Chaos and Order - A Multiverse Fanfic

C6: Awakening Glitch - Blood Devour! (2)

Kai followed Desmond as they traced the moonlight, walking with buried steps along the walls. "So the danger I picked up from Arlen was because of Perception?"

Arlen had sent Shae with Sonia, but the Side Missions they had gotten were the same.

Desmond nodded, his head shifting left and right. "Perception reflects all your senses," he told Kai. "It allows you to sense other's presence, their intentions, and dangers. The higher the danger, the quicker Perception will pick it up.

"But it's also a double-edged sword. The higher the gap between you and the other Contestant, the higher will be the chances for Perception to fail. If your attacker has an overwhelming advantage over you in Perception Attribute alone, he, or she, can easily trick you."

Kai hunched in Desmond's shadow, pondering over the consequences of having an advantage in Perception.

"It took us an entire day to figure out where to get the broomsticks," Desmond said under his breath. "If it weren't for Mr. Beedle, we wouldn't have even gotten one."

Kai had yet to even see Mr. Beedle. Arlen had forbidden anyone even stepping towards the basement. Arlen's mission differed from even Desmond and Sonia's, Kai had presumed.

"Why can't Mr. Beedle just Apparate to Dufftown?" Kai asked. Desmond had told him it was some kind of teleportation magic.

"The man's a Wizard," Desmond replied, using the nickname they had given him, "but I have never seen such a coward in my entire life. He fears getting splinched, and worse, he fears leaving that book of his behind. Let me not think of what dangers will be awaiting him in Dufftown. Arlen said there will be Contestants from the 4th to 6th floor there."

Kai had felt the strength behind Sonia's kick. He still remembered the pain, even after the Pain Factor had reduced it in half. And she's from the 2nd floor, Kai reflected. How much stronger a Contestant from the 4th floor would be?

"Where did you get the knife anyway?" Desmond asked. "I swear I had my eyes on you. You didn't steal anything."

Kai kept quiet, but smirked inwardly. Desmond might have advantage over him as an experienced Contestant, but if someone like him could catch him thieving, then he wouldn't have been survived even a day in his previous life.

Desmond shook his head. "Here," he pointed, taking a sharp turn into a dark alley. The walls on both sides successfully hid the moonlight, darkening whatever lay ahead. "Stand back."

Kai put his back against the wall and took out the knife he had stolen from the inn. None had an Item to spare for him.

Desmond looked around a bit before halting against an ordinary metal pipe jutting out of the ground. It was so small and dark that if one wasn't looking for it, then it was almost impossible to notice it. Desmond gave Kai a look, and then, using all his strength, he pushed the pipe down.

Click!

A door opened right by Kai's side, and a ray of light escaped out. Kai could have sworn there were real bricks by his side, but seeing the wooden door, he doubted himself. Kai peered inside and saw many miscellaneous things placed in an orderly and disorderly fashion. There were skeletons, animals' organs, strange instruments, and colored potions in glass vials.

"You heard something?" Desmond whispered.

Kai shook his head.

Desmond enlarged the opening with deft hands, stopping whenever the door showed signs of creaking. Soon they were inside the room, the wooden door vanishing behind them, turning into a wall.