by Sarah Lin
She had seemed stilted and dim during her early conversation with him, yet now she glowed happily as she discussed her craft. Not only did she teach him the obvious, she added little stories about her mother and village. It was all peasant nonsense, but it suggested that she'd had a different life than working in this isolated cabin. If only she was brighter, she might have given him useful information.
But as far as the box gods were concerned, the entire conversation boiled down to one thing:
[New Skill Acquired: Herbalism!
Starting Level: 1
Meara Affection +10
EXP +10]
If he had to perform such tedious tasks, just as well that he was rewarded for them. But Bloodwraith had a much more interesting thought. Though he wasn't certain if it would work, he had to give it a try. He examined the girl more carefully and to his surprise another box appeared.
[Name: Meara
Race: Human
Class: Peasant
Alignment: Good
Level: 0
Reputation: 110/1000 (Known)
Affection: 46/100 (Friendly)]
Okay, so he shouldn't have been surprised. He should have been grateful that the box gods didn't describe every single rock and tree in his path with another box. Did he have a reputation with rocks and trees? Most likely he did, but he stopped thinking about it before any more boxes could be summoned and instead focused on the girl, who was squirming under his gaze.
"Meara... it must be difficult for you to work alone in these woods."
"Oh, it isn't so bad. At least, it wasn't before the wolves started to roam closer."
"I was thinking that I should do more for you than just deliver a few herbs. What will you do when you run out of them? Surely you could use a larger store of them."
The girl shook her head. "Oh no, you've done enough for me! And there's little more I can give you in return. So thank you, adventurer, but you should continue on your journey."
Bloodwraith barely managed to restrain his scowl. "No, think about this. You explained to me that it requires two cureleaf plants to create a single small health potion. That means that those I gave you can only create five potions - the potions you've given me were the equivalent of eight cureleaves, so I've barely helped you at all."
"Oh... that is... true I suppose." She blinked in confusion, growing blank again, so he pushed further.
"Far be it from me to tell you how to run a business, but it seems to me that you must only be able to sell potions to the occasional adventurer who passes your way. Accordingly, they will likely want to buy a large number of potions, and might not have time to wait. It's in your best interest to store up a large inventory to prepare for such an event."
She nodded mutely.
"So, I would be happy to find more cureleaves for you... if only you would ask me to bring them for you." He'd considered just handing her the additional cureleaves, but had a feeling that would not appease the box gods. The girl stared at him in confusion and shook her head.
"But... you've already brought me so many. I needed ten cureleaves..."
"But you need ten more, right?" He leaned in, trying to keep his smile from becoming predatory. Eventually her weak personality folded and she gave a nod.
"You are very kind, adventurer... if you would please bring me ten more cureleaves, I would be grateful."
[Quest Accepted!
Find 10 Cureleaves for Meara.
Rewards: EXP, Meara Affection, Alignment]
Fewer rewards than before, but Bloodwraith didn't care about mere potions or the "alignment" points that had so far been useless to him. What mattered was the death energy that she had somehow granted him directly when he finished her "quest." He held back his uncertainty and reached into his sack.
"As it happens, I have ten more cureleaves right here..."
[Quest Complete!
Found 10 Cureleaves for Meara.
Meara Affection +10
Alignment: Good +5
EXP +25]
There was another box, something about "relationship level increasing" but Bloodwraith dismissed it and stared triumphantly at the first. Some of the rewards had decreased, but the gift of raw power was unchanged. He grinned and hoped it didn't look too malevolent.
How could it be that a random peasant girl could gift him with such direct power? Would the amount decrease when his "level" increased, just as it had been with the wolves? He could not assume that things would work so easily after he left the Forest of Beginnings, so he needed to take full advantage of this opportunity now.
"Meara... you need more herbs than that, right? Would you please ask me to go get some more?"
"But..." She stared at him foolishly as if she still didn't understand. "But you've done enough for me alread-"
"Do it!" He roared the command and raised a hand, nearly grabbing her by the neck before he remembered that Raigar wouldn't do such a thing. The girl flinched back and trembled as she stared at him.
[Affection -2!
Meara Affection: 54/100]
Bloodwraith snorted. Even if these "affection points" mattered, that was a mere fraction of one cureleaves quest. After she got over her surprise, the girl stammeringly asked him to find more cureleaves, the appropriate box appeared, and all was well.
Over the next several hours, Bloodwraith stripped the entire nearby forest of cureleaves and delivered them one after another. He had to kill a few wolves along the way, but those were a mere annoyance compared to needing to search further each time. At least the girl no longer argued with him, accepting the herbs with confused gratitude and meekly granting him the quest again.
After five more times completing the quest, he gained another level. He eagerly distributed the points, but the joy at the new surge of power was lessened by the uncertainty. Hurrying faster than normal, he gathered another set of ten and returned them, anxiously awaiting the box that would declare the quest over.
25 EXP. Unchanged despite his level.
For several more hours, the girl watched in bafflement as he ran to and from her house, heaving bundles of herbs at her while cackling maniacally.
