The Keys
"Wh-What?!" Karma exclaimed as the girl pulled him away with a tight grip. She took him towards the other direction different from where everyone was running.
Karma was running with any resistance before he even realised it a moment later. She pulled in the same direction he came from earlier then with a sudden movement she jerked and pushed him into the room different design. He caught a glimpse of an unfamiliar washroom before being pushed into a cubicle.
"Why?" Karma asked. "This is..."
"The women's washroom," Sakura said, "the police outside will not come here unless I call them."
Despite the chaos Karma almost sighed in relief before she added, "And I will call them here unless you give me good answers."
That almost sigh turned into a lump in his throat and Karma swallowed hard. Before Karma could even utter a word in return her question dropped on him.
She asked, "What did you come here for?"
"It all started when I got in a fight with one of their gang member which I won. Then I presented with the option of whether you join their gang or become their enemy by not joining." Karma answered as honestly as he could think of. "Please, believe me."
There was silence for moments both with her next words and the expression on her face. "I believe you."
Karma wanted to say something in return but Sakura was quick to beat him to that with the next question.
"What did you and that ugly bastard talk about outside that caused the fight to break out?"
Karma hesitated at that moment. He knew depending on how he presented the honest answer could produce potentially lead to different reactions and consequences.
So Karma took a breath before answering, "I did it because I didn't want to become a rapist or rape accomplice, Handa wanted me to slip drugs in your drink... and I didn't want to do that. Hell, it even made me angry and that's why I attacked him."
Karma could feel Sakura's gaze judging him as it did since he met her.
"I believe you," she said then she added, "My friend has a history of making bad choices and I suspected something like this will happen."
She took out her phone and turned the screen towards Karma. It displayed a small exchange of text between Sakura and some unknown number. It read Get me out of here with the karaoke bar address and with the report being of underage drinking. Then the time it was sent was shown to be five minutes after Karma arrived in the room.
"Just one look at your face was all I needed to know that you didn't want to be there, besides that the ugly bastard wasn't subtle about molesting that other girl and the way he kept leering at me."
Karma sighed, "You saw through everything."
"Not exactly," Sakura said, "If I did I wouldn't asking you questions here and adding to that your answers have been satisfactory."
With that, she stepped out of the cubicle. "Hear for any noise, find if there is an exit behind the building while I'll distract any officers outside."
Karma asked, "What about you? How are you getting out of this?"
She turned and said, "Just know that I have my ways."
[The first battle of Wits won
Difficult: C
First Battle Bonus + Reward: Silver Key ]
Then everything happened as she planned, soon after she left the empty washroom Karma got out of the washroom and found his path to be clear. Sure enough, he found his way into the back rooms, then to the other exit and lastly into the freedom of air outside the building. He gave the building one last glance before making his way back home while thinking.
'Why did the police come here?'
There was a reason why Karma didn't even think of secretly calling the cops and instead prompted to attack Handa other than the impulse of the moment. It was a well-known fact in the cops in the city were corrupt, just the other day there was news of a stabbing incident which took place in front of a police officer. The cop took no action until the assailant had managed to get away leaving his victim bleeding on the ground. Something like this was nothing new. So why did cops come running for something like underage drinking of all things? Can you even the police?
Those strings of questions in Karma's mind were soon suppressed under the weight of the big problem.
'My plan to infiltrate the gang has failed terribly.' Karma thought. "They have also seen by face and from I will surely be their target. Ayumu, I don't know if made things better for you or worse for me... maybe both."
As he reached his home he pushed all those thoughts down, he needed to do one more thing before facing what was coming for him tomorrow, contact the Outsider and learn about the system.
Karma Madarame took his routine nightly seat in front of his PC with his headphone on but in a different mood than usual. He waited hours for the Outsider with eyes glued to the chatroom. One by one every regular entered the chatroom. First Shadow_Walker, then Samurai_Manji, then Ninja_Assassin, then PussySlayer69 and all the rest entered one by one except three, Ayume, some guy who goes by the name The_Looker and lastly the Outsider.
