[Friend: There are two things you need to know.
Just so you wouldn’t be caught off guard.]
Mark stopped slamming his fingers on the digital keyboard, leaving a half-written ssage in the small box at the bottom of the screen.
[Friend: First of all, The Complete Dinsional Collapse is much closer than you think.
You should get to Amberwood in the next two days.]
Right away the ti the countdown accelerated returned to Mark as well as when Natalie explained that it represents the integrity of the Dinsional Border. He didn’t need Friend to explain more to him as he instantly understood that the invisible partition between worlds was going to suffer a devastating blow, enough for the remaining ti to be cut in half.
Once this world is swallowed by the Underworld there was no telling if it would be possible to locate Amberwood in it, and that’s if the entire city wasn’t scattered in the process.
’Two days...’
Amberwood was on the west coast and the drive to it would take at least one day if no obstacles ca in their way, which was unlikely. He would barely make it if he were to depart now. The problem was that he didn’t have a say on when they would leave since he and the other mbers of Squad Four ca to join the reinforcents being sent to investigate the city.
[Friend: Second.]
More ssages arrived before Mark finished thinking.
[Friend: You should be careful around that doctor.]
The line gave him pause.
[Mark: You an Dr. Goodman?]
’Why?’
The last person he expected to be warned about was the friendly black woman. She did embarrass him quite a bit when she played his ga right in front of him. Other than that he didn’t see any reason why he should be on guard against her.
[Friend: She’s a Knight Rank Level 4.
And likely has the Interrogator Constellation.
That ans she has an Ability that allows her to see through lies.
And another one that compels others to say the truth.
]
’The Interrogator Constellation...’
Constellations were sets of Abilities that share so connection, or so Mark had learned while fiddling with his System the previous night. The na Interrogator alone pointed to the nature of the Abilities such category contained and the purpose behind them.
’Could it be...’
Thinking back to his ti in the PK headquarters, Mark counted the tis he had talked to the dark-skinned doctor. It couldn’t have been more than three, with each being too friendly to be called an interrogation. Still, Mark rembered feeling sothing odd back then. He had readily answered every question the doctor asked, not hesitating to tell her about his stats and aspects of his System.
’Seriously...’
It wasn’t just the doctor; he had divulged things to Natalie without a second thought. Back then, he felt compelled to tell her the truth, believing that to be the only way he could exchange information. Now he was having second thoughts.
[Mark: How do I know they’re using those Abilities?
Friend: You can’t.
That’s what makes them tricky to deal with.]
’You got to be kidding ...’
[Mark: How do I deal with them, then?]
One of the Abilities compels others to tell the truth, and even if one were to evade its influence, any lies they tell would be detected by the second Ability. The combination seed flawless, and faced with it the only right choice seed to be telling the truth.
[Friend: Having a high Mind stat would be a good start.
The user can still tell when you are lying though.
That’s why you have to pay attention to each question you’re asked and choose your words carefully.
There are ways to avoid telling the truth without lying.]
’So it can only detect blatant lies?’
Mark had a vague idea of what the mysterious Friend was trying to say. A 150 in Mind should be high enough to resist the influence of the compulsion Ability. As for lie detection, telling only a part of the truth should be enough to bypass it.
[Friend: Well then, that’s all from this ti.
I will contact you again if I hear anything interesting.
If you have any questions just ask them.
Though you might need to wait a while for the answer.]
The ssenger app on the fake phone didn’t have any functions to tell if the contacts were online or not. Despite that, Mark felt that he could tell the exact mont Friend went offline.
His mind was a ss to begin with then he learned things that added to the chaos rampaging through it. The Red Hoods were crazy cultists from hell who desired to kill as many people as possible, and the Peace Keepers had been using both a lie detector and a truth serum on him.
’What the f*ck...’
He couldn’t help but go back and reexamine his life, looking for instances where he might have been influenced without his knowing. Nothing stood out, and at the sa ti, everything appeared suspicious.
’A knight Rank Level 4...’
He had been told that his Mind status was far too high for soone who had just Awakened. It was the reason why he had been able to resist the Whispers for so long, and if an eldritch horror was incapable of influencing him, how could humans do it?
In short, not just anyone can do it, which would exclude almost everyone he t in his life. Everyone besides Rebecca and Natalie. He had no doubt that the latter had higher Mind and Soul stats than him; the fact that she defeated Malarak with a single strike was proof of that.
In the doctor’s case, she said she had a Level 4 LRGS, and one that specializes in healing. That hinted at her nonphysical stats being much higher than the average, and though they might not have been as high as his at the start, leveling up should’ve closed the gap and allowed her to surpass him.
’They only ever asked about my System and Stats...’
Those were things they couldn’t have known from spying on him. Mark had thought it was a little weird that they bothered asking those questions, thinking they had proper thods of extracting such information. Turns out the way they do it is by asking direct questions.
’What should I do...’
The doctor’s appointnt was the next thing on his schedule. He had no doubt that Rebecca would use her Interrogator Abilities at so point so he wanted to be on guard against it.
He had no reason to be afraid of them discovering he was lying; joining the PKs didn’t make him obliged to answer everything truthfully. Still, if they were to see through him it would surely strain his relationship with the organization.
’Damn it...’
The past couple of days allowed him to forget it a little. He was stuck. Trapped. Although he had made escaping the Peace Keeper’s hold his goal, that wasn’t doable, not any ti soon. He needed their guidance and protection. Without them, he didn’t know what to do.
’I... I don’t have any goals...’
He had long since arrived at that realization yet the weight of it was starting to make its presence known only now. Getting to Amberwood and eting his parents was his next objective, but what about afterward?
Going to the Overworld, joining the PK academy, graduating, and working for the organization. That was the path set for him by Natalie and the others. Mark had decided to follow that path until he got strong enough to defy the organization and escape its clutches. What cos after that, he had no idea.
’What kind of protagonist am I?’ He let out a self-deprecating snort. ’The readers are probably tired of my bullshit...’
Whether it was a novel or real life, Mark knew that not having a goal was a problem. He didn’t have to worry about it when he was under the impression that he didn’t have long to live, but now was different.
Becoming the Hokage, the pirate king, the magic emperor, or the number one hero. Those were all goals famous protagonists aid for, but Mark wasn’t the sa. He didn’t have such grandiose desires. He didn’t have any at all.
’Of all tis I’m having an existential crisis now...’
He noticed that his thoughts had drifted quite a bit. Rebecca and her Interrogator Abilities should’ve been his concerns at the mont so he opted to leave thinking about his goals for the future.
’I can always just live a happy slow life with Lara...’
~[ ]~
Coming out of the bathroom, the first face to et him wasn’t that of his maid, as he had expected. Instead, it was his stalker of a superior, Ramsay Rider.
"Still taking thirty minutes to shit?"
"Sorry but, unlike yours, my backdoor hadn’t been stretched."
The mood grew heavy as the two exchanged glares and continued being so even as the Sergeant waved the white flag.
"I just wanted you to know that I already talked to your friend, but..." He said. "To be on the safe side, make sure you two are on the sa page."
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