Chương 12: Inventories and Scary Bodies
After the little "kerfuffle" with her newly upgraded Status panel and Titles, Gab and Đất Vàng resumed their walk towards the exit of the crater, chatting all the while to get to know each other better, with Gab taking greater care to control her walking pace.
As Gab guessed from her outfit, Đất Vàng works part-time at a local Vietnamese restaurant as a server whilst she's studying at uni to make ends meet.
It helps that said restaurant was operated by her parents, who both immigrated from Vietnam just a little under twenty years ago. Since she was still a young child when they moved, so she doesn't have a clear recollection of her country of birth (though her parents made sure to teach her both Vietnamese and English when she was growing up).
It also turned out that Đất Vàng learned Vovinam directly from her father, who happened to have been a member of a family who carried on the techniques and traditions of the art, of which he is the sole surviving member.
When Gab asks her where she's living now, she was pleasantly surprised to hear that the Vietnamese Armed Combatant lives in Australia, more specifically in the suburb of Marrickville, which is pretty much close by to where Gab lives. Of course, Gab didn't tell her that, at least not yet.
"Oh yeah, before I forget, what Weapon did you choose when you became an Armed Combatant?", Gab asked out of curiosity as wondered what sort of weapon a practitioner of Vovinam would choose for armed combat.
"Hmm, maybe it might be best if I show you.", Đất Vàng acquiesced, before seeming to open up her Menu.
After a few moments, and a tap of her finger, a thin burst of data erupted from the Armed Combatants right hand, before fading out to reveal her weapon.
"Is that…a Jian?", Gab asked in confusion, as an undecorated and uncared for sword in a similar shape to the type of Chinese blade that she was familiar with appeared in Đất Vàng's hand.
However, as she looked more closely, Gab noticed some differences between the blade before her and the one she was somewhat familiar with, the main one being that the blade on this sword was somewhat narrower, almost to the point of being needle-like.
Whilst Gab was confused, Đất Vàng chuckled, finding the Freestyler's expression to be adorable when she can't quite make sense of certain details.
"Close, but not quite. Whilst it's similar in shape, this isn't a Chinese Jian, but a Vietnamese Kiem, which you could think of as a sort of descendant of the former. After all, Vietnam has a lot of cultural influences from other Asian countries such as China, Japan and Thailand, so it was inevitable that some of those influences would manifest in certain aspects of our culture, including our native weapons."
As Gab was nodding along, Đất Vàng felt that since she had shown hers, she might as well ask the Freestyler to do the same.
"Hey, speaking of Weapons, which one did you choose?", Đất Vàng asked, only to then feel a sense of dread when the Freestyler's face froze yet again.
"…please don't tell me you also don't know what Weapon you've chosen as well!", the Vietnamese Armed Combatant asked in a tone that's full of trepidation, not knowing whether to either laugh or cry.
"…well, I'm SURE I have chosen a dagger as my starter weapon, but after seeing what happened with my Status, I should double-check.", Gab replied stiffly, as she was most certainly crying inside overlooking like a mentally deficient dumbass in front of the beautiful Armed Combatant!
As a matter of fact, said Armed Combatant didn't know whether to laugh or cry when she realised that the Freestyler beside her didn't even know what Weapon she had!
How was that at all possible! Didn't the system ask every Player to confirm whether they choose the Weapon most suitable for their build?!!
Fortunately(?), when Gab was checking her "Status" earlier, she noticed that her "Inventory" was no longer greyed out.
That means, she can now find out exactly "what kind of weapon" Aurula and her Mistress selected for her.
So without further adieu, Gab opened up her Menu and selected "Inventory"…
"…"
"…"
…if the stone metaphor from earlier was still affecting Gab, then forget about cracks.
She just straight up burst into a cloud of fine dust, and dispersed without a trace!
"Uh…is everything ok?", Đất Vàng asked nervously, as the same reaction the Freestyler had on her face when she checked her Status earlier reappeared, only this time with a vengeance!