Karma Madarame logged into the chatroom with his online ID, Sin_Eater. He waited for a while, watching as the other regulars entered the room. But the Outsider was nowhere to be found.
Karma typed in the chat, "Where's the Outsider? Why isn't he here yet?"
One of the regulars, Shadow_Walker, replied, "I don't know. He's been missing."
"What do you mean, missing?" Karma asked.
"I mean he deleted his ID and disappeared from all online activity. We don't know where he is or what happened to him," Shadow_Walker said.
Karma felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He had been counting on the Outsider to help him understand the system, and now... Was he really gone?
'You can't just leave like this after turning my life around.'
He quickly quit the chatroom and began searching for any trace of the Outsider online. He scoured every forum, every chatroom, and every social media platform for hours, but he found nothing.
Karma was at a loss. He had no idea what to do now. The Outsider just disappeared without a trace. He sat in front of his computer, feeling defeated and alone.
But then, a thought occurred to him. Maybe the Outsider had left some sort of clue behind or maybe Karma himself was being delusional. Karma began to search through all of his previous conversations he remembered with the Outsider in his memories looking for anything that could give him a clue.
'Outsider: What do know of L'appel du vide?'
'Outsider: Yes, close enough. L'appel du vide more commonly known as the "call of the void." Tell me @Sin_Eater have you ever stood at the edge of a tall building without having any suicidal intentions but there is a burning desire in the back of your head telling you to jump?'
That little chat and his last message.
'My dear Sin Eater.
What a sad hand fate has dealt. The friend Egg54 is dead and everyone thinks it of just a suicide, but we know that's not what really happened. You don't want to be just satisfied by lies given by the law enforcement, do you? Let's see if we can do better and to make things interesting; my Mark. Consider it a gift.'
Karma sat back in his chair and closed his eyes, trying to make sense of it all. The Outsider was gone, but had he left a trail for Karma to follow?
'No...'
Karma got off the chair in defeat. 'If there is then I can't figure it out.'
He felt exhausted from his unsuccessful search for the Outsider, this entire crazy day which felt like the most vivid mad dream so he decided to leave the room and take a hot shower to try and clear his mind. As he stood under the water, he felt the tension in his body begins to ease, but his mind was still racing with thoughts.
After he finished his shower and dried off, Karma found himself standing in front of the bathroom mirror, lost in thought, just like the afternoon.
'If I can't find the Outsider then I have to figure it all out myself.' Karma thought and placed his hand on the mirror and the strange symbols appeared.
[ Name: Sin Eater
Vitality: 60
Strength: 70
Defence: 40
Dexterity: 130
Spirit: 80 ( -60 ) ( Growth Locked )
Arcane: 100
Sub Stats-
Endurance: 40 ( -10 )
Charm: 40 ( -100 )
Perception: 60 ( -80 )
Status-
Severe lack of endurance
Mentally Exhausted
Skills-
Moonjump
Quests -
- Fall of Ayumu ]
'First I have to try to understand these stats.' Karma thought. 'It's like an RPG, so Arcane is like MP and Vitality is like HP, that's simple and easy to understand but the others...'
'There is no agility but there is dexterity. But what is dexterity? Readiness and grace in physical activity; skill and ease in using the hands? But that's the traditional dictionary definition of the term. Then the modern athletic industry throws around this word as something which applies to the whole body but that's not mean that dexterity is equal to speed. The speed of a runner depends on the same principals as the speed and power of a martial artist's strikes and movements.'
'Then what is power? The amount of force one can exert in a small window of time, then power depends on two factors; time and the stat strength. Yes... strength and dexterity makeup power and thus speed. It is all probably by some equation. My Dexterity points than should be the sum of the dexterity of my whole body which is unequal as the dexterity of my hands is better most other
'Now I get it. Endurance is also similar to this, it seems to be the sum of half my vitality and Defence. I get it now but what about Spirit and Perception?'
'They seem to fluctuate but... no - not in relation to pure physical stats but my own mental condition. Spirit is not MP which seems to be Arcane, then correct tag for it would be intelligence or wisdom but that's not all. Normal RPGs just give INT and WIS as game mechanics, both are something that could not be measured on their own and but both are mental factors. Even IQ, EQ among other things could not encompass the totality of mental functions, unlike the term Spirit which should encompass everything.'
