Chapter 115: Eva (1/2)
Rakna had left the Pavilion half an hour before his promised appointment with Old Wang and was currently floating above the city of Black Steel while sitting cross-legged on an expanded barrier made by his Gradation Hex Buffer, GHB for short. He had left Tyran and Pronos behind who were all but willing to leave their seat in front of the television.
He was now waiting for the agreed time while continuing to read his book. He had already come a long way with his new defensive skill. Not only could he use it as an airborne platform but, if he did it right, it would also be possible to use it as an attack method. And the more he leveled it up, the easier it was to change its shape while also improving its movement speed.
”{Hm, this is completely different from the previous,}” Higure commented all of a sudden. ”{A story about a young man, made to combat foes crushingly stronger than him, only to be betrayed at the end of his struggle.}”
”Indeed,” Rakna nodded. ”Nothing I haven't read before but this… he went back in time, not to take revenge but to find his way around betrayal. No matter how many times he gets betrayed, he never hates them and he tries again and again, doing his best to learn about other people's feelings. This is something you'd be hard-pressed to find back on my planet.”
”{Why is it?}”
”Humans, where I come from, are predominantly greedy, self-centered, and dreamers to a fault. In dissatisfaction with their lives and wallowing in their pride, they would never value the tale of a martyr who does not seek retribution for himself. They would find it stupid,” he said and turned to the next page. ”Infuriating, boring, and unrealistic.”
”{Hmph, what is wrong with the humans in your world? If they can't admire the fortitude of a man seeking acceptance and peace, what do they admire?}”
”That's the problem. Very few people develop admiration for someone else because, as I said, they are too self-centered to allow themselves to consider another as better than them,” he said with a detached voice. ”Well, I take solace in the fact that not everyone is like that. I'm grateful to see that other races here may not have the inherent vice of humans.”
”{It's odd to hear from a former human like you. Is it common for your race to hate your own kin like that?}”
”You'd be surprised,” Rakna replied with a snort. ”We can be everything. From a savior to a killer.”
”{Is that so…}”
”Anyway,” he said and bookmarked the page he was on. ”It's time,” he added and made the barrier disappear under his feet. He free-fell whilst maintaining his center of balance straight and landed softly on the ground with a gradual application of Flash Step.
”Show off much, eh, sonny?” Old Wang, who was closing his stand, commented with a smirk as he saw him descend from the sky. ”I can feel with certitude that you're several times stronger than this morning. You're terrifically talented, aren't you?”
Rakna shrugged as he walked to him. ”I got lucky for the most part.” He wasn't even being humble.
The dwarf chuckled as he locked his booth before putting it inside a storage ring. ”All right. Follow me. We'll use my home's forge,” he said and led his apprentice-to-be back to a small house he owns in a quiet and scarcely frequented area.
Old Wang opened the front door and entered after the lights turned on by themselves. ”Come in and make yourself at home. Give me ten minutes to settle and eat something and then we'll be good to go,” he said and headed toward the kitchen. ”Do you want something too?”
”Thank you but no. I'm already full,” Rakna replied as he closed the entrance behind him. The truth was that he hadn't eaten anything other than the drake heart for the entire day. However, that had been more than enough to satiate him. Even now, he still felt full and he had no idea how long it would last.
”All right. Wait here,” the dwarf said and performed his routine.
In the meantime, Rakna found himself inspecting the house. It was certainly modern-looking and some contraptions that he never had seen before were lying around. But, compared to the rest of Black Steel, it was a bit out of date. In fact, some of the furniture seemed to be very old at first glance and the decoration was in the same kind of spirit.
'A soothing environment…' Rakna commented internally. 'Maybe I should buy a house somewhere with the money I have. It wouldn't hurt to have a place I can call home in the System.'
”{I agree with that idea,}” Higure said. ”{A place to return to, no matter how simplistic or small it is, is a good thing to have. There's nothing that trumps the sense of peace you get by resting in a place that you own.}”
Rakna grunted positively at her words. 'Alexa, give me an estimate. What is the average price of a house like this one?'
[1 000 000 Talys. However, that's only if you're willing to search far from the center of the city or you might find the price reaching the eight digits. I recommend you try to look for a place in the higher Plateaus where demand is considerably lower.]
”I see…” Rakna whispered then got an idea. 'Forget what I said. I want to know if there's a regulation to claiming terrain in the System. For example, if I went into the wilderness, built a house, and decided to live there, would it be allowed?'
[That… is different. Technically speaking, there is nothing stopping you. But, as you already know, the System resets every month. Since you haven't been informed yet, let me explain the details of that specific mechanic. The reset does several clean-ups.]
[The first is to get rid of all corpses still in the wilderness. The second is to generate new monsters to fill the empty spots. The third is to change the Trials' and other hidden ordeals' locations and specifics. The fourth is to remodel the dungeons. The fifth is to terraform the land randomly while erasing anything that stands in its way.]
'So, a house would be destroyed by the reset, huh?'
[Correct. However, as you must have already deducted, Black Steel and independent villages like the one you visited are spared by the reset's alterations. That is because they have indeed been claimed and thus put under protection by the System. The entirety of Black Steel is claimed by the Mayor and he is the one who sells parts of it whenever someone wishes to buy them.]
'So, how would one go about claiming a terrain?'
[By appealing to the System,] Alexa responded.
'Appealing… you mean through a Terminal?'