Chapter Forty-Five – Truths – Part Two

Legendary items can redefine warfare in the right hands.

- UWO Brigadier General Alara -

It's been a few minutes since Abyss gave me the notice that it was evolving, I still haven't seen anything different. I'm not sure there's anything else that I can do in this section of Abyss, as I don't think it's wise to eat a legendary item, from everything I've heard about them, they are insanely useful. After seeing Abyss fail to evolve with the Featherfall boots, I'm not risking it again, not with a legendary item, nor with the Aegis armor. Also, I definitely don't want Abyss to eat the longsword either, not with the potential side effects.

Time to check out where the other doors lead, I can ruminate on what to do with the plethora of stolen items later.

Moving back into the main Abyss area, I look at the next closest doorway.

[ Abyssal Skill Refinery ]

Alright, let's do this.

Stepping inside, I notice it's colder than the other room. A lot colder. I take in the space of swirling darkness. Black stone floors, mist-like walls with flickers of silver fire from black metal torches that seem to burn endlessly with no wick.

Across from me, I see three braziers lit. One is vibrant green mixing with black, a series of text boxes show up.

[ Dark Vines ]

[ Status: Active ]

[ Deactivate ]

[ Recycle ]

What does recycle mean? It looks like this might be a toggle on and off for skills. Which is actually pretty smart, considering some of the skills it might evolve could be… problematic. But recycle? Does that destroy the skill? The second brazier is red fire mixing with black. More text boxes.

[ Evolving Progress… 12% ]

[ Chance of Mutation… 37% ]

[ Use Scrap Essence to increase Mutation Chance? ]

[ Yes / No ]

This must be the evolution for the Necklace of Siphoning. What does mutation mean? Scrap essence? A lot of terms to remember. The last brazier looks like a smoldering pile of ashen silver fire.

[ Scrap Essence ]

Okay. Very helpful and descriptive. If I had to guess, it's where the failed evolutions go. I don't know. Sounds right. I wonder if it's worth dumping it onto the Siphoning evolution just to see what mutations are. Pondering it, I could just recycle that piece of shit sword, the one that apparently causes diminishing intelligence, or maybe I can toggle multiple effects? Or maybe it's random which effect it gets if there are multiple?

"So much I don't know," I sigh.

I want to check out the other room first before I decide what to do, but I'm going to do something. Pretty sure once it's in Abyss, it doesn't come back out, unless Red takes it maybe. Wishing I wouldn't have tried to save those boots. Wait, didn't I get uncommon items too? Abyss didn't even ask if I wanted to transfer them. Whatever. I'll figure it all out eventually… hopefully.

Moving to the last room now, I step past the threshold. This room is hot, the inverse of the other one. As I look into the distance, it makes sense why it's called the Abyssal Item Forge. In front of me is the biggest anvil I've ever seen, the size of a fucking house. So big that there are steps that lead up toward it. Past it, there is an old-school blacksmith-looking forge, which even has bellows. Nice touch. The fire reminds me of the Scrap Essence brazier in the Abyssal Skill Refinery. Smoldering silver black fire.

Walking to the top of the anvil's stairs, I finally get a pop-up.

[ Abyssal Item Forge ]

[ Craft ]

[ Improve ]

[ Merge ]

[ Recycle ]

Wow, I can craft stuff here? Like what though? I click it. A bunch of pop-ups show up.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

[ Weapons ]

[ Armors ]

[ Accessories ]

I click the first one, I see a bunch of options shown as pictures, all of them are weapons that Abyss has eaten before. Wait… I can recreate weapons? Like the same stats or just the same style? I click the staff option, the same tree branch one that I… reacquired from Trent's corpse, the same one that gave Abyss the Dark Vines upgrade.

[ Plant Aspect ]

I click it.

[ Insufficient Materials ]

Huh. More questions.

"Abyss? You don't answer questions do you?"

Nothing, just creepy ass whispers. I didn't hear the other voice in here either, maybe it doesn't have access here.

I move out of the sub-menu and back into the main menu and click on the improve box next. It opens up a catalog of all the weapons currently stored in Abyss. I click on Mira's bow.

[ Legendary Item: Heaven's Bane]

[ Maximum Upgrade Reached ]

I was right, it is a Legendary item. Heaven's Bane, sounds… powerful. Says it has reached maximum upgrade. Let's try the mace. Pulling it up now, I get different boxes.

[ Rare Item: Mace of the Ardent Flame ]

[ Upgradable ]

I hit the upgrade.

[ Insufficient Scrap Essence ]

Okay, so it looks like everything in Abyss is purchased with that. Makes it simple, which I like. Wonder what it does though. I cross my arms. Okay. Next box. Swiping through the menu, I hit the Merge option. It gives me two slots, each one has the same catalog of items that Abyss currently has stored. Interesting. I go through the Recycling option next, the same catalog of owned items, even the Legendary bow is in there. Which would be pretty dumb to do… right? I wonder how much Scrap Essence I'd get for it though, there doesn't appear to be a ledger, I guess Abyss isn't into bookkeeping.

