BlueShear
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Chapter 7
🕑 Added 2024-10-07 04:44:24 +0000 UTC“Oh! Are we leaving? Where to, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Jun paused. For whatever reason it hadn’t occurred to him that she might wish to tag along.
“Uhh… Well, for one, I’m,” he tried to emphasize the word. “Going over there to check and see if my idiot stepbrothers are still alive. You, on the other hand are free to-”
“Yes yes! We’ve been over that already. What I was asking is where we’re meant to go afterwards.”
“After? There is no after. For that matter, there is no now. We aren’t going anywhere.”
“Why not?”
“Well, because that’s just not how this works.”
“How does it work then?”
“How it works is I go in that direction, while you go somewhere else. Anywhere else.”
“Anywhere?”
“Anywhere else, yes”
“And what about in that direction?”
“No, that’s where I’m going.”
“Really? Are you sure? Because that sounds a lot like ‘we’ to me.”
“Only if you came with me.”
“Yes.”
“Which you’re not going to do.”
“I’m not?”
“Yes!”
“Why not?”
“I-? Look, I really don’t think you’re listening to me here.”
He was trying to be civil, but she was really testing his patience. It led him to wonder, was this creature being intentionally obtuse, or was it really just that dense to begin with?
“I am not!” she exclaimed suddenly. “If anyone here is slow it’s you, not me! Seeing as somehow it seems as if I’m the only one making any sense around here!”
Jun pulled up short, steps faltering as his heart began to race. It was as if his mind, knocked askew by the haphazard course of events, had suddenly refocused. And now, any number of minor discrepancies he’d shrugged off as unimportant came rushing to the fore—the inkling of a suspicion now finding its voice amidst a sudden and terrible moment of clarity.
“I… don’t recall mentioning anything about anyone being slow…?”
“Oh, don’t play dumb now that you’ve been caught! It’s unbecoming. Anyway, I heard you loud and clear. And to my face no less! For no good reason I can countenance, I might add! Whatever did I do to deserve that? Nothing! Callous! That’s what it is. You’ve grown callous. Cruel! I would suggest you beg my forgiveness now, right this instant, and maybe, just maybe I might consider letting the insult pass.”
“S-sorry,” Jun intoned, barely conscious of the fact, his mind so absorbed with this new impossibility. “Say,” he tried to come off as casual, more for his own sake than hers. “What number am I thinking of?”
The creature sniffled pitifully—her outburst short lived, though clearly having taken its toll. She scrubbed her eyes furiously, as if angry at the tears for falling in the first place. Looking closer, Jun saw that there were indeed tears streaming from those oddly expressive opals. He was immediately surprised, and then, more than a little bit ashamed.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, this time with a great deal more sincerity.
“I know,” she replied, sounding either mollified or resigned. “And, anyway, that isn’t a number. What even is that? A sandwich? If you want food, why not simply eat something instead of playing these silly games? You make absolutely no sense.”
Jun stared blankly at the creature, ready to feel… something. When the numb shock of horror he’d expected never arrived, however, he was merely left to wonder at its absence, like he might the gap left by a missing tooth. He supposed it was somewhat hard to stay intimidated past the gut twisting remorse he already felt. Hard to stay apprehensive when he’d, until now, been given little cause.
“What,” he paused—thinking of the best way to frame his question. “What… are you exactly?”
He was stuck between feeling sorry for the creature, and desperately needing answers. What was this thing that it could read his mind so easily? The thought alone made him want to stop thinking altogether. For that matter, this entire morning had felt more or less like a fever dream, and if it turned out there’d been a last straw that’d somehow broken his mind, he wanted to know. If this thing was some figment of his imagination for instance…?
As it was, he did his best to shield his own reservations, and, by the way the creature seemed to bounce back from limp dejection, he assumed his efforts were successful.
“What am I…?”
Forgetting her tears, she looked down at herself as if for the first time—undulating her tentacles as if in experiment, running a hand down her sides, and tugging at her leathery wings speculatively. After another contemplative pause, she responded.
