Other-Worldly Knowledge

"Do not test me, terrible people of the black market! I am willing to forgive you and allow you to live, just come silently with me to the kingdom!"

Someone else stood up beside the first person and threw a volley of blue light. He put himself into a dramatic stance, pulling his blade back and putting a foot forward as if he was about to make a large attack. Just before the light hit him, he swung forward and sliced one of the blue lights in half. The other girl, a small blonde woman, used her cat paws to smack the balls of light away. But the moment the blue lights were touched, they began vibrating and became an explosion of lights, the blue strands of light that wrapped their bodies and restricted all three of them. The needles from the ground moved and reacted to the blue lights and shot upwards, stabbing them in the foot.

"Blessing!" All the blue lights and the needles flew away from his body. "Do not test me!" he yelled, "bringing you all to the police will make me the savior of the kingdom!"

"Police? What the heck is that?" Dives asked. Zeeth looked at him and then back at the boy. Police?

'Right, that's not a thing here, they are called soldiers or knights, police are an earth thing, is he from Earth?'

When he thought that, another memory came to him. He was back with the woman leading him to a house. Other children were in the house, many of them crying but most of them simply there, heads down and no expression.

"These are going to be your new brothers and sisters, I hope you will treat them kindly!" The woman told him. She fed them all some stew and bread, which were both surprisingly tasty, if not a little too bland. Every day since entering he and the other children were guided by the woman, who called herself Molly, to play group games, things like twister or jump rope. Basketball, soccer, baseball, and many other sports were soon introduced and he noticed slowly that there were fewer and fewer kids crying every day. That part seemed normal enough, but he also noticed that many of the children who cried seemed to have disappeared after a while. And then those who were a bit too rambunctious. And then the slower ones he always saw hanging around the edges of the playground. Soon, it was simply him and thirteen others. Had they not expected the children to notice such an obvious dwindling?

But before he could think too much of it, he was snapped back to reality. The boy was still swinging his dark dagger around, all of his injuries healed.

The ground began to shake and from the tunnel, the boy dug, tens of other adventurers came out the hole. No, not adventurers. The dirty clothing they had, their unkempt hair, and second-hand weapons, they all seemed to be stragglers. Amongst them were a few long-eared elves with black hair and skin as pale as paper.

"We should get out." Dives said, looking at them. One of the elves threw a bomb that exploded one of the halls, laughing at the explosion and diving people.

"Shouldn't we help them?"

He sighed. "They have Abandoned Elves which means he is either incredibly rich, which seems unlikely, or has attracted the attention of one of the most troublesome and aggressive races around. Unlike usual elves, who respect and treat nature kindly, they were either abandoned, kicked out or left by their group because of their disrespectful and hateful tendencies. Ever since being kicked out, many will grow even more hateful at a much more rapid pace and live to destroy, naturally gravitating towards anything chaotic. They have learned that this boy wants to do something bad and that many Abandoned Elves gravitated to him, he is nothing but trouble. Things will get messy."

"All the more reason to help, besides they probably won't even let us go."

Another elf threw a bunch of shiny shards of metal and scattered them all across the floor. They grew exponentially until they were the size of humans and destroyed things in the way.

"Ugh. Fine." Dives casually got up from his seat, fixed his collar, and firmly stated in a deep voice, "Peace."

A heavy lull filled the area, the air seemed to turn denser and weigh down on them. Everyone's eyes dazed for a second and everyone stopped moving, a single thing in their brains telling them not to move, like wanting to sleep. However, the sleeping effect only acted on the intruders. Zeeth looked at the daggers the person was holding, [Corrosion Dagger. Applies medium Corrosion to things touched by the blade.] but as he walked away, more words disappeared and he was too far away to read more. God's Eye seemed to have a distance limit as well.

"We may leave now, we have about three minutes."

Dives and Zeeth walked out the door, none of the group who just broke in following them.

"That was so cool, what was that?"

"There's a reason I'm so high up in the Vanes system. I am powerful and my skills are useful. That was the skill Peace, anyone in my radius will relax and forget about any violent tendencies for as long as I want, the limit usually determined by distance, amount of people, and natural vulnerability. Also, don't tell anyone but..." Dives lifted his hand, showing him holding the corrosion sword the boy held.

