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"We're very, very interested in talking with you, Lock Slaveborn."

The world spun into a myriad topsy-turvy colors and shapes as my head tried to make sense of what the purple-haired Mage just said. Simultaneously, my thoughts were colored crimson –the same shade as blood– as my fingers and eyes twitched. Instinctively, I reached into my [Dimension Ring] for my sword and shield. Instead of the weapons jumping into my hand, however, I was met with a clawing pain around my heart.

The Mana Vow held.

I'm sure someone of Pol's level noticed. You don't get to cast spells at his level without having a story or two to share about people trying to kill you. But if he noticed, he didn't say it.

He spread his palms in a placating gesture, "I truly do mean it. I come in peace."

For a moment, I railed against the Mana Vow; a mental battle that was just as much a physical one. But I knew the rules of this world better than anyone. There was simply no way to break a Mana Vow at this point in the game. The options were there, but definitely too few in number and unavailable to me at the moment.

And one of the prerequisites –that I be of higher level than the Mage in question– was definitely something I didn't meet.

It's not farfetched to say Mana Vows are realistically unbreakable.

Some might even say that Mana Vows are OP.

I disagree. Everything MSS has a counter and has its strengths and weaknesses.

Mana Vows don't make Mages OP. For their spells and extra abilities, they trade off Cores and equipment available to Adventurers. That means that they have their own weak points to be exploited. The fact of the matter was, Mana Vows aren't OP. They're only OP in certain situations and for now, I put myself in a situation where Pol got what he wanted.

To talk.

I could accept that.

But that didn't mean I had to like it.

Pol continued, undeterred by my mood or uncaring of it. "You haven't touched the gift we got you."

I looked down at the small leatherbound journal, wary of touching it. "You bid on it?"

"Not me directly, but for the purposes of this conversation, yes. It is in my possession and I am handing it over to you. Free of charge and strings." Pol smiled.

Watching Pol's face, I slowly reached out and grabbed the book. I glanced at it, flipping through it. "...It's real." I muttered, almost to myself.

"We wouldn't risk giving you a fake one." Pol let out a breath, the tension seemingly draining out of him. "Please, I really just want to talk. We know you've had contact with our people."

"Let me guess," I snapped, "The other [Players] from the [Player's Guild] are just sub-branches and they're not representative of who you are as a whole."

"In a nutshell, yes. There are considerably more details that need to be fleshed out, but yes." Pol explained.

"Then there's nothing to talk about." I growled.

His eyes turned smooth, "We just spent twenty-million gold on a relic that for all we know, you are trying to present to Jared Akka Xalud as a gift, or to Turina to curry their favor. You can't spare me thirty minutes of your time?"

I frowned.

"If I meant to hurt you, there were literally a dozen other ways. Now, I can't claim to know what Nathan's members did to you. But I did hear stories, which is why I went to such lengths to arrange this meeting." Pol sighed. "Short of bringing a [Truth or Dare], is there any way to keep this conversation both civil and meaningful?"

There was a definite note of frustration that entered Pol's voice, the first time this Mage showed any emotion apart from that fake smile of his.

I looked at 'Knight's Journey'. There was no doubt about it, this was the real thing. They really had spent twenty-million gold on this thing. Not just that, Pol had been civil.

He hadn't threatened me. He hadn't said anything snide, rude or even slightly offensive.

For all I knew…

He actually wanted to talk.

It took a lot for me to calm down. Once I got the emotions under control, I looked him in the face. Searching for something, anything that might make my instincts go haywire. Most of my Cores give me some good stats, especially in the [Hearing] and [Smell] department. I waited for his breathing to turn irregular, or the sour smell of sweat to reach my olfactory senses.

Nothing happened.

I took a deep breath of my own, "Thirty minutes."

"Twenty five minutes now." He sighed but seemed pleased enough, "Let me give you some background information."

"Let me preface it by saying that I cannot share everything about our Guild, not because I don't want to –though that's a part of it– but also because I do not know everything. The Guild is set up so that no one knows the exact size, membership and even purpose."

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I glared at him the entire time he spoke.

"It's the truth." He pleaded. "Hence, why we went to such lengths to talk to you."

"I said I'll hear you out, not trust you." I said stiffly.

"Fair enough." Pol nodded, "Then let me put it in a way that an adventurer like you can understand. Is the Guild responsible for the actions of its Clans?"

Clans.

When you're registered under the Adventurer's Guild, eventually you can create your own clan; or join one. The benefits are considerable. They sponsor their promising members with gear and Core. Clans can also 'reserve' hunting grounds. I've heard from Kyrian that some large Clans can 'own' dungeons as well.

To Pol's point, Clans are technically under the jurisdiction of the Adventurer's Guild. They're beholden to its laws. However, when someone has a grievance with a Clan, they wouldn't go to the Guild first. Nor would you start blaming all other Clans that belong to the Adventurer's Guild. Your beef is with that Clan and that Clan alone.

The problem is, never have I ever seen a Clan in this game that wasn't full of assholes.

Granted, I shouldn't carry my social experience over from the game to the real world too much. It's just that my first contact with the [Player's Guild] had been full of blood, bone and violence.

Even just thinking about Coum–

–Skin, scraped back from my shin bones like banana peels–

–skittering bugs,scraping against my ears, screeching and screaming–

–hands pulling on my intestines like tug-of-war–

I took another calming breath.

I wanted to get to the point. So I told him so.

"The point isn't so harsh." Pol answered, "We want things to return to zero."

"Zero?" I spat.

