Whether it was that uncomfortable bowl of ramen at a high-class restaurant he was dragged to, or the daily cups of noodles nearing their date of expiration that he'd been living off for the past few months, Cyrus enjoyed them all the same. Whether it was eaten in his stuffy room back in real life or the simulated taste of noodles inside a small, torn-down virtual shop, he equally savored the experience of eating.
"It's good." Cyrus hummed as he sipped on the salty broth. "Food is good."
Placed before him on the termite-eaten table were two warm bowls of noodles, one of which he was trying not to eat too fast, while the other one across from him remained untouched. Through Ollow, he exchanged twenty-five Fate for the same amount of copper coins, which was apparently 'just enough' for two bowls.
That was, of course, a complete scam as he knew from his earlier snooping around. With the price of a day's portion of rice at only two coppers, the shopkeeper was wholeheartedly ripping off the outsiders.
Cyrus simply didn't care.
For one, he had a face to keep with the glorious canary-eyed Hero gracing him with his company. He'd already sat down and ordered, so it was too late to get up and leave or bargain without tainting his good-man act.
Two, he could just loot the NPCs back later on when he was alone if needed to. As the sole player of an open-world game, everything in this world that could be taken was already his. They weren't in his pocket simply because he didn't need them or hadn't gotten to them just yet.
Now that I think about it, Ollow or whoever set the items' prices is making a big profit too—selling a piece of rag for five coppers.
"Young masters, is everything to your liking?" the shopkeeper, a stubby guy, approached with his hands clasped, rubbing them like a fly.
The noodles are way overcooked and flavored with nothing but grains of sand. The broth is just salted hot water. The three green flakes floating on the surface, along with four drops of oil, barely passed as decorations.
But they smothered the hungry heat in his stomach, so they were perfect in every way, like all food that didn't give you diarrhea or worse.
"It makes a good meal." Cyrus flashed a small smile, kindling a spark that melted away his cold, mysterious demeanor that stemmed from the bloody blindfold. "And please, we're but passing travelers. No need for such politeness."
The shopkeeper laughed, tapping his hands on his round stomach. "Ha, this humble shopkeeper is glad to hear that! But, young master, Ssang hasn't seen people as fine as you are for long years. Please forgive me for assuming and forgive also my insistence, but you two young masters must be here for important business. Have you come from the mainland?"
Cyrus kept [Mortal Eyes] angled between himself and Yaoming, facing the shopkeeper for a complete view of all three parties present. He saw a faded soft smile on his own face as he nodded. "You have good judgment, shopkeeper. We've come from distant lands to follow the wish of our God Father. He wants us to take care of a little something here on this isle, but before that, us mortals need our stomachs full to be able to serve our god or ourselves. Wouldn't you agree?"
"God, you say..." The shopkeeper's short brows went up with ambivalence, but he was quick enough to nod. "But, of course! Indeed, we cannot do anything on an empty stomach—nothing's well done when you're tormented by hunger."
From the side, Cyrus saw Yaoming's fingertips twitch just a bit from where he had his arms crossed. He slid the second bowl of noodles toward the Hero without a word. Yaoming only looked down at the bowl as if it were a pool full of swimming centipedes.
Eat, you stubborn little piece of shit. Acting all nonchalant as if your health bar isn't bleeding from hunger.
Since he'd been fighting demons for who knew how long before he got summoned, Yaoming probably hadn't eaten in a while. That thought started another in Cyrus. Was Yaoming planning to die by starving himself? He wondered if he should let the guy know that his HP was recovering faster than it was dropping.
While Cyrus, at 7 Vitality, recovered at a rate of 7 HP an hour, Yaoming's HP was actually going up by at least 8 per minute at 85 Vitality, even as it dropped. This was considering that Yaoming wasn't in an active rest state.
The unexpected downside of being OP, I guess.
If that had been his plan, it seemed Yaoming had already realized its ineffectiveness as he picked up the chopsticks.
"Enjoy, noble young master," the shopkeeper shouted. "My shop may be humble, but my bowls are the best Ssang has to offer!"
True. It was the only shop still open after all.
Cyrus turned and smiled at him. The shopkeeper grinned back. Cyrus was a smiling statue now, just a blank smile toward the shopkeeper who finally came to enlightenment after just half an eternity that Cyrus was dismissing him. With an awkward laugh and a few clumsy words, the man scurried away, disappearing into his house behind the crumbled stone wall.
Cyrus was willing to bet everything he had on himself that the NPC had his ears pressed flat against the wall, listening in on them. He stopped paying attention to the man and instead steered [Mortal Eyes] so that it was directly aimed at Yaoming.
With that, even with his head turned downward as he continued his meal, Cyrus could carefully observe the Hero's every move.
