by Scar, Rick
“Pure heart. We are the monsters who came to appreciate the value of others’ lives and others’ free will. We control our instincts.” He then pointed at his heart.
“Pure soul. We are those who admit our faults. We are ready to help those whose faults will never be forgiven by others.” He spread his hands to show that every living thing in this world should be given a second chance.
Umbra said these words as the three commandments of his own, engraved into his mind, heart, and soul.
Will was moved by these words.
He knew too well the importance of believing in what once pulled you out of the abyss of despair, hatred, or fear. For Will, it was his family—his sister, to be precise.
Before Leah was born, he’d been a lone kid, neglected by his father and mother—who worked day and night— and consumed by envy for other kids whose parents were there for them. His little sister became a ray of light that gradually pulled him out of the pit he’d dug for himself. Buried there, at the bottom of loneliness, he concealed his true feelings from his parents as they came home totally exhausted after work. Seeing Leah’s little smile, he realized he would not have her suffer what he’d had.
A boy who grew up too early through learning humiliation, envy, and grudge—in a way that almost broke him—he developed an urge to protect this soft ball of pure joy from the dirty and cruel world that surrounded her. To protect her as well as possible. The only way that crossed his young mind back then, to make this dream a reality, was: money. Lots of money.
That was the birth of his greed.
The beginning of his cupidity.
That was when he set the Goal.
“Yes. I see by your eyes you know what I’m talking about. Do you want to join the Order? Are you ready to take the challenge to prove your worth?”
“Before I start: why did you say it would be up to the Darkness to decide?”
“Are you too young or too stupid to break the shroud pulled over your mind? Which of these is true?”
“Neither. I have lived enough to see Light and Darkness are connected and inseparable. There is no Darkness without Light, and without Darkness there can be no Light. Neither of them can exist without the other. I was just curious to know why you would rather give the decision-making power to the Darkness and not the Light.”
“Darkness can see much farther than Light. We all come from the Dark, and there we will return in due time. That’s why. Darkness is the force that accepted us, and we accepted it in turn. We are its parts, once and for all.” The head spoke slowly so the other man could understand him. “From light to shade…”
“From shade to dust,” the rogue said automatically, recalling the phrase.
Umbra smiled a soft and disarming smile. “Soon you will see what I’m talking about.”
“I’ll see. So what is the challenge?”
“You will have to enter the room I’ve told you about. None of us knows exactly what magic has been put there and how it works, but one thing we know for sure: our Order is only powerful because our members have passed this challenge.” Umbra’s voice resounded through the vast hall, echoing off the walls again and again. “Show us if you spoke the truth about helping us, messenger. If you have any doubts, you must leave our abode today.”
“I’m ready for the challenge. Take me there.”
“As you wish, messenger.” Grabbing Will by the shoulder, the head of the order entered the shadows only to exit in a completely different location.
A shadow teleport?
They stood in front of a small, single-wing door, with words written across it. The same words Umbra had cited to Will recently, but now with a small addition.
The lines changed their color: from red to green, from blue to brown. At times, some letters would exchange places or turn upside down. The door became natural wood, transparent glass, and then a jelly-like substance in turn.
Welcome!
Pure Mind — 0/100%;
Pure Soul — 0/100%.
Pure Heart — 0/100%;
Pure Heart:
Shadow Apprentice — 50/100;
Shadow Follower — 60/100;
Shadow Speaker — 70/100;
Shadow-Bound — 80/100;
Great Shadow — 90/100;
Founder — 100/100.
“What do these figures mean?” Will asked.
“They measure your appropriateness for the Order within a set of pre-determined criteria. When you fall between 0 and 50, it is up to the council to decide whether to admit you. The rest is clear, I suppose.”
“What if my scores vary across criteria?”
“That’s what happens in most cases, so we use Pure Heart as the main criterion. Look.” Umbra pointed at the line Raven had missed: Pure Heart written again over the Shadow Apprentice.
“How long does the challenge typically take?”
“That depends on the individual.”
“What happens if I fail?”
“Not everyone can get things right at the first attempt. I, for example, only saw the faults in my worldview on the third attempt. So I will allow you take the challenge three times.”
“You became the Great Shadow at the third attempt?” Raven marveled.
“It took me ten more years to fully grasp the meaning of the founder’s words.”
“That’s individual, I see. Well, I’m going in.”
Chapter 110. Demons Inside and Out
H e stood facing a great pile of gold. Everything else around him was hidden in complete darkness; only this great pile was illumined by a pure light that fell from above, the coins shining bright, arousing an urge to collect them all.
Fingering the coins, he could feel their weight, shape, and the imprinted seals of states and empires on both sides. The gold was real. With his hands trembling and his mind shuddering, he started to scoop it and throw into his inventory, fearing it might disappear the next moment. His mind was clouded, his animal instinct sad about having so little time to explore this wonderful place.