"Forgiveness in the sense that your relationship with Nathan's branch won't spill over onto the others."

"For what reason?"

"Because not all of us are like you people from Earth," He said, "Some of us are content to live out our lives in this world without striving for conflict or war. Without trying to reach the last stage. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

I frowned at that. "This Nathan person. That's twice you've mentioned him."

"The one who's in charge of Coum and Tanya. The ones whom you faced."

At the mention of their name, something ugly reared its head within me. Something I keep tucked away deep within. The something that told me to choke the life out of Coum while looking him in the eye, watching his life essence slowly fade away. The very something that was more than happy to let the violent tendencies of my Cores take over, making me more beast than man.

And I wanted to let it out again.

"So they're alive." I sneered. "Then tell me where they are."

He clammed up, "Barely. I cannot."

"Then this conversation is over."

"But I know who can."

I stopped in the middle of getting up.

"I know you're smarter than you let on." Pol's eyes narrowed, "And I know you logically understand or can guess at why I cannot disclose certain information to you."

"You don't know that."

"Your rise to power is meteoric." Pol said matter-of-factly, "We can only surmise you're one of those [Players] who have a deeper understanding of this game more than most. What difficulty did you finish this game at? 10x? 25x?"

Oh, he had no idea.

When I didn't answer, he continued, "No matter." He said, waving a hand dismissively, "Suffice it to say that my branch of the Guild do not want to be enemies with you."

"Get back to the topic. Tanya and Coum."

"Like I said, I can only point you in the right direction."

It was frustrating, but like Pol said, I understood. As much as Pol didn't want to make me an enemy, he probably couldn't turn his back on his guild entirely. Besides, this was one of the most open conversations I ever had since coming to MSS. It felt liberating.

No bullshit, no tricks. Both of us were [Players] and everything was out in the open.

"Direction then."

"Delas Ender."

Confirmation of information I already knew. But I wanted to hear it from Pol's own mouth, "A [Player]?"

"A [Player] and an experienced one at that." He thought for a second, "Perhaps not as high-ranked as he should be."

The conversation started flowing, both of us firing off questions and answers like a quiz show.

"How does Coum and Tanya fit into this?"

"You probably suspected that Delas was a [Player], judging from your reaction." Pol spoke quickly, glancing at a pocketwatch. "Delas is part of the same Clan as Coum and Tanya."

"What's your relationship with Delas?"

"Not Delas. Coum, we studied at the same Mage tower."

"You know him?"

"Know is a strong word." He struggled, interrupting the flow, "Acquaintances."

I sucked in a sharp breath, "So what do you want?"

He didn't say.

So I spread my hands, imitating his actions from before, "You yourself said it. That I'm smarter than I let on."

"You think I don't know what you're up to? You're using me to eliminate Delas, Tanya and Coum."

He plastered that fake smile on my face. "Am I?" The earnest do-gooder act was gone.

"I know how [Players] think, because I'm one myself." I snarled, "You're getting me to do your dirty work. Making me your wetboy."

"Can't we just pretend that I came in goodwill?" He shrugged. "Warn you of potential dangers from bad, evil men?"

I'd been suspicious from the beginning. He gave me too much. Knight's Journey, the information, just to get my forgiveness? Everything he said, everything he did –he did it to appeal to my better side. Trying to butter me up with sweet words, build up my confidence, acting like he was on the losing side of the deal.

No. I don't buy that.

Not one bit.

Any [Player] who survives long enough to become as strong as Pol couldn't be trusted.

As a rule, [Players] were people who beat MSS. Beat this godforsaken game with its godforsaken difficulty. Arrogance is part of the game and I'd bet my left hand there's no [Player] left alive in this world who thinks he's inferior to any other [Player].

Period.

"You said you wanted trust. I don't do trust."

"Ah, would it make you feel better if I named it what it really should have been? A transaction?"

"The moment you tried to pretend you were a good samaritan was when this thing stopped being a transaction."

"I am not familiar with this 'good samaritan' metaphor. But I think I understand." His smile widened.

Pol kind of relaxed, slouching in the chair and leaning back. He steepled his fingers, reminding me of a fat cat studying how to cook this delicious morsel of mouse he'd just found. "Yes, to everything you said. My branch is in direct opposition to Delas Ender and his goals. But you have to believe me in this, we have no animosity towards you."

"But you weren't coming to me because you're sorry about what happened to me either."

"We don't have a good idea, but Coum tends to be rather… singular in his habits." Pol shrugged, "If we truly came to you, to apologize on behalf of all the [Players] that did you harm, would you trust us?"

I bit my lower lip, thinking.

"No." I said truthfully.

"And I doubt you'd have trusted us if we came to you with a transaction on the table right away." Pol continued, "You're the type that only trusts what you see, what you hear and what you find out for yourself. The only reason we can still talk civilly is because you discovered my lie for yourself, which I was confident you would."

I felt annoyed mostly because I realized he was right.

What I said about MSS and [Players]...

I'm the biggest arrogant son of a bitch in this game that you'll ever see.

Anything other [Players] can do, I think I can do ten times better. I think I know more secrets, know more about Cores and just understand the mechanics of the game way more than anyone else.

There's a reason why I'm the only one who beat this game on Original Difficulty.

So when Pol pointed out that I wouldn't have trusted him unless he set up a lie for me to find out, I accepted it.

And my respect for him went up a bit.

And with that respect, my danger sense.

Adventurers, Paladins, Mages and Priests, it doesn't matter what they are.

Smart people are the most dangerous of them all.

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