Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]

Through meandering, winding streets we walk with purpose, trying to make our way to the center of town. There are guards throughout the city, easily identified by their uniforms and the shiny steel helmets they all wear. Judging by the flow of Ether around them, they might be unaffected by whatever force is chaining down everyone's magic. At the very least, whatever is responsible for the power suppression field throughout Synthir must be knowledgeable enough about the mechanism behind its operation to devise countermeasures.

"Sera, do you think you can cast some sort of spell with your [Glyphcasting] that will enable the two of us to fight, if it comes to it? We both have our equipment, our physical attributes, and our passive Skills, but we're both pure mage classes."

"I… I wish I could, Chloe If I knew the exact glyph array they were using, or had access to the device, I could probably counteract it. As it is… I'll think about it as we case the area for clues, but I think we should assume that I won't."

Chloe lowers her head. "I'm not sure I like that very much… At first, I was beginning to wonder if this wasn't something that the people signed up for voluntarily."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I know the pre-System society wasn't perfect. I know you and many others suffered… unnecessarily, so people like me could live more comfortably."

"Chloe–"

"But I think there are a lot of people who are scared. Not just people who used to have power and influence, and now who don't. But also those who lost family and friends to the monster attacks that have been happening throughout the world in these past few months. I can see how some people might congregate together and make some sort of society without powers. Where no one would have to be afraid that someone would come in and use their greater Level and stats to attack them."

"But–"

"Feeling so weak now, so powerless. So… incapable of curing more than papercuts. I– I'm beginning to understand how people in power think. And why they can act so utterly terrified at the mere prospect that they might lose that power. Or wealth, control… Whatever the case might be."

"Of course, we don't know what's really going on," I say. "It might be that the person in power is enforcing all this on the people of Synthir, against their will. In which case, it would be our responsibility to set everyone free of their restraints and return this world to rights."

"There's only one way to know for sure, and that's to keep moving forward."

"I agree."

Although the number of guards watching us has increased somewhat over the past half an hour or so, none of them has made any move against us. Then again, we are wearing armor and brandishing the weapons I dare not stow back in my [Inventory]. No one has yet demonstrated the ability that I've seen. I know the guards are high enough level to do so as well, but as long as they have no proof that my magic is untampered by their barrier, I have the advantage. I dare not squander that tiny edge until it's time to use it.

Instead, we survey the environment, look around the Crystal, acting as nondescript as possible and, frankly, doing a horrible job of it. For the first time, we get a perfect sense of the exact scale of the Crystal. And it's… big. Not as tall as the skyscrapers on Earth, but at least on the same general scale. Large enough that we could easily go inside… Yes, definitely, there's something within. And it's definitely the source of the oppressive, twisted Ether flow that is suppressing the ability to control and manipulate [Ether] among the townsfolk.

There's also, notably, a large fortress surrounding the Crystal on all sides. Unlike the relatively undermanned city walls, this one is marked by dozens, if not hundreds of armed sentries on all sides. There's only a single gate, and from what little I can see, the security protocols are far more exhaustive. In addition to needing a writ of passage from the city lord— who lives on the other side of the gate— there are also inspections of each person to search for hidden weapons. Including some device that allows them to scan through a person's Inventory.

I simply have to know that works. Reverse-engineering that device is going to become paramount for being able to maintain any semblance of security going forward. Maybe that's the reason the System— or maybe the Entity— has sent us here this time around. I suspect the former of the two, since Entity is the one which seems less hostile.

In any case, there's no way a frontal attack is going to be effective. Too many guards, and my strength will be greatly diminished without Chloe's being able to cast her spells upon me. We'll need a distraction, some support from an underground resistance, maybe a hidden way into the Crystal's chambers, where we might be able to deactivate it. And so, once we're done seeing the sights of our ultimate objective, we head back to the commercial district, ready to take account of our findings and formulate a plan.

"So, what now?" Kristil asks. "Should we find a room?"

"Yeah, probably," Chloe says. "It's already getting late and we're not going to get anything done standing around here."

With that in mind, we decide to head to the tavern and try to secure a room for the night. I can't read the sign upon the place's façade, but upon passing through the front door, the three of us are immediately greeted by a rousing chorus of 'Welcome to the Red Glass Tavern!' Kristil walks up to the bar with swagger, sitting down at one of the handful of open seats, while Chloe and I walk up tepidly and a few feet behind. Neither of us have ever even been allowed to sit in the bar area at a restaurant, let alone go to a tavern and order drinks. I mean, yeah, there was that one time, back during our earlier trip to the Tower, but back then, I was too tired to really consider the implications. That, and we were sitting at tables back then.

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I am curious about the legality of it all. Definitely a question for Mr. Rutherford to look into, whether 'being transported to a fantasy plane of existence while within a Tower Gauntlet still leaves us within the jurisdiction of the state of Oklahoma as far as alcohol prohibition to under-21's is concerned. Because I know that doesn't have a legal precedent either way.