The rogue even forgot he’d started on a challenge—that fact seemed to have been erased from his mind once he saw his ultimate goal so close. Something inside him was trying to break free, but he gave no further thought to what it was; he was in a hurry.
Will felt like the gold in front of him might vanish if he stopped even for a moment to reflect on his condition. Glancing at his player account, he saw gold being added to it, which only inspired him to move even faster.
+57 Gold;
+63 Gold;
+39 Gold;
+71 Gold;
+104 Gold;
+92 Gold;
+97 Gold;
+126 Gold;
His heart pounded, striking against his rib cage like a hammer on an anvil, his whole body blazing hot.
You will never know pain.
+91 Gold;
You must thrive, not rot in this damned world.
+135 Gold;
You will get everything you ask for.
+248 Gold;
Will took more and more gold. His vision was blurred. He never stopped, moving like a mechanical doll. He imagined his father and sister at the seaside, happy and careless on their vacation.
His sister would be a successful woman. His father would be able to stay at home with his kids. And Will himself…he would take over this whole damned world. He would never again hear the humiliating words that troubled his dreams as a kid.
No one! Ever! Would dare to look down at him!
More!
More!
MORE!
His arms transformed into scaly demonic paws as he kept raking up the gold, reducing the pile in front of him. His legs doubled, covering themselves in scales and smelly sores. He paid no heed to these transformations. His glassy eyes only saw the gold yet to be taken.
He wanted to take more than he could with just two hands. At this thought, his body grew two extra pairs of arms. His whole body changed, now covered with small
, fish-like golden scales. He now had golden horns, his eyes two bottomless pits.
More!
Less and less gold remained in front of him.
MORE!
The pile was becoming smaller. His account already had 205,300 coins; his tail was pounding on the ground in excitement, covered with golden scales—as was the rest of his body.
“I TAKE ALL!” Will roared.
+6 350 gold coins!
+4 891 gold coins!
+8 421 gold coins!
“RAGH!”
His giant jaws dripped saliva. His body expanded to a gigantic size, large wings protruding from his back.
Will became a monster. A rotting dragon with six arms on its great, colossal body. He lay on the ground next to the small pile of gold and growled, rising his head only when he seemed to spot someone stealing out of the dark to take his gold.
How long did he spend lying like that? He did not know. He was happy, anyway. All the gold he’d collected was now his. No one would ever take it away.
The dragon grinned. He used to smile like that in the past, when… when… what? Who smiled like that?
The dragon scowled. Something was wrong. His mind itched with some weird idea, distracting him from his peaceful rest and his enjoyment of the gold coins’ close proximity.
His body shuddered. What was that idea? He had his gold and needed nothing else. Did he? He wanted to use this gold for… for what?
The dragon’s giant body squirmed. He sat up closer to the gold, lay down over the pile, and even took the coins in his mouth, but his mind kept itching.
“What’s going on?!” the dragon growled, surprising himself at hearing human speech. “What’s… going… on?”
The monster’s eyes narrowed as he examined himself. Something was wrong. His body… it used to be smaller before? Or larger? Was he a monster?
His mind started to break free from the chains. Will gradually recalled everything that had happened to him. These memories sent a shiver all over his monstrous body.
“I… became a dragon? How is that possible?!”
He finally came to, unaware of how long he’d been here and what he could do next. There were no system messages. No visible hints or exit.
This is a challenge. My transformation must be a part of it. But what challenge is this? The one for mind, heart, or soul?
What must I do to complete it? Raven pondered, lying down on his belly. The head said: ‘We are those gone astray, turning ourselves into what we now are. But there’s always a chance to return if you really want to’. Was it that way?
So I went astray by succumbing to my inner demons, and accordingly, I became a demon on the outside. What a creepy challenge. How am I to come ba— No.
He glanced at his player account.
234 530 Gold
That can’t be true. This gold is not real; I can’t have it anyway. I don’t think I can exit in a dragon’s body. What sense does all of it make?
Calming his mind and convincing himself there was no way to keep this gold, Raven started to pour it back onto the pile until he had gotten rid of all the money that was not his own. But… but he remained a monster. And the gold still was on his account.
“Im- impossible.” He started to shed the gold again, but it was immediately back in his account. After his fifth attempt failed, he started panicking. His apparent solution did not seem to work, and he could not come up with any alternative.
He spent several more hours in the dark, still getting rid of none of his wealth.
If I can’t see the solution, how can I exit?
Once he thought about it, a system message appeared:
Do you want to quit the challenge?
For the last time, Will tried to figure out the solution, but he failed again. None of his skills seemed to work in this body. He’d spent half an hour running away into the dark, always coming back to that very pile where his challenge had begun.
“Yes, I do.” He had two more attempts left. He could use them to get it right.
The challenge will be failed. Are you sure you want to exit?
“Yes.”
