Chapter 45: 44. Interrogation

This guy claims to be the one that sent me back to the past, so I guess that slowing the passage of time in a certain area should be easy for him.

I sighed and decided that it was time to unwrap some gifts.

I walked toward the pile of boxes that were in front of me and grabbed the little card that was on top of a Golden Mystery Box.

I examined it, and a system screen showed up.

[Soul Identity]	(Unique)
You’ve participated in the tutorial and got some tutorial points; this is proof of those feats. -Host: Jason Stubbs -Current Tutorial Points: 197580000 points
Warning: You need this item to spend your tutorial points balance once you arrive at a System Trading Station.
Warning: This item is the sole proof of your identity as a System Citizen!

 

Finally got my hands on this!

This item was mandatory in many deals and trades, especially with foreign races. People without a Soul Identity were treated like garbage, and only illegal organizations hired them as expendable workers for dangerous jobs.

Humans imitated the aliens and segregated those without Soul Identities. Guild Leaders were afraid that the foreign races would stop trading with them if they hired the ‘Illegal citizens’.

However, I do not need to fear those aliens’ backlash. I am planning to start a revolution against societal norms, and I have sufficient power and resources to make my plan possible.

Many humans ended up as ‘Illegal citizens’, and Petra was among them. I planned to give them jobs in my organization, as long as they were competent enough for the position offered. I had many plans, and I’d need all the manpower that I could get.

The ‘illegal citizens’ would have to sign strict contracts just like anyone else that would join my guild, but such a fate was better than working as an organ smuggler.

My guild wasn’t going to be a charity, but a certain degree of fairness will be maintained. I needed to prepare for the dungeon breakouts, as they might cause humanity to go extinct.

Sigh… I’ll be busy for a while once I get to Earth.

I put the Soul Identity on the boxes and opened my status screen.

It was rather messy; it was already crowded in its previous form but the addition of titles made it even worse.

I asked the system to hide the titles unless prompted otherwise and to show the status screen in the same way as before.

When the system confirmed that my command was fulfilled, I opened the status screen once more.

A system screen appeared in front of me.

Host: Jason Stubbs	HP 2800/2800 (1 HP/20 seconds)
Class: Pyrotechnical Incinerator	Mana 8700/8700 (14.5 mana/1 second)
Level 79: 412120/3082000	Stat Points: 744
STR: 439	VIT: 584
DEX: 402	AGI: 413
MAG: 879	END: 1077
LCK: 0	CHA: 0
Class Skills:	General Skills:
[Flame-n-Go]: Level 31	[Zoom]: Level 2
[It’s fine!]: Level 31	[Shut-Down]: Level 2
[Burn That Invader!]: Level 17	[Light Steps]: Level MAX
[Kill Them Before They Spread!]: Level 23	[Shadow Assimilation]: Level 14
[Dismantle]: Level 5	[Divinity Meter]: Level 1
[Plasmic Torch]: Level 16	[Aura]: Level 1
[Flawed State of Being]: Level 23
[Unlimited Fireworks]: Level 1
[Deus Ex Machina: One against Many]: Level 1

 

Now we’re cooking, the titles increased my stats by orders of magnitude! Moreover, those are a lot of free stat points!

I allocated a hundred points in Luck, and a hundred and fifty in Charisma.

I was about to open many mystery boxes, and every bit of Luck should improve my chances of getting something good out of them.

These boxes gave items of different grades based on their colors; Regular, Copper, Silver, and Golden were the types of boxes that I knew about, and each of them gave items of a certain grade.

In my past life, I acquired a regular box and a copper one. They gave me a Common cleaver and an Uncommon backpack respectively.

I was so excited about the Silver and Golden mystery boxes, as they gave Epic and Legendary items respectively. Items of those grades were scarce, and Mystery Boxes were some of the only sources of them early on.

However, I have no idea about the custom mystery boxes…

As a reward for my efforts in the tutorial, I got six mystery boxes. One of them was a custom one, and it was my first time hearing about such a thing.

I shrugged my shoulders and was about to open the regular mystery box when I heard muffled noises coming from the other side of the room.

I raised my head and saw the mysterious entity questioning a group of four people. There were three men and women, and they bore little resemblance to humans.

One of the men looked like an orc and he had a vertical scar that passed through his right eye, another looked like a red goblin and he had his black hair in a ponytail, and the other resembled a human, but his pointy ears and whiskers revealed that he was a beastkin.

The woman had red hair, eyes, and skin. She had two little horns on the sides of her head, and a grin was glued to her face.

The four of them were sitting on the ground, and a thick rope was wrapped around them. They were handcuffed, and their legs were bound to the ground.

The mysterious entity still had the form of the young man that he called ‘Loki’, and he kept smirking as he threatened them and asked them all kinds of questions.

He noticed my stare and waved his hand.

