As soon as she recovered from her bout of mortification (petrification), Gab let out another of the many sighs she’s been making for the past few hours before reaching for one of the Items in her Inventory that drew her to this store in the first place:

 

<Mask

Classification: Equipment 

Equipment Type: Cosmetic

Cosmetic Grade: Wood

Effects: 

Obscures both the user’s face and Player ID from most Initial level appraisal Skills

Note: These Effects can be easily circumvented by Advanced and higher-level appraisal Skills

Durability: N/A

Weight: N/A>

 

This mask was quite simple in terms of appearance, as it was simply a wooden mask made in the shape of a rough oval, with two slits for the eyes to look through.

 

Thankfully, for both aesthetics sake and her current big Quest, Gab found that one can buy Masks with different appearances with the same Effect, so she got a small variety of them. The one she was wearing at the moment was just the simplest in terms of appearance.

 

“Well, someone’s eager to get a move on.”, Baccistern remarked from behind the counter, taking yet another sip of his “alleged” alcohol, “And here I thought that we were becoming close friends! Oh, woe is me…”, he finished whilst pretending to wipe away a tender tear, causing Gab to smirk in amusement.

 

“Oh shush, you dubiously functional alcoholic!”, Gab shot back without any hint of scorn, causing the store owner to simply mime having something strike his heart, “The Quest I’m on has a countdown attached to it, and I took too much time in this store alone, so I have to get a move on!”.

 

That being said, Gab took a few more moments to peruse the physical rewards she received from finalising her purchases, just to see how much more she’s taken from others who could’ve obtained some of those announcements:

 

<50% Store Voucher 

Classification: Consumable 

Consumable Type: Business 

Effects:

-Get 50% off any purchases made in a store or related to said establishment.

Note: 

-Some business establishments will require the user to possess at least a <Basic Store Membership> to it to use it. This is exponentially true of the more upscale and exclusive stores that are either presented in plain sight in the noble districts or hidden in extremely remote and dangerous areas.

Description: An always highly appreciated gift for skinflints that allows one to get more for less.>

 

<Store Membership Card

Classification: Consumable 

Consumable Type: Business 

Effects:

-Allows the user to become a Member of a business of their choosing. 

Benefits of being a Member includes (but are not limited to:

• A 10% discount on any purchases made at the business (and any store that runs under its banner if it happens to be a franchise) 

• Express notifications on the latest and upcoming products that the business will be selling to customers 

• Access to the business’s more “special” products (Note: The like hood of the user gaining this benefit depends on factors such as the business owner’s preferences, Membership level and various other factors)

Note: 

-This Consumable will grant you a <Basic> Membership at bare minimum. This can change depending on both your Acclaim and social status.

-Cannot be used in stores that cater to the nobility unless the user possesses a high enough Membership type, Acclaim and social status.

Description: A card that grants one greater status in a store than a “mere” customer. 

 

<Store Purchase Document 

Classification: Consumable 

Consumable Type: Business

Effects:

-This document will allow the user to enter into negotiations with a store owner and/or their proxy to acquire the deed to both their business and the property it’s based out of. The prerequisites for being able to use this Consumable depends solely on the store owner the user wishes to present this to.

Description: Why simply choose to play the role of the customer when you can be an owner?>

 

<Storage Ring

Classification: Accessory 

Accessory Type: Storage

Usage Requirements: Bind to account 

Effects:

-This Storage Accessory possesses 100 Inventory Slots that are separate from the user’s normal ones.

-When binded to the user’s account, no one can appraise its contents without the user’s express permission.

Note:

-When this Accessory is binded to the user’s account, it cannot be destroyed, stolen, sold or dropped.

-Due to its nature as an Unranked Storage Accessory/Item, there is potential for it to be evolved and subsequently upgraded. How such an event can occur is dependent on the user’s journey throughout Arbitrium.

