Chapter 16: The codex

As the voice finished speaking, the two young men exchanged glances, unsure of what to do next. The situation they found themselves in was certainly unfamiliar to both. Shoun hesitated for a moment but eventually took the initiative:

—Hmm... Hello? Who are you?

—Hello again, Guest. I am the Logistics Intelligence Assistance Multifunctional, or Liam for short—replied the robotic voice, apparently named Liam.

—Liam, nice to meet you—Kaze responded quickly—Can you tell us what this place is?

—Of course, Administrator. This place is known as the Base. It is a space for you and your guests to relax after your explorations in this world. It includes various facilities to meet your needs, such as a kitchen, resting rooms, a living room, a training hall, and an operations center.

—Operations center?—Shoun asked, intrigued by the meaning of that specific place, as its function wasn't as clear as the others.

—Administrator, am I permitted to answer the guest's question?—the robotic voice asked with apparent politeness, which struck both young men as odd.

—You can... Why wouldn't you be able to answer Shoun's question?

—To answer your question, Administrator, "Shoun," the guest, is just that—a guest. You might not want him to know certain things. Now, regarding the operations center, it is a place where specific missions are assigned to the Administrator and other individuals selected by them. These missions offer significant rewards—Both young men processed this information. To speed things up, Shoun suggested Kaze ask the questions, as Liam might require confirmation for each "confidential" query, which would take too long.

—Can you give an example of the rewards these missions might offer? And is there a way to let Liam answer Shoun's questions directly?

—Answering the first question, an example of a possible reward would be access to the Base's Refinery. Regarding the second, you are the Administrator. You can grant your guest a higher rank, but it is at your own risk—the robotic voice warned. Before asking about the Refinery, Kaze focused on his ability, and a new tab opened shortly after.

[Base Administration:

Current Administrator: ??? Title: Kaze.

Guest: Shoun Foster, Title: —]

After reviewing this screen, Kaze saw he could modify Shoun's guest rank. Unsure of what it entailed, he decided to ask Liam first. Meanwhile, Shoun made himself comfortable and leaned back on the sofa. After all, it seemed there was no danger in conversing with Liam, and since this place appeared to belong to Kaze, he simply decided to relax.

—What ranks can I give Shoun? And what is a Refinery?

—The guest "Shoun" can be given the ranks of Guest, Resident, and Secondary Administrator. At his current rank, he can only access the places and services you allow. As a Resident, he can participate in missions and use the Base's facilities without prior approval. A Secondary Administrator has access to everything a Resident does but can also ask me questions freely. As for the Refinery, it essentially allows the processing of Alpha vestige corpses—Liam explained in detail. At this last point, Kaze considered it a good thing, while Shoun, upon hearing it, was so startled he fell off the sofa.

—What!?—he shouted, quickly getting up from the floor.

—Is there a problem?—Kaze asked briefly, looking puzzled at Shoun.

—Do you have any idea how rare it is for people to refine Alpha corpses? Doing it with a machine in the other world is very expensive. Having access to a machine like that... I wasn't paying attention earlier, but give me higher access. We'll go on one of those missions to claim that machine—Normally, Shoun wouldn't act like this, but his greed for the machine overwhelmed him. After all, the biggest hurdle in recruiting Sein was not being able to protect him. If they had that machine, they could craft uniforms and weapons to defend the young man more easily. They could even sell the excess for profit, but they needed to establish another alibi.

—Are you sure? You said we'd just take a look because you have class tomorrow.

—That doesn't matter! Let's do it!

—Alright—Kaze replied simply in his monotone voice. He looked at the Codex screen in front of him and wished to modify it. He granted Shoun the rank of "Secondary Administrator." He didn't believe Shoun posed any danger to him—after all, he was the only person he could trust in both worlds, his companion—Liam, can you show us where the operations center is?

—Of course—A door opened on its own. Both young men assumed it was Liam's doing and walked through it. Shortly after, they found themselves in a room with the same white ceramic floor. In the center was a large round table surrounded by numerous chairs.

—So, Liam, what are the details of the mission to unlock the Refinery?—Shoun asked as he calmly sat in one of the chairs. Kaze followed suit and sat beside him.

—I mentioned the Refinery as an example of a possible reward, but there is a mission that unlocks it—the AI clarified quickly. Soon, a hologram projected in the center of the table, displaying the following:

[Initiation Mission: Search for the Remains of the Chaos Bearer

Details: Chaos was born one day and, like a plague, spread across the world. An ancient Chaos Bearer caused irreparable destruction. Find their remains and claim them.

Difficulty: Seeker.

Reward: Alpha Grunt vestige corpse, access to the Base's Refinery.]

Seeing the mission details, both young men found it quite straightforward—something they could likely complete quickly. But something about it bothered Shoun.

—(Chaos Bearer... that sounds familiar... but where from?)—he wondered to himself. He considered asking Kaze and Liam if they knew anything but decided against it, as it probably wasn't relevant.

—What are the remains of the Chaos Bearer?—Kaze asked in his monotone voice.

—You will know if you accept the mission, Administrator—Liam replied simply. Shortly after, a Codex screen appeared before both young men.

[Accept mission? 0/2]

The two exchanged glances and nodded, each accepting their respective screens.

Upon accepting, a wave of knowledge filled their minds. First, they were told what the remains they were searching for were, and second, they were given the approximate location of those remains, which caught their attention.

—The remains are actually the body of the vestige we have to kill... but the location... isn't it?

—Yes... it's very close to my house—Shoun interrupted Kaze. At that moment, Shoun grew more alarmed. He had ignored the term "Chaos Bearer" earlier, but now, with this new information, he felt something was wrong—Give me a moment, Kaze…

With a thought, Shoun opened another Codex tab—the very section that gave the system its name: the Codex of Vestiges. This was where all the information about the vestiges defeated by the Codex Bearer was stored.

This function wasn't used much, as it was essentially a small library of the bearer's achievements. But it had served its purpose in naming the mysterious system that people had suddenly gained one day.

Shoun quickly scanned his Codex. Until recently, it only had one vestige, but he didn't rush and went through them one by one.

[-Twilight Hydra: Wretched Alpha. The sunset stained the world with the arrival of the new nature. The Hydra, which once served, rebelled and sought to extinguish all traces of light.

-Profane Antlers: Wretched Alpha. With change came new life—erratic, tainted by madness and destruction.]

Shoun briefly reviewed his last two kills. He found it interesting that both vestiges were described with "change" as a central theme, but that wasn't what he was looking for at the moment. He skipped over the Wretched Stags and Whelps that followed their Alpha and moved on to the next two.

[-Spawn of Chaos: Grunt. Small pests that sowed confusion and disorder among the ancients.

-Infected: Brute. Chaos spread little by little. Death was the easy way out.]

Shoun read the descriptions and finally found something he was looking for. These two vestiges had the word "chaos" in their names or descriptions, though other things caught his attention as well.

—(Who or what were the "ancients"... I've never heard a term like that)—he briefly pondered the unfamiliar concept but set it aside to focus on his current investigation—(Death was definitely the easy way out if you could end up like that thing... yuck)—He briefly recalled the Brute that greeted him upon his arrival in the mirror world—(Anyway, this chaos seems to have been very dangerous)—Shoun moved on to the last vestige in his Codex, leaving him speechless at its contents:

[-Chaos Bearer: Alpha grunt. In the times of the ancients, it dedicated itself to spreading chaos—not just in its purest form, but also bringing destruction, madness, and disorder.]