A Ploy to Play

"So tell me, where did you gain access to this... cheap, unexplored Pocket World of yours?"

Magnus' words rang throughout the pseudo room created by the encircling crowd.

"Where? W-what do you mean, Sir?" John stuttered. The closer the man got to him, the more he could smell the stench of death. It emanated from the man as an aura, as if a thousand corpses had already gone through his hands. The script he had practised so dearly seemed to dissipate from his mind.

But,

'I cannot falter here or I'll be killed!'

Those were his thoughts. He still tried his best to wade through the murky waters presented before him.

"I-I gained this Pocket World through my own explorations!" He managed to blurt out. His own loud voice brought himself some solace. It boosted his morale.

"Then, why have you chosen to sell access to it for cheap? Couldn't you have earned more through a different channel?" Magnus pushed on, choosing to ask whatever questions he felt like asking. He had no actual plan, simply making use of the opportunity to act like someone else, and perhaps gain eloquence.

"I'm not doing it for the money." John retorted.

"Then what for?"

"To... I'm doing it because I want to."

"Why do you want to even do such a thing in the first place?" Magnus continued his pressure, taking another step closer.

"I—I... Why are you asking me this, huh?" Embarrassment and anger suddenly consumed John's expression. It looked akin to the final bout of defiance one would have, just inches away from cracking under the pressure.

A bit exaggerated yes, but for John, that was reality. The smell of death reminded him of scenes he did not want to see.

His anger was the last resort to stay standing. The result of his fight or flight response choosing to go and fight.

But Magnus did not shift his demeanour. He continued with his words, and more importantly, his advance.

"It's because I want to buy an Entrance Scroll." He said, plainly.

John suddenly choked on his next words.

His stiff expression spelt out a sentence of resignation as if to say, 'If he's buying, I ain't complaining.'

The rage stirred within him died all of a sudden, as Magnus inwardly smiled to himself.

'Bingo! Finally, a successful act!'

"That would be 30 dollars... Sir." John awkwardly fished out a Scroll from within his booth, as well as a map that led to a certain location.

"This is the place where the Pocket World is roughly located. Tearing the scroll when you're in this green area should transport you there. Please remember that this world is supposedly at 3 stars in danger. It is also unexplored. I wish you luck in adventuring... Sir."

Without John knowing how he did it, all the lines he had practised naturally returned to him. The source of the stench of death turned around after a short nod, allowing him to breathe. A scroll had appeared in front of his face and that had to be dealt with first.

"Here's your payment." Magnus suddenly said, as he abruptly faced John once more. He was testing how scared of him the man before him was.

And, to Magnus' sadistic delight, John jumped in fright. It took a moment of silence before he extended an awkward hand to receive the cash.

Magnus then left a little blood on John's hand as he paid. It was a little tip.

John froze as he felt the warm liquid drip down his palm.

But his head felt too faint for him to get angry once again.

It was only when Magnus was out of sight did he grit his teeth in rage.

He realised that he had been messed with. He also caught sight of the Scroll that appeared before Magnus' face.

"I hope you die in there, Earthling."

He said under his breath before assuming a smile as if nothing ever happened. He continued advertising, but no one else approached.

There were no more Otherworlders for the day, it seemed.

.

.

.

Magnus realised that he was getting weird looks from the crowd all around him. And it all happened after he bought the Entrance Scroll from that suspicious salesman.

At first, he thought they were stares of pity for falling for a scam, but after some more thought, perhaps it was something else.

He recalled how a Scroll had appeared in front of his face at the moment he grabbed hold of the Entrance Scroll. Such an event validated the Entrance Scroll's authenticity, as well as revealing something about his own character to the people.

"That might be it," Magnus muttered before starting his invocation. He had to lose their stares.

"I am the master and maker of the Hivemind. The mind behind minds. The one who stands above humanity. And the one civilizations despise."

His original body appeared beside him in an alleyway, away from prying eyes. He then separated his two bodies and sent one to appear before the crowds. His original body followed shortly afterwards, looking like a normal passerby.

Klaris then ducked into another alleyway with a few eyes still glaring at him.

Those eyes followed him in, looking primed to make trouble, but when they did, they discovered a dead end with no one present.

"Haha," Seeing this, Magnus chuckled from within the crowd. "So that's the ploy... Pretty smart. Too bad, I'm better. Klaris' memories of hiding around like a rat is more than enough a base to use in tandem with my creativity."