“You don’t know?”
“Should I?”
“I should think so!”
“Well I’m sorry to say I haven’t the foggiest.”
“Well, if you can’t tell me then I won’t say.”
“So, effectively, you have no idea.”
“By that logic…? Yes.”
“Oh great. So that makes two of us.”
“Umm, no. Technically that makes one of you. I know the answer. Ha! I would be a fool not to. Naturally, it’s the fact that you don’t which I find to be intolerable.”
“Ah. I see.”
“Do you? Well, let’s just hope for both our sakes that’s true. It’s very important to me that you know I’m being willfully obtuse, not ignorant.”
“Thank you for the clarification. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Just so long as you’re aware.”
Jun made as if to reply, but before any more productive questioning like that could take place, they were rudely interrupted by a strangely discordant chime.
Ding
Congratulations! By-!
D-d-Ding
Congratulations! By meeting the appropriate prerequisites-!
ERROR-!
Prerequisites met_item not found }
By meeting the ! ERR-OR <C#nGR@Tat-!# L@t^*n$!
**SYSTEM ERROR**
Detecting false parameters…
Reconfiguring… Please hold…
Ding
Congratulations!
Talent acquired: [name_Redacted_01] {Corrupted}
Ding
Congratulations!
Talent Acquired: [name_Redacted_02] {Corrupted}
Uhhh… what? Excuse me… huh?!
That…? A system error? Does The system even make errors? Admittedly, he hadn’t really given it much thought before now, what with the whole omnipotency thing it had going on. This… this couldn’t be real, right?
I’m going crazy. Seeing things. There’s no other explanation. He had to suppress the sudden urge to just start running. To where, and from what, completely irrelevant to his panic addled mind.
“Is it supposed to be blinking red like that?” the alabaster creature asked from over his left shoulder. “And those letters…? Where do you suppose their off to in such a hurry? Slinking their way off the page like that. All squirmy and wriggling… I can’t help but find it awfully suspicious.” the creature shuddered. “I swear, they’re up to no good. I just know it!”
Jun jumped.
“You… you can see my screens too?”
“Well, yes of course,” she turned and studied his expression; very quickly her own expression turned to one of concern. “Is… is that bad?”
In that it scores one more point into the “I am going totally fucking insane” column?
“No,” he said, taking a startling amount of comfort from the way she seemed to relax.
Turning back to the notification, she leaned in closer and asked.
“What do you think it means?”
Now that, was a great question. Refocusing on the screen himself, he couldn’t suppress the shiver of fear that ran up and down his spine... Although…? Nor could he suppress his burgeoning curiosity.
Because, at the end of the day, his opportunism was hard to suppress. System error or no, what had he just received? Some sort of taboo contraband? Two forbidden, corrupted talents, somehow so deviously powerful that even the system itself was at a loss trying to categorize them? Really, when he thought about it, it wasn’t something he could just up and ignore. Not with the information only a few mental clicks away. And besides, the system stuck the landing in the end, right? More or less. It was probably plenty safe… probably.
After a moment of hesitation, Jun steeled himself, and tore open his system screen like he was ripping off a bandage.
Name: Beckonfrost Zhaoshen Junwei
Race: Human
Cultivation: Preliminary Realm
Bloodline: NOT APPLICABLE
Titles: Merchant of Promise, Fledgeling Magnate, Budding Sage
Resonance Pillar: Blinded Sapling [7 of 20]
Cultivated Body: NOT APPLICABLE
Body: 0 Stars
Mind: 0 Stars
Spirit: 0 Stars
Insight: 0 Stars
Martial Alignment: Concept of Cutting (1st Aspect)
Substantive Alignment: NOT APPLICABLE
Conceptual Alignment: NOT APPLICABLE
Talents: Name_Redacted_01 {Corrupted}, Name_Redacted_02 {Corrupted}
Spirit Coins: 12,250,000
Mortal Potential: 85,200 Points
Fated Talent {Corrupted}: |name_Redacted_01|
???
