Chapter 32: The Plot Was A Lie

I was currently sitting in the waiting room with Josephine and Gregory. Gregory had a look of disbelief on his face as he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. His lips quivered as faint sounds escaped, “Monster… monster…” I could understand his plight, assuming he just fought against her—she really was a monster.

Next appeared Davorin and the newcomer. His footsteps—Davorin’s—were heavy as he walked to the far wall, his eyes sullen, leaning against it when system notifications appeared. I waited for the countdown as I took in the people around me. My previous thought of the newcomer being familiar kept getting stronger, but I figured I would find out in a future fight. It wouldn’t matter much, anyhow.

I appeared in the coliseum having to fight against another level 61 mob. The beast was similar in size to the Crazed Minotaur I fought previously, but this one looked much more like an elephant. It had two lengthy tusks protruding outward as it flailed its trunk around. Fire ran along the rim of its ears, and I couldn’t quite see its backside, but its feet were likewise covered in fire. The skin of this beast tinged red.

[Hearthborn Elephant, Lv61]

There wasn’t anything special about it—just a flaming elephant. That would mean that the mobs encountered in the coliseum were probably completely random. I waited for its charge, but it was terribly slow. Not only that, but its attacks were most likely fire-based, which I had a high resistance towards. I pegged the Hearthborn Elephant with mana bolts as I kept my distance—{Sudden Slumber} was not really needed here.

[Hearthborn Elephant, Lv61, takes 13500 damage.]

[Hearthborn Elephant, Lv61, takes 13500 damage.]

[Hearthborn Elephant, Lv61, takes 13500 damage.]

Even though it picked up speed, I could still outrun it. It didn’t even seem to have a long-range attack. I finally put the elephant to rest—the only thing it really had going for it was the slight magical resistance it seemed to have and the extra amount of health.

[System Notice: You gained 90000 EXP.]

[System Notice: You learned a new ability through {Assimilation}. You learned {Staggering Force}.]

{Staggering Force} - An active ability. Your next attack produces a staggering effect depending on the amount of mana used. Requirements: 30 Vitality. Minimum mana cost: 5.

Can’t use it… It was a pretty good ability, but I would have to spend my points on Vitality rather than Luck to get it online, and Luck did everything for me right now. If only I could get an ability that increased my health by Luck, I faintly chuckled as I entered the waiting room. I still needed to win six more mob encounters and all five player encounters. I was the last to arrive, surprisingly, and the countdown started shortly after. We didn’t get much rest unless we were waiting on the arrival of a player.

This should be a player fight, right? The system shortly answered my thought.

[System Notice: Your match is about to begin. You are fighting a player: Player Jameson]

Hm, Jameson? That must have been the newcomer—wait. Jameson…

The man appeared on the opposite side of the arena as he stepped out of the aura. Now I knew why he looked familiar. Black hair fell from the sides of his balding head, no longer groomed as it had been when I first saw him. The dark-brown heavy armor was completely different than the suit he had worn before. This man before me was Jameson Ender, the spokesperson for Xyvarc Corporation.

[Moderator: Thrall Keeper, Jameson Ender, Slayer of Mighty Foes, Lv17—Potential Level: 69]

He had the same title I just acquired but was here a shorter time than me. He was a higher level, with a slightly higher Potential Level, but the thing that caught my eye was the fact he was a moderator!

“You’re… a mod?” I had originally drawn my ‘Vanquisher’ out, but I slowly lowered it as Jameson Ender just stared down at his wrist. I looked where he was, noticing he was wearing a watch. Was he looking at the time?

“Hah. A mod—yes, I am. Not that it means anything besides this thing.” He waved the hand with the watch around. “Your attributes and skills are quite an anomaly, maybe around the middle of the pack of Hardcore players from what I gathered before getting thrown in here. You should be so proud of yourself.” He kept staring at his watch, not even looking up at me. I raised my ‘Vanquisher’ at him, using {Mana Bolt} to get this fight over with.

“You know, sometimes you should stop and listen,” he looked at me then and I felt like he saw straight through me. “Zeryn Felix. Age 23. You used to live in Taleforn Province before moving to Anascence City. You left your ill mother in search of employment—settling as working as a contracted laundry assistant for Xyvarc Corporation. But oh the agony, a tip—”

“Stop.” I fired my mana bolt at him. I didn’t want to remember home, even agreeing to play to escape that mess. My mana bolt disappeared mid-flight as a pitch-black object likewise came and disappeared into the ground.