"…oh, oops. I thought I chose a dagger, but it seems I accidentally got a wand instead. Guess my avatar could now be considered a speedy glass cannon", Gab said in a monotone voice, completely at odds with the "oops" that she included in the sentence. It sounded like her psyche was completely broken for some reason!
Before Đất Vàng could ask Gab what else was the matter, as there was more going on than just a wrong weapon, Gab equipped what looked like a plain wooden wand that has seen a better day if the splinters sticking out of it were any indication.
With a dead look in her eyes, Gab checked her "chosen Weapon"'s details, and saw that it was about as much as she expected of a starter Weapon:
<Splintered Wand
Classification: Weapon
Weapon Grade: Glass
Weapon Type: Magical Catalyst (Focus)
Effects:
-INT +1
Weapon Stats:
Durability: 1 battle
Magical Attack: 1
Weight: N/A
Description:
An already poorly made wand that has aged just as poorly.>
<Note: When a Magical Catalyst is chosen as a Weapon for combat, you can use [Magic Spark] as a basic attack to deal out Magical Attack damage>
<Warning: The durability of Glass-grade Items are poor enough that they're only limited to a specific number of battles, usually only one.
Once an Item of this grade has been used several battles equal to the number stated in its durability, it will break down into a small heap of scrap material.
Thus, it is advised to either have a spare Item of a similar grade on hand or replace it as soon as possible with a higher grade Item.>
"Really fragile, isn't it?", Đất Vàng commented, having seen similar stats and notifications when she checked her own Glass-grade Kiem, "The village elder will probably give us a Quest that'll allow us to first get familiar with combat in Arbitrium that'll earn us enough money to get a slightly better Weapon.".
She then patted Gab's leather-covered shoulder as if trying to console her, "I don't know how you didn't get the Weapon you wanted, but I'm sure you'll get plenty more in no time!", she said, before she started to test out her Weapon to determine how well it handled.
…
Gab will get plenty more Weapons?
Little did the preoccupied Armed Combatant know, the number of weapons she had on hand WAS the problem, just not in the way she expected!
"…I've been asking myself the wrong question!", Gab muttered under her breath, still completely shell shocked.
The question that Gab was originally asking herself in regards to what happened during the Weapon Selection was, "What kind of Weapon did Aurula and her Mistress chose for me?".
When, in actuality, what she SHOULD have been asking herself was;
"…just how MANY Weapons did those two fucking give me?!!!":
<Inventory>
Current Number of Slots: 100
Number of Slots Taken: 64/100
<Weapons>
Grades:
<Glass>
Number: 55
One-handed Weapons
Swords:
-Mistreated Blade
-Scratched Jian
-Rusted Kampilan
-Encrusted Sabre
-Moldy Canesword
Daggers:
-Snubbed Stiletto
-Broken Swordbreaker
-Unquenched Khukuri
-Unwavered Kalis
-Overused Push
Axes:
-Dull Billhook
-Matted Beard
-Horrendous Hatchet
-Chipped Pickaxe
-Malnourished Mambele
Hammers:
-Uncaring Pick
-Crass Ballpin
-Terrible Totokia
-Murderous Maul
-Gripped Nail
Bludgeons:
-Girthy Gada
-Hollow Kanobō
-Moist Shillelagh
-Lawless Baton
-Salt-crusted Bulibuli
Two-handed Weapons
Greatswords:
-Bastardised Bastard
-No-life Nodachi
-Split Zweihänder
-Burnt Flamberge
-Tarnished Claymore
Pole Arms:
-Greedy Guandao
-Weed-covered Guisarme
-Messy Partisan
-Shaved Sarissa
-Nicked Naginata
Ranged Weapons
Projectile:
-Single-thread Sling
-Crooked Slingshot
-Wobbly Bow
-Cross-eyed Crossbow
-Cracked Cheiroballista
Ballistic:
-Unbalanced Flintlock
-Dirty Revolver
-Musky Musket
-Bloodied Bayonet
-Brittle Cannon
Magical Catalysts
Focus:
-Splintered Wand
-Cracked Orb
-Unvarnished Rod
-Tattered Tome
-Badly-cut Crystal
<Wood>
<Mineral>
<Metal>
<Gem>
<Construct>
<Artefact>
<Structure>
<Ruin>
<Anathema>
…
Fifty-five Weapons.
