Chapter 219: ...Autarch's Key (3)

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｢ Welcome to the Top Floor of the Autarch’s Spire ｣

｢ You are the 3rd [Candidate of the Six Heroes] in Attendance ｣

｢ The Autarch’s Goal is Simple ｣

｢ Build your army.  Conquer. ｣

｢ Only one may receive the Key ｣

｢ Candidate of the Grand Magus: Arione Popindale ｣

｢ Candidate of the Sword Saint: Lock Slaveborn ｣

｢ Candidate of the Autarch: Jared Akka Xalud ｣

My thoughts intersected each other, overlapping and crossing, up and under, over and about –all to make a spiderweb of theories, a tangled mess of understanding that my brain scratched its chin at, unable to find a single point of reference on where to even untangling it all.

Why was the top floor reserved for the [Disciples of the Six Heroes]?  Did that mean that those who weren’t Disciples were doomed to failure from the start?  Or was there even a relation at all?  After all, the magical text did not imply in any way that the candidacy for being a [Six Hero] was a requirement for receiving the Autarch’s Key?

Skaris walking towards me, his seven-foot-tall hulking frame quick and hurried, his eyes darting left and right.  Searching, seeking, and hoping.  Desperately hoping to find a clue to where our Mage might be.

Aurora didn’t follow.  She closed her eyes and leaned back, but before those green eyes could blink away the tears, I saw brief understanding on her face, followed by reluctant acceptance, followed by the inevitable sign of grief.

I’d failed them.

Arione and Clover standing apart from everyone, the only ones who dared approach them were those from the [Player’s Guild].  Delas trying to meet their eyes to no avail.  It made sense.  The enemy of my enemy was my ally, and there was no ally of Arione and Clover here, and the same went for the [Players].

Arrosh and Zenom locked in a fervent discussion, while Zenom continued to gesture wildly towards me.  Zenom’s shooting furtive glances towards Delas’ side, where Cecilia was still bound, gagged, and blindfolded –a prisoner.

And lastly…

The man smiling in front of me.

Jared Akka Xalud.

Since when?

Since when had he wormed his way into this expedition?

Had he always been the Orc Priestess?  Had there been a orc priestess at all?  The theatrical display he showed me in his office, had it been a show?  A farce?  Just there to take my mind away from the possibility that he was planning to infiltrate this expedition, my party, and eventually end up here?

Did he know that I was a [Sword Saint Candidate]?  If so, did he know Arione’s role in all this?

How long had he been a candidate of the [Autarch]?  He wasn’t an orc.  But he was.  Not really.  He was 100% human.  But there was orc in his heritage.  Even if in the game, there was no mechanical evidence or biological evidence of him being an orc… did it matter that he was born between an orc and a human?

How had he infiltrated us?

My thoughts coalesced, trying to make sense of it all with no avail. 

Too much.  This was too much.  While I was still reeling from the loss of Kyrian’s–

My fault.  I’d failed.

I’d acted with too little information.  Too many factors that I couldn’t control had existed in this expedition from the start.  If I knew that Jared was here, could I have used that to my advantage?  Even if I employed every single piece of knowledge I had, bringing it to full force for the sake of my party’s advantage… it still wasn’t enough.  And here was a single piece of information that I had never suspected, didn’t know about, and had caught me off-guard.

Jared Akka Xalud.  The fallen War Prince of the Akka Xaluds.

How far back did his plans reach?

My eyes flickered left and right.

His guards weren’t here.

Could I kill him?

Time slowed to a still, as I employed my options.

What was the single most important piece of information here that I could use to my advantage?  Who held power here?  Who was an unknown?  What was important?  What took priority?

Every single line of thought pointed to the man in front of me.  The War Prince.

I needed to know.

How long had he been here?

My guts told me the answer, piecing together the clues that I never even considered.

A missing arm.  In MSS, missing limbs could be healed; unless they were [Cursed] –like my eye.  But Jared didn’t look cursed, and I knew he wasn’t cursed.  The fact that when he had two arms while transformed into the [Orc Priestess], meant that it wasn’t a Curse.  Rather, the fact that he couldn’t heal his missing limb pointed to the side-effect of a Core.

What Core gave that effect?  Hundreds.

What kind of abilities did Jared have? 

Well, he had [Transformation].  He could switch to a completely different being.  Did any Cores I know hold a [Transformation] type ability, while nullifying the owner’s ability to heal?

A few.  How many among them could transform Jared so completely that it would change his smell, sound, voice… enough to trick my [Smell] stat?  For that matter, Stole’s own impressive skills?

