22 「Precedence」 (1/2)

The Gate created by Jack opened into the main foyer of the Citadel, and soon after he emerged with the three female forms wandering in behind him. Even though they were under his control, they still had their consciousness. They were just brainwashed, conditioned, changed.

Astra's mouth hung open as she stared at all the NPCs moving about. It had completely changed since the last time the Swords of Darkness had been in attendance.

A massive circular device has been planted in the center of the foyer in the appearance of a tropical blue half-sphere with a floating golden ring around it. There were thousands of what appeared to be photonic displays floating in a circular motion above the platform.

It was a World Item used for mass surveillance by Spell Casters who use their own sources of mana to interface and power it. The more who use it the more information it is capable of covering and the range also increases. At its maximum range, they could very likely see the other side of the world, but for the time being it covered the majority of the continent.

Pushing her purple framed glasses to her nose once more, the girl in the school uniform gazed over the scene. It was amazing the item which was pretty much on display for anyone who walked in.

Were they not expecting guests to come in here? Or could they move it?

The three had no idea that it wasn't originally there in the first place. That and it's size can be reoriented to be placed in a different location or stored away in a small box.

Originally this item was stored in his study, but the Dryad had been ordered by Gallifrey to bring it down to the foyer for more practical use by all of the Guardians and NPCs. It was one of the reasons why they had caught the sight of not only the Black Scripture, but also Bloodfallen.

”Is this some sort of center of intelligence gathering?” Sia asked as she lowered her hand from her face after pushing her glasses up her nose. She was very straight to the point, before running a hand through her brown hair.

He turned his head and looked to her before shrugging slightly. ”In a sense,” he exlcaimed before walking towards the doors leading to the main stairwell. ”You may follow me, all of you.”

Sia, Astra and Elle all nodded and followed after him submissively.

Even though he had made them loyal followers, they'd still fear him, even if they liked him superficially. So as they made their way up, both Elle and Astra began to levitate as their legs got tired and continued on moving so they wouldn't fall behind.

Each glance, each turn of their head, they got new information.

Soon enough after reaching the third floor in the main complex, they entered a room as he slid the door open. It's design was rather modern, but minimalistic. There was plenty of storage containers, and then there was a futon in the center.

This room in particular was owned by the member affectionately coined ”Two of Three.” It was a Star Trek joke which the three original members shared. Though now it was just Jack alone.

He walked over to a nearby trunk and tapped the top of it.

Reaching in, Jack pulled out what appeared to be a full body spell caster's robe. It was white on the outer layers and black on the inner. Though the exception being the shoulders and tall collar, he happened to toss it in Astra's direction.

Instinctually she went to cover her face, causing it to simply drape over her head for a moment before she noticed she was in no danger.

Peering up from behind the clothes, she peered over the item.

With her magic sight, she could see it was a great deal more powerful than her current attire and covered much much more. Swallowing hard, she looked at him again as he was going through more items which were stuffed inside the trunk.

”What are you waiting for?” He asked without turning around.

”I—I'm sorry!” Astra blurted out.

The item he had given her was the Robes of the Silver Mage. There were three sets of the object as it was an event item that could be obtained over and over again by completing a repeatable quest. Each time the Robe would be a different class.

In this instance, it was a High Class Item while the other two were Relic and Divine.

Originally two of three was going to sell the items or decompile their data and ultimately combine them in an attempt to make her own Guild Robes. That never occurred however, as the game shutdown prior to her even having a chance to go through with the ambitions in mind.

With their backs turned to Astra, watching Jack as he was still going through the items. Astra would pull her clothes off, keeping her undergarments in place, before slipping herself into these Silvery Robes. Immediately she felt lighter, like she could carry a ton and take on much more endurance.

However the moment she put them on, she had cemented the mental conditioning.

The Robes of the Silver Mage, other than being used for increasing one's strength and endurance, turned existing magical effects permanent. Originally the purpose of that was to make buffs cast on one's self permanent for PVP advantages. Though this didn't seem to be the case.

Jack would proceed to take out a pair of cargo shorts and held them out to Sia.

「Color Change」Changed the color of the shorts to be the same color as the blazer she was wearing. He even proceeded to add the same enchantment with silent magic, which would cement the brainwashing.

He was allowing them into the Citadel, he was bringing them to the Carne Village. He didn't want them to be able to turn back against him or be used against him.

Sia smiled, assuming he was being considerate with the change of color to the shorts, and took them off his hands. Unzipping her skirt, she let it drop to her ankles. This revealed the forked hem of her dress shirt, a pair of white panties with purple stripes plain to see.

She also slipped off her black shoes before pulling the shorts up her legs along her slender legs. They covered up to to the tops of her knees, being much longer than the short skirt.