Chapter 8: Learning

“Firstly, I need to explain what this place is,” Kaelith began while spreading her arms open, waving at the many aisles around them. “This, as you’ve already guessed, is a shop. You can pretty much buy anything here as long as you have enough Talys. Though, of course, high end and one-off items are a lot rarer. They usually aren’t sold by the shop itself but by other Hosts.”

“Like an auction?” Rakna inquired and she nodded.

“Yes, that’s accurate. In any case, if you want to buy something, you can look through the catalog from the System. If you want something really specific and you can’t find it, ask your AI for help.”

“Got it.”

“Next, it concerns your little friend right there,” Kaelith pointed at Pronos who was relaxing in Rakna’s scarf. “What you have to know is that contracted pets are mostly graded and managed by the System just like any regular Host but they have a very special privilege which is evolution.”

“Evolution?” Rakna glanced at his small companion. “So, you’re saying he could evolve to become stronger? Become bigger or a different type of snake altogether?”

“Pretty much. When a contracted pet reaches level hundred, they will be prompted to choose a path of evolution that tallies their status. After that, most pets don’t get to evolve again unless they have potential higher than B,” Kaelith explained and took a sip of tea from a cup as if it had always been in her hand. Rakna scowled at it since he hadn’t seen her pick it up at all.

“In fact, this isn’t something I tell everyone who is assigned to me,” she continued. “The reason for that is simply that it’s the first time I’ve seen a brand-new Host finish the Initiation with a pet tagging along. And from what I can see, that little one isn’t some mundane creature…” She leveled a probing stare at Pronos who hid his head inside the scarf in response.

Rakna hummed and leaned against the couch. “Let me smoke and I’ll tell you.”

The vixen raised an eyebrow and waved her hand dismissively with a sigh. Rakna took that as permission and lit up a cigarette with Obsidian’s Smoke.

“That’s a Utility Item,” she remarked and if she was surprised, she didn’t show it. “That can only mean one thing; you’re the one who finished the mission first. Is that why you lost your arm? Did you rush it?”

Rakna inhaled and huffed a cloud of smoke. He didn’t refute her conjecture since self-delusion was always the best way to hide something from others. He didn’t know this woman and although his situation was a completely new experience to him, he preferred keeping his secrets.

“To answer your previous question, Pronos is an experimental subject from my planet. He escaped the lab and got dragged by the System at the same time as me.”

Kaelith nodded at his words, thinking that it made sense, then her nose twitched when the smoke got close to her and her eyes became calculative.

“This isn’t nicotine. This feels like… medicine? What are you using that for?”

“It’s just for a little problem of mine,” Rakna shrugged.

“…” Kaelith squinted. She was frankly mystified by the boy in front of her. “What are you, wolfy? You’re quite abnormal, to say the least. Especially your eyes. They’re not what I would typically see on a kid being kidnapped by a game-like entity. Those… I’ve seen them before on the faces of broken men.”

Rakna didn’t say anything and a weighty atmosphere settled between them. It took a few minutes for Kaelith to relent and shake her head. But as she was about to move on, Rakna whispered one word, “Inaccurate.”

Her eyes widened. “Sorry?”

“Inaccurate. I didn’t break, foxy. I shattered into pieces. Unfortunately, when I glued them back, they couldn’t work together anymore.”

Kaelith was too confused to even say anything about the way he had called her.

“Let’s get this over with already,” he uttered indifferently, jolting her out of her thoughts. “Tell me the rest of what I need to know. There are people I’m worried about out there.”

Her expression twitched. ‘Then at least act like you do,’ she retorted internally. “Fine. The last thing I want to inform you of is where you are currently.”

“Where, huh? I guess you don’t specifically mean this shop this time. What, is this another world or something?”

“Yes and no. This is within the System, no more, no less.”

Rakna frowned. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“Of course, what you’ll see out there will probably make you think as if you were in another world but there’s a very important nuance. The trials you’ll be going through in the future, the places you will be going to, the people you’ll meet other than the Hosts… keep in mind that all of them are from the System or are the System itself.”

“Take your initiation for example. Thousands and thousands of different Hosts went through it at the same time. Every single one of them was scattered across the same number of artificial dimensions made by the System itself.”

Rakna’s pupils dilated ever so slightly at this.

“As you’ve realized, it’s a feat worthy of the mightiest beings and the energy required to do something of the sort is monstrous. No one knows what the System is, much less the one who made it if there is such being. Us, Hosts, were thrown into this… realm out of nowhere and were forced to go through all kinds of hardships. This System is old, you know. After thousands of years, Hosts have made civilizations after being robbed of their original home. Some even decided to live a normal life in the System, but none of them truly feel free, as if they were in a prison.”

Rakna was grimly listening and Pronos was very attentive as well. To say that they grasped the entirety of what she said would be a lie. But they knew they were about to be thrown into a very chaotic life.

“I’m sure you can’t fully understand what I mean without experiencing it yourself. You will learn in time, trust me. Considering how smart you appear; I believe you can deduce what I’m coming to. Once you leave this shop, you will enter what we call Plateau Zero, the Tutorial. After that, you’ll be allowed into the First Plateau, also called the Seedling Ground.”

“Are you insinuating that this System has a tower dynamic going on? The more we go up, the closer we get to… whatever goal it might have presented us?”