But as it took longer and longer to find more cureleaves, Bloodwraith's enthusiasm began to wane. The power he gained from the quest might be unchanged, but the amount of points the box gods required increased with each level. This might be a safer path to power than fighting monsters, but it would prove to be a tedious one.
An unacceptably tedious one, he realized. The arbitrary requirement had doubled each level, so it took only a bit of math in his head to calculate that moving from Level 9 to Level 10 would require over 25,000 EXP. He was not going to complete this quest a thousand times, even if such a thing was possible.
So in the end, he would have no choice but to follow the path that had been laid out before him. When he next returned to the cabin, Bloodwraith found himself stewing over the subject. This "Forest of Beginnings" was clearly set apart from the real world, so it was unsurprising that the amount he could accomplish would be limited. But that also likely meant that nothing he did here would have any real consequences.
"Th-thank you." The girl gathered up the newest batch of herbs, looking up at him with wide eyes. "I don't know why you're doing so much for a peasant girl, but... I'm ever so grateful..."
"It was nothing." As he looked at her, though, Bloodwraith felt old desires that he had not felt in a very long time. Compared to his perfect undead body, the body of Raigar was overflowing with messy feelings and urges. But as he stared over the girl, he recalled that those desires had their advantages.
Stepping fully into the cabin, Bloodwraith closed and locked the door. It was a small building with only a few rooms, making her bedroom obvious. The girl stared at him in confusion until he grabbed her around the waist, dragged her from the room, and threw her back onto the bed.
She fell back as a beautiful picture: her skirts in disarray, her chest heaving, her hair fallen all around h
er face. Strangely, she didn't resist, but perhaps she knew it was useless. Bloodwraith started to climb onto the bed when another box appeared.
[Relationship advanced!
Romantic options with Meara unlocked!]
"Not now, dammit!" Yet the appearance of the box disrupted the old pattern he'd fallen into so easily. Shoving lust aside for the moment, Bloodwraith began looking more critically. There was a bit of apprehension in her eyes, yet no real fear. In fact, the flush he could see from her face to the tops of her breasts suggested desire. That made no sense. As he looked closer, he found himself examining a different box and hesitating.
[Affection: 100/100 (Love)]
"It's okay, adventurer." She stared up at him with a smile on her face. "You've been so kind to me, and you saved my life... I don't mind, if it's you..."
He should have just taken her offer, but the undead intellect that lurked within him wouldn't let things go so easily. "Do you even know my name?"
"I... well, no, but you've been so kind to me..." Her smile faded into a flat mask.
All at once, Bloodwraith was overwhelmed by incomprehensible revulsion. He staggered out of the room, hands fumbling at the walls to keep himself from falling. Only when he stumbled into the door and grasped futilely at the lock did he manage to catch his breath and begin thinking properly again.
What the hell had come over him? Bloodwraith had never thought of himself as a particularly good person and had no compunctions about taking what he wanted. Could this body have heroic impulses that were trying to control him? If that was true, he wanted to go back into the room and do terrible things to the girl just to prove that he could.
Yet... he was not the Skullcrusher, to be ruled by his desires. Not even the Master Lich, focused on conquest. He always mastered himself and considered his situation logically.
Bloodwraith took a deep breath and focused on himself. After a time, he understood what had prompted the sense of revulsion. For the system that ruled his new life to grant him power from death was one thing, but this was overwriting someone's will in a way that no magic could. That was fundamentally terrifying.
Because if it worked on Meara, it could be used on him.
Though he tried to convince himself that this was just another power in his possession, something to use against his enemies, he couldn't quite believe it. The system was utterly foolish, yet its power... it saw him and it considered him utterly meaningless. To these entities, he really was just a box of numbers to be toyed with. As much as he had marveled at this power, he realized that it undermined everything in his reality. If he had been a less intelligent man, he might have accepted it gleefully, but he couldn't escape the grim conclusions.
Mastering his conflicting thoughts with difficulty, Bloodwraith straightened and took a deep breath. No, he wouldn't let these impulses control him. The power might have made all desire within him wither and die, but he would not reject such a weapon. At the very least, he could experiment with its limits. Perhaps in time he could find a way to defend himself against it.
When he stomped back into the bedroom, he found the girl still lying on her back. She had a completely blank look on her face now and he felt a surge of contempt. But when he moved to the side of the bed, her dead eyes shifted to look at him.
"Go ahead and do it. That's how this ends, either way." Her voice was a hollow shell of the warmth it had held before.
"What? What do you mean?" Bloodwraith braced himself, but she just kept staring at him like that. Her dead gaze struck him so strongly that he opened his personal box to be sure that it was not damaging his health.
"I don't know. I just... this is too familiar. Like this, but not exactly the same."
"You mean you've experienced this before?"
"Maybe." Meara sat up slowly and he saw a flicker of life in her eyes again. "Yes, I couldn't put it together until you said something. You aren't the first person to come through the Forest of Beginnings. I'm here to... to meet the adventurers. Hmm, I can remember a little more now..."
Bloodwraith wanted to sit down again, but refused to show any weakness. Instead he folded his arms over his chest and glowered at her. "Explain yourself! Who gave you that purpose here?"
