Temporal Pearls

"That is why I said, Temporal Warrior is the craziest class there is. Even I still don't know its full potential. I used to be scared of the town but now, it was the townspeople who were scared of me. Anyway, currently, I can't use that, it was like a teaser for me to know what I could do. But now, I can only reverse events and not all events.

An event that will surely cause my death, if it's not mine, then I have no control over it!"

"It's still amazing! With enough planning, you will not be in much danger in the Gawee Continent!"

"Gawee?"

"That is the name of the continent Red Valley. You don't know?"

Dave shook his head, "I never left the Valley! It's time for you to tell me about yourself and the outside world!"

Seth sighed, "I will not tell you where I came from, but just know it was several kilometres from here. I was alone too, but unlike you, when the Town disappeared, I was the only one left as a sacrifice. I almost got devoured but after surviving, I got a chance to escape the place and wandered into the dead land!"

Seth continues to tell him a general adventure of his, about the Abhorrent Monsters, Crevices of the dead land that spout smokes and the danger it may have.

"That's scary," Dave said. He had taken this game as another second life he couldn't stop coming to because here he earned some coins that he can exchange with real life, and the sad truth was, he was bound to the game.

The fact he can't remember people dying in real life when they die here in the valley at the hands of the Cult Members eats on him every time he dives in.

And seeing Seth, another player like him, he took all trust and liked and put on him.  In the real world, he remembered clearly remembers he has friends now, he and his family even celebrated the situation.

"How do we go about our plan? Are you in?" Dave asked.

"Yes." Seth nodded.

"Good. Here are all the other things I couldn't say for fear of something happening. Read them alone in your safe room!"

The two returned and Seth went and had dinner at Redop's house. His family still faked their welcome but only his daughter was still showing hostility. Seth didn't mind her.

Going back to his room, he checked the information Dave gave him on paper.

'Great, it should be this complicated!'

Based on Dave's analysis, the cult was the dark side of the town. While the chief was on the good side. One brought peace, the other danger to make sure that the residents of Red Valley were always on alert and strong. Ready to face any danger such as Asteroid Descent or Dragon attacks.

The two sides never tried to wipe each other out but only in small skirmishes and occasionally being overboard.

Lately, though, the fact that the cult captured all players and only Dave survives that and escaped has enraged the good side and they have been trying to suppress the other side but failed.

Dave believed if the Cult only took half of the players, then there wouldn't be any conflict with the chief but they took all.

With this, Seth concluded no one can be trusted. Because no matter how much they hate each other, as long as the cult presents something enticing the chief will pull out from attacking them.

After that, Seth read through the list of the suspicious upper echelons of the cult. The one that Seth most avoids interacting with.

'Hopefully, I won't die if I die here. Fuck. I too forget the dying nature of the valley the moment I logged out!'

"My reward!" Seth called.

And then an old notebook dropped before him. This was his reward after he survived Sascile Redone's quest completion.

Page 1

[How to become a resident in Red Valley]

That was handwritten on the back of the old book. He flipped and read the next page.

Page 2

[Are you sure you want to become a resident? If yes, keep reading, if no, I advise you to burn the book]

That was what was on the second page.

Page 3

[You have decided then. Bad for you and me, that desire the treasure of the Red Valley. Knowing great rewards come after great disasters. From page 4 don't blame me for your stupidity. Last warning, you are fucking on your own, if you went to page 4]

Seth hesitated but flipped nonetheless.

Page 4

[Ah, you hesitate, that's good but also foolish to continue. Red Valley feeds on people to survive, you know you are all lambs. Fuck you, I know you realised that already, don't you know, I know she the fuck you are? Seth Fucking Enoch…]

Seth's heart skipped a bit, 'what the hell, it was as if it was answering my question with great precision.'

[...yeah, I know your questions already but that wasn't the case now. As you are fucking doomed. Red Valley has set its eyes on the next meal and that is you ducking idiot. But I know you will not get eaten that easily that's why I'm glad Dave has you now. Anyway, the easiest way to become a resident is to sacrifice ten humans to a single flower and carve your name Sascile Redone on the flower.

Easy fizzy right? Get to work already!]

'Shit. Is this book alive or was someone communicating with me? I didn't see the writing changing at all to suit my thoughts and questions!'

Page 5

[Good and Bad you are back. Sacrifice will be attained as a favour from someone, not the cult of course. But the Chief will kill you if he finds out. Did you choose the first option?...]

There were long dots but Seth already has "No" as his answer.

[...of course, Seth Enoch won't choose to sacrifice. A good mama's boy. Greet Sarah for me…]

"Fuck who the hell are you!" Seth shouted and he forced himself to read further.

[...hey fool, you read the damn book because it has already been written. No one is speaking with you, only what was already written. Mr. Sascile Redone. Come on, calm down. Use a pen and scrapped the name off, okay?

I'm sorry. The long and hard way to become a resident was…

~Survive the Resident ominous desire!

~Kill none of the Residents!

~Intimidate a few of the residents!

~And provide the town with an incredible achievement that will go down in history!

Or

~Just marry Redop Irik's daughter!

And to marry her, you need to read the rest of the book]

Seth was already frowning, was the game messing with him? Why was his mother's name written in the book? Was it coincidental? He then went back and read from pages 1 to 5 but it was the same, nothing changed! He brought a pen and coloured Sarah's name with a sigh and then put the book away.

He then looked outside the window thinking about this fucking bizarre game. 'This fucking high-level area!' He cursed before he walked out seeking a quest.

There were a lot of quests, as everyone wanted to ask him and that question turned into a quest. The reward was Reputation Points. An icon popped up after he finished the first quest.

[Red Valley Town]

~Reputation Points: 80

~Friends: 0

~Trust: 0

~Land: 0

~Property: 0

[Path To Residency]

<Easy Path>

~Sacrifice: 00/10

<Long Path>

~Survive Ominous Desire: 00/10

~Zero Blood: 00/10

~Intimidate: 00/10

~Historical Achievement: 0/1

<Unique Path>

~Marry Redop Irik's daughter (Progress: 0%)

_______

Zero Blood correlated to Survive Ominous desire. It was for those that may attack or seek to harm Seth, he should not kill them even if he got a chance. At the same time, if he was able to intimidate them and made them fear him and wary of him he would achieve another milestone.

The only thing that Seth was finding hard was Historical achievement. How the fuck will he achieve that. For unknown reasons, he felt that sacrificing some bunch of NPC would not be bad. But sacrificing them without attracting attention will be difficult and above that, the second option is out of the question because Zero Blood is invalid by then.

Marriage, fuck it, Seth isn't going to consider that.

The sun was setting when Redop came looking for Seth and asked him if he was ready for exploration. Seth was happy and he said he was ready.

The duo walked out of the town, and by the time night came they were almost close to the place they came to the first time. Seth still felt that pressure and also found thick gelatinous slime on his cloak before he activated the cloak to dismiss it.