19. Level Ten Loot

The ‘bend’ part of the test turned out to be pretty easy. All it consisted of was maneuvering the rocks around certain obstacles and the good old cups. Ardan had managed to knock down quite a few, especially since he slightly cheated sometimes, by holding the rock and literally throwing it at the cup. Granted, they didn’t all go in the planned direction, but he did well, nonetheless.

Shiloh and Elaine were crazy good. They seemed like they weren’t even trying when they did the test, and managed to hit almost every cup on the first try. Shiloh had this strange technique of flicking it. He started out by balancing it on his palm, then floated it up a little and flicked his fingers so fast that the rock shot away. Ardan couldn’t help but feel jealous. During ‘water’, his supposed specialty, he hadn’t even been the best.

Thankfully, as Ardan first performed ‘bend’ with the earth, he got the alert of his new skill. Now that he had learnt four out of four of the sub skills, he wondered what would happen once he leveled up the base skill, Elemental Magic.

The sky was turning grey as he made his way home. After a quick de-briefing with Ms Laurecia and the rest of the students, he learnt that his results had been sent to his guardian, which was Pat. His first day of school would start the day after tomorrow, meaning that he had one day to rest before he would meet his new classmates and teachers. Now, he walked alone, wishing he could’ve spent more time with Shiloh. Today had been one of his happiest in a long time. But it hadn’t been all joyful. So many strange and wacky things happened; the little blue flame, his arm on fire, and… Halcyon’s interruption.

That reminded him. “How is it possible for Halcyon to do that anyways?” He wondered out loud. I need to talk to him later...

Knock knock.

Ardan rapped his knuckles against the apartment door and waited.

Creak.

It groaned as it opened, and Pat stood in the doorway. His face stretched into a wide smile as he saw Ardan.

“Ardan! You’re back! Come in, come in. How was your day?”

“It was alright. I did meet someone new though. A girl.” Ardan said as he walked past Pat.

“A girl, huh?” Pat raised an eyebrow in mock surprise.

Ardan smiled a little. “She seems to like Shiloh more than me.”

Shutting the door behind him, Pat waggled a finger at Ardan. “Hey, who knows? Maybe she’s using him as an excuse to talk to you?”

At this, Ardan couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, right. Anyways, can I tell you later? I kind of want to go out for a run now.” His sentence came out badly structured, due to him stressing about what to say.

Luckily, Pat didn’t seem to notice. “Are you sure? It’s getting kind of late. How long do you think you’ll be out for?”

“Uh-” Ardan did the calculations quickly in his head. Last time, it had taken him the most part of an hour, but that was only due to his sickness and rest breaks. “Half an hour? Probably less.” He corrected as he saw Pat frown.

“Well I guess you can… Just stay close, ok? Stay on the street, where the lights are. Don’t go near people who look shady. Be as quick as possible. Safety first, remember. Watch out for cars.”

Before Pat could delay him any longer, Ardan chuckled and turned to go to his room. “Alright, alright, dad. I get it.” Ardan stopped.

He had meant the ‘dad’ part as a joke. Right? A little part of him hadn’t.

Not wanting to know what would happen next, he dashed off to his room, where Sandria sat on his bed. “Nice one, big brother.” She giggled at him and reached under his bed. “I’m assuming you’re here to grab this?”

Ardan shot her a dirty look, before grabbing Halcyon. “Shut up. Did he behave the whole day?” He whispered.

“He hasn’t spoken a word since you left. Also, I stopped charging him a while ago. You know he takes up a whole damn lot of electricity, don’t you? Dad’s gonna be so mad when he sees the power bill.”

Now it was Ardan’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “That’s not very polite for a young lady like you. I gotta go. Daily requirements and stuff. Don’t want to wake up tomorrow with a fat black lump on my stomach, you know?” On instinct, he stepped forward and rustled Sandria’s frizzy green hair before whispering soft commands to store the staff.