"How? When?"

"Steal skill. Took it when he was under my spell. This is a fun weapon but I better remove any traces of him before I use it."

Behind them were steps. Footsteps running at them. They both turned around and stared at two Abandoned Elves, about to stab them in the back.

"Peace." Dives demanded once again. He noticed Dives eyes glowing a tiny bit white and the elves this time dropped their weapons and fell to the ground.

"How many times can you do that?"

Dives held his finger to his mouth in a shushing fashion, "You shouldn't ask too many questions. No one wants to reveal too much about their abilities."

"Oh, right."

The largest, most muscular person he had ever seen thumped into their view. It was covered in nearly skin-tight, vertically striped armor and at least a head taller than he was, the creature flexed and metal stretched with its muscles. He eyed the creature and all it said was, [Special Skin Tight Armor (Unknown Master Creator). Can stretch to almost twice its original size (5 feet tall). Completely airtight holds in all mana and oxygen. A semipermeable bag in the back specifically designed to allow oxygen in and carbon dioxide out. Durability: 540/870]

But it didn't say anything about what was inside the armor. Even more limits, he was unable to analyze anything he couldn't see. On the creature's back, the boy who just broke into the black market arose like he was walking on stairs.

"Give me my dagger back," he growled angrily.

"I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" Dives smiled.

"Eddie beat him up!"

The beast in the stretchable armor growled and roared. It began chagrin up like a bull but Dives was faster. He dropped the dagger to the floor, causing all their eyes to follow it. Before it completely fell still, Dives pushed down on the hilt and forced the blade into the floor at a 40-degree angle. The corrosion tore away at the floor and crumbled it all away, allowing Dives to kick the rocks at them. The rocks simply angered them even more and Eddie charged at them.

Dives watched their footsteps carefully, using the corrosion dagger to stab Eddie's knee. The blade simply bounced off his knee but it did what Dives wanted, Eddie tripped on his last step, stepped into the hole the corrosion made, and fell flat, knocking himself out while the boy, whose status said, [Nadaho Omn. HP: 50 Strength: 35 Agility: 25 Stamina: 30 Intelligence: 30 Luck: 10 Holder of Other-Worldly Knowledge.]

The Holder of Otherworldly Knowledge title seemed excessive but it must've meant knowledge from Earth. He had the same title when he checked closely enough.

"Listen, kid. You aren't strong, you aren't special. What are you trying to achieve here? You want to take down a large black market auction and earn a name? All for what?"

"None! Of! Your Business!" he yelled, trying to punch Dives. But the punch was absurdly slow, Dives stopped it with two fingers and pushed it aside.

"You want to be recognized? Famous? But after that, then what? The boy who found a black market auction! And then did nothing with his life after and was a mistake."

The boy tried to hit back but his punch was a much weaker half-hearted swing. "A one-hit wonder." Dives continued, "please, allow me to warn you, friend to friend. Coming here, disturbing the peace, will earn you more enemies than allies. Stronger, more influential enemies as well, it would be a mistake to come here without the proper political backup, if that is your situation, I recommend you leave now. Hide for some time, then arise, stronger than ever. Because if you were to leave here with these people in tow, what do you really plan to earn? Is it the kingdoms favor, a princess's hand in marriage? That is all fantasy, we live in a world where black markets like these are busted every month, nothing good ever happens to the poor soul who finds and reveals them."

"Well… well I have friends! I have allies, all the people who came here with me will back me up! The elves are loyal, they will kill anyone in my way!" Nadaho yelled. His voice quivered at first but it grew stronger over time.

"Friends. Do you really consider the Abandoned Elves and random stragglers' friends? They came here, drawn by the prospect of money or simply chaos, not by you. Those elves don't care for you, they simply followed, knowing you wanted to cause trouble."

"Abandoned Elves?"

