3. Insight to the New World

3. Insight to the New World

She followed the trio and sat herself across them. A small, rectangular coffee table separated them. Frost figured that as long as they were willing to help then that was all that mattered.

With a soft hum, she smiled at them and waited for the twin tailed woman in the middle to speak again.

“I’m Res. One of the Moons of the Nexus. I will be your acting receptionist under the watchful eyes of our Beholders. This is Cer.”

The woman with the unstyled hair and the spontaneous personality grinned, baring her teeth like an animal.

“And this is Ber.”

The other woman with the ponytail proudly nodded beside her.

“May we have your name, please?” Res concluded politely.

“Frost.”

Cer snickered underneath her breath.

And Cer is any better than Frost?

Res cleared her throat and continued.

“Frost. What was there you wanted to ask?”

“Well… do you mind if I say everything?” She answered immediately.

“Everything? In what way?” Res inquired kindly.

Frost thought for a moment before she answered.

“Like what is this place for instance. I only know it’s called the Nexus. But what is the Nexus?”

All three of them looked at her with disbelief, like she had just asked them how to breathe.

“Oi. When you said everything, I hope you didn’t mean bad tasting jokes as well.” Ber growled.

Frost’s brows furrowed.

“I’m serious. I have no idea what the Nexus is. What a Beholder is, or what the Moons are. The date. Time. How many days there are in a week if that’s even a thing? The number of hours in a day. The days in a year. I don’t know anything about Elysia at all.” She passionately answered, convincing them that she was not trying to pull their leg or waste their precious time.

It left them speechless. She didn’t know if she was asking too much, or if what she asked was simply common sense in this world. But even so – she absolutely needed to know, even if it meant sounding like the most ignorant person in the world.

Regardless of whether Frost was telling the truth, these people were still obligated to answer her questions. To the best of their ability, of course.

“I don’t know what predicament has put you in that state of ignorance, but it’s certainly not one that’s unheard of. The Hyperwarp and the Hyperlink can have memory-altering side-effects. Especially the Hyperwarp.” Res explained, her gaze heavily scrutinizing Frost. “But if you don’t even know what the Nexus is then you wouldn’t know about these either.”

“Memory loss is rare. So stupidly rare that it may as well be a myth.” Ber stated.

“And it’s not like your memories won’t return. Give it 500 hours. Hm~ Hey. Could it be that urban legend?” Cer cheekily hummed, nudging Res as Ber smirked.

“Shut up. The Warped Stone doesn’t eat knowledge.” Res retorted.

“But look at her clothing. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Besides, it wouldn’t be the strangest thing around here.” Cer finished, leaving Frost just as confused as before. “Alright. So you wanna know some common sense. Listen up then!”

She suddenly hopped from her seat and slammed a foot onto the coffee table separating them.

“24 hours a day, 10 days a week, night and day each at 12 hours. 5 weeks a month, 10 months a year. 500 days in a year and we’re just about to hit year 350 Post Advent. Never disobey the Beholders and don’t mess with the Exalted. Never disregard the guidance of the Stars. And never – ever – pick a bone with us Moons. Hah…” She eventually settled back down onto the couch.

“You eat to live. Things might eat you to live themselves. Such is life. The Arbiter? Don’t worry about her. Blah, blah, blah. Look how dumb I sound now. Happy?”

Frost rapidly nodded, satisfied with her response even if it was wittily spoken.

Like Earth then. Aside from 500-day years of course and 50-day months… Good to know what the rules are as well. Exalted, Beholder, Stars and Moons. Then there’s normal people like everyone else around here.

“Thank you. That clears up a lot of things for me. And the –”

“Nexus.” Res spoke Frost’s mind aloud, causing Cer to heavily sigh. “It’s our home in the center of our world. A megastructure so tall that you cannot ever see the top even on the clearest days.”

A megastructure. So that’s an actual term in this world as well. Figures. That white room spanned far taller than any skyscraper I’ve ever seen. I kinda want to see it from the outside now.

“It grants those it chooses to enter with the Blessing of the Nexus. Think of it as an invitation. It’s pretty much impossible to reach this place without access to the Warped Stone’s technology. Those being the Hyperlinks and, depending on your tastes, the Hyperwarp. You’ll rarely get to use the latter. As for Hyperlinks, you’ll see them in about every major settlement connected to a Relay Site.” Ber chimed in, resting her chin on a closed fist. “We’re currently floating at around 5 kilometers above the city of Atlas. And that’s the lowest part.”

“No matter where you are you’ll always see the Nexus in the sky. The marvel of the world. Untainted by Kingdoms, Empires, Strongholds, Domains, and whatever ruling system is out there. They use horseback carriages to get from point a to b. Trains if they have the coin to spare. How sad~ Hm. Hey newbie. What level are you?” Cer asked.

“20.”

“Huh!? You’re that low!? Hah. Listen. Word of advice? The most important part of the Nexus is the Blessing and that’s it. That includes the people that possess it. Don’t let yourself get taken advantage of. The world yearns for the Nexus’ invitation. Out of countless millions we are the thousands that have been called by it.” Cer ominously explained. “No matter how high they reach they’ll never touch the Nexus. Good riddance.”

Dread. Overwhelming dread seized Frost’s heart when her eyes fell into Cer’s. Her crimson eyes blazed with a fury unlike anything she had ever witnessed. An indescribable pressure caused her to instinctively shrink back into her seat.

That gaze can kill.

It was pure wrath, and it was the first time Frost had ever tangibly sensed it.

“Sorry. Please don’t mind her. Frost. Allow me to explain what’s written in your Status.” Res apologized in her sister’s stead.

* * *

From what Frost gathered –

was linked directly with the state of the body. The closer to death one was, the lower their HP became.

dictated the amount of mana one possessed; an enigmatic power that allowed people to, as Frost saw it, blatantly violate the laws of physics.

When mana hit 0 all points in magic attack and magic defense become redundant save for bonuses granted by equipped armor and weapons.

was the numerical value of one’s strength and the maximum potential damage they can inflict. ATT directly affects HP and is consequently resisted by ATT Defense.

resisted ATT on a pure one-to-one basis. Meaning that a 50 ATT attack against someone with 50 ATT DEF would only do the minimum amount of damage, which was 1.

Frost had trouble trying to imagine someone tanking an entire broadsword in only bikini armor.

… I’ll believe it when I see it.

and were the exact same thing, except for skills and attacks designated as .

simply defined the maximum movement speed of a person in general. This included things like punches, kicks, skills, and reaction time.

determined one’s physical and mental resistance to certain conditions, such as being set alight or to tolerate poison.

These were the combat stats.

As for profession stats, otherwise known as ODSE, they were merely representative of the number of levels one had in that profession category.

Professions, like for example her Greater Healer was level 50, hence why her Support Profession was also level 50.

Every 25 levels in a given profession is considered a milestone; and bonuses, alongside skills were granted.

100 levels in a profession are called a profession mastery and usually results in powerful abilities rather than a passive skill. These abilities were better described as characteristics, like being able to see in the dark.

Additionally, the only way to level professions was to use their respective Active Skills. These needed to be leveled to progress the profession.

And on the topic of Active Skills – there are a total of 50 levels until mastery. Each 10 levels serve as a milestone that evolves said skill.

Finally – there were the Overall levels.

This was calculated by the total sum of O, the half of D, the quarter of S, and a tenth of E.

At every 50 levels the person gained a new title, unlocked additional unique skills, stats, and professions.

As of 350 Post Advent, the highest level someone had reached was 250, although, it was unknown whether this was the maximum level achievable.