It bears repeating:
FIFTY. FUCKING. FIVE. WEAPONS!!!
Gab didn't understand how this was possible, much less the reasoning behind this action.
For one, she was certain that Players would only get to choose one Starter Weapon before completing Character, no more, maybe no less.
Secondly, why did the Mistress feel it necessary to give her access to so many different types of weaponry?
Sure, Freestylers have a wider range of selection choices than Players that require Weapons that are better suited to their Class, but that doesn't necessarily mean that users of said Style would want to use every type of weapon imaginable.
Also, aside from going to Capoeira classes every Monday and practising gymnastics on Fridays, she doesn't have experience in wielding any type of weapon (D&D campaigns don't count), much less participated in real combat situations.
That begged the question of why Aurula and her Mistress gave her access to a large variety of weapons, as opposed to giving her a lot of similar weapons. That way, she could at least develop a consistent fighting style that she can improve as she continued onward.
"Ah, never mind.", Gab sighed in her head, "Since this was the result of a "step" in the Mistress's plan for me, I'm sure the reason for this un-fucking-holy amount of weapons will be revealed to me sooner rather than later.".
With that said, Gab somehow managed to tear her eyes away from this frightening list and turned her attention to the rest of the Inventory.
After all, she still had the other rewards from the announcements that she still hasn't checked yet, and she was curious as to what they would bring to the table.
Skipping some of the other Inventory tabs (most of which are empty), Gab found the eight Items she was looking for in the "Special" tab.
The first Item appeared as a book with a greyish cover, written in what looked to be messy scribble:
<Style-Specific Skillbook
Classification: Item
Item Type: Skillbook
Effects:
Using this will allow you to learn a random Initial level Skill that applies to your chosen Style.>
Gab felt her eyebrows raise slightly after reading the description.
Essentially, not only did this Skillbook give her access to random additional Skills equivalent to those used by Players with Initial Classes but said Skills depend on what Style she has chosen.
And if the Initial level Freestyler Skills Aurula chose for her were any indication, it was highly likely that the Skills she'll get from this Item will be both strange yet highly versatile.
This made Gab's curiosity of the next three Items even greater, which appeared to book similar in style to the greyish book, only the covers on these were a stark black:
<Advanced Style-Specific Skillbook
Classification: Item
Item Type: Skillbook
Effects:
Using this will allow you to learn a random Advanced level Skill that applies to your chosen Style.>
Gab had to hold back a gasp when she read what these Skillbooks could give her.
As to why her reaction was stronger, one must remember that Advanced Classes are evolved versions of the normal Initial Classes.
Whilst she saw a few examples of these Classes when she was checking out both the Combatstyler and Lifestyler Classes, she knew that the actual number of them was far greater than what the Players saw in the Initial Class descriptions.
So she can only assume that a Freestyler Skill of that level would either be highly specialised or even more versatile than the ones she has on hand, which made her shiver slightly. Even more so when she remembers that she has THREE of these Skillbooks!
"Ok, even though it's tempting to use these straight away, I should probably learn after I test out the Skills I already have access to,", Gab rationalised, shaking off the temptation to just use them, "sides, the Skills I could gain would likely to be selected based on my actions before I activate them, and I haven't actively done that much on my own just yet.".
With that in mind, Gab decided to only learn one new Skill after each of her first few battles, allowing her to at least come up with a semblance of a battle strategy.
Somewhat satisfied with her plan of action, Gab moved her gaze over to the next three Items, which were also books with a greyish cover.
The difference between the normal Style-Specific Skillbook and these three Items was that they had ring-binders similar to modern-day notebooks, as well as having familiar looking symbols on the front.
