TIMELESS VOYAGE: Countenance of werewolves and Traits.

Chapter 04: Countenance of werewolves and Traits.

As jack saw the interface, his eyes were glued to his stats as he goes through them one by one, getting a better understanding of his abilities in accordance to the system.{So If my strength is 7, then what about the old man, is it 10 or above 10? All the other stats are understandable but how do they calculate luck? It seems that there is more to what meets the eye in this world.} thought jack deeply.

"What are you thinking?" Asks miss cynthia as she saw jack in a daze upon entering the room with a mask, two empty glass and a jug of water on her hands.

"It's just... How can someone calculate luck?" Questions jack in confusion.

"That's something you naturally have to find by yourself." Answers miss cynthia with a mysterious smile as she keeps the jug of water and the glasses on top of the drawer and hands him the mask.

"Is there a way to increase my stats? If so..." Jack was in the process of asking miss cynthia as he takes the mask from her.

Beep!

"An in-game object has been detected. Do you want to keep 'inventory' or 'equip' it?'

Jack was interrupted mid way in his speech by the system and was startled by the message appearing out of nowhere in his mind. As if realising what had occured, miss cynthia explains with a smile:" If you want to increase your stats, then you can use in-game items like the mask, I gave you and the other ways are to be explored by yourself during the mission."

"Equip the mask and check out its stats, then you will naturally understand." Says miss cynthia with a smile.

"Equip" Says jack, moments later he felt something sticking on to his face, jack was astonished by the fact that the mask magically appears on his face instantly after it disappeared from his hands but remembering the old mans ability, he realised that this is nothing.

"How to check the stats of the object I am wearing? In fact how to check the object itself?" Asks jack with inquiry.

"I think the time you entered the system, you got an introduction of the settings right? Have you understood everything explained by the system?" Asks cynthia calmly.

"Yes" Nods jack.

"Good, now first exit setting because the system automatically enters you to setting menu to reduce time when trying to view your timer and stats. So, every time you enter the system, you should think 'character profile' instead of 'system' or 'setting'." explains miss cynthia calmly. After hearing her explanation, jack instantly enters 'character profile' and finds a '3D' model of him being present in the system menu, floating in front of his eyes with a mask on the face of the model. He clicks on the mask and suddenly finds that the stationary character could spin, giving him a full 360 view of his body in a 'T' pose, obviously parts of the model have clothes on, the same clothes he is currently wearing. After messing some more with the 3d model, he went deep in thought and realised that if he could utilise it well, then it would be of great assistance. Sorting out his thoughts, he moves his eyes over to the mask as he saw a small window with two options available 'check stats' and 'unequip', almost instantly with his mind he chooses 'check stats', the mask's base stats start to display instantly before his very eyes.

| Item: Countenance of werewolves.

Item type: Wearable

Item grade: C

Item effect: Changes the facial features of the wearer at will.

Item durability : 100/100 (note: Only special 'C' grade and above items or beings can damage the item.)

Item cooldown time:∞

Item Ability: Vanish :- Makes the user invisible to. perception and such abilities of the same rank for 10seconds.

Ability cool down: 5 days.

Item drawback: Werewolves wrath:- If equipped in the vicinity of an werewolf or the like, the user will be hunted down by them.

Item description: This is a 'normal' item crafted using a werewolves face, 'special' for some, while a 'curse' for others.|

After reading the item description, jack was astonished and curious at the same time. So, he instantly asks miss cynthia to clarify his doubts: "Are werewolves real?"

"Depends on where you are young man. You have to find it out by yourself." Answers miss cynthia with a mysterious smirk.

"So, what is item grade? Does every weapon has special abilities?" Asks back jack with curiosity, he knows that he might not get a proper answer to his question about the werewolves and miss cynthia also explained it as clearly as she could about the werewolves, although vaguely.

"Items are commonly divided into six grades, starting from the bottom 'F' to all the way to 'A' grade. Namely from bottom F then E,D,C,B and to the top A." Explains miss cynthia calmly.

"Then, what about item abilities?" Asks back jack impatiently as curiosity got better of him.

"Be patient young man, you still have 2 hours more so, digest what I said first, I have good memory and good hearing capabilities so, I will definitely answer your questions one by one as best as I can." Says miss cynthia with a smile as she calms jack down.

After some moments, seeing that the young man has calmed down, miss cynthia continues calmly in a patient tone: "'Item abilities' are self explanatory in on itself, as you can see your mask for example, have an ability to go invisible even though it's for 10 seconds. There are many such items in the mission world but, not every item possesses abilities, there are almost no 'F' grade item with ability. If I say 'almost' that means there are some available. So, from E grade and up, you are more likely to find items with ability and each upgrade in rank makes it more special."

"So do you understand it now? If not then ask me again along with the other questions you may have?" Asks miss cynthia again with inquiry.

"Yes I understand." Nods jack with understanding but went deep in thought.

"Then what are 'special' items that can break my mask mentioned here? Also what is item 'drawback'?" Asks jack curiously after breaking out of his thought process.