Not many.  Maybe three.
And among them, how many could a man of Jared have, that gave enough of a stat boost to give the War Prince enough speed and strength to overpower me briefly, like he did at his dinner party?  A transformation that cost so little mana that he could maintain it for days… or required only a one-time use?

Just one.

Grade-2 Core of the [Face Stealer Centipede].
Active Ability, [Identity Theft is a Real Crime, Jim].

An ability that allowed one to completely assume another’s body, changing your smell, voice, and even boosting your own stats by a percentage of theirs.  A one-time payment of massive mana, that didn’t require upkeep –after the transformation your health and mana would assume that of the being you transformed into.

Yet, that Core doesn't hinter your ability to heal.  However, since you are transforming into a new body, you would receive new limbs.  Even if you lost all your limbs, if you transformed into someone that you stole the Face of, and they had all their limbs at the moment of theft… you would transform into their whole form. 

So why was his arm missing?

The answer was in his office.

He had sat right in front of me as he slit the Orc Priestess’ throat.  Which one was real?  Was the one in front of me fake?  Or the Orc Priestess the fake and they swapped places after?

Or was this one right in front of me fake?
Or did he kill the Orc Priestess after infiltrating the boat, and activated [Identity Theft is a real Crime, Jim]?

While avoiding Stole and the senses of a few dozen other [Pioneers]?  Was that even possible?

‘Simple.  Think simpler.  The answer is in simplicity.’

It could be explained by the Core of a [Star Clone].  A gigantic-starfish looking monster with one eye…
[Attack of the Clones], an active ability that creates clones of yourself.

Except when you absorbed this Core, you received it’s passive: [Not a real Starfish].

You lost the ability to heal through Magic.
Only Potions.
And potions cannot recreate limbs.

The answer was within those two Cores.

Since the office, Jared Akka Xalud had been playing me.
He had created a clone of himself using [Attack of the Clones], and used it to talk to me.  His real self had transformed into the Orc Priestess….

But how’d he heal?
He had slit his own throat.
[Not a Real Starfish] meant that he couldn’t heal…

What if he didn’t heal?

[I’m a Tardigrade!], the Core ability of a Grade-5 monster.  It stops your body right before dying.

How’d he return to his original self?

Easy.  Now that my brain had a clue, it began to unknot the ball of mysteries; the answers coming faster and faster. 

Another use of the ability [Identity Theft is a Real Crime, Jim].  Every time you transformed, you transformed into the form at the moment of theft.  So by transforming into the Orc Priestess once more…

He transformed into the Orc Priestess before she got her throat slit, just like the first time he transformed into her.

And since then…

He’d been in my party.

Watching.  Learning.  Absorbing.

…Saving Arione.

And making me absorb the Grade-2 Core of the Imugi.

All to end up here.

At the top floor of the Spire of the [Autarch]... where there was a three-way fight, between Arione, Me and Zenom, and Delas with the [Players].

Why?

Why was he here?

Now I knew how.  I needed to know the why.

Was he foe?  Friend?  Neutral?

Skaris was only a few feet away.  It only took a few seconds for me to reach this conclusion.  But for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what Jared wanted. 

What did he want?

What could this man want?  A mystery from the beginning?  A War Prince?  From Turina?

Why was he here?  If he really wanted the Key, he could have just come here with his army; displaced us all with some legal nonsense that would force Zenom into a corner.

Why go through all this trouble?

His Cores told me he wasn’t a [Knight].  Not the type of [Knight] that was used to fighting on the frontlines.  Infiltration, information-gathering, assassination, that was his forte.

So why reveal himself?

When I arrived?

What could he want?

…

Wasn’t it obvious?

Maybe I’ve grown a big head.  Or maybe I’m trying to grasp at straws.

Did he want… me?

For what?

…to watch me?  Close by?

Why help me absorb the Core?

Jared… hadn’t acted against me.  He hadn’t done things that I wanted but done what he thought I needed.

So what was his goal?

I had a feeling that I needed to get it right. That if I got it wrong here… that he would turn around.  Fickle, unimpressed, and bored.

What did he want from me?

It was obvious he didn’t care about the key.  And he’d strengthened me…

A single theory came to mind.  A gamble.

It was worth a shot.

“Jared Akka Xalud,” I began.

He lifted an eyebrow.

“Join me and help me take the Autarch’s Key.”

“Why would I?”

“And when this is all over, I will come to Turina with you.”

Work.  Please, let this be it, please let this be it–

He smiled.

“I accept, Lock Slaveborn.”

Done.