With that in mind, and mostly to secure the good graces of the staff here, the two of us sit down and each order a glass of the house brew. It arrives a minute later. Chloe looks at it, then at me, and, after a moment's hesitation, I take a swig. It's… not good. I've tried alcohol a couple of times over the years— never often; it was rarely in the house owing to our family's poor financial straits. And my mother told me that liquor was an acquired taste and that I'd eventually adjust to and learn to appreciate the taste of brews and spirits.

I still don't understand why anyone would willingly drink this stuff. And I include Kristil in the category of 'anyone', who is greedily chugging the stuff down as though she's been parched her whole life and is only just now discovering liquid sustenance.

"C'mon, Seraphina. Don't tell me you've never had ale before," she says, her voice already starting to slur.

"Wait, you like this stuff?"

"Of course not! It's not about the taste, Seraphina!" She hiccups in the most stereotypical manner. "It's about the buzz, feeling the inhibitions and worries slip away for a few hours and just not having to worry about it all. Besides, I've drunk far worse back in college."

I turn to Chloe, and the two of us tap our glasses together and take a chug of our own. No, drinking it down doesn't make it any more palatable. No, seriously, now I'm curious how in the nine hells Kristil manages to do it. And the other handful of patrons in the area.

"So, Missy," the bartender, a portly, middle-aged man, says to me. "What brings you out here to Synthir?"

"Travelers," I say. "We were doing some exploration, venturing out from our home as young adults often do. While in the midst of our journey, we ended up far away from where we'd planned, and ended up in the fields a few miles outside of town. We'd like to get a room for the night, along with some information, but I doubt the money we have from our homeland is any good."

"Well, I'll tell you what. There's still a few hours until the dinner rush and my last barmaid, Linora, just up and disappeared a few days ago. So, if you two are able to help me out between now and then, we can call it even."

Seeing no better option, I shake on it.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Chloe says. "Honestly, for a day's work, it wasn't half as bad as what I would have expected. Especially with how seedy taverns are often portrayed in our media."

"Really?" I respond. "I thought you would be a lot more angry and indignant about how that one guy just about grabbed my ass while I was serving drinks at the table over."

"Oh, no, I'm not happy with him at all. It's disgusting and wrong, and you gave him exactly what he deserved before throwing him out like the pig he is. I just suppose I was expecting even worse, so only having one incident that was dealt with swiftly and backed up by the other staff was an improvement to my expectations."

"Well, Gerald did say that we could use our discretion with any hands or other body parts that got too close. Of course, the ass still thought he could cop a feel when my back was turned, because it's not like I have eyes in the back of my head or anything."

"It's… sad. If not for the fact that you aren't affected by this power suppression nonsense, you really would have been taken advantage of. And who knows if we'd been able to do anything about it."

"Maybe that's something we're supposed to take away from all this."

Chloe falls into my arms as we lie on the bed after our shift and dinner. From the privacy of our room, I've pulled some sleepwear out of my [Inventory], reasoning that even spies aren't likely to want to engage in voyeurism within the tiny adjacent washroom. And, though I've largely acclimated to wearing all my armor on a daily basis, there remains a certain comfort that comes from just letting it all go and being able to relax. A feeling I think is more mental than physical.

For a couple of minutes, we breathe and rest and just… pretend that there's no worries outside of our small and drafty room for the night. But then, as night falls and the beautiful night peers in through the tiny second-floor bedroom window, as Chloe is nuzzling in against her, I decide that we ought to discuss the most important thing we learned.

"So, it seems there's some sort of resistance movement going on after all," I message, not taking the chance that there could be guards or a spy or some sort of Skill listening in on us from just beyond the doors. "A group calling themselves Silver Dawn, promising a future of freedom and opportunity for the people of Synthir."

"I'm worried about this group."

"Because there's going to be a lot of innocents caught in the fighting?"

"That, and, back on Earth, plenty of coups and resistance movements end up with wide-eyed ideals, then end up as military juntas or other oppressive, totalitarian states. People are people, and I don't for a second think they're any different in Synthir than they are back home."

"That's a good call," I say. "So, what do we do about it? I'm not saying that we need to sign up and become true believers for this Silver Dawn, but we've been brought here for a reason. And I know it has something to do with the insurrection that's about to happen. Something— the Entity, the System, or otherwise— wants us to be here, to experience what's about to happen, and maybe to change the course of the history that once was."

"Change the course of history?"

"Isn't that why I was brought to this world? To change the prescribed course of history, from one in which the System parasitizes and eventually destroys our reality, to one where it fails?"

"Is that what's going on here?"

"Maybe we're just reliving a past historical event. Maybe the Entity wants to see how we'd react, see how the future might've changed had we been here. Maybe it's looking into the future, or past, or alternate timelines, or whatever else, to see if we're worthy of receiving its support. I… I don't know for sure."

A frenzied knock at the door disrupts our musing, jolting us back upright. Chloe hides behind the bed, while I grab Filia and prepare for battle as best I can before opening it.