Their current status was much better than he'd hoped for. All he wanted was just a moment of distraction to prevent Yaoming from immediately attempting again after being revived. With credits due to [Blinded Sage], his bluffs worked, and Yaoming now seemingly believed suicide was futile.
So, Cyrus could breathe for the time being.
After all, even if Yaoming changed his mind and wanted Cyrus to kill him, he couldn't. In fact, as of now, apart from himself, there was probably no one or nothing in a starter village that could actually kill a 5-Star Hero with three- to four-digit stats unless Yaoming figured out how to turn off his self-healing.
He'd managed to buy himself some time until all came crashing down.
Yaoming took his first bite, and his eyelid twitched a bit. He stayed silent and still for a minute until he spoke, seemingly having lost his internal battle. "It's horrible."
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
"It is," Cyrus readily agreed. The noodle was atrocious.
After another bite, a small crease appeared on Yaoming's forehead. "Twenty-five coppers is too expensive."
"I know," Cyrus said as he continued to slurp the last bit of noodles. He finished up his bowl, placed the chopsticks over it, and gave a small bow of his head with his hands placed on the opposite shoulder—copying the gesture of the Loyalty icon. After the brief display, he continued, "I may have been a simple forest dweller for years until now, but the years are never long enough for me to forget the way of men."
The sound of a hitched breath came from beyond the wall. Cyrus couldn't help smiling a bit. At least keep quiet while you're eavesdropping, you silly goose.
Yaoming's eyes glided from the bowl to Cyrus's face, freezing the smile on it. Cyrus looked up at the Hero with his head tilted. Yaoming stared unblinking at him for a beat. Then his gaze dropped, long white lashes casting a shadow on his face as sunlight shone through the holes in the ceiling above.
Fed up with the Hero's wordless puzzle, Cyrus was about to question him when he felt a line of warmth rolling down his cheek. With a quiet huh, he lifted a finger and wiped a sticky wetness.
"Sorry," he murmured, using his sleeve when his fingers only further smudged the blood. "As you can see, my wounds are still healing. I hope I didn't dampen Senior Brother's appetite." When he saw the slightest shift on Yaoming's face, Cyrus was more than eager to elaborate. "I'm God Father's first Hero and Apostle. So, I was asked for proof of my devotion to Him and to display my strength. By offering my eyes to Him, that is. A low price for a dying man if you ask me."
If Yaoming felt even a tiny bit of curiosity or anything at all about that, he didn't let it show, going back to his meal like nothing had happened.
What a cold-hearted fellow. This's the part where we bond over our mutual grievance towards Mo Tian, you know.
"...Either way," Cyrus coughed. He could only move on since the Hero refused to participate in the prepared script of his pity party and lore dump. "Since it doesn't seem like Senior brother's planning to spend, should this junior look after your funds?"
"Do whatever you want with the funds I don't have," Yaoming said, and Cyrus thought he must have been feeling pretty generous to say so many words or give a reply at all. If only the Hero didn't feel the need to add, "I also don't have a brother like you."
"You do now, actually," Cyrus replied, mostly on the funds part, but it could also be applied to the brother part as much as Yaoming hated to acknowledge. After all, they both served the same god now. "Ollow," he called.
The familiar black bean showed itself at its name, materializing out of the air to stand on the table out of Cyrus's reach. "Apostle Cyrus hails Ollow again."
"Yes, I was already starting to miss you," Cyrus teased, and it was much satisfactory to see all of the bean's eyes blink in sequence, unimpressed. He coughed to hide a laugh. "Apart from that, I was also wondering if you could transfer Apostle Yaoming's current Fate and all future Fate he earns to me? He doesn't mind."
"Byah. Ollow can. Apostle Yaoming gives permission?"
Yaoming only hummed dismissively. Cyrus predicted that the guy might not be too happy if he ever found out about all the good things that could be bought with Fate, but by then, the cash would already be under Cyrus's ownership.
"Byak! Ollow witnesses! 2100 Fate and all future Fate rewarded to Apostle Yaoming belongs to Apostle Cyrus now! Apostle Cyrus has 2100 Fate! Apostle Cyrus buys anything?"
Holy banana, I'm rich.
Cyrus felt the ache in his empty eye sockets flaring at the thought of how now he could afford Spirit-Severing Elixir with even 600 Fate to spare. Some glaringly blatant favoritism. A difference between three hundred and twenty-one hundred—that was seven times more than the amount Cyrus was given. He also noted that this just happened to check out with the fact that Yaoming's Blessing of Heaven stat value was also sevenfold his.
Yet another penalty against choosing lower rarity Heroes. Knowing that now, Yaoming's face started to appear easier on the sore eyes than before as Cyrus pocketed his Fate.
