Chapter 1065 - New Arrival

An orc walked out. Or at least that’s exactly what it looked like to Sage. The woman was tall and well muscled with green skin and a pair of tusks poking up out of her bottom lip. She was also wearing a leather apron made of a strange green hide, that was covered in dried up blood. She seemed annoyed at the disturbance and Sage was taken for a loop at how many incongruous things were going on in front of him. Was this really the ‘management department’? Why did it seem more like a butcher shop that sold knick knacks out front? What sort of place was this?

The blue haired woman that had been his guide so far finally took a moment to explain things to him, “New arrivals are pretty rare, so the management department members are usually busy doing other things most of the time. Most of their duties can be performed from a distance, so it’s rare to meet with them face to face, but if you need to, your ring will be able to guide you to whoever is on duty at the time.”

“Don’t give away all our secrets, Reese. It’s no fun if you tell them everything.”

“So the management department is allowed to withhold information? Does that mean there are many rules or benefits that they purposefully ignore if they aren’t held accountable?”

The green skinned woman suddenly frowned and the blue haired woman nodded, “That’s exactly right. Many don’t pay enough attention until they get taken advantage of a few times.”

“Do I need to look into finding a good lawyer? Is there litigation here to cover when an argument arises over all these rules?”

“You can find the relevant information in a Repository.”

The two of them had ignored the orc woman for a while, as Sage had found it important to gather information. The woman may have just been trying to mess around, but it actually enlightened him as to the type of society he was now going to have to integrate into. It didn’t seem impossible for him to just head back down to the planet, but from what he’d heard so far there were probably some sorts of rules he had to follow first. He was curious to learn more, but it seemed that would have to wait until he was given access.

“Please perform your duties now, Grec’ca.” Then she turned to Sage. “Hold out your hand.”

The orc started grumbling, but she had seemed to have lost her will to engage in any banter. She leaned over the counter when Sage held out his hand and a beam of light shot out of her eye. The light was a narrow band, sweeping over Sage’s arm like a barcode scanner. Then she held out her own hand which suddenly split in half. No blood or viscera spilled onto the counter. Instead, the seamless skin parted cleanly, revealing the machinery within. The two halves of her hand swung open, split between the middle and ring finger, moving till the side of her thumb and the side of her pinky were both lying flat against her forearm. Then her wrist expanded, and lines appeared on her forearm. Her arm expanded like the petals of a flower and from within many tiny robotic arms extended outwards. The multi-jointed arms were small and delicate, each as thin as the stalk of a flower. They extended ominously towards Sage’s hand, but they only brushed against his skin as lightly as a few hairs.

The tiny arms moved rapidly, yet their goal was mysterious. At least for the first few seconds before Sage could make out that they were constructing something. He focused, looking closer to see they were moving tiny pieces of matter, and after a moment he realized they were building a ring around his finger. It seemed like an extreme method in comparison to just measuring his finger, or using formations to change the size of the ring afterwards, but there must be more going on. Why else would they go to so much trouble if they didn’t have to?

He had some questions, but because of the detailed nature of what was going on, he didn’t feel like pushing his luck and disturbing the process. In just a few minutes the ring completely materialized in front of his eyes and then the tiny robotic arms retreated. The orc woman’s arm slowly returned back to the way it was. The seams in her skin that hid the metallic parts were nearly invisible and Sage could barely make them out even when he was staring where he knew they existed. If he used his Spiritual Sense he could likely find them instantly, now that he knew what he was looking for, but using Spiritual Sense upon strangers was considered extremely rude and might cause a fight to break out for many. Which meant that he would not have an easy way to know if someone he met was carrying any alterations to their body like this orc woman was.

Guess I’ll have to find another way.

Grec’ca leaned back when her arm had returned completely to normal and Sage lifted up his hand to get a better look at the ring around his finger. He reached up with his other hand and lightly moved it, finding that it really was just a ring and not fused into his flesh. Yet, only a moment after touching it there was a change as Sage heard a voice.

-Synchronizing-

The orc woman had already turned to leave, heading back into a door behind the counter while the blue haired woman beside him had turned to him with a smile, “Did you hear it? If you close your eyes you’ll see it as well.”

Sage did as she said and he saw a screen materialize on the backs of his eyelids, or at least that’s what it felt like was going on. A good amount of ‘text’ scrolled past, or at least he guessed it was since it was all strange symbols he didn’t recognize. It was also a centered column so he had no idea if it was even read from right to left or left to right, but it was flowing upwards so at least it was probably read from top to bottom. He opened his eyes again and it was gone, so he opened and closed his eyes a few times to confirm it before looking at Reese.

“How is it controlled?”

“With your eyes closed, just focus on what you want it to do. The ring will pick up your surface thoughts. It has a list of its own functions, but many more are unlocked if you are at a Repository.”

Upon the Inner World, there was a flurry of activity. Many reports that would be given to Sage on a daily basis were rerouted as they learned of the capabilities of the ring. If it could read thoughts they had no idea how much the authorities on the Universe Ring had already learned of their operations. Did the old Universe Ring they had possess the same capabilities? Was it something that required contact, or could they read his mind anytime he had gone ‘into’ the Universe Ring? There was almost a sense of relief as the most controversial of their plans had only been set into motion after losing the ring to the Sea King and this discovery caused them to compartmentalize their plans so that Sage could no longer remain informed of what was going on. This all hinged upon the premise that those on the Inner World were safe from the powers of the ring, since if that wasn’t the case they’d get found out in just a moment. They could only hope that only Sage’s body in the outside world was vulnerable and by never giving him any updates there would be nothing for them to learn.

Eventually, the scrolling text came to a stop and only three lines remained.

-Query Target-

-Mandatory Tasks-

-Transportation-