Born Talent {Corrupted}: |name_Redacted_02|
???
“Okay…? Huh. Well, that’s disappointing.”
“I agree. If only these squirmy letters would come clean already. Just tell us where they need to be in such a hurry. Is that so hard? Then we might finally stop worrying about the implications of it all,” she said, still fixated on the initial notifications.
“That… wasn’t exactly what I’d meant by…”
She turned and looked up at him with her large, innocent eyes—still faintly glistening at the corners.
“You know what? Yeah, you’re right. Squirmy letters are fairly suspicious on the whole. The squirmier they are, the worse their criminal records, or so I’m told. It’s been proven, I think. And I am totally not profiling here.”
“Ha! Did you hear that!? It would appear we’re on to you and your underhanded tricks! Now it’s only a matter of time! Eventually one of you scoundrels is going to slip up, and then we’ll see what’s what!”
As the entity that may or may not be a sign of his failing mental faculties berated his screens—more specifically the corrupted letters still scuttling further and further into open air in an, admittedly, unsettling manner—Jun gave some thought to these new developments themselves. The new developments, and how little they actually did for him.
He’d seen the increase to his resonance pillar—something he thought had to do with status or prestige among cultivators, although he wasn’t entirely sure as to why. In any event it had to be said he had no idea what it was it actually did. He had two new, as of yet unidentifiable talents… whatever those were. Probably another cultivation resource, hurray…! One of several he was now in possession of. Facets of the system he had no prior experience with, nor any inclination to pursue. He tried to focus more intently on their descriptions, hoping to get some further information but, alas, nothing happened.
Feeling somewhat cheated yet again, he dismissed his status screens and, with an effort, tried to put the whole thing from his mind. And so turned his attention to far more mundane, though no less undesirable, complications.
“Hmm… Stepbrothers. Whenever you think that word your face gets all crinkly.” she frowned—scrutinizing his expression. “Are they really so terrible? I would have thought their distant relation to be a boon, if anything.”
“You noticed that huh?” Jun thought for a moment. “Going purely based off of personal experience, I can’t say I recommend these ones in particular.”
“And that makes them idiots…?”
“Well, no, they’re idiots because they’re the worst.”
“And they’re the worst because…?”
“Because they’re idiots, of course.”
“Ah, I think I see. So, they’re a little like the squirrelly letters then. Terrible because of their poor upbringing and predilection towards skullduggery, but also because I really can’t say I care for them very much.”
Jun smirked.
“Honestly? Couldn’t have said it better myself,” he chuckled despite himself. “In fact, for all intents and purposes, you can realistically think of them as one in the same.”
“Well, then in that case I hope, for your sake, that they are in fact dead. And if not dead, then I pray that they, at least, have the common decency to be a great deal more forthcoming with regards to their whereabouts.”
“Are we still talking about the letters thing?”
“As far as I’m concerned we never stopped talking about the letters thing. They’re a menace, Jun. A menace! If neither they nor your stepbrothers woke up tomorrow morning, there would be far fewer headaches in this world, I swear!”
Jun hesitated. He was beginning to suspect he shouldn’t be speaking quite so candidly with the creature. Probably shouldn’t be thinking quite so loudly either. If he wasn’t careful, she might end up taking away the wrong ideas from his company.
“So, I can’t say I don’t appreciate the enthusiasm, but, for the record, it’s probably for the best if they’re still alive when we find them.”
“Why’s that?”
“So I don’t have to deliver the bad news to their mother, for one.”
“Oh,” she paused to think it over. “Well, I suppose that makes sense. So, where to after that?”
“Well, after that, I suppose we pick them up and drag them back home,” he surprised himself by including her in the statement.
Although, if she was an illusion that only existed in his mind, it wasn’t as if he could get rid of her anyway.
“Home sounds nice.”
“You’d be surprised.”
