight,” he said, looking up at the cook in awe.

He had a weakness for older women who were good cooks because he was terrible at it. It was wonderful that Brufu was able to make the meal so well for her first time, just from his memories.

Gertina rolled her eyes, “What these two idiots are trying to say is that this is really good, and if they could, they would kidnap you and make you their personal cook for the rest of your life.”

“Oh my! Well, they’re cute little young ones. I don't mind going with you kids, but you’d have to wrestle me from my husband first,” she said, jerking her head towards the barkeep.

The barkeep, a grizzly-looking large goblinkin, gave their table a once-over before going back to work.

“Ah, I’m gonna tap out; I don’t really want to get crushed,” Langa relented after seeing the size of that goblinkin. “Please make us a second helping.”

“Why are all the good women always taken?” Di Etta depressingly downed another bottle of lavaspritzer, then stuffed her mouth full of meat. “Your homeworld’s food is awesome, Langa!”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, it’s disgusting,” Gertina said, smacking Di Etta in the head.

After Brufu left, the three of them continued to eat and drink well into the night. The restaurant got rowdier and rowdier, but Langa only focused on his good food and good drinks. He didn't allow his hazy mind to replay that prophecy over and over again, and he just let the alcohol wash it all away.

Less than three hours into dinner, Langa’s comcer beeped, and he glanced at it to see that Alfsol was calling him. He thought about ignoring the call, just to show him that he was upset, but in the end, he excused himself and went to the corner of the restaurant, where there was little noise, and answered the comcer.

“Hello, look who decided to call me,” Langa said, bringing his wrist up to his ear. “I guess clearing the 29th Floor isn’t so hard after all. Didn't you say you have a dungeon to clear?.”

“Hello, Langa, you're as...animated as always," Alfsol said. "I felt like I owed you an explanation, that’s why I’m contacting you. I assure you, I was not trying to set you up. I chose an opponent that you could gain the most from."

Langa snorted, the alcohol lowering his inhibitions a little and allowing him to speak his mind to an overall top ten ranker. “You've got some nerve, DP Alfsol. You must have know that sending me after the Accari Crows could spell a death sentence for me."

The elf sighed, “I had no choice. Fidser was shaping up to be a key player in the 1st Floor troops of the Hallow Reapers. Plus I had it on good faith that someone stole something important from Amalgam and gave it to him. I needed someone like you to take him down, both to test your strength and to make sure that what happened on the 6th Floor five years ago wouldn’t happen to the 1st Floor. Anarchist is a menace, this is bigger than just a bounty, it will slow down his plans.”

So, it really was The Hallow Reaper Cult that was behind the Accari Crows? Perinda had been right, then. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. All I’m hearing is that you had a new player poke the Number 2 guild in the entire Tower for you. I can’t be making enemies already, I need to find my family. What am I supposed to do if Hallow Reaper Cult members are hunting me now?” Langa asked him in frustration.

“I can assure you, the Hallow Reapers won’t do anything to you, as that would mean acknowledging that they have a connection to a low-level voident gang like the Accari Crows. Besides, Langa, they are more likely to want you to join them after seeing how strong you are, the gods know that I want you to join the Guardians after watching that video.”

Was this guy trying to flatter him, or was he serious? Langa bit his lip in uncertainty. “Don’t use the results to try and justify using me. I told you guys before, I don’t mind being used, but I’d like to have known that I was being used in whatever conflict you have with the Hallow Reaper Cult.”

“We'll do everything we can to protect you, whether you join us or not. If your trust is broken, I get it, but I needed someone skilled and someone outside the Guardians to handle this. "I couldn't risk that key falling into any of their hands. I wanted to see if you could handle it, but I wasn’t using you, Langa," Alfsol said.

“I hope you’re not saying that you did this for me. I will not be gaslit,” Langa warned him.

“I’m telling you the truth. Did you get the quest?" he asked.

Quest? Was he referring to the Voident Hunter Quest? How did he know about it? The rank had said it was uncommon, so Langa was sure that not every player who killed a voident received it. Did he know because he was a Guardian, and they knew everything about voidents?"

"How did you know?"

Alfsol whistled, "So, Khalifhari was right, you do have the Brand."

Great, now Langa was reminded of another weird thing. One of the requirements for getting the quest was that he had been branded by corruption. "What the hell does that even mean?"

There was silence on the other side before Alfsol spoke once more. "Do you have an attribute or innate ability that consumes or destroys... well, anything?" he asked.

Langa had been about to say that no, his attribute was related to his perception of time, but thinking about what had happened with Perinda today unsettled him. An ability that consumed anything? A thought popped into his head, and he shook slightly. His curse. It stole other people's luck and fortune... was that it? "Let's say that I do, what does it mean?"

"It means that The Quartenity will be watching you, they watch all players who carry the brand, so brace yourself for that. Sorry, I don't know all that much about it either except that it's a troublesome thing to have," his voice sounded both weary and bitter. “Anarchist’s key is yours since you defeated Fidser, but just remember if we find out that you used it for unauthorised void magic, The Guardians will have to come after you too."