I sit on the edge of the Anvil steps. So far, I've discovered a lot. But I don't have any healing skills, which means, as soon as I get back to reality, I'm still fucked, and my friends are potentially screwed too. At this point though, I probably shouldn't recycle anything, there's no telling if there will be another feature unlocked later, such as removing items from Abyss. Then, I could sell the shit items like that longsword of diminishing intelligence. Besides, I might need some of the other items at some point. I'll experiment with the forge later. I'm pretty sure I can come here whenever I want, there wasn't an entrance fee, unlike the other rooms. Besides, I really want to get back. My stomach's turning in knots wondering if time has actually stopped or not.

I really want to go over all of this with the group as well, they might have some good ideas for weapon combos, or which to keep and which to recycle. Alright, fuck it. Time to leave. I've done what I can for now, barring recycling and trying to forge weapons. I don't intend on using Abyss on people or breaking out. I'm going to face the problems and figure it out. Worst case scenario, I can come back here and play around with the forge.

I pull up my interface. Moving to the Custom RoD menu. I move to click the Cosmic Exchange, but the name has changed.

[ Nexus ]

I click it.

[ Leave the Nexus? ]

[ Yes / No ]

I click the yes, and light bends around me instantly as I do, a strange feeling like I'm flying towards something and being shoved into a hole the size of a needle, and then stretched back out again after… until.

***

My eyes stagger open, where the fuck am I? I'm in my real body again, my vision is blurred still, but much better than what I remember last. I'm in some kind of room. Oh, fuck me… time wasn't stopped. Shit. How long was I in there? How long did I…

A zap shocks my ass cheek. What the fuck? A buzzing sound echoes and then a series of very annoying shrill sounds come after.

I know what this is. It's an interrogation holding room. Specifically designed to keep people distracted often enough to prevent them from using their interface. It wouldn't be effective if I could use my hands… too bad they're bound behind my back, the seat is form-fitted so we can barely move. Even if the seat wasn't designed to restrict movement, and the cuffs weren't on, I can't move my limbs still… beautiful. Just fucking beautiful.

Makes sense why no one could get a message off, I'm surprised that Cortez managed. These rooms are…

"Ow… fuck…"

That shock is really annoying. I know it's necessary to stop people from colluding with system messages, but I've never had to be in one of these chambers before. The alternating noise is really annoying too. Thankfully it's illegal to keep people in them for more than twenty-four hours unless they're terrorists, then they just kind of… oh shit. Killing WHA members during a Gate mission can be considered an act of terrorism. A voice comes over the intercom.

"Specialist Novak, you are being detained, any attempt to contact outside parties until you are cleared by an investigating authority is strictly forbidden."

Great. A screen comes down from the ceiling and plants itself in front of my face… they want me to watch TV?

***

I have no idea how long I've been in here, but I'm pretty fucking irritated. This is horseshit. Fuckers put on a cooking show… not even a good one, and to make matters worse, the lips don't line up with the words, and the subtitles are about something entirely different, tons of misspelled words with special characters. It's an OCD person's nightmare. Every few seconds, I get a light shock somewhere random on my body. I've tried to open my menu and send messages, but whoever designed these rooms is a fucking piece of shit… and a genius. Fuck them. I see that I have notifications, but I can't make it to them fast enough. It's driving me insane.

***

I'm nearly at the wish I could peel my eyeballs out stage when they finally turn the show off, the screen goes back up to the ceiling, and a pair of suits walk in. A man and a woman. Both are dressed for business, in black suits, white dress shirts, and black ties. Even have sunglasses on indoors, it's a bit over the top, but whatever floats their boats. Both of them look like they're in their mid-thirties. Career suits probably.

"Are you ready to begin?" the man asks, though it's definitely not a question, so I reply in kind.

"Fuck… you…"

"His file says he's undergoing rebound sickness," the woman says, looking at a clipboard, then flipping through her interface at breakneck speed, "I've asked for medical to send someone."

"Good enough," the man sighs, sitting down at the metal table and tenting his hands.

"While we wait," the woman says, sitting in a chair next to him, "Are you able to understand us?"

"Fuck… both…"

"I'll take that as a yes," she interrupts, then in stride, "I am Special Agent Fisban, and this is Special Agent Thomas. We work for the United World Order, just like you, but in a different capacity."

Already know all this. They're like the old-time Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency rolled into one organization, except on a global scale. The Silent Hand is what most call them behind their backs. Silently doing the dirty work of the United World Order. No one likes suits… not even suits.

"All we want to do is ascertain the truth of what happened to the World Hunter Association members that were brutally and unjustly slain during a routine mission," the man, Thomas says.

Brutally… memories flash in my head, and a shock on my arm sends them back down the bottle. Brutal is correct… unjust though? I did what I had to, even if I didn't want to.

"I will remind you, that as a service member enlisted in the army of the United World Order, you do not have the right to remain silent," the woman, Fisban reminds me.

Here we go… witch hunt time.

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