"I will exchange a hundred Fate for wealth," Cyrus reached two fingers toward Ollow in a pinching claw, but Ollow skipped away with its small legs to take cover behind Yaoming's sleeves. Cyrus accepted his loss this round and withdrew his hand. "That should be enough for a few days. I've talked with a kind man in the village regarding a place for us to stay."
Ollow conjured four gold rings, seven square silver plates, and twenty-five aged copper coins.
"Why the random amount?" Cyrus asked with a curious note. "Can't you just give me one Spiritual Shard? It's worth exactly one hundred coppers unless I was told wrong." He picked up to observe a smooth-surfaced gold ring that was too large for a ring and too small to be a bracelet.
"Byak. Ollow has these. Ollow has no Shard." The bean gave the simplest answer. After confirming Cyrus didn't need anything else, the trader didn't waste a second to escape to who knew where.
A few minutes after that, the two men also prepared to leave once both their bowls were squeaky clean.
Cyrus put on the bamboo hat that was starting to become an extension of his body. With it being peak daylight hour, the sunlight proved too much for his injured eyes the moment they stepped out of the shade. Not just his eyes, his body could barely endure the heat, and he felt he might faint any moment.
He guessed the forest his mortal character had been set to live in had to be some huge, shady biome, as the slightest touch of the Sun scraped his skin like a tiger's tongue.
"Senior brother, I know you don't care. But, I think I should let you know that God Father will assign us quests when He sees fit. When we're not assigned, we're free to do as we wish, like right now. I will take you to where we will be staying," Cyrus said and quickly added, "Don't worry. I won't bother you anymore after—"
"Young Apostles! Noble young masters, please wait!" the shopkeeper's yells came running with his hurried footsteps. "This—" he panted. "This Bo Peng has wronged the young masters." His head was lowered as he took out twenty-three copper coins. "My bowls are merely one copper each. I was blinded by greed and cheated the Apostle. Bo Peng has committed a grave sin. Please forgive this senile, old man, young Apostle!"
Greed, you say.
Cyrus couldn't care less about the shopkeeper or his 'sincere' apology, where he simply handed over the stolen cash with no compensation or anything. The NPC most probably got all worked up after witnessing Ollow, a creature undoubtedly not of the ordinary. The shopkeeper might not know who Ollow was, but clearly, he knew what an Apostle was.
Rather, Cyrus's focus was on the fact that with both Heroes present, this was officially their first event in the village. And the keyword was greed. From the villagers, he'd heard of the village's history and a few words about the goddess from their flourishing past, who was said to have fallen to the greed of Her followers.
Cyrus took a look at the NPC's flustered face and saw the beginning of a story questline on it.
He lifted the corners of his lips as he grabbed the shopkeeper's open palms and closed them with the coins inside. "The heat is almost unbearable out here," he said, much to the shopkeeper's stupefaction. "Your roof has kept us cool. Keep it. Let these coppers stop you from doing the same to the travelers after us."
"Young—" the shopkeeper squeezed out, words stuck in his throat as his eyes welled up. "Young master! This Bo Peng swears to never do such a thing ever again! Bo Peng will not forget your forgiveness, benevolent young Apostle!"
[ [Moral] Compassionate Enacted. +5 Fate ]
[ [Special Action] Forgave Shopkeeper Bo Peng. +25 Fate ]
"Young benefactor, may I know your full name?" Bo Peng demanded, perking up.
Cyrus doubted he would remember with [Forgotten Face] in effect, but he answered anyway. "Cyrus."
"Your...surname?"
"None."
A weird look flashed on Bo Peng's face, his brows knitting, lips slightly parted, and was that pity in his brown eyes? Maybe there was a stigma in this world about not having a surname.
I just think Cyrus Mortaine sounds terrible, okay?
Plus, it had always been Cyrus since forever, and he preferred it that way. Ignoring Bo Peng, who was still looking at him as if he were a mangy, flea-bitten stray, he turned to the bunch of screens that had popped up before him, going through them from top to bottom.
+++
Introductory Act (Shop Encounter) Completed.
Act Evaluation: Bo Peng speaks of the god of a Benevolent Apostle. Divine Wakes. +50 Divinity +50 Faith
+++
[ Welcome to Ssang! Witness mortals' sins where the ghosts of Divine haunt. ]
[ First of the Thirteen Seals Undone. ]
If you have been enjoying the story so far, please consider following, favoriting, commenting, rating, and maybe even reviewing when you're ready. The number helps summon the Algorithm Goddess!
Bonus Chapter Goals:
- 100 Follows (27/100)
- 10 ratings (5/10)
- Reviews count as 2
- Rising Star Main
Patreon to read 12 advanced chapters.