"'Item drawbacks' are self explanatory as it possesses drawback or in other words, harms the user. Take your item for example has werewolves wrath as drawback but not every item possesses drawback. As for 'Special' items, they are also know as 'boundary' grade items for example, if your mask was a 'C' grade item and has stats comparable to a 'B' grade item with only exception being, suppose durability remaining on 'C' grade or it has a bigger 'drawback' and so on and so forth, then they are considered to be boundary grade items." Explains miss cynthia calmly as she pour herself some water to quench her thirst. After all, she is old and easily get tired from all the explaining she had to do.

"So, why did you give such an important mask to me? Is it because of the item you want in return?" Asks back jack, after he realised the importance of this mask.

"Yes, After all we don't want you to end up dead before even going through the initial phase." Says miss cynthia truthfully with a smile in a calm tone.

"Is that 'item' that important to you? What grade is it?" Asks jack after serious consideration.

"Its a boundary grade item, 'B' grade item comparable to an 'A' grade item with special ability to be specific." Says miss cynthia seriously with furrowed brows and worry visible on her face.

Hiss!

Taking a deep breath roars jack in utter disbelief: "'B' grade? And a 'boundary grade item with special abilities at that? Are you kidding me?"

"Young man, don't get too ahead of yourself, I am not asking you to find it instantly." Says miss cynthia in dissatisfaction as she is clearly annoyed by his loud tone.

"Hmm? So.. when? When do I have to get the item?" Questions jack with worry after realising his mistake and calming down a little.

"Naturally you will know when the time comes. Did you choose your traits? If so, then what traits did you choose?" Questions miss cynthia as she avoids the previous topic entirely.

"No, I haven't chosen it yet." Says jack calmly as he knows that miss cynthia will not continue the topic even if he improvises it so, he instead starts to focus on the current topic at hand.

"Then go to your traits and check the choices you are given, tell me the choices you are given one by one and I will help you choose. Remember, you can only choose two traits at the beginning. You can upgrade traits or buy new traits using game points and in-game objects." Explains miss cynthia seriously.

"Setting" Says jack as he opens the

system menu and instantly selects 'trait'.

A mini menu opens and the stats are shown as

follows:

|Traits,

Total Traits:0

Available Traits: 5

Trait Talent: None

Trait points: 0|

After opening the trait an emotionless voice starts speaking: "Since it's the first time the user enters the trait menu, Let's go through them one by one. Total Traits describes the amount of traits you currently have. Available Traits describes the amount of traits you can choose. Trait Talent describes the abilities a trait may possess. Trait Points describes the amount of points you have accumulated while using the traits."

"Player, that's all for traits, may you enjoy a good fortune." Says the emotionless voice again and completely disappears.

Jack then proceeds to click on available traits as he then sees a menu pop with the five traits as follows:

| 1.) Sense of fortune: Always detects treasures or the like within a hundred meter radius.

2.) Man of the sea: When in sea your vision increases, your instinct sharpens and fishing becomes easier.

3.) Limitless time: Increases the time limit of mission worlds, allowing the user to live longer in the mission world.

4.) Favoured nimbus: A mysterious ability associated with luck.

5.) Bloodstained destiny : A mysterious ability associated with battle, a battle monger's sweet dream.|

After seeing the five traits, he was in thought for a bit but instantly decided to ask miss cynthia for further info.

"So the five trait available are as follows....." Says jack as he continues to describe the traits to miss cynthia who would nod from time to time.

"I think you better choose 'sense of fortune' and 'limitless time'. Sense of fortune because you can easily find in-game items in the early phase and Limitless time because it increases your chance to complete missions successfully although, it takes longer time." Explains miss cynthia seriously after she understood all the traits and their abilities.

"Why not 'Man of the sea' or other traits?" Asks jack in a confused tone.

"In the first mission, you are less likely to get a sea related mission so, no 'Man of the sea' for now, as for the other two because they are too vague, you might as well save them for later phases." Explains miss cynthia in a serious tone.

"Okay." Nods jack with understanding as he chooses both 'Sense of fortune' and 'Limitless time'.

"Now that everything is cleared, get ready for the mission." Says miss cynthia seriously.

"Ok but one last question. Mask can alter my appearance but what about my bodily structure? Will someone recognize me like for example, my clothes?" Asks jack with curiosity after thinking deeply.

"When you went to integrate with the system, did you see anyone's clothes or body structure?" Asks miss cynthia with a smile.

"No, but I couldn't see their faces too so." Says jack with confusion visible on his face.

"Mask is to hide from abilities, now then start relaxing and try to identify your weaknesses and strengths" Says miss cynthia with a mysteriously smile as she sits and waits for jacks incoming mission time.

"I understand." Says jack as he thinks deeply about everything he heard and trying his best to be unaffected by anxieties and worries. Time doesn't last for anyone, when you are in difficulty it goes slower, but in ease and happiness it goes by faster, that's actually from the perspective of the situation you're in, time always flows at the same speed regardless of the situation you're in. For jack these two hours felt like a drop of water as it went by very fast. He was soon sucked in by the system as he took one last glimpse at miss cynthia and the room while, miss cynthia looked back deeply at him without any expression visible on her face, before he disappears completely.