That entire booth was used to lure out Otherworlders who were searching for the sub-Trial. In this case, the Earthlings.

Normal citizens of Thare probably no longer received a sub-Trial when grabbing an Entrance Scroll. At least, that was under the current circumstances and state of the Otherworld Trials. Only the most recent Otherworlders that were currently going through what seemed to be a uniform set of trials experienced such a phenomenon.

He had avoided the consequences he might have experienced due to him revealing himself as an Earthling.

Of course, there may just be another ploy waiting for him when it came to the actual Pocket World, but Magnus would deal with that bridge once he got there.

For now, he moved with the pedestrians, as he looked for a place to read his new Scrolls.

When he found a safe place, he excitedly unfurled the first scroll he wanted to know about: the one with different green colours; a fresh sight from the usual plain parchment colour.

[[ Pocket World Entrance Scroll ]]

[[ Tear when at the location of the Pocket World, Tyrm to be transported into the said world for 120 Thare Hours (4 Thare Days). ]]

Reading this, Magnus' eyes gleamed. Another world in another world! There was so much to experience if things started layering up like that.

'I also wonder what kind of schemes I will have to deal with...' He thought as he took out another Scroll.

The Scroll for what was likely a sub-Trial.

[[ Personal Trial Scroll: Moral Compass ]]

[[ In Tyrm, there exist natives who have just started building up their civilisation. Find them. Influence them. Or perhaps, annihilate them. What you do and how you do so will reflect what kind of Blessing you will be endowed with and what kind of Curse will shackle you. ]]

[[ Reward: Gain a Blessing and Curse of your own to help assimilate yourself with Thare. ]]

This... this one, is a Scroll that piqued Magnus' complete and absolute curiosity.

It concerned the underlying mechanics of his special powers.

"So Master of the Hivemind is somehow not counted as my Blessing despite my ability to use it in this body? The same could be said for Vow of the Lonely!" He muttered to himself.

It was surprising, but a surprise that made sense. The powers he got from that mysterious card and his unfortunate predecessor felt ethereal in nature.

Instead of being owned by his body, Master of the Hivemind and Vow of the Lonely felt like they were imprinted into his soul— especially with how deep he had to look when he used the Molecular Text Reader.

This revelation just confirmed a lot of things for him. It only made sense that his original body would need a Blessing and Curse upon its arrival on Thare.

Though, such an event meant another question had popped up:

"Are these Scrolls created based on who or which body of mine opens them? Since it's personal, that is a good theory, right? It's different from the general Trials that The Jester helps me with."

Magnus was mumbling as he navigated his way towards the edges of Quarteridge.

"I wonder, what kind of sub-Trial would I have gotten if I had unfurled the scroll in Klaris' body?"

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.

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The suspicious booth.

John was wrapping up for the day upon seeing that no one else went up to buy something from him. Of course, despite the lack of sales, there were several good inquiries. However, when those people did what they did and received their answers, they all tended to grimace afterwards and hurriedly walk away.

"Those idiots, acting like I'm doing something foul. It's just recruiting. What's so bad about that? All factions do it. Why can't I?"

At this moment, a few shadowy figures approached him.

"We lost our target," they reported, quite grim.

It made John pause for a moment before continuing on with his task. He spoke, multitasking,

"Don't mind it. That Earthling inherited both body and memory. His transportation into this world is the most flawed one out there. He will slowly lose himself the more he relies on the memories of a different person."

John then made a shooing gesture, "Go now. Prepare the site. When that bastard appears, give him a little beating before you make your offers. If he makes it through you, the insanity will consume him while in that Pocket World. That would no longer be our problem."

The shadowy figures glanced at each other before retreating silently. They did not question their orders, and will never do so.

It left John continuing with his job alone. He took apart the booth piece by piece, one by one.

Just then,

"Hello? I heard you were selling Pocket World Entrance Scrolls for cheap... Could I make a purchase?"

"A customer...?" John was surprised by the sudden voice. He looked behind him and spotted a girl in uniform, standing just a few steps away.

"Sure... 20 dollars for a Scroll."

"Just 20? I thought it was worth more?"

"Bah," John shrugged, "I control the prices as I wish."

'What's more important is meeting my quota of recruits...' Those were the words he left unsaid. 'That bastard from earlier doesn't have a personality that would work well with us. This girl seems like she has the skills to do so. I didn't sense her approach...'

John inwardly nodded to himself.

'She's a much better choice.'