Kaelith chuckled. “You can see it like that. But, honestly, no one calls this a tower. We have never gone up per se. Although the official designation is ‘Plateau’, people call them in different ways; Floors, Stratos, Levels, Grounds… When a Host is ready to go to a new one, they are given the choice to continue or remain living in the Plateau they’re in for the rest of their life.”

Rakna rubbed his eyes, trying to calmly sort the intake of information that was slowly giving him a headache. “How many plateaus? And if you’re given a choice, what’s the point? Is there an ultimate floor with a reward?”

“Beats me,” Kaelith replied humorously and laughed when she saw Rakna’s expression become even more blank. “I’m not lying. We don’t know how many plateaus there are. We also have no idea of what lies at the end of the road or if there even is one.”

“What’s the point then? Without a goal, why does this System exist? Why would people even try to conquer it?”

Kaelith closed her eyes. “I told you that we could choose.”

“Yes, and?”

“Did you think that there wasn’t a price to that choice?”

The corner of his eyes twitched as he discerned the implications of that. “What kind of punishment do you get?”

Kaelith smirked. “I’ll admit that you have an uncanny ability to perceive the truth, wolfy,” she said and he grunted which only made her smile wider. “You’re right, there are consequences. If you decide to stay on a plateau, the System abandons you and takes away your strength and privileges. People will mistreat you, even abuse you if they want. Within the System, weakness is the worst sin.”

Rakna scoffed. “If weakness is a sin, what the hell do they take strength for?”

Kaelith let out a chuckle filled with bitterness. “Indeed. Weakness stems from strength and the strong trample the weak because of their very own feebleness. What a messed-up world we live in, eh, wolfy?”

“What about the opposite?” Rakna changed the subject. “You said that the System tells the Host when they’re ready to go to the next plateau. If that is true, then someone could just enter a floor, do nothing and the System would never call them out. From what I’ve seen and just heard, this System seems pretty sadistic and there’s no way that it doesn’t have a measure against indolent people.”

“Once again, you’re spot on. When a Host accepts the System’s prompt to enter the next level, they have the right to come back to any plateau they’ve been to before and they are free to do whatever they want. But they also have three years to achieve the necessary conditions, which are provided mind you, to go to the next stage or they will be stripped of their strength. It isn’t as radical though. They won’t lose their system, they will just go back to level 1 and most of their abilities will be sealed, which is still a death sentence in itself but not without a chance of recovery.”

“Three years? That sounds like plenty of time to me.”

Kaelith grinned. “That’s the thing. Sometimes, getting to the next plateau is hard. And when you’re not competent enough, three years is far from enough. And when Hosts get desperate, they tend to gamble their life. That’s why most Hosts never ‘graduate’ until the very last second of their three-year-period, so they can train and prepare themselves as much as they can for the following three years. And this repeats itself over and over again. It has been exactly 3462 years since it started. The oldest and strongest Hosts are close to reaching the 1000th floor last I heard.”

Rakna took in her words very silently. He rested his elbows on his knees and joined his hands together. Kaelith watched him with hints of amusement and bemusement at his contemplative posture.

“Bullshit,” was what he said after minutes of silence. Kaelith almost choked on her tea.

“That’s what you conclude this conversation with?!” She had expected something more… eloquent after all that musing.

“Yeah,” Rakna replied uncaringly. “I don’t have the patience to climb a thousand floors under the constant pressure that I’m being forced to do so.”

Kaelith tilted her head and one of her fox ears stood straight while the other folded. “Would you have preferred to stay on your home planet, living a dreary life?”

Rakna shrugged. “I don’t care that much either away. But, since I’m here, I swear I’m gonna give a piece of mind to the one at the origin of this System.”

“So, you’re one of those, huh? You seek retribution against whoever took you away. There are many like you. Most died or lost their powers already.”

“You’re saying that as if I gave a damn about the people before me, foxy.”

Her eyebrow shot up.

“Those that walked before me are nothing but corpses that I have to walk over,” he uttered in a detached tone. “This is what my uncle taught me long ago. You never follow examples; you make your own.”

“Hm, I see. You have an interesting uncle.”

“You have no idea.” Rakna’s eyes flashed with an unusual light and Kaelith was a bit surprised. She recognized respect in his look as well as unbreakable trust. A definite contrast to his countenance.

“If he were the one in my place right now… this System’s end would have been a matter of time. A very short time on top of that. I’m sure of it. The Initiation? He would have completed that in less than three minutes, barehanded and unscathed.”

“Well, if your uncle is a fully grown Therian, it’s-“

“Human,” Rakna interrupted.

“What?”

“My uncle is human. He was an old man over a hundred years old capable of lifting tons and versed in the art of war unlike any other. I still remember to this day how he would train me with the spear by making me attack him until he would either take a step back or stop catching the blade with his fingers.”

At that point, if Kaelith wasn’t impressed, it would be a lie. She knew that the world the wolfy in front of her came from had no magic. From his description, that human was ungodly strong. As she thought that, she finally noticed the elephant in the room.

“Wait… how are you a Therian? Your world shouldn’t have any.”

Rakna stiffened. “Let’s just say that… I’m a very special case.”

Kaelith stared at him as if she was trying to tear a hole in his person.

“That aside, why don’t you recommend me something to buy? You’re the shopkeeper here and I don’t want to go through an entire catalog to try and find something that catches my eye.”

The vixen looked at him suspiciously and slowly waved her hand. At her gesture, a System window immediately appeared in front of Rakna.