Chapter 60 Thank you

Chapter 60 Thank you

Every human can recall that sudden feeling that drains the life out of the world around you, that feeling of misdirected boredom that borders on sadness, that feeling that shadows every good memory made that day. Right now, that was exactly how Rylan felt.

\[All party members active\]
\[Reward loading…\]
\[Reward administered\]
\[Reward : full system access granted\]

He sat alone on the broken bed of his cold recovery room, a sullen look in his eyes, back resting against the damp wall and a light duvet bundled around his waist as he read through every line of the reward notification.

“Access to all features and information available to the player's level.” Rylan read aloud then swiped away the notification back into his personal player information.

\[Strength: 23\]
\[Agility: 25\]
\[Intelligence: 31\]
An improvement, 10 being the stat of a human in peak form would mean that with his current stats, he could now be described as a super human.

In addition to those three, there was also an active exp bar with a level boldly beside it.

\[Exp : 47/100— LEVEL ONE\]
Below.

\[Title : —-\]
And

\[Player status : Compromised\]
Rylan's heart sank before he even finished reading the text but he took in a breath to calm himself and continue reading.

\[Arkana poisoning : the presence of foreign Arkana within the system of player Rylan cross has disrupted the natural flow within him. Effect unknown.\]

Judging from the condition he was in, Rylan wasn't feeling particularly good about his situation, even if the system hadn't explicitly said what the exact effect was, Rylan had gotten the basic idea, control over his own Arkana was fucked. He stretched out his palm and tried to knead the energy through his palms but the disruption of the beasts Arkana kept up with constant interference until he eventually just gave up.

“Fuck.” He cussed quietly then took in a breath and let it out before going back to the interface, there were two more things that caught his attention, first was his stamina.

\[Stamina :: 50/100\]
He'd been resting for a whole day there was no way that his Arkana hadn't made a full delivery, he tapped on it and a window opened.

\[Temporary restriction due to Arkana poisoning\]
As he read the text, his grip tightened and the fabric he'd been unknowingly clenching tore. He released it, took off the duvet, stood to his feet and began to pace back and forth.

“50 percent.” He repeated to himself. “ No matter what I do, I'll be at a constant disadvantage in every single confrontation.” He said as if still trying to explain to convince himself that the words following him around were real. He stopped pacing and took in a deep breath as he forced away the dread that hung heavy over him, he needed a clear mind while doing this and for that he'd have to view every single detail with an objective lens.
The next thing that stood out was a greyed out text at the very top that read ‘Signature.’ He tapped against the word and a notification followed.

\[Restricted until Level two\]
Curiosity lingered but he forced it away, it wasn't of any use until he got to level two so for now he could focus on things that would actually have an effect on his current state, he continued to look through all the features, most of them were locked until level two until he came across one that caught his eye.

\[Axiom forge\]
\[Create unique items using suitable materials gathered\]
A purr almost escaped him as he read through the description, he was glad, with this he could—a knock sounded at his door and pulled him away from his thoughts.

“Rylan, breakfast is ready.” Maerik's voice sounded through the closed door, he shut off the system and opened the door, Maerik leaned on the doorframe, waiting.

“How long have you been here?”

“Long enough.” Maerik answered curtly. “Are you ok?”

“Is that important?”

“Yes.”

Rylan took in a sharp breath and nodded. “I'll be fine, don't worry about me.”

“I wasn't.” Maerik said as he pushed off the door frame and turned to face him. “You saved our lives and I never got the opportunity to thank you for that.”

Rylan stared at him for a long moment, letting the silence stretch between them until his neck hurt from looking up too long, he gently massaged his nape then said. “You're welcome.” Maerik offered a small smile before talking and walking to where everyone else was until Rylan said something that made him stop in his tracks. “You're not a good man Maerik but I don't care if you're a good man, it is of no concern to me.” He took a step forward.”Being a good man isn't a criteria to be a good leader, you said you want to be king and I said I'll get you there but I want to make one thing as clear as fucking crystal's, if for whatever reason, you step out of line, you put an innocent life on theime for your selfish goal, I'll cut you down.”

Maerik smiled and took a step closer. “If you get in my way, you will regret it, Rylan.” The emphasis placed on the name made it clear that it wasn't a threat, it was a promise. Even though the two men were exchanging life ending promises there was still no malice, it felt as though they were simply discussing the weather. Maerik smiled softly.

“Let's go eat, the food is getting cold.” Maerik said.

“Aight, I'm starving.” Rylan admitted as he followed him into the living room.

“Hey!!” They all cheered happily as he walked into the room.

“How're you feeling?” Yennifer was the first to approach him with a cup in each hand.

“Better.” He lied with a smile, she smiled back, and handed him the cup.

“I'm glad.” She said with a smile and walked back to where she'd been sitting.

“You still need to rest though.” Sandra pointed out.

“Yes yes yes, but tonight He joins us as we celebrate.” Matthew shouted, his words slurring a little.

“What exactly are we celebrating?”

Matthew took a couple shaky steps towards him and draped his arm over Rylan's shoulders. “When you can die at any fucking time, you no longer need a reason to celebrate and we…we can die at anyyyy fucking timeee.” He happily explained. Rylan nodded along before looking into the cup Yennifer had handed him.

“Where did you all find alcohol?”

“It's aa secretttt.” Matthew slurred and came closer and whispered into his ear. “Cellar in the basement.” He released his arm and walked back to the rest of them.

“Ohk then, cheers.” He raised a glass and they all did the same.
Dravy stood from the far end where he sat and walked to Rylan. “Can I talk to you?”

“Sure.”

They stepped out of the cabin and Dravy took a seat at the start of the stairs, he took in a deep breath before turning back to Rylan. “I know I've been a prick and I'm not exactly your favorite person but…” he swallowed. “I owe my to you, we owe our lives to you and for that I wanna say...thank you.”