Chapter 50 Blue sprinklers

Chapter 50 The call

Breathing still heavy as he saw the system message, he'd still not found the use of Exp but the free to distribute bonus points made this whole ordeal worth the time. Intelligence and stamina couldn't be affected by bonus points which left the only other options to be ; Strength and agility. After a while of deliberating, he decided to just let points accumulate, he couldn't make a decision as to what he needed right now but maybe there would be a situation whereby he needed one more than the other.

“You actually did it.” Maerik's voice sounded as he jumped down from the branch of the tree he had been watching from.

“Did you doubt me?”

“A little bit but…” his words trailed as he looked at the gutter form of the lifeless beast before he turned back to Rylan whose attention was still on the system notification. Maerik had watched that fight from the beginning to the bloody end and all he could think was wow. He'd been attentive, waiting for Rylan to break their deal, get frustrated and use Arkana but he didn't, every time it got out of hand, he pulled back and thought of something else, He wondered, if it were him against that beast, how long would he have lasted till he broke the deal and just used Arkana instead but Rylan, he wasn't even like them, he wasn't trained, he didn't really know how to use a blade properly, it was all pure, incomparable instincts. Maerik wandered, how strong would he be if he had all that training.

“Is something wrong?” Rylan asked as he noticed the look on Maerik's face.

“No—no it's nothing. Let's head back.” Maerik said and began to lead the way back to the forest then stopped. “Almost forgot.” He turned back and jogged to the beast carcass, thrust then pull and he'd harvested the core from the beast and began walking back to Rylan.

“Figured out how to use them yet?”

“Not yet, but one day we will and it's better to have something and not know what to do with it than to not have it at all.” Maerik said as he examined the sphere in his hand, Rylan stared at it, glass but inside was a swirl of colors, flowing without disturbance, beautiful and wild, calling them, they could hear it, it's whispers, beckoning them to crack the glass to let the power out, a twig snapped, the sound broke released them and immediately they were drawn out of the trance the sphere had put them in.

“Fuck. I cannot even blame Vrey for doing what he did.” Rylan said as he began walking forward.

“True, even with the knowledge of what it could do to us, we were still tempted, I can just imagine how much easier it would be when the person has no idea.”

“Ignorance isn't always bliss.” Rylan added, crossing over a fallen tree and continuing on the path that had led to the cabin.

“I think we need to run a couple tests.”

“What kind?”

“We need to see how likely it is for people other than us to resist its call.”

“You wanna use your team.”

“It is necessary, I plan to gather as many cores as I possibly can and we can't gather the cores by ourselves.”

Rylan nodded but didn't say anything as they continued walking until the cabin came into view. “What happens when they can't?”

“Then I have a problem.”

“How do you intend on solving that problem?”

Maerik thought for a while, something told him these cores would be necessary in building a new world, even if their application hadn't been found yet, he couldn't shake away the feeling that they would play a pivotal role but if everyone who touched it was under the risk of being corrupted then— “I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.” Said with a tone that made it clear that he would be at a loss for what to do.

Inside the cabin all the players sat in a campfire circle with a small wooden box placed in their middle. Maerik had briefed them on what this exercise was and told them about Vrey, even Dravy who knew the basics of what had happened in the unmapped zone was still baffled when Maerik had said everything. Every single one of them was nervous, the only people not currently in the circle were Peter who was sleeping inside one of the rooms, Rylan who was leaning against the doorframe of the entrance and Maerik who was still walking behind them.

“Are all of you ready?” Silence, followed by synchronized exhales then they chorused.

“Yes sir.”

A nervous smile curved Maerik's lips as he entered into the circle and walked to the wooden box, the tension hung thick in the air, everyone of them mentally preparing to fight what Maerik had described as a beckoning call, Rylan could hear their shuttering breaths, he could understand the origin, Maerik had good instincts and if he thought the cores would play a major role, then they most likely would and if they couldn't handle being around it, their use to the team they'd dedicated their lives to would be rendered irrelevant.
Maerik opened up the box and immediately he could hear it, the sound slipped so comfortably into his mind but he fought against it, he'd thought more exposure would make it easier to fight but he was wrong, every single time was the same, he looked at Rylan and a similar look was on his face, fear struck him. It lingered at the back of his mind but if they really could not handle the presence of the cores then—no effect, every single one of them looked unbothered and had this look of disappointment on their faces, like a kid who got socks as their birthday present.

“I can't feel anything.” Yennifer was the first to speak and the rest of them murmured in agreement.

“Are you sure?” Maerik sounded almost disappointed himself.

“I—I can feel something, but it's just this really unpleasant murmur in my ear.” Dravy spoke up.

“Murmur?” Maerik repeated, then turned to Rylan. “Is that how you feel?” He asked, wondering if maybe he was the one exaggerating the feeling.

“Definitely not, I wouldn't describe what I'm feeling as unpleasant.”

Maerik agreed.

“You three are the only ones affected?” Yennifer asked as she stood up, Maerik and Rylan nodded.

“I mean, Sir you describe it as an insistent, soothing call but all I can hear is murmurs, I can't really make out what they're saying, it's like I'm down the hallway from a classroom.” Dravy explained.

“What about you sir?”

“Exactly what I told you, an insistent, soothing call that can't be ignored or silenced.”

“You?” She pointed at Rylan.

“Basically a harsher version of what Maerik just said.”

Yennifer nodded as her eyes began to shift from one to another, biting her thumb as the thought formed. “It only affects strong players.”

“What?”

“You three are definitely the strongest here and it seems like the stronger the player, the louder the call.”

“Which means the baseline for worry would be a player as skilled as us.” Rylan stated but phrased it like a question so she gave a nod of confirmation.

“So, gathering the cores won't be a problem.”

“That's what this suggests.”

A soft chuckle escaped Maerik, it kept getting louder until he was just laughing, everyone watched in silence but only Rylan knew the relief that was currently flooding through him.