Description: A ring can carry more than what a stranger might naturally think.>

 

<VIP Ticket (Storage Items)

Classification: Consumable 

Consumable Type: Business

Effects:

-When presented at a store that specialises in the sale of Storage Items in which the user has high enough status for a store owner to take this Consumable seriously, the user will not only get personal recommendations for various Storage Items that would suit their needs but will also have a chance of being offered a Storage Item that is owned by the owner.

Note:

-This Tickets can only be used once. Choose the store in which you use it wisely.

Description: A high class Tickets that allows one the means to pack with style.>

 

<Auction Pass

Classification: Consumable 

Consumable Type: Business

Effects:

-Allows the user to bypass the queue to an Auction event, as well as get a pick of seats.

-Grants a 10% discount on the final amount due at the end of an Auction.

Note:

-This pass can only be used at the first Auction House this Pass is used in.

-This Pass does not apply to more exclusive Auction Houses.

Description: If you need more basic evidence that Auctions aren’t as fair as one would think, this is more than adequate proof of that.>

 

<Auction Priority Ticket

Classification: Consumable 

Consumable Type: Business

Effects:

-This Ticket will grant the user the highest priority in the Auction event it’s used, causing the auctioneers to pay particular notice to the user’s feelings in regards to a certain Item they wish to acquire and will veer the bidding towards an outcome that will favour the user the most.

Note:

-This Ticket can only be used at one Auction event, and on one Item that has been presented. Be sure of your priorities before using it.

Description: Don’t hang on the auctioneer’s every word. Make them hang on your’s.>

 

<VIP Auction Pass

Classification: Consumable 

Consumable Type: Business

Effects:

-The user is granted their choice of a VIP Room of their choice, with all the associated benefits that come with them.

Note:

-This pass can only be used at the first Auction House this Pass is used in.

Description: If your going to bid in an Auction, you may as well act like a baller.>

 

<Skill Stone

Classification: Consumable 

Consumable Type: Skill

Effects:

-The user can upgrade a Skill by at least one Level, depending on the Stone’s size.

The number of times a Skill Stone of a specific size can be upgraded is as follows:

S: 1 Level

M: 2 Levels

L: 3 Levels

Description: A neat shortcut for progressing what can be naturally progressed.>

 

<Anomalous Skill Stone

Classification: Consumable 

Consumable Type: Skill

Usage Requirements:

-User must be a [Freestyler]

Effects:

-The user can upgrade a Skill that they usually couldn’t due to the restrictions of the Freestyler Style by at least one Level, depending on the Stone’s size.

The number of times a Skill Stone of a specific size can be upgraded is as follows:

S: 1 Level

M: 2 Levels

L: 3 Levels 

Description: A neat shortcut for progressing what cannot be naturally progressed.>

 

To put it mildly, these Items grants Gab a “slight” increase in the amount of the economic head start she’s gained completely by accident every step of the way from the moment she started playing Arbitrium!

 

Not to mention the two different types of Skill Stones that are in her possession, which would allow her to upgrade both a Skillbook derived Skill and a Freestyler Skill all the way up to VII if she were to dump all of them in one go!

 

That being said, what she was most interested in were the nine “Modifiers” that she acquired, each in their respective categories of “Level Up”, “Player Death” and “Level Down”.

 

Because the Modifiers in the first category were (hopefully) the most likely to activate, for the time being, Gab first speed read those.

 

…and then had to read them again. Slowly this time, because the contents were completely ridiculous!

 

<Level Up Modifier (Random): |Frenzied Perfection Seeker|

Effects:

-When the user accomplishes a Level Up, one Skill will be randomly upgraded.

-If the randomly selected Skill can no longer be upgraded, it will be evolved into a stronger Skill that will be tailored to the user’s preferences.>

 

<Level Up Modifier (Random Free Attribute): |Aroused Steps|

Effects:

-When the user accomplishes a Level Up, the Agility Free Attribute will be increased by 10%>

 

<Level Up Modifier (Random Fixed Attribute): |All Pain, All Gain|

Effects:

-When the user accomplishes a Level Up, the Endurance Fixed Attribute will be increased by 10%.>

 

“…yeah sure, make my character MORE broken, why don’t you!”, Gab cursed with a low growl.

