NOVEL NEXT Book 2 - Chapter 19 - Dark Lotus Mishaps
"Do you like my new face?" Aria asked with a muffled voice from a shelf jampacked with unsold Relics. She had shoved her doll head into a shrunken head studded with piercings. The shrunken head continued its constant mumblings about slumbering dragons in Tongues through stitched lips while Aria giggled inside it.
"Uhhh, I don't think you should put your head in that," Jemin looked over with his bloodshot snake eyes toward Aria from behind his table. "I'm like, pretty sure that shit uses forbidden magic. It's a real one, not just no off the street jongolee," He looked at Mary and shrugged in his rainbow-coloured hoodie. "You're not worried about her digging through the Relics?"
"Nah. Made her pretty much indestructible," Mary answered. "Worst case, she picks up some weird Skill."
"It's LOUD in here! I can hear his thoughts!" She paused for a moment to listen. "Yeah! His village did sacrifices. Cool! I love fieldtrips!" Then she leapt six feet onto the floor crammed with more Relics, some of them Alex's tips, and dashed off to explore deeper through the hidden treasures of Jemin's shop. Alex wasn't entirely sure how far back to underground shop went, but since the owner wasn't worried, he figured he shouldn't be either.
The car ride over had been Aria leaping around and pointing at all the new things she was experiencing. Beepy and Zippy, buckled in and trying to act like adults, tried to contain their little sister that wouldn't sit right and kept yelling out of the open window about how weird people looked.
"You know what?" Jemin sighed. "She'll be fine. I think?"
"CONTINUE WITH YOUR APPRAISAL. I FIND THIS ENTRHALLING." Beepy intoned from the table as both of his mech hands pressed together in serious thought.
Both bots were trying to glean anything from Jemin's [Appraisal] Skill, leaning in and zooming their camera eyes in and out. Jemin himself had been surprised at the whole gang showing up. He had been expecting just Mary and had been all red-eyed and a few heavy hits deep. The lizard man didn't seem to mind the extra company, and after a peck on Mary, followed by Aria and the boys jeering, Alex's old street rat pal jumped right into sorting through the loot tips.
"Anything good? What about the Klicker?" Alex asked while waving away tendrils of incense smoke that was getting a touch too friendly with his earlobes. No one liked being flicked there.
"Mostly junk, like normal," Jemin wasn't being mean, just matter of fact as he tapped his claws on a package wrapped tightly in black plastic. "[Appraisal] has marked this as a fake. Not even a lick of Essence in it."
"Scammers," Mary added while peaking from behind Jemin. She insisted on hugging him from behind while the lizardman worked. "A nothing tip? The gall. Those bloody bastards. You run them their pizza, which is insanely underpriced as it is, and they can't even toss you a weird Relic they don't want or need? A fake instead?"
"Ehhh, don't worry about it," Jemin hazily craned his neck and kissed her on the top of the head. It was disturbing for Alex to watch his roommate and two best friends acting all sorts of sweet towards each other. "Still lots of sellable stuff," the lizardman pointed toward a book the size of a deck of cards. "This here's a journal that I think will turn fish bisexual. None of that conspiracy stuff, either. This locket lets you zone out when cleaning until it's done, and this pencil never dulls and prevents hand cramps," he smiled at Alex. "All sellable for some good Credits."
"THE DARK LOTUS? AND THE KLICKER?" Beepy asked as he picked up an ear cleaner that apparently got rid of gunk on anything it touched. The drone ran the cotton end over his vents and sighed as black goop zipped into the cleaner. He then looked at Alex.
"ME AND ZIPPY SHALL KEEP THIS ONE."
"All yours, buddy," Alex stepped forward to examine the haul. None of it was worth using on himself, but more Credits meant more Credits. "The Klicker show up as anything funky?"
"Oh yeah," Jemin placed [Patty's Keynote Klicker 2000] gently on the table, shivering despite being cold-blooded. "Where'd you get this? It's giving lots of Control, Essence Suction, and a dash of morbid sadism. What? Did you get this off a psychotic vacuum?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Alex answered as he picked it up. "But we're not selling it. It's for a…We're just not selling it. Keeping it, for now," In his hand, the Klicker felt potent. Thankfully, his Core felt ready to go again, and he could sense the cracking energy from the Relic as it practically begged to be used. "Know what it does?"
"Nothing good, that's for sure," Jemin stared at the Relic and moved his hand in a small circle towards it. The lizardman shivered again. "Yeah, I don't want that thing in my shop. Be careful with it. Pretty sure it can suck the Essence dry at anything it's pointed at. And the next button doesn't work right."
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Alex slipped the Klicker back in his pocket, happy that it wasn't going to go off just because he had stolen it from a Dungeon. Jemin's hand finally arrived over the cracked, ripped, crumpled, and soysauced [Dark Lotus Playing Card].
"Ooooh, now this is interesting, damn," he picked it up and squinted at the card before sniffing it. "Is that…what is that?"
"Nothing, nothing" Mary said quickly and nervously. "You said it's interesting?"
A crash from deep in the shop sounded, followed by the yelp of Aria.
"Ari—" Mary began to yell.
"All good! I swear! Just a little slip!" The doll-girl yelled from somewhere. "I think this mask likes jumping off things!"