“Oh! Hey Jason,” he said, “These guys were supposed to rescue you in the tutorial; they’re C rank hosts and they’re members of an independent organization that places a lot of emphasis on integrity.”

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He clicked his tongue repeatedly and shook his head.

“Some people bribed them to let you die, but you survived on your own,” he added, “Those same people tried to kill you on several occasions too. I already know the culprits behind this event, but I want a verbal confession from these people.”

Oh…

Now everything made sense! I was already suspicious about some weird occurrences in the tutorial, and this was like the last piece of a puzzle. It explained the weird behavior of the fairies at the end of the tutorial, the Primordial’s appearance, and the fight against Chris too.

“So, why are they still alive if you already know the information that you’ve been looking for?” I asked. Seeing that this guy could read minds, he must’ve found out about the identities of the people who wanted to kill me.

The four people visibly paled at my question, and they started trembling. The woman begged for her life, the goblin said that he had children, and the other two whimpered silently.

‘Loki’ ignored them, and stared at me.

“Accusations of crime are uncommon among deities for a reason. Sure, some of us can read minds, but I need someone to testify against the perpetrators.” He replied.

For some reason, my intuition told me that ‘Loki’ didn’t care much about getting revenge on the deities that planned for my death. It felt like this guy enjoyed playing around with these guys and torturing them psychologically, as he finished reading his book not too long ago and a new source of fun was needed.

Well, I’ll just focus on checking my mystery boxes.

I touched the Regular Mystery Box and commanded the system to open it.

[Host opened a Regular Mystery Box!]

[Host acquired an item (Common)!]

 

[Cleaver #78]	(Common)
This is the most popular Cleaver for butchers throughout the Intergalactic Systematic Union. Made from a titanium alloy, and sharpened using the latest tech available; this little boy can pack a punch! We’re sure that you’ll find this tool satisfying. Enjoy your dull job! -Self-Sharpening -Self-Repair

 

Hello, my old friend, today we meet again!

This was the same cleaver that I got in my past life, and I had mixed feelings about it.

It got me through hard times, as I didn’t need to repair it or sharpen it regularly. On the other hand, I felt that the system was making fun of me by giving me something that butchers used.

Anyway, it was useful so I had nothing to say about it.

I put it next to my other items and opened another mystery box.

[Host opened a Copper Mystery Box!]

[Host acquired an item (Uncommon)!]

 

[Build-Up Grenade]	(Uncommon)
When life gives you a grenade, throw it back! You can also use it to kill some thugs, right? This is a special grenade, and its effect can be devastating if you charge it enough. -This grenade absorbs thermal energy (Limit: 10 Petajoules) -Absorption starts when the host exposes this item to a source of thermal energy and says ‘Start the Charge’ -The bomb detonates after five seconds from leaving the host’s hand.
Warning: The bomb can detonate even if the energy absorbed is less than the limit.
Warning: The bomb detonates immediately once the energy limit is reached.

 

Oh yeah, this is different from the item that I got in my past life!

This was a good item, and it could cause a lot of damage if I charged it enough. Furthermore, it synergized well with my skillset since my class focused on controlling fire, and the bomb could absorb thermal energy.

If I charged it enough, it could get more powerful than a lot of nukes.

Still, that would take a very long while of charging…

I put the grenade on top of the table next to me and opened the Silver Mystery Box.

[Host opened a Silver Mystery Box!]

[Host acquired an item (Epic)!]

 

[Hydrocarbon Junk Fuel Dispenser Mark VII]	(Epic)
Pollution is a serious problem; many species went extinct as a result of it. But fret not! For we have a practical solution. This is the result of a certain tech-savvy species’ endless research, and it’s a marvelous masterpiece. It gets rid of plastic, and converts it into highly flammable fuel! Beware! The species that made this item went extinct because they recklessly burned their planet. -Converts hydrocarbons of all forms to pure fuel (1:1 mass ratio)
Warning: This item is not a toy for children.
Warning: This is a restricted item that should only be used if the host has a license for it.

The item resembled a barrel. It was cylindrical, with a radius of fifteen centimeters and a height of forty centimeters. It had a faucet on its side, and its lid opened easily when I twisted it.

I was interested in discovering what made it tick, but I was disappointed when I found nothing inside it. The barrel was empty, and I was disappointed.

I couldn’t even see any runes on its insides.

Another item that only works thanks to ‘magic’.

I was also interested in examining the fuel that it made, but that would be for later.

I put it aside and tried to open the first Golden Mystery Box when the mysterious entity interrupted me.

He called for my name and waved his hands. I halted my actions and looked at him.

He had a grin on his face and seemed elated, but his hostages weren’t as lucky.

All of them were laying on the ground, eyes shut. I thought that they were dead for a second, but I noticed their chests moving as they breathed.

Did he finish questioning them?

“Hey,” he said, “I have something interesting to tell you, and I’d like you to answer a couple of my questions.”

#

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