 

Hell, forget upgrading both a Skillbook derived Skill and a Freestyler Skill all the way up to VII. If she were to Level Up just six more times and have |Frenzied Perfection Seeker| after one Skill in each of those categories at least three times, she could just simply max them the fuck out!

 

And that’s not even going into the ridiculous increases in both her Agility and Endurance!

 

After taking a deep breath, Gab then moved her eyes to the Modifiers that activates when she experiences IG death.

 

…and immediately wanted to vomit blood and apologise on her hands and knee to whichever (hypothetical?) poor, unlucky cunt that somehow manages to kill her in the future!

 

And why would she have this reaction, you may ask?

 

It’s because these particular Modifiers are, quite simply, downright PETTY!!

 

<Player Death Modifier (Random): |Static in Death|

Effects:

-When the user is subjected to a Player Death, distributed Free Attributes and undistributed AP will not be lost.

-When the user reaches the Level they were at when Player Death occurred, their progress to the next Level after that will be restored.>

 

<Player Death Modifier (Items): |Dead Man’s Chest|

Effects:

-When the user is subjected to a Player Death, they will not drop anything that was equipped or in their Inventory.>

 

<Player Death Modifier (Opponent): |Farewell, Fucker!|

Effects:

-When the user is subjected to a Player Death at the hands of another being(s), said being(s) will have their Free Attributes and Fixed Attributes decreased by 40% of one of the user’s Free Attributes, which would be selected at random.

Note:

-If all the aforementioned being(s) Free Attributes falls to a minus value, all their base Stats will automatically become 1.

-This Attribute decrease only affects the being(s) base Attributes, not the Attribute increases that are given by anything they have equipped.>

 

Gab thought that whilst they’re unbelievably beneficial for her, the first two “Player Death” Modifiers were more than enough to push a potential killer to an existential crisis!

 

If a Player decided to kill her to either (A) weaken her or (B) take an Item, Weapon etc off her, they’ll find that they couldn’t achieve EITHER objective, even if they make a sacrifice worthy of crying tears!

 

Sure, she’d still lose at least one Level, but she could simply get that back through grinding in fields or Dungeons whilst her killer(s) are grinding their teeth in anger.

 

And that’s not even taking the third one into consideration!!

 

Given that all of her Free Attributes were at least over 100 before she reached Level 10 and has not yet distributed ANY of her undistributed AP, any poor duffer will be losing a little over 40 points in all their Attributes!

 

And if other Players that caused the activation of this particular Modifier weren’t been able to raise both their Free and Fixed Attributes at a similar rate, their numbers in both have a high probability of falling in the minuses, if not a high certainty!

 

And that…well, let’s be honest, how many people could be reasonably expected to come back from an exponential setback like that despite killing her to be completely sound of mind?

 

Shaking her head at this level of unfairness (for her hypothetical killers), Gab went on to the final category of Modifiers, “Level Down”, to see if these were just as ridiculous as those in the previous two categories.

 

…and sure enough, they fucking were!

 

<Level Down Modifier (Random): |Anti-Frustration Comeback|

Effects:

-Whenever the user experiences a Level Down, they will be able to gain the usual benefits that they experience whenever they Level Up again.>

 

<Level Down Modifier (Stats): |Hidden Gains of Loss|

Effects:

-Whenever the user experiences a Level Down, there is a 40% chance of either revealing a hidden Stat or gaining an entirely new Stat.>

 

<Level Down Modifier (Resistances): |Reinforced Layers|

Effects:

-Whenever the user experiences a Level Down, there is a 10% chance of either increasing a previously acquired Resistance by 20% or gaining an entirely new Resistance.>

 

“Yeah, it’s not like these ones can break the minds of other Players further.”, Gab muttered with a sarcastic bite, knowing full well that they would do exactly that if others found out about them.