“Catch ya later, lil sis.” he called as he walked out of the room.

+ - + - + - +

The air was chilly, yet Ardan felt warm as he jogged down the street. The flickering yellow lights of the lamp posts shadowed the road, creating an eerie atmosphere. All was quiet apart from the occasional car zooming by and Ardan’s rhythmic pants. Just ten minutes into his run, he’d already managed to clear more than half of the distance needed to complete his quest. Instead of running back and forth along the street in front of his home, he opted to go all the way up to where the street met the main road.

He felt stronger. Not physically stronger, like he could break walls with his fists or anything of the sort, but he could run faster and further than before. Maybe it had a little to do with being critically injured during last time’s running session. But then again, he’d never been that fit. Back in the orphanage, he’d definitely hadn’t been in perfect physical condition- that was an overstatement. He’d never really been fit at all.

Thoughts raced through Ardan’s head as he ran along the road, temporarily free of the stress of normal life. Maybe running isn’t so bad, after all. But then the adrenaline left his body, and the burning sensation in his thighs and calves arrived. And Ardan didn’t like running anymore.

Fog escaped from his mouth as he huffed loudly. Taking a break, he spotted a bench in front of him, facing towards the main road. It was unsurprisingly busy for a Monday night. Dozens of cars sped in front of him, transforming into a blur of lights. Ardan couldn’t help but wonder when he would become part of that stream- if he could ever become a part of it.

“Withdraw Halcyon.” He said, catching the staff as it appeared out of nowhere.

The red, milky patterns glowed slightly in the dimness of twilight. Carefully, Ardan set it down, letting it lean against the side of the bench.

“Hey. Halcyon. Are you awake?” He asked, nudging it a little. Ardan wasn’t sure how to tell if Halcyon was awake or not. Actually, he didn’t even know if Halcyon could sleep.

“Yes, I’m awake. How was your day?” Halcyon replied, making a noise that sounded strangely like a yawn.

“Hm? I guess it was fine. I got the rest of the sub skills for elemental magic.” Ardan said without thinking. “Wait. Why do you care? I thought you didn’t care about anything but yourself.”

“After a long think, I’ve come to the conclusion that even though you may not be the smartest person I’ve ever met, I have to deal with you. Since I have to be with you anyways, I might as well help you. You’ve got plenty of other things that can kill- I mean, problems. You’ve got bigger problems.” Halcyon said, sounding a little forced.

“Sure…” Suspicious of Halcyon, Ardan wanted answers. “So how could you talk to me just now? When I was doing air magic.”

“Ah. That’s right. I was going to tell you this morning, but I was too tired to wake up.”

“More like too lazy,” Ardan grumbled.

“Anyways, it’s not really a part of the skill ‘animation’. I guess the skill plays a little bit of a part in how I can do it, but it’s more of the system. Basically, I can see and hear what you see and hear.” Halcyon said it so casually that Ardan almost accepted it for a second.

“Wait a minute. How can you see and hear in the first place? You’re a talking weapon for goodness sake.” Ardan said as he breathed into his cupped hands, trying to stay warm.

“Oh, yeah. My sight as an animated object is really strange. I can see perfectly in a radius of about four metres around me. As I was saying before. Being an animated item means that I’m technically an entity. And since I’m an entity, I’m allowed to be a familiar.”

“A what?” Ardan asked, slightly confused.

“A familiar. A pet. You know?”

“Ohhh, I know what you mean.” A cheeky grin spread slowly across Ardan’s face.

If Halcyon had hands- or a face, he’d probably be face palming by now. “Anyways. I’m counted as a special type of familiar. A playerbound familiar. It means I can see and hear what you see and hear. Oh yeah, and I can also send messages to you in the form of notifications. This is because familiars can’t normally talk and they can only do it with the help of the system. Normally.”

“Huh, that’s actually kind of cool. But how did you know about air manipulation?”

“My previous partner was a master at it. I picked up some useful information after being around her long enough.”

