—
Name: [Zarek Ashborn]
Role: [Hero Candidate]
Profession: [Anato Scribe]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: D] <B>
>[Dexterity: D-] <B->
>[Intelligence: D+] B+>
>[Endurance: D+] <B>
>[Charisma: DDD] <B>
Talents:
>[Temp Duplicate: D] <B->
>>[Abilities: Mirror]
[The world's matter…]
>[Harmonic Recall: D+] <B+>
>>[Abilities: Echo]
[The echoes of the past…]
>[Atom Link: E-] <A+>
>>[Abilities: Link]
[The particles of the world…]
>[Anato Codex: E+] <SSS+>
>>[Abilities: Incode]
[Grasp the unique patterns of the world and feel them within yourself. Sense the changes you can cause and tune yourself to the energies of the world. Master the natural resources around you, and the greatest natural resource of them all… yourself]
Skills:
>[C Class Scouting: C+] <C+>
…
Notes:
[So you've becoming a grovelling, bootlicker. Is that it? They call you the Ashborn Demon on Earth, but how would they react if they saw you now? Can you spell pathetic?]
—
Zarek ignored the system as usual, but looking at his status page, he was shaking his head inwardly. This was troublesome. Very, very troublesome.
There might be only one hope here… Zarek thought to himself.
He could see a path out of this, but he didn't want to bet on it. He was used to taking risky gambles, but he didn't take foolish ones. Betting everything on that was ridiculous, so he had to push for a different outcome.
"As much as I would like to prove myself," Zarek started, projecting his voice to a different location through Atom Link, "I'm sure you understand that what you're asking right now is not only extremely difficult, but would also give you too much of an advantage."
The boy-man frowned. "We've both seen that your tattoos are temporary. Do you believe that I would give up a chance like that by killing you immediately?"
"Maybe not. But you're smart enough to know that all Professions have their limitations. That item you've taken out is not a simple one by any means, which is why you're so eager to have it as a Matrix on your body you can activate when you please.
"But you should also understand just how much time that will take. This tattoo would be right at the very edge of my limits, so it would take me at least three days to finish preparation for it. Do you want to spend three days on me?"
The boy-man's frown deepened. He had, indeed, been reaching for the stars. He could easily understand all of this without Zarek telling him. But that was part of the point.
He didn't want to carry around dead weight he had to protect at every corner and every sign of danger. He didn't have the bandwidth for that, not when he knew he was being hunted, and certainly not when the dead weight could hardly protect itself.
Zarek wasn't just a little weak; he was mind-numbingly weak. Those were just casual probing attacks the boy-man had thrown just now, but Zarek had ended up so beaten and bloodied.
Of course, he had managed to escape in the end, somehow. But the boy-man was still quite confident that Zarek couldn't hold up to his assault, especially if he brought out his true strength.
But… given how valuable the pendant was… three days for replicas of it was more than worth it. However, spending three days right at the very start? Especially when he hadn't tested to see if Zarek's abilities were real or useful just yet?
There was no way he could easily take such a gamble.
A week or two from now, when he was well established?
Yes.
But before then?
Absolutely not.
Had Zarek set him up with such a moral dilemma on purpose? The boy-man wasn't sure if Zarek was smart enough for that. Or more accurately, if Zarek was informed enough to know to take such a risk to begin with. After all, Zarek was risking himself like this because he lacked information.
If he knew this much, he wouldn't have taken such a leap anyway…
Or would he have?
Zarek was so weak, after all. Maybe clinging to someone like him was his only chance to begin with.
"How do you intend to prove yourself, then?" the boy-man asked coldly.
There was a flash in Zarek's eyes. He knew he had picked right. His experience in situations like these wasn't something the boy-man could possibly match up to, no matter how much information he had on him.
"Give me a treasure, much lower level, but one that still has some utility to you, while also having usage limitations itself. So long as it's low-Class enough, I can draw it instantly. Once I've proven the usefulness of it all, then I can start to work on the other."
The boy-man fell into silence for a long while before he took something out and tossed it over. Zarek wasn't very surprised when, rather than it being thrown to where his voice was coming from, it came for his real body.
He didn't have a shrouding Skill or some odd assassin Role of some sort, so there was no way he'd be able to hide in close proximity to someone who almost certainly had decent Charisma for long.
Even so, Zarek was quite calm as he caught it, looking down at the item.
He blinked, not knowing what it was immediately. He also didn't have an appraisal Skill, so it was even more impossible for him to understand it like that.
Luckily, he probably had something better than an appraisal Skill.
Harmonic Recall.
The Talent was his fastest-improving one and was on the verge of entering the C Class very soon. This item, from what Zarek could tell, was also C Class.
Zarek had asked for a lower-level item, but he already knew that this was the best he could hope for. The boy-man probably didn't even have a single D Class item or lower on his person.
Even so, he had a far better chance at succeeding with this than the pendant that was almost certainly on the verge of B Class, if not already so.
There was a flash in Zarek's eyes as he sank into the visions of Harmonic Recall.
It was all or nothing.