He stood in front of the same door, Rinnah and Daltaro close by his side.
“How was it?” Rinnah asked.
“Bad.” The rogue looked at the table.
Welcome!
Pure Mind — 7/100%
Chapter 111. Discard! All! Gold!
“H ow long have you been waiting here?”
“Some five minutes.”
“How much time did I spent inside? Do you know?”
“Roughly the same.”
“Fucking system!”
“What are you do— Hey! Stop!” Rinnah reached for Raven but too slowly; he’d already entered the room.
“Will he be all right?” the archer asked, embracing her.
“I’m not sure,” she replied, pressing her head to his chest, “if he can endure it.”
“I think this one will.”
“We’ll see.”
***
It was the same this time. As if a switch just flicked in his head. He just started to grab the alluring gold, only to regain his senses an unknown time later and see his body now have two tails, nine arms, six legs, and two pairs of wings. Yuk. What a disgusting look. Much worse than the last time.
The system played on his cupidity. What else could it do, reading the users’ minds that deeply?
Putting his giant head on his front paws, Will looked at his player account.
765 010 Gold
He had another idea—one he surely didn’t want to try. The system might want him to give up not only the gold he’d taken here, but also that he had prior to starting the challenge.
No. No, no, no. He’d rather give up his idea of joining the Order than all the money he’d made in the game. So there he lay on his belly, watching the darkness around.
“What do you want of me, Darkness?” he asked into the void. “All this stuff is pretty pointless. You don’t yet know, but you’ll never have me give up my own money. There must be a different way.” Examining the remaining coins on the ground, Will stuck out his tongue to scoop some up and chew them. “The mind challenge. So difficult. I can’t see any way out,” Raven muttered, crunching on the gold. “What should I do?”
He examined his monstrous body, wondering what it would look like in his third attempt. He watched his big claws and paws, huge belly and crooked legs. When standing up, he seemed to be some thirty feet tall. “A huge thing.” Will snorted. “I’d love to be able to transform into it. Ahahaha. That must feel cool.”
Scrutinizing one of his paws, he peered closer… and shivered with fear. “No. No, no, no! That can’t be true! Are you mocking me?”
His body… his body was covered not with scales as it seemed at first, but rather small gold coins shaped as scales.
Will grew cold all over as he imagined what he would have to do. His throat dried with terror, his mind refusing to accept this guess as true. Skinning himself?!
“Motherfuckers.” He was brimming with fury as he tried to suppress his primal fear.
He was about to press Exit and change his sensitivity settings, but re-considered it. Leaving now, he’d have the final attempt left, but what if the reward changed? What if he’d been allowed into this room due to his 100% sensitivity level only?
Umbra said I’m not one of them, and I would stand no chance of admission if I wasn’t a messenger. But would a player with lower sensitivity have heard the same response?
If I change my sensitivity settings and fail to enter this room, I’ll have to restore my 100% level, and then I’ll find myself in an even greater body on my next attempt. So I’ll have to suffer an even greater pain. Is that another part of the challenge?
Watching his paw, the monstrous Will decided to test his theory.
“You fucking psychos! Aaaaaaah!” Running his claw over the paw to scale it, he screamed with pain. The void around him returned no ech
o, neither did it muffle the sound. His voice full of pain was heard by no one. No one but The Emperor.
Surviving ten minutes of unbearable pain, he checked his account balance.
760 010 Gold
So it was true. The more gold in his account, the larger his body. That left him with a choice of two options:
1. Give up the idea of joining the Shadow Order once and for all. That meant no specialization for him, and no skills like those possessed by the head and his assistants.
2. Go through the extremely painful gold removal process.
“Burn in hell, you bastards. ARGH!”
Gold coins flew in all directions, followed by jets of blood and pieces of flesh.
“ARRRGH!”
His back was problematic to reach. He came up with no way but severe two paws and, putting them on the ground claws up, he scratched his back against them.
124 700 Gold…
70 630 Gold…
31 254 Gold…
14 240 Gold…
Sprawled in the dark was a bleeding piece of meat, resembling a human body, yet it was impossible to tell for sure. The light that used to illumine the beautiful pile of gold was now falling to lakes of blood and giant pieces of flesh. The shine of gold could not get through the thick layer of blood.
Will put his eye out, but he still had another.
Smack.
“AAAAAH! Fuck!”
11 240 Gold
Now his account only contained his own money and nothing on top, although Raven could not see that. He could see not a damn thing. Lying there clueless, he finally grasped the whole underlying meaning of this challenge.
From light to shade, from shade to dust.
From the glittering gold to a monster, from a monster to a piece of flesh.
What a cruel game.
Discard all the gold Will had hoarded. Discard it in such a perverted and painful way as if the system were taking delight in his suffering, mocking his greed. But as the rogue waited for the system message, he seemed to feel his cupidity subside, albeit just slightly.