“That’s right, you had a partner before. You never told me what happened to her...”

“And I never will,” Halcyon finished.

Ardan slumped in the seat and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Seriously. So what do you want to tell me, then?”

“Judging by your location, I assume you’re not planning to raid any dungeons or anything, right?” Halcyon asked abruptly.

“Huh? Dungeons? What do you mean?”

“Ah, figured you wouldn’t know. Now please. As I tell you this, do not, and I repeat, do not, tell this to anyone.” He began.

“What about Sandria? Surely it’s ok if I tell her?”

Halcyon hesitated. “Fine. I guess one more person couldn’t hurt. This is for your safety, though.”

Rolling his eyes, Ardan chuckled in disbelief. “Alright, alright. Just tell me already.”

“Ardan, this game isn’t all about yourself, you know. This game was created to let everyone level up. Something this powerful surely wouldn’t end there, right? There are dungeons. Places filled with brutal and evil monsters that can kill you. That’s the reason why this game was created. To give you a chance against them.” He said gravely.

However, Ardan couldn’t believe him. “You’re kidding. If there are monsters, where are they? I don’t see any monsters. Halcyon. Domhain is filled to the brim with urban areas and civilisations. Even I know that. Where would these so-called ‘dungeons’ or ‘monsters’ live?”

Halcyon went quiet for a moment. “Believe me, Ardan. There is more to this world than you think.” He said darkly.

+ - + - + - +

Ardan sat there for a few more minutes after that, pondering whether or not to believe Halcyon. In the end, he couldn’t come to a decision. Yes, lots of strange things had happened, unbelievable things. Crazy things. But dungeons? Monsters? It just seemed a little bit too far fetched.

As the counter on his quest screen ticked up to zero point nine-nine, he came to his conclusion. Dungeons couldn’t exist. It was simply impossible. Impossible for places to exist where monsters could breed or live.

- Alert! -

You have completed [Daily Requirements] (Quest)

You have recieved 580 EXP (x100)

You leveled up! (x2)

You have recieved 8 ATP

You have recieved 2 SKP

You have receieved 10§

The usual notification popped up, alerting Ardan that he’d completed his daily requirement. He allowed himself a small smile as he saw the triple digit multiplier next to the EXP. A hundred times, huh. Must be my lucky day. But then, as it disappeared, a new one took its place.

- Alert! -

Congratulations on reaching level 10!

You have recieved [Common Loot Box].

You have received [Tier 1 Skill Token].

You have receieved 50§

You have unlocked an inventory slot.

You can now go online!

“Oh my go-” Before he could finish, the screen was replaced by a large one, a single gift box on it.

[Common Loot Box]

“I’m guessing this is the loot box thing,” Ardan said as he stuck out his hand, trying to touch it. As per usual, his hand passed straight through it.

And then Ardan screamed in shock as a person walked through it, body breaking the screen’s surface. The person, a fellow runner wearing an all black tracksuit, gave him a strange look before shaking her head and continuing her run.

“... dumb drunks.” He heard her mutter as she left.

Let’s… do this somewhere else, Ardan thought, walking round the back of his apartment, where he had the encounter with the wolf.

“Withdraw Halcyon.”

Halcyon sighed as he appeared, dropping onto the grass. Ardan didn’t bother picking him up. “So what do you want now?”

“You can see what I see, right? How do I open this loot box? What’s a skill token? How do I go online?” Ardan shot question after question at Halcyon, completely forgetting what he’d told him last time about rapid questions.

Halcyon made an annoyed sound and replied lazily. “Open the loot box with a simple command. I thought you already figured it out? I’ll answer your other two questions later. I’m tired now. Let me sleep.”

Too excited to reprimand Halcyon about his attitude, Ardan called out; “Open loot box!”

The gift box shook slightly for a few seconds in a poor animation- you’d think that whoever created this game would be able to design a better animation than that- before disappearing entirely.

This loot box contains:

- Rusted Key

- 100§