The Morality System

The crystal canine collapsed after the 20th giant spike I plunged into its body. Abigail had weakened it with a suffocating bubble around its head and I finished it off.

This time when the crystal chest spawned, I just put my hand into the chest and every crystal I touched