"I am... not sure. I've done this before. But... I always forget. This whole Forest exists to welcome adventurers like you."
"Not like me." He growled out the words before he could stop himself.
In response, Meara only fixed him with a flat gaze. There was a shade of bitter irony there: until a few moments ago, he had been exactly like the others. And as little as Bloodwraith cared for morality, he could not stand the thought of being as common and easily manipulated as countless others.
"Earlier, you said this ends the same either way. What did you mean?"
"I'm here... to help with items, I think. And teach the Herbalism skill." Meara winced and rubbed her forehead, eyes clouding. After grimacing in silence for a time, she kept speaking without opening her eyes. "But I'm also here to provide an early sexual encounter. If the adventurer wants to be romantic, I'm made to accept it easily. And if they want to rape me, they can do so without consequences. I remember many of both."
Despite himself, Bloodwraith swallowed. "Do you remember how many times?"
She fixed him with a hateful gaze and he dropped his eyes. Yet after a moment, Meara gave a bitter laugh. "Oh, I have a reward for you. I either give it to you afterward, to remember me by, or you steal it from me. Congratulations, adventurer."
When she bitterly hurled something at him, he caught it on instinct. A silver ring, plainly made but inscribed with vine patterns that-
[Item acquired: Ring of Herbalism!
Herbalism +3 while worn.
Armor: 1
Durability: 25/25
Rarity: Uncommon]
"Away, insignificant box!" Bloodwraith struck at it, teetering on the edge of madness. His outburst seemed to draw Meara's attention, however. She fixed him with her strange gaze.
"Is something wrong with you? Plenty of the others tried to exploit me, but they seemed... comfortable with all this."
Bloodwraith waved aside her question. There were more important issues he needed to untangle. "Did they create you? Like the wolves? Or did you have a life before this?"
"Huh." Her head rolled to the side, eyes growing distant as she considered. "I remember a home... but not how I came here. When I think about my village, memories come up. When I try to think about why I'm here, or when I came... emptiness."
"You're telling me they plucked you from somewhere else, changed you by some incomprehensible magic, and set you here to welcome adventurers?"
"No, I... I'm supposed to make potions... I... I need cureleaves..."
"Do not mock me!" Bloodwraith roared. He grabbed Meara by the neck and slammed her against the nearest wall. Though her body hung limply, he continued to shout at her. "Answer me! Who placed you here? What is their purpose? How can they do such things?"
At first she didn't answer, eyes staring blankly and her head lolling to the side. He wondered if he had knocked her unconscious, or if her body had simply shut down under the strain. Growling in irritation, Bloodwraith began to take his hand away.
Then Meara looked at him and chuckled unpleasantly. Despite himself, he took a step back. Something unnatural lurked in her eyes...
"I understand now. Whoever they are, they reach into our world and shape it for their benefit. For your benefit. That's why you're here, isn't it? To fight and to fuck. To eventually defeat some great evil and go home feeling like a great adventurer."
"Defeat... a great evil?" His blood ran cold, and went icier when Meara laughed again.
"Of course. A Black Dragon or a Master Lich or a Blood Sorcerer. I've told tales of them all, at some point."
"The Master Lich? No... it can't be..."
"Heh, why are you so surprised? I'm here for you to fuck. The villain is here for you to fight. The world might be too boring and compl
icated, otherwise." Meara fixed him with a mocking gaze. "Do you not like your little story being punctured?"
Bloodwraith couldn't answer, letting go of her and sinking back against the wall. It had to be an absurd lie. The Master Lich had been their leader, someone he had known well... and yet... the Master Lich had appeared from nowhere with great power and pursued no goal except domination. Could he truly be every bit as much a pawn as some defenseless peasant girl? Worst of all, Bloodwraith realized that the truth made him nothing more than the pawn of a pawn.
"I am not like them." He pushed himself to his feet, glaring down at Meara and not hiding any of the malice in his gaze. That, at least, gave her pause. "Ten years ago, do you remember a man called Raigar?"
"That name sounds familiar, though it's difficult for me to think about time. It flows strangely in this place. But yes... I think I told him something about the Master Lich you seem to find so important... I assume he went out and defeated it?"
Opening his mouth to say more, Bloodwraith hesitated. Was he really going to do this? Aside from the risk, it was foolish to place any trust in this peasant girl he had been thinking of violating not long ago. It smelled of weakness to him... but the truth yawned beneath him, threatening to consume him.
She might be just a peasant girl, but she had insight he desperately needed. Yes, that was it: Bloodwraith grasped at the rationale he could accept. The girl was useful to him. It was only logical to make use of her for now. He nodded to himself and focused on her again.
"Yes, Raigar killed the Master Lich. A door was made for him to return to the beginning again. But... someone else stepped through it."
Meara's eyes went wide in immediate understanding. He saw the flickers of intelligence he had seen during their lesson, not the empty stare or the mindless adoration. A moment later her eyes narrowed at him. "So you want me to believe that you're not one of them."
"I don't care what you believe. All that matters is that you tell me everything you know that might be useful against them. Immediately."