“Yes, get agitated. It makes my job easier.” He cackled as I prepared another mana bolt. But before then I made sure to activate {Adrenaline}—I needed to remember to always have it on. He must be getting all my information from that watch… but why does it have that info? I didn’t see the black object anywhere, but I started strafing as I was ready to fire.

“Right, where was I? A tip that you were plotting with another company, Ever Daybreak, to infiltrate and steal the soul technology that Xyvarc Corporation had been working on for years. You were caught on-site by security, told that you had already been investigated, and would face execution.”

I stopped moving. He even knew that—how public did it get? “If you know all that, then you also know I didn’t do any of that.” I refuted his claims. There had never been any plot, and I had to make money to pay for the medicine my mother required, so I obviously had to get a job. I fired a mana bolt at Jameson Ender to no avail. The black object came from thin air, completely negating my attack.

“Hah, of course I know you never did that. It was all fabricated—don’t worry, kid. You weren’t the only one.” He pointed to himself. “See me, I’m here, too, right? Even if they gave me moderator. I guess it’s karma for doing my job, coming across players I’ve put here—oops.” He waved at me.

He’s a psycho… “You—you did this?” My breath grew ragged listening to him speak. But maybe he was right—stopping and listening here was something I should do. Calm down and think about what to do. I still needed to survive. And perhaps there were some answers in his words.

“A bit of it. Hasn’t it been great? Sometimes it is easy to get people to do things you want, all it takes is a push in the right direction. As long as more bodies come into ‘Tethralin’, food gets put on my table. Well, not now but… Oh, hey! Get angry, idiot. You only have yourself to blame. You~signed the contract, haha.” He was laughing as the black object rose from behind him.

The contract was a complete sham, though. It listed out every side effect you could think of for taking medicine. Dizziness, constipation, etc, eventually mentioning it could lead to more severe side effects, to include death. We had to accept the risk to play—and I was offered to play the game as reparation for ‘plotting to steal technology’. It was stupid—but our continent’s laws have always been stupid. As long as there is money, ugh.

But goals—I realized now they wanted people to join ‘Tethralin’, but why? It was free, why would they do such things to get people to play? “Why…” I took a second to control myself. “Why do you need bodies to play ‘Tethralin’?”

He stopped laughing, shrugging his shoulders as he replied, “I don’t get paid enough to know that. Oh, but the pay is good. Who needs morals when you get money? And here, I can do pretty much whatever I want as long as I have the might. Just like the olden days, might is right!”

The black object behind Jameson Ender starting forming a body. It looked decrepit, growing claws on both hands and feet as arms and legs elongated from its torso. The head twisted out from the center of the object, and it looked like it was trying to resemble… me.

“Tsk, this Mimic Shade didn’t feed enough. Well, that’s a bummer. Let’s see, killing a Hardcore player—ah, shit. Right, this is a stupid arena, no killing you.”

Shade. He definitely said Shade. He’s controlling a Shade! I pulled ‘Vanquisher’ up, taking aim at the two enemies in front of me. The Shade didn’t have any information, so I couldn’t see its level. Just as I was about to fire a bolt of mana, the shade opened its mouth, firing a bolt quite similar to the ones I had fired earlier. I quickly dodged, recalling he called it a ‘Mimic Shade’.

So it’s going to copy me? Does he just stand there and I fight it? Jameson Ender’s eyes fell back on his watch as the Mimic Shade finished forming and awkwardly stepped around on the field. It seemed like it was drunk or something as it swayed around, but I knew it wasn’t that simple. I fired my mana bolt at Jameson Ender who was now behind the Mimic Shade. The Mimic Shade intercepted it, and I received no notifications whether it received damage or not. The man who practically put me in here—no, not just him—Xyvarc Corporation wanted it.

I did feel angry, but there was literally nothing I could do now. I wanted to forget the outside and rather live in fantasy, but now nothing makes sense. Well, thinking about it—I guess nothing has made sense since the beginning. I will just try to survive and figure it out as I go, starting with acquiring my first player victory in this coliseum.