A glass vial, a pair of travelling boots and a Venetian mask respectively:
<[Producer] Lifestyle Guide
Classification: Item
Item Type: Lifestyle Guide
Effects:
Using this will allow you to learn how to gain the [Producer] Profession.>
<[Explorer] Lifestyle Guide
Classification: Item
Item Type: Lifestyle Guide
Effects:
Using this will allow you to learn how to gain the [Explorer] Profession.>
<[Entertainer] Lifestyle Guide
Classification: Item
Item Type: Lifestyle Guide
Effects:
Using this will allow you to learn how to gain the [Entertainer] Profession.>
Gab's eyes trembled as she read these descriptions, as with just these three Items she can learn how to gain the Profession abilities of three different Lifestyler Classes without needing to pay for the privilege!
Of course, whilst these Items teaching her how to "gain" the Professions as opposed to straight-up "learning" them, she wasn't cut up about it.
If she had to guess, she would probably learn them by fulfilling certain conditions that she would need to complete when she found the time, such as potentially doing fetch quests for the [Producer] Profession and looking for certain areas for the [Explorer] one.
Now she was curious to see the one Advanced [Lifestyle Guide] variant she had in her possession.
Similar to her three [Advanced Style-Specific Skillbook]s, the cover of this [Lifestyle Guide] was black instead of grey. One marked difference between those Items is that this once has what looks like a white magic circle that looks incomplete, with additional symbols floating around it:
<[Vancianformer] Lifestyle Guide
Classification: Item
Item Type: Advanced Lifestyle Guide
Effects:
Using this will allow you to learn how to gain the [Vancianformer] Advanced Profession, an Advanced [Researcher] Lifestyler Profession.>
"[Vancianformer]? As in "Vancian" magic systems?", Gab whispered, not expecting a Profession whose name references a magical system that "Dungeons & Dragons" players such as herself utilise, more specifically the use of "spell slots".
For those who've never heard of this system, "Vancian Magic" is a system of magic created by the author Jack Vance for his "Dying Earth" series, which empathises the "memorisation" and "preparation" of spells before they are used and that there is a limit to the number of spells one can use of a certain "spell level".
Another example of this type of magic system in popular culture, in a popular manga series about a loudmouth muscle head who can use anti-magic, a delinquent fire magic user prepared a one-time use spell over many months to even the playing field against a powerful antagonist.
Of course, whilst she doesn't know the true specifics regarding this Profession (as well as the Class it's derived), Gab can make an inference that this Profession would allow her to either "stockpile" or "buildup" Spells and Skills that use MP as a resource to activate, based both on the [Lifestyle Guide]'s cover illustration and that it's an Advanced form of the [Researcher] Class/Profession, which empathises an Attribute Focus on the Intelligence Free Attribute and the Comprehension Fixed Attribute.
Satisfied with her rewards, Gab was about to finally close her "Menu" when her eyes caught a number on the screen, which doesn't quite add up:
Number of Slots Taken: 64/100
…
…if there were fifty-five Weapons in her Inventory's Weapon tab, and there were eight Items in the Special tab, then the total number of Inventory slots taken should amount to sixty-three.
And yet, this counter seems to be implying that she still has one more Item unaccounted for…
On a side note, because Gab was so immersed in checking out the Weapons and Items in her Inventory, she didn't notice that both Đất Vàng and the strangely familiar blond man in the casual suit were observing her with perplexed expressions on their faces.
After all, aside from the Starter Weapon that's placed in every Player's Inventory, there shouldn't be anything else in there aside from that, so it's perfectly reasonable for these two to wonder why she's taking so long to look through it.
On one hand, Đất Vàng is seriously starting to wonder whether or not something's wrong with the Freestyler's mind, as she made many "mistakes" that no normal Player would make, let alone without realising it!
But on the other, the mysterious blonde man had a calculating look on his face, before a hint of a smile could be seen on it.