 

Gaining the benefits that she already gained from the Levels she’d have to climb back up through to get to her previous Level AGAIN, getting a new Stat (hidden or new) and then either increasing a Resistance or getting brand spanking new one.

 

Yeah, that would cause a ton of BSODs.

 

And the most frightening thing about these three are…that she doesn’t necessarily need to die in order to reap their benefits! Gab was sure that there was more than one way to Level Down other than Player Death in Arbitrium, which means that there could be many potential ways to exploit the benefits of these particular Modifiers!

 

But, if she were to go down this route, she would have to explore it after she left the Pocket Village and reached the Main Continent of the Oceania Battle Zone, where she would have a bit more breathing room to experiment, amongst other things.

 

“I take it you got some terrifyingly good stuff from that last batch of announcements?”, Baccistern asked with a knowing grin, as even though his time with her was short, he can now easily identify when something ridiculously good has happened to her that would cause other travellers to roar to the heavens to express their happiness over their good fortune by her increasingly exaggerated reactions and stressed out expressions.

 

“…yeah, to put it fucking mildly.”, Gab said with a heavy sigh.

 

“Well, since you’ve obtained so many good things…”, Baccistern started, in a tone that caused Gab’s stress levels to spike further due to the bad premonition that washed over her, “…I suppose you wouldn’t be too opposed to earning another good thing, this time from yours truly.”.

 

“And how, may I asked, am I to earn this “good thing”?”, Gab asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Well, for starters, I presume you’ve been given a Sync Quest from that old hag Zalo, correct?”, he asked, to which Gab only slightly nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

 

“So, if that hag thought you worthy enough to grant you a Sync Quest despite having not been in this world for long, I see no reason as to why shouldn’t give you one myself.”, he finished, just as a series of prompts popped up on her HUD:

 

<Due to your current Gravitas value and your recent actions, Baccistern’s Favourability for you has increased by 30>

 

<Due to your present amount of Acclaim for someone of your Level, Baccistern’s Favourability for you has increased by 60>

 

<Due to unconsciously sensing your Commitment Fixed Attribute, Baccistern feels more comfortable in making his offer to you>

 

<Baccistern wishes to review the Quest, (Desires of a Class-Obsessed Moron~), that was given to you by a higher being in order to adjust his new Quest to suit your needs. Do you accept?>

 

<Y/N>

 

Despite the increasingly violent headache that Gab was suffering as a result of getting too fucking many good things for someone who’s only been playing for a short time and her awareness that almost every single goddamn wants to bury her 6000 feet under (albeit to their own unfortunate detriment), she just sighed and clicked “Y”.

 

Because at this point, why the fuck not?!

 

On the other side of the counter, Baccistern’s own eyebrows shot up as her found out which higher being gave her the Quest that has shocked everyone in all of Arbitrium!

 

After all, she was a Freestyler, someone who can’t gain a Class for crying out!

 

Hells, he’d be less surprised if she gotten the Quest from Atychía, the God of Bad Luck, given the way this young Freestyler seemed to view her exponentially huge fortune!

 

However, in hindsight, despite her chosen Style, her interest in his Advanced Class despite not having chosen to be a Bastion Class traveller did serve as hint in a respect.

 

With that in mind, Baccistern quickly entered in the necessary details before sending another prompt to Gab, along with her latest Sync Quest:

 

<After reviewing the contents of “Desires of a Class-Obsessed Moron~”, Baccistern has created a new Sync Quests for you.>

 

<Quest Name: After Work Drink (From Hell)

Quest Difficulty: Depends on the acceptor of this Quest

Quest Type: Sync

Quest Details:

Baccistern is more than a little impressed that not only could someone of your Level could survive the horrifically dangerous alcoholic substance that lies within his mysterious gourd, but also possess enough Funds to buy a good amount of his more expensive products. 

As a result, he is willing bequeath you his gourd, which is his most prized possession, but only after you prove your worth to those who have already previously set tasks for you to complete. 

