The magical pressure vanished. Lumi was gently set back onto the ground.
"…You are indeed something strange," Merath said at last, tone cautious, but not hostile. "And I don't fully understand what you are. But I know enough now."
He paused.
The entire time, Merath had been studying Lumi. His face, his expressions, the way his muscles twitched, the way adrenaline shot through him, the exact chemicals and hormones, his adrenal glands, everything.
Merath took a deep breath, after coming to his own conclusions, he responded. "Very well. I will allow it. You may grant tokens and I will recognize them. Any bearer will be permitted to learn the Path of Light."
"However," He continued, "I will not hide knowledge from those who are worthy and willing. If you insist on this, then I will say this. The only ones who will require this token are those I deem to be unique in the way you and Lena are. And this shall only last a year. Given those conditions, do you accept?"
Lumi was ecstatic. His main objective was already complete. By stating that he could not gold coins, which wasuniversal currency, it made Merath start thinking in the right direction.
If Merath judged that Lumi was telling the truth, despite his statement being so illogical, then it was evidence to him that something was wrong with him.
It was very minor, but he had circumvented the information ban from the system.
Merath then asked him. "Do you know what must be done to solve this problem?"
Lumi nodded.
Merath further inquired. "Estimated time frame? How do I assist?"
"A year, tops." Lumi replied, "As for assistance, the main thing would be proper equipment to gear myself. However, to assist against the forces of evil, I would be ever grateful if you gave me the means to contact a trusted Master of Rank Four, who could act."
"I see." Merath nodded, understandingly. He then hummed lightly, and sighed. "I see you also understand my plight. That I cannot leave Elenora for now, or else you would have asked to borrow my power instead."
Lumi nodded along.
"You may find this surprising, but I do not possess subordinates of such caliber I can freely command. I may ask former disciples, but I offer no guarantees. As for the equipment, I will get it to you soon."
"Thank you." Lumi replied, then continued, "May I contact you with the card provided if needed?"
Merath nodded. "That is the purpose."
"Alright…" Lumi was truly shaken. This trip, this short trip to help Lena gain her class… completely turned his plans upside down. He had no idea what the proper path was anymore.
…
"Hey Lena." Lumi had made his way back to the private reading rooms to find her, "I'm done, I got my class. I saw that you got yours. So let's talk about what we're doing now."
Though he was shaken from earlier, he did his best not to show it.
After all, the fate of the world landed on his shoulders.
But there were problems after problem that he didn't understand.
Lena stared up from her book, "HEY!" She stood up and jumped in front of him, "It's time for… comedy!"
"Comedy?" Lumi tilted his head, "Lena, I-"
"The Comedy," Lena continued, "Is that out of our eight hours of daily playtime, we both have less than half an hour left."
"Ah." Lumi was taken aback. Most players didn't get used to keeping track of time properly until a few weeks in.
Materia Online operated on a limited daily playtime of eight hours. Externally it was explained as for "health" and "safety" reasons. While Lumi never explicitly knew the real answer, he could make an educated guess that it was to save on power.
The Dark One, despite his goodhood,had been sealed long ago by heroes. While he was slowly reawakening, his powers were nowhere near their peak. He could not endlessly sustain all the players indefinitely whilst retaining his required energy levels. Additionally, it served to make players value the time they had.
If they had infinite time, they would mess around. With limited time, players would value progression more, which directly serves the Dark One's plans.
Lumi explained to Lena, "Indeed, that is what I came to talk about. Listen, once we're booted off, I'll tell you about my plans via Nitro. With the time we have left, let's read as much as we can."
Lena looked down at the book. "Oh."
…
Renan felt his body sitting back on the game pod. His vision was rather blurry. Metal grasped around his head, he moved his arms out of their place and unlocked the helmet.
He sat up and made his way to his chair, sitting down and sighing.
Things have deviated from my expectations.
But it matters not. My mission is clear. I have to save the world.
Lena… I haven't even heard of her. I've never heard of a Lena in my past life. That means she never became a top player.
Getting too involved with her is a waste of time. Something will happen. Either she quits, either she plays inefficiently, something…
Something…
That something could be anything.
It could be RNG. A lack of guidance. She was surprisingly good with the sword. Will she be as good with magic?
…Sticking with me, she will be a top player too. She must. She will break free from the system too. I'll make sure of it.
Renan went to get up, but a thought made him sit back down.
Why am I regressing emotionally? Why do I feel… younger?
He clenched his fist.
Is it the regression itself? Did going back in time regress something in me, too? Did I retain all the knowledge, but not the growth? Maybe, emotionally, he really was younger.
Maybe the regression didn't preserve the soul as perfectly as he assumed. Or maybe the body itself was the cause.
"Ugh," Renan got up. Regardless of his thoughts, he couldn't waste time. He had to get everything done during this time. There was always much to do.
He left his room, and made the rounds, making sure his family saw him today and had at least one interaction with him.
"Hey bro!"
"Hey Ma!"
He shuffled over to the kitchen to do his daily kitchen chores, it was rather nostalgic. He's been at this for a few weeks now. Soon enough, he would not be doing it any longer. The moment he made some greater sales, he could be absolved of these duties. That would come in a week at most.
"Ma!" It was a bit cold, but Renan wanted to optimize everything. Getting his social time with his family in while doing chores saved time. He wanted to get the necessities done as soon as possible so he could move on.
"You were in that game for hours!" Renatta replied across the room, getting up to get a bit closer. "You didn't eat breakfast. You didn't eat lunch. And you were about to miss supper. I didn't want to interrupt you, but, god, I was worried."
"Aw, sorry about that, Ma!" Renan replied. "It's going very well, though! Check the announcements."
"Announcements?" Renatta asked, confused. "What?"
"Check out the website for the game." Renan explained, "They do special announcements for the first player that accomplishes certain things. I'm there for three, and I helped someone get one, too. I'm Lumi, here."
Renatta complied, pulling out her phone and checking it out. "Oh wow!" She read through them, "First monster, first level up? First to level ten." She scanned them for a bit, "What's the one you said you helped someone get?"
"First person to get First Rank in a class." Renan replied. "It made me kinda famous, I had to disable friend requests because I got over ten thousand of them immediately."
"Oh wow." Renatta's eyes went wide. "Ten thousand?" she repeated. "Just today?"
"A bit more than that, haha." Renan admitted, scratching the back of his head. "Kind of annoying. But also useful. The fame is part of the plan."
Renatta nodded. "Indeed, since you said you wanted to make money from this."
Renan nodded. "Yeah." He explained to her, "If all goes well, I'll have become the sole gatekeeper to one of the classes in the came. Therefore, I can sell that entry for money."
Of course it wasn't his primary goal. But it was one for various reasons. "There should be big profits coming in within a week. Probably less."
Renatta watched him a moment longer, then softened. "Alright, well. You still need to eat." She grabbed a plate and started scooping rice. "You didn't eat all day, I don't know what you were thinking, but you'll eat now!"
Renan gave a small chuckle and gave her a smile.
This is nice.
I'd almost forgotten. Despite everything last life, Ma was always there for me. I really do love her.