Empathetic Link: Rank 7. Create a mental link with a target sentient being. Cost: 5500 LP.

...

What in blue blazes is this?

[Empathetic Link] is already a Rank 7 card, and clearly one of the most powerful that I have ever drawn. But this card... How is it even when I am a D-Rank [Adventurer,] somehow I can draw something this rare and powerful?

In fact, I have an extremely hard time accepting that a card like [Empathetic Link] could even have apppeared in my Destiny Deck to begin with. This card does not thematically fit with [Adventurer] at all. It doesn’t feel like some sort of general card that just happens to be in the Destiny Decks of all people who are powerful enough and lucky enough to receive it. It feels like a specialized card from some specific class, like, say, [Mage,] or perhaps [Supreme,] or maybe even [Lordess.]

But I have it now.

I... don’t know how to feel about this at all.

I do love that I have it, though. The description here is so vague that I’d need to test it out a little bit before getting a feel for it—which is impossible when it is so rare and costs over a third of my total Life Points pool—but I am willing to risk grave consequences in order to see what kinds of cool stuff it can do.

Well, that’s enough for now, since I won’t have an opportunity to use that anytime in the near future.

Now it is time... to level up!

Wait, actually, no.

First, I should do a quick overview of my Achivements Board, maybe see if there’s anything worth mentioning...

...Oh!

Level up for the first time.

✓

Join the Adventuer’s Guild.

✓

Draw a Rank 8 card.

Eat a food with a Quality Rating of at least 850.

Obtain your first map.

✓

Duel another System user.

Sleep at 10 inns.

✓

Customize your HUD.

Pray to The Goddess every day for a week.

(Progress: 0/7)

Gain 10 DP in one day.

✓

Unlock and use the Costume Changer.

Complete the tutorial softwae.

✓

Travel over 100,000 miles.

(Progress: 65%)

Sleep at 125 inns.

(Progress: 44%)

Defeat a member of royalty in battle.

Kill your first monster.

✓

Fight a B Rank opponent.

Defeat the boss of an Apex Lair.

Uncover buried treasure.

Adjust the System Personality settings.

✓

Use the Wedding function and marry another System user.

Become drunk to the point of passing out. Keep going.

Draw a Rank 5 card.

✓

Frighten a goblin away from its gold.

Perform a stunt so impressive that a bystander shouts “Superb!”

Slay a Skeleton Army General.

Kill an unarmed opponent.

Kiss someone while underneath a waterfall.

Reach E Rank.

✓

Access your Sorting Scepter to assess your options.

Reach the Top 16 of the Grand Tournament.

Sail over 10,000 miles. (Progress: 92%)

Soak at 15 hot springs.

✓

Rescue a damsel in distress.

✓

Recite the Great Commandments of the Adventurers 5 times.

Reach C Rank.

Defeat a [Toxin.]

Make love under the twilight moon.

✓

Obtain six Inventory Slot cards.

Perform a triple jump.

Discover a new location for the first time.

✓

Figure out a terrifying secret.

Obtain a Dragon skull.

Defeat 100 enemies in a single day.

Draw 1000 cards.

(Progress: 65%)

Draw 100 cards.

✓

Draw 10,000 cards.

(Progress: 6.5%)

Wow! I completed the achievement:

Rescue a damsel in distress.

That means that, sometime in the last day, I was responsible for rescuing a damsel from a perilous fate.

That can only mean...

Delta. My saving Delta from the hands of Karen and her cult was what helped me achieve this new goal.

Or Francis, maybe. He could be a damsel, in a certain way.

Or myself. Is saving myself tantamount to saving a damsel? Am I a damsel?

Either way, let me claim the reward for this achievement:

Ding!

[+3 DP.]

[63 DP.]

Amazing! Stupendous!

And now time to level up for the first time in several days... Here we come, Level 19!

...

I use 25 Destiny Points. They drain out of me and surround my spirit like a sparkling aura.

[-25 DP.]

Kabam!

I start to twinkle more brightly than even the fiery eyes of the cultists that tried to force me to become a Paso Robles follower.

And then...

Level-Up!

[Full Heal!]

[15,000/15,000 LP.]

I am now a Level 18 [Adventurer,] at D-Rank. And let’s see what stat bonuses I’ve gained:

Strength

27 (+7)

Speed

6 (+1)

Agility

6

Wisdom

6 (+1)

Defense

12

Charm

20 (-1)

Viscosity

3 (+1)

Deftness

16

Charisma

6

Manners

30 (+12)

Power

52 (+3)

Sturdiness

0

Hmmm... Wow!

My [Strength] and [Power] stats have both seen a major boost. I’m stronger than ever, and ready more than ever to face whatever opponents may wish to strike me down.

I also received a massive increase in my [Manners] stat, thanks presumably to my better understanding of Earth culture.

I am disappointed that my [Charm] stat went down, but sometimes that does happen. I just hope that it does not continue to do so, because my [Charm] is one of my healthiest and most helpful aspects.

Still, I am just one level away from being eligible to rank up, and that excites me a lot. I would do it right now, except that I want to do it in a more dramatic place and time. Francis isn’t even awake, and Delta is off somewhere else doing something I am currently unaware of, so the dramatic element is completely gone.

Instead, I wll focus my efforts on one more area that I have been neglecting for a very long time...

...

...

Breakfast.

I find the breakfast bar a few train cars down and grab myself some cold foods. Cereals, bagels, iced coffee, and a tiny pack of something called raisins.

I’m not sure what a lot of the foods I am taking actually are, but they are delicious. I get extra food for Francis when he wakes up (that is just what good friends do for one another), and now my hands are completely full carrying all of these items.

It’s been a tiring hour or so, sorting through all my stats and cards and achievements. But now I can enjoy the finer side of life: looking out the window to see the California seaside, eating a breakfast, and enjoying the quiet atmosphere of an Amtrak train.

Ahh... It’s very nice.

Very... simple, even.

It reminds me of the times when I wanted to run off with Malia, back when I was still younger and fresher in my life as an [Adventurer.] A life with no ambition towards a final goal, no progression to fantasize about, no constant churn of Life Points... It could have been a good life had I run into Malia, the love of my life, outside of the context of the constant peril and combat and stressful management situations that comes with being in the Destiny Deck System on Mystix.

Here on Earth? It’s almost too good to be true.

Ding!

[+3 DP.]

From breakfast and from our brief stop at a beautiful resort town station, I receive a total of three Destiny Points, bringing my total up to 41 DP.

I love Earth.

It’s just too bad that this peacefulness surely will not last.