"Could she…be who I think she is?", he softly asked himself, as he seemed to be calculating his next move.
"Cause if she is…then I may have just hit the jackpot!".
Back in Gab's personal space, she started looking through the previous Inventory tabs to see if there was an Item she either missed or just plain overlooked.
When she found that this wasn't the case, she decided to look at the one tab she hasn't opened yet. One that even she knew shouldn't be a single Item inside.
And that tab was the one titled "Key".
In the context of video games and other types of RPGs in different formats, a "Key" Item is generally one that a player acquires for one or more specific Quests.
Generally, they're either unusable by the player holding it, or they only have a use in specific parts of a Quest.
At the end of the day, though, their ultimate function is to allow a player to complete the Quest that the "Key" Item is related to.
Sure, there's a chance that it could become a useable asset for a player after completing said Quest, but that's not a guarantee.
As for why Gab didn't think of checking this tab in the first place, it's simple.
Because, aside from the Weapons and announcement rewards she acquired as a result of a bizarre chain of events that she unintentionally caused due to a "near-death experience", she didn't get any notification that she got any other Item.
As she opened the tab, her confused frown only got deeper.
For taking up the innermost top left-hand corner of the tab was what looked to be some handheld, rectangular case of sorts.
However, she couldn't get any more visual details, as it seemed to be covered by a thin layer of the same black smoke that covered Gab herself no long ago in Character Creation.
And what little information she got in it didn't help her either:
<[Mysterious Case]
Classification: Item
Item Type: ??? (Sealed)
Effects:
Locked
Current Capacity: ??
Weight: -
A case of unknown origin and purpose that was made solely for the Player known as "Wanderer".
Slipped into their Inventory whilst the planter of the case performed an unnecessary action, the purpose of this case, as well as its unknown contents will be made apparent once "Wanderer" completes a trial set by its creator.>
…
It's Item Type..is sealed?
Effects are locked?
It has a least ten additional contents inside of it (if the number of question marks is anything to go by)?
It was planted in her Inventory, without her knowing it?
And last, but most importantly, it was made specifically for her?!
None this made any sense?!!
As she was scanning the information, trying to find some hint as to what this strange Item is capable of, Gab found herself focusing on one unusual line.
"Slipped into their Inventory whilst the planter of the case performed an unnecessary action".
"Unnecessary action? What does it mean…by…that…", Gab began, when her quiet words trailed, before the hint of an amused smirk appeared on her lips.
"Aurula, were you trying to show that you are a saucy minx, even when giving your first kiss?", Gab asked under her breath, directing this question towards the Facilitator who wasn't currently present.
It made sense to her that Aurula was the "planter" of the Item in question since she was the only NPC she's had close contact with so far.
As for the so-called "unnecessary action", it was undoubtedly the kiss they shared.
After all, if Aurula was fast enough to break the sound barrier, what would stop her from quickly placing the case into her Inventory when Gab wasn't looking?
Deciding to put the matter of the last Item aside, for the time being, Gab closed her Menu, only to find the Vietnamese Armed Combatant tilting her head at her, causing Gab to sweatdrop. Even more so when Gab observed her raised eyebrow.
After all, if Aurula was fast enough to break the sound barrier, what would stop her from quickly placing the case into her Inventory when Gab wasn't looking?
Deciding to put the matter of the last Item aside, for the time being, Gab closed her Menu, only to find the Vietnamese Armed Combatant tilting her head at her, causing Gab to sweatdrop. Even more so when Gab observed her raised eyebrow.
"…checking to see if you've somehow lost your Inventory slots as well?", Đất Vàng asked sarcastically(?).
"…nah, just seeing if other stuff I had on me like my wallet and vibrator were scanned into the game as well.", Gab lied with a straight face, making Đất Vàng feel torn between either laughing her guts out or just straight up projectile vomit blood!
Fortunately, for both their sakes, she chooses the latter option.
"AHAHAHAHAHHA! Please tell me you didn't have that last thing on your person!", Đất Vàng said whilst wiping tears from her eyes.