Quest Objective(s):

-Complete the Quests set by both the Mistress and Zalo

Quest Failure Condition(s): N/A

Time Limit: N/A

Quest Completion Reward(s):

-Baccistern’s gourd

-2 Levels 

-Max Affinity with Baccistern

Quest Failure Punishment(s):

N/A

Time Remaining: N/A>

 

“…”

 

…as soon as Gab saw the first Quest Reward, she reacted in an understandable fashion, given what she experienced not too long ago.

 

That being, she recoiled in horror as if she were face to face with a venomous snake (or lamprey, in this case)!

 

“You…you want to give me that…THING that almost killed me?!!”, she shouted, a noticeable quiver reverberating in her tone, to the point that anyone else witnessing this scene wouldn’t be surprised if she started to have a panic attack!

 

However, the Mobile Tankard who gave her this Sync Quest in the first place merely laughed at what he considered to be an adorable reaction.

 

“No no no, I’m not planning to give you my precious keepsake. I’m hoping to reward it to you, once you’ve proven yourself worthy of its ownership.”, he clarified, causing Gab to calm down slightly for some reason. Probably due to the knowledge that she won’t have to deal with that weird gourd as of yet.

 

That is, if she manages to complete her other Quests first!

 

“Now that that’s out of the way,” Baccistern abruptly started, causing Gab to snap out of her agitated state, “don’t you have other supplies, announcements and rewards to get from other soon-to-be richer shop owner in this Pocket Village?”, he finished with a cheeky grin.

 

The mention of the last two things that Gab could potentially buy along with more supplies gave Gab a strong urge to spit blood and punch the alcoholic store owner in the face, not necessarily in that order! Hell, she may even do a combination of the two!

 

“HELL FUCKING NO!! What happened when I arrived and in the shop cannot possibly happen again! I refuse to believe that I can be that lucky again in so short a period, much less at every other fucking store I go to!!”, Gab ranted profusely, to which Baccistern only laughed, giving the impression that he didn’t believe for even a yoctosecond that the events that happened in his store won’t occur again in a consecutive fashion!

 

“I mean it, you drunk arsehole! You’re not going to hear a single announcement in the next hour, not for even the smallest goddamn thing!”.

 

“You know, the fact that you haven’t made that a bet that none of those things will occur doesn’t give anyone who has heard your name the impression that you are certain of your predictions.”.

 

“…” Twitch!

 

“Am I wrong?”

 

“…nothing is going to happen.”, Gab muttered as she opened the door to leave, although at this point it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself, “I repeat, NOTHING!!!”.

 

……

 

Location: Village Gate

Time: 2:27am AEDT

 

At the gate leading out from the Pocket Village, Gab stood alone, the gentle breeze not even brushing her cheeks due to the plain wooden mask covering her face.

 

Aside from her IRL outfit and mask, the only other change to her avatar’s appearance are what look to be “boots” made out of what looked to be 100% lead that had been badly cast into only the barest possible facsimile of footwear. 

 

If anyone else were to so much as glance at these “boots”, they would think that their only purpose was to make absolutely sure that unfortunate bastard that had these forced upon their feet would be permanently acquainted with the bottom of the ocean floor, much less as actual footwear!

 

Unlike most scenes of a similar nature, the breeze isn’t carrying the sound of silence. Quite the opposite, in fact, as what sounds like an orchestra of renewed anger, vile curses, frenzied attacks and stampeding footsteps washed over the stock still Freestyler.

 

And why, you may ask, is Gab standing at the gate in a manner that can be compared to a profound hero/villain, looking down upon the world before them with indifference and disdain.

 

Well, the answer to that question is both unexpected and understandable.

 

That is…she’s just COMPLETELY. FUCKING. MISERABLE!!

 

“…I’m really, really, REALLY glad I didn’t make a bet with that alcoholic store owner.”.

 

“From now on, I am NEVER tempting fate again! Not even if I had a serrated knife pressed against my button!!”.

 

As for why she’s in this state.

Well, let’s just say that the last hour…went as expected, and far more than everyone else would’ve liked, including her!