'Spirit is not intellect but intellect is a part of the spirit. So is information gathering which is Perception.' Karma thought. 'Does that mean according to the system I haven't been functioning at my peak capacity? For how long have I been like this?'
Karma sighed, "I am already mentally exhausted thinking about now is a waste."
So turned to figure out the simpler things which were the keys. Similar to earlier in the afternoon Karma picked up the silver key and held it in front of the mirror and the symbols started shifting.
[ Passive Skills slot -
( I ) Insert Key to unlock ]
'Passive Skills?' Karma thought. Earlier with the golden key it was the active skills and now with silver, it's passive. Of course, he knew the difference between them if they were the same as that of a game. An active skill is a skill that needs an action from the player to trigger its effect. Passive Skills differ from Active skills in that they are always active and modify some attributes of the user.
'Just like before I don't much go on with this.' Karma thought as he picked up the silver key and jammed it into the gap and just like before the key vanished not a moment after.
[ Skill: Spectator
Description: The user of this skill possesses an exceptional ability to notice and analyze the smallest details in a person's behaviour and appearance. They are able to pick up on subtle cues, such as body language, microexpressions and physiognomy, which provide insight into a person's thoughts and emotions as though they are loud expressions by an actor of a classic play and the user becomes the spectator.
Cost: ??? ]
The message shifted and changed into what was before. Karma waited with bated breath for something to happen like during the unlocking of Moonjump, but nothing happened.
'I guess I have to look at somebody to find out its effect.'
So Karma removed his hand from the mirror and looked at his own reflection. At first, he didn't notice anything else. But as he continued to observe himself, he started to pick up on more subtle details. He noticed the way his eyes were slightly bloodshot, and how his pupils were dilated. He saw the way his jaw tensed and relaxed, almost unconsciously. Somehow he even understood that all these details were signs of stress and fatigue but he already he knew that about his stress.
"Is that what this skill is supposed to do? Help me judge one's mood by details my brain will otherwise filter out by deeming it useless."
Karma placed his hand back on the mirror and symbols covered his reflection. Then he turned his attention towards the bronze keys.
[ Upgrade Stats slot -
Choose the stat you would like to increase by 50 points.
( I ) Vitality: 60
( I ) Strength: 70
( I ) Defence: 40
( I ) Dexterity: 130
( I ) Spirit: 110 ( - 30 ) ( Growth Locked)
( I ) Arcane: 100 ]
'So it's like that huh...' Karma took the bronze key and jabbed it into the Dexterity slot and then suddenly a warm current ran over him and vanished leaving him in a relaxed state.
[ Upgrade Stats slot -
Choose the stat you would like to increase by 50 points.
( I ) Vitality: 60
( I ) Strength: 70
( I ) Defence: 40
( I ) Dexterity: 180
( I ) Spirit: 110 ( - 30 ) ( Growth Locked)
( I ) Arcane: 100 ]
Karma shook his other arm and it moved so freely and effortlessly as one would feel them do after some heavy lifting.
"It works." Karma smiled then sighed. 'At least I would be able to fight them off better if I get jumped on but for that..."
With a painful sting in his heart, Karma jabbed the remaining bronze keys into the slot of Arcane stat one after another.
[ Arcane: 150 ]
[ Arcane: 200 ]
Moonjump had proven its usefulness that evening and Karma would have liked to use that skill at least three times in a row without worrying about regen. For now, two times was the safer option and with that, the symbols on the mirror changed again.
[ Name: Sin Eater
Vitality: 60
Strength: 70
Defence: 40
Dexterity: 180
Spirit: 110 ( - 30 ) ( Growth Locked )
Arcane: 200
Sub Stats-
Endurance: 50
Charm: 40 ( -100 )
Perception: 130 ( -10 )
Status-
Severe lack of endurance
Skills-
Active: Moonjump
Passive: Spectator
Quests -
- Fall of Ayumu ]