Mary looked over at Jemin. "Sorry…,"
"Nothing exploded right?" Jemin laughed and waved the card, and Beepy and Zippy followed it closely. "But this…I'm pretty sure this is at least Legendary Grade. The Essence is so…precise?"
"WHAT DOES IT DO?" Beepy crooned while absentmindedly cleaning out the gunk from his suit with the cotton swab.
"I think it does something with Skills? It's not clear, but it feels like it lets someone choose what they get in some manner. There's a certain flavour of choice in the underlying Essence structure…" Jemin was clearly excited as his eyes changed, [Appraisal] pushing deeper into the Relic. In the background of the shop, Relics rattled and vibrated, while Aria's little feet could be heard running in every direction. "This could go for big bucks!"
That got Alex excited. Who didn't like more Credits added to their collection? But he did wonder…
"Do you think one of us should use it?" He asked the group. They all looked at Alex hungrily, and Beepy and Zippy's servos whirred from their contained excitement.
"Are…are you sure?" Mary asked, gulping. "He said it's legendary!"
"I mean," Jemin sniffed. "I could always take it to another shop, one of the fancier ones where the owners [Appraise] is at least level twenty? They might want to take a cut though…,"
He wasn't sure why they were surprised. With over nine thousand Credits to his name, and rent not due for a couple of weeks, it was a pretty obvious decision. So far, he'd seen incredible growth amongst himself and his friends. Twenty thousand plus Credits was a lot, but how often did they stumble upon a Legendary Grade Relic from a basement rip?
Note to self, never think badly of those stanky nerds…
"BUT WHO? IT IS STILL A RISK." Beepy scanned them all dramatically.
"Would it help with that," Alex glanced at Jemin. "With getting to the unspace?"
Upon first arriving to Jemin's, Alex had spent a few minutes explaining their plan of getting Beepy and Zippy to try and cut their way into the unspace using the [Ancient Paring Knife]. The bots weren't sure if it would work, and if they were to try, it would have to be somewhere far away from people. And buildings. And cars. And living things. Jemin, always chill, had just nodded like it was a regular old Wednesday.
"I WOULD THINK SO." Beepy thought seriously while scratching himself with the swab. Then the bots seemed to communicate back and forth with each other and came to a decision.
"WE THINK ZIPPY SHOULD TRY. WITH HIS KNIFE, IT MAY PROVIDE US WI—"
"CANNONBALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!" Aria yelled from a shelf as she swan dived, shrunken head still on, towards the table they were all crowded around.
She hit the table with a thunk that revealed just how dense her drone body was. The junk Relics rattled and she stuck the landing, raising her arms to twirl. She bowed deeply with the shrunken head still wobbling on her head. The shrunken head was rambling quietly in those tongues as its piercings jingled against each other.
"Mort says the card is good!" she said, muffled through the leathery face that covered hers. Only her doll eyes could be seen through the eyes that had been gorged out. "And he'd dead! So it's GOT TO BE REAL GOOD."
Before anyone could react, Aria leapt across the table and landed right in front of Jemin, who was still holding the [Dark Lotus Playing Card]. Her tiny hand slapped against the warped paper.
"Now I GET MY OWN SKILL!" The little drone that was not a week old yelled.
"Aria, no--!" Mary shouted, already lunging around Jemin.
Alex already felt it, the faint little tug in the air of someone using Essence. Aria's Essence, thin and new and raw, pushed out from her tiny Core in the center of his chest and pressed into the Relic.
The card glowed blacklight, pushing against the lamps and candles and glowing Relics of Jemin's cramped shop. Everything with even a flex of phosphorescence lit up, scrawls on pages, spilled something on blankets, Essence stains, even the stitching in Jemin's hoodie, turning the basement shop into a dusty rave. It was beautiful, but scary, and Alex might have appreciated the display if what was happening to Aria wasn't scarring the shit out of him. His gut was telling him this was not a good situation.
"Damnit, ow!" Jemin recoiled, dropping his grip on the [Dark Lotus Playing Card] like it was a coal.
Aria staggered in the middle of the table, card plastered to her palm and burning black light brighter. The painted flower in the center hissed and sputtered, petals peeling and curling out of the card in the glow.
"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no!" Aria squealed, voice breaking as she shook her hand wildly. "I can't get it off! It hurts!"
The shrunken head stayed put as she dropped to her knees. Mary lunged, torn between trying to tear the Relic free and unsure what to even do. Zippy made a series of quick beeps while throwing his arms around towards Beepy.
"ZIPPY WANTS TO KNOW IF HE SHOULD CUT THE CARD WITH THE KNIFE." Beepy announced, somehow sounding scared with his electronic voice.
"Yes! Yes!" Mary yelled back, but it was already too late.
A thwump exploded out of the card, and a bubble of black light pushed them all back three feet. The table where Aria had been screaming collapsed under the force, and anything close enough in range of the bubble got shoved out forcibly. In the center of the energy mass, Aria stood, fully extended, back arched in pain, shrunken head still on, as the playing card glowed brighter and the circle of energy muffled her screams.
"What is happening!?" Mary yelled again.
The black light grew in luminescence again, so bright it began to burn against Alex's eyes. He brought his arm up just in time as the [Dark Lotus Playing Card] unleashed its power on the new drone and blanketed the entire shop in blinding light and shadows of flower petals.