Ashley
Thanks to my cloaking and other stealth skills, I manage to get into the city without attracting much of any attention. Beyond a couple people who are already Class D.
None of them are my level though, so all they seem to be able to tell is that someone is flying by. Not who it is.
So I’m safe.
And with that in mind, I focus on my enhanced perception to figure out what’s down on the street. Only to frown as I realize the range of that skill is a lot smaller than my other senses. The ones that I’m using to figure out if someone’s looking at me or not.
They let me get a vague sense of people, monsters, smells, sounds, and the like, but I don’t get an actual full understanding of everything in my surroundings like I do with Enhanced Perception.
I really need to go find someone or a monster with a similar skill to Enhanced Perception… something with a stronger and higher level skill preferably.
After a brief hesitation, I go ahead and fly down before landing on the ground in order to bring everything here into my Enhanced Perception skill’s range.
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Then I finally begin my look around. With the skill, of course.
Because if I opened my eyes at all, even if I didn’t accidentally look at someone, the glowing crimson cracks appearing on the street would be a pretty obvious sign that I’m here.
Anyways, the city seems to be doing a lot better than I would’ve expected. People are going about their business without any major fights, there aren’t any monsters roaming around, and there are even the large TV screens on the sides of the buildings still active – although I have no idea what the official term for those are.
And speaking of those TVs, some of them seem to be mentioning me.
"-the Princess of Chaos and Queen of Destruction has officially returned from her Class D trial and brought two groups of otherworlders to Val for an alliance!!! One of the three Tower Masters of the Tower of Chaos, Xanderexialusdevami Randorantela Elariousve!!!! And the Queen of Purgatory herself, Dhalia Velonna Bliiiiiight!!!!"
I can’t help but furrow my brows a bit at how they actually managed to pronounce Xander’s full name correctly.
It makes me wonder just how much they practiced that.
Then again, it could be a skill or just the System itself aiding the speaker, but I doubt it.
The speaker who I have absolutely no idea who is goes on and on about how my two new allies – or I guess subordinates in the Tower of Chaos’s case, according to said subordinates who practically worship the ground I walk on – are the first ones to enter the Spire other than my twin.
But I’m not the only one being talked about by the TV broadcasts. There are also some talking about Blake. About how he’s finally returned to his own Spire and started taking control of the governing process there while cracking down on some guilds that formed amongst his old subordinates.
Subordinates I didn’t even realize he had.
Then there are some reports comparing the…
I stop in my tracks before opening my eyes and staring up at one of the TVs, making glowing crimson cracks begin appearing on it at a rapid pace until I close my eyes again. But it’s too late as the TV is already destroyed enough that it glitches out and stops playing. So I look at another TV further down the street that’s playing the same news.
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News comparing the five Successors of Val.
Five.
There are five.
And what’s more, from what the news says, the two new Successors are my parents.
Fuck.
"Lux took on more Successors…? That’s surprising…" Chaos mutters in my head.
What I want to know is why the fucking Primordial of Virtue would ever choose those two!
"Well, Lux’s take on virtue is that so long as you don’t ever mean any harm, you are virtuous and pure of heart," Chaos answers, sounding rather irritated with this himself. "So most likely, because your parents didn’t mean to neglect you and your siblings and actually did care about you, Lux took them in because they were considered purehearted in her mind. Although most likely only because of their power in the end."
That’s bullshit.
"It is, but there’s nothing I can do about it," Chaos retorts instantly as I begin to continue walking through the streets. "And Lux hasn’t taken a new Successor for millennia because Erebos always targets them. So these are her first in quite a while."
Let me guess. She also chose them because they’re already Erebos’s targets so making them her Successors won’t paint any extra targets on their backs?
"Knowing her?" Chaos mutters before I practically feel him nodding his head, "Probably."
Yep. Bullshit.
Anyways, the program itself was comparing all of us Successors. And it seems to be ranking the poor Successor of Order at the very bottom.
Now whether that’s because he’s actually weaker than the Black and White Enforcers or because he’s less well-known or has fewer allies, I’m not sure. But he’s ranked at the bottom, with the White Enforcer being ranked fourth, the Black Enforcer at third, then Blake, and finally me at the top.
None of that really matters to me though. The ranking that is, not the fact that those two child neglectors became Successors.
It irritates me enough that, when the speaker on the TV begins talking about how the Sinclair family already has four Successors out of the five on Val, I open my eyes and look at the screen. Just to destroy the damned thing and make it shut up.
Then I continue walking as if nothing happened.
Unfortunately for me, that’s not the only TV covering this sort of news. Not by a longshot.
In fact, the hottest topics on the news right now seem to be one of a few things.
Me and my allies being the biggest topic covered.
Blake being the second biggest.
Then the Successors of Virtue – I’ll just call them that instead of their other titles – being the third.
And finally, something about the Successor of Order trying to expand his territory and take control of other Spires through peaceful means.
As for news other than the most often covered stuff, there’s also some random warning messages played through about Gates appearing every now and then. Messages that mention to stay away from them unless you’re a hunter affiliated with whatever guild has control of the Gates in question.
I even run into a Gate personally at some point. Not literally though. I just pass by a recently opened Gate as a force of six hunters are charging into it, all armed to the T.
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After the hunters enter it, the Gate itself takes on a much paler color and the message it shows above it changes to state that it’s full. That no one else can enter it.
Also, it looks like – judging by the number of people in it – a few civilians were dragged into the Gate before these hunters arrived.
I look around to find the majority of civilians staying far away from the Gate, even with it being locked now. And the way they’re acting honestly makes me think this is a common occurrence here. As if everyone’s already largely gotten used to these Gates appearing.
Then again, I guess the System’s been here for a couple months already. So it makes sense people would have adapted quite a bit already.
Humans are very adaptable after all.
I continue looking around for a bit until I find the office belonging to the one in charge of this district of the city. Along with their Spire that is practically right next door to said office.
But I don’t go inside. I just raise my head upwards before opening my eyes and then meeting the eyes of someone inside of the office who is staring back at me. This being the most powerful person I’ve seen in this district. Even if he’s still a lower level than me.
Of course, I close my eyes again within a second, since the glass between us quickly begins to shatter. And I don’t actually want to hurt him.
After a moment I turn around and begin heading back to my quiet park. A place that’s far more peaceful than the rest of the city.
I wish I could expand the park…
Putting that thought aside for the moment though, I think I should go ahead and participate in an Official System Event. Because, aside from the trial, I haven’t done that in a while.
And I feel like continuing my win streak.