Seeing this reaction, Gab decided to tease her a little more.
"Weeellll, I wouldn't say I had it on me…", Gab joked, before being cut by the Vietnamese Armed Combatant punch to her shoulder.
"Ok, ok, you have your secrets, I have mine. I guess we just have to get to know each other before we share them as normal people do.", Đất Vàng stated.
"Oh,", Gab said, intrigued, "and what, pray tell, kind of secrets are you hiding?".
Đất Vàng just gave Gab a sexy as hell sideways smirk.
"Oh, wouldn't you like t…UH!!", she was saying, before cutting herself off as she walked straight into another Player, who was standing still in front of her.
Gab didn't have much time to react before the same thing happened to her.
Only, for some reason, her Player (crash pad?) didn't so much as turn their head around, almost as if they were preoccupied with something.
As Gab looked around, she found that she and Đất Vàng have just exited the crater they were in without noticing, since she was preoccupied with browsing her Inventory and the latter was preoccupied with the former's preoccupation with what should have been an empty Inventory
Strangely, all the other Players that have exited earlier than them were also standing still, all of them with shocked expressions on their faces, with some of them pointing to something.
"RPG Otaku,", Đất Vàng said, using Gab's false Player ID as she the Vietnamese woman tapped on her shoulder and pointed towards something, "look.".
As Gab turned her gaze towards where the Vietnamese Armed Combatant was pointing, she felt all the air in her lungs violently expelled, as well unconsciously wishing she wore brown pants when she did her first Causa scan!
"Ho. Ly. FUCK!!!", Gab swore as she found herself looking towards the sky.
Or rather, what lies beyond it.
The first thing she noticed was that the world of Arbitrium had three different coloured suns, all arranged in a downward triangular formation, with the top left one is a bright magenta, the top-right being the normal yellow, and the bottommost one a pleasant cyan.
However, it was what the suns were in front of that caused feelings of existential crisis to arise in the hearts of all the Players present.
Behind the suns was a bright light circle, that completely encompasses the three suns.
Well, to say that it was a "circle" wasn't quite accurate, since it looked like the top half of it was shaped like a soft-edged half-circle that had the top two suns situated within it, whilst the bottom sun rested within a smaller, open half-circle.
Looking at this strange celestial formation from Gab's vantage point, it looks like a "Hushed Face" emoji with a curved line between the eyes and mouth.
However, even if someone were to draw that comparison, it would take a back row to the knowledge of what that strange white circle was:
"Is that…a fucking accretion disk?!!!", Gab swore, wishing she was wrong.
An accretion disk: in astronomy, it refers to a circle made up of diffuse material that rotated around massive bodies in space.
One example of such a phenomenon that is relatively close to Earth is the Rings of Saturn, which are made up of a mixture of rock and ice that reflects light from their Sun.
However, considering the sheer brightness of the disk, as well as its overall size, none of the Players presents was under any illusions of what celestial body it was rotating around.
To make a long answer short: it was a black hole.
…
Repeat: the world of Arbitrium, as well as its suns, were at least close to A FUCKING BLACK HOLE!!!!
"Hohohoho, yes, that's pretty much the reaction me and the village heads of the other Pocket Villages expected you, travellers from another world, to have after seeing that…thing.", a familiar voice that all the Players heard not too long ago remarked, causing them to whip their heads around to find the source of it, "Hell, I and the rest of the people in my village almost soiled ourselves when we first witnessed its appearance, as well as what came from it.".
Of course, it didn't take too long to find it, as what looked like an elderly woman donned in a wheat-coloured robed stand atop some type of floating platform appeared in the sky, right in front of the pant-shitting inducing celestial formation, looking very much like a mystical elder coming down from the heavens
"As I'm sure you heard before, my name is Zalo, the head elder of Pocket Village 2604. If you want to have a better idea of what's going on, follow me to my humble village.".
"I'm certain that you have many questions for me, which I will answer to the best of my abilities.".
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