"What does it do?" he asked curiously.

"As one of the people who regulate the usage of unauthorised void magic in the Tower, I would have to be stupid to tell you that." Before Langa could respond, Alfsol continued. “Anyway, Langa, about today, there are plenty of rumours in the Tower that the Accari Crows are a branch of the Hallow Reapers, so what you did is going to make people think that not only are you strong, but you're fearless too."

Langa noticed that The Guardians were always specific to say unauthorised void magic. Was there authorised void magic? Now that he thought about it, the Void was darkness magic so maybe people with full affinity for darkness could use tha kind of magic naturally.

Alfsol still didn't give Langa a chance to ask what he meant as he continued. "The 1st Floor is a vast world, Langa, your family could be hundreds of thousands of kilometres away from where you are, and if you want them to see you on the Dent and come to you, then you have to shine bright, brighter than everyone else. You have to make waves and do what your peers haven’t done yet. Just hunting a few voidents isn’t enough to outdo Liv’Kungsadu, Vos Kindaro II and Coraloa. If you want to build a reputation, you have to take some risks.” Alfsol spoke firmly. “If you’re scared of The Hallow Reapers, that’s fine, we won’t upload the video, and we’ll find a safer voident for you to hunt.”

His words were like a knife in Langa’s heart as he had not lived his life taking risks, he had lived his life passively and quietly. And yet, now he had to work hard and throw himself into the deep end in the hopes that his family would find him and he would protect them. If making it seem like he was fearlessly challenging the Number 2 guild in the whole Tower on his second day here got people to spread his name, then he had to hope that it worked and that his family would find out about him.

“No, you can post it. Just cut out that guy, Perinda. I don’t want him in the video,” Langa said, leaning against the wall of the inn. He missed his simple life when he would just lie in bed all day in boredom and not have to worry about doing annoying things.

"Good," Alfsol seemed to agree with him. “Very well. I’ll make sure that they have it done before the end of the day.”

After that talk, Langa returned to his table and downed another lavaspritzer wondering if he had just further complicated his life. It wasn’t like he had much of a choice. He had to make an impression so that people would talk about him.

Who would he become once his name was out there? What would he gain from all the eyes watching him? Would taking this route save him from the doom of the charlatan's prophecy, if it were true? Langa had no idea.

So, as always, he pushed away the worrisome thoughts and concentrated on drinking alcohol to drown out his worries.

Langa's mind was swimming in haziness as he looked around the restaurant. In the corner of the restaurant, an adventurer was standing on top of a table, regaling the young ladies in priests’ uniforms with tales of his bravery. Langa shook his head contentedly, no matter the world, people were always the same. The drinks kept coming, and he was in too deep to stop.

"Are you some kind of alcoholic? How can you handle so many drinks?" Gertina inquired, her hand resting on her bottle of lavaspritzer, observing Langa with curiosity.

He let out a belch. "That's a stupid question. That's like asking if the entire youth population of South Africa is filled with alcoholics. The answer is obviously yes; alcohol is cheaper than therapy."

Di Etta laughed. "That's not healthy," she said, slurring the words. Surprisingly, she had drunk as much as, if not more than, him.

"You want to talk to me about healthy? I had ulcers, and I still ate spicy food and put hot sauce on everything, despite my doctor constantly telling me not to. Do you know why?" he asked, pointing at Di Etta with his bottle. Strangely, the room seemed to tilt when he tilted his head.

"'Cause you're an idiot?"

"No! Well, yes, but the main reason was because I like spicy food. It tastes great, even if it's not healthy," he told her. He was sure that when he began this conversation, there was a point that he had wanted to make, but for now, he could not, for the life of him, remember what it was. Just as he racked his brain, Langa received a message on his comcer.

 

[@Jandrikk.Guardians is attempting to upload a video to your profile.

Accept: Yes/No?]

 

He was surprised that she was done editing it already. Langa knew that he should probably watch the video first, but he was sure that the Guardians would not break their deal with him. Besides, he was not in the right state of mind to analyse the video anyway. He accepted that message and let her upload it.

The barkeep approached their table with the bill, and since Langa had yet to collect his bounties and Di Etta was now passed out on the table, an irritated Gertina had to foot the bill. She also paid for a single room for the three of them to spend the rest of the night at the inn.

“You’re sleeping on the floor,” she said, glaring at Langa as she walked up the stairs.

Well, he could understand why she was mad, and to pacify her, in the end, he had to carry Di Etta upstairs to the room while trying not to fall on his unsteady feet. He almost fell twice, but even with the 'poisoned debuff' from the alcohol, his agility was still good enough to ensure that they did not fall.

When he fell asleep that night, Langa did not dream of ominous prophecies or himself and his family in danger. The alcohol numbed it all.