"Oh, they haven't told you? Your so-called friends have been lying to you all this time, they aren't normal elves. Normal elves are peace-loving, some of the greatest races out there, but those who have come in too much contact with humans have become more violent and changed to adapt to humans a bit more. These elves are the epitome of those terrible elves, so violent and harmful that they have been abandoned by their group. They have no loyalty, they will kill you when you become useless, and with incredible ease."

"B-but… Elves! How could they? I-I knew the stragglers just wanted money, but even the magical elves? I was so happy… but I can't just leave now. They know my face. I-I'll be killed!"

"No, not if you come with me. Not with my influence. Come, I will save you from the dangers."

"H-how can I trust you?" Nadaho stammered.

"My skill Peace should tell you all. I cherish peace above all, I don't kill unnecessarily. It's also your only choice. Either trusts me or be hunted down by uncountable enemies."

"Why would you help me?"

"I told you." Dives stood up. "I cherish peace above all."

Nadaho looked at him with suspicion, which both Zeeth and Dives caught so he continued.

"This dagger as well." Dives showed him the corrosion dagger. "I want to know more about it, where did you obtain it, and any secret function, I want you for that information."

Zeeth watched Dives with surprise. He was able to expertly talk Nadaho to joining his side, turning his acquaintances into enemies and telling him to fear for his life unless he joined them without actually threatening him.

"Fine. Eddie too, save him, he's loyal. I know it."

"Eddie will of course come as well." Dives picked Eddie up by his chest and the four of them ran all while the elves, who were waking up from Dives spell, were fighting the other guests. He kept hearing the cries of elves as they fell, the auction members clearly winning.

"How did you break from my Peace spell, kid?"

"My name is Nadaho and I have a skill, called Blessing, that I got from" he coughed loudly a few times, heaving and wheezing, but continued, "um, it allows me to heal myself completely once a day and protects for a few seconds after."

Another Abandoned Elf jumped in front of them but Zeeth ran ahead and punched it in the face, pushing the elf all the way into the ground in one large swing. Blood trailed the arched path that he punched in and the elf hit the floor, unconscious before he finished.

"How many elves did you bring?"

"It was only two at first but they kept calling their friends and now I think they're all here!" Nadaho croaked.

"How did they even get in front of us?"

"I spent weeks digging tunnels around this place and getting all my frien- all these guys to recognize it all and steal as much as we can."

"I hate to do it but that deserves some props. You were able to escape the grasp of the guards here for weeks. Wait where will they bring all the stolen objects?"

"I told them to hide them in a room underground so I could give it all to the king."

"I doubt they would listen. Do they have any other hiding place they didn't want you to not know about? Any suspicious activities?"

"I don't think so, we were only really digging with the corrosion sword."

Dives stopped walking and faced Nadaho. "Good. then we will go there. To the den of stolen artifacts."

"But the elves are there, what if they kill me?"

"They don't know you know that they are bad yet. Simply walk in there, tell them to go to the other end of the auction to steal more and most of them will leave. We can take care of the rest. Abandoned Elves are strong, stronger than normal elves in certain aspects and they fight as dirty as they can, as long as it causes more destruction. They will love to cause more chaos."

Nadaho hesitated but ran to a broken door, pointed inside, and said, "we have an entrance here. Break the wall and I can go in."

Dives stabbed the blade into the wall that Nadaho pointed at, the wall turned black and cracked with ease, crumbling away until a brown tunnel was revealed.

"I've been saying for years, these guys really need to enhance their walls more."

Nadaho jumped in, falling down a hole. He said to someone else, "hey, tell the others to head to the south, I just saw a bunch of other artifacts in the rooms we didn't get to yet. We're gonna need as many people as we can, steal back from the Black Market thieves!"

"Alright, haw haw." a few guffawed.

Dives jumped in and Zeeth was about to follow but a large rock came flying at him. He crushed the rock and saw Arnold wielding a sword at him. "Zenith, Cina will be mine!"

"Arnold? What are you doing here?"

"Battling you for love!"

"Dude, I'm not in love with Cina, you can have her."

"Doesn't matter! She likes you so you will always be an obstacle in my way, I must remove you now before you get too close."

"How did you even know I was here?"

"I didn't. I was called here to help the auction against some elves or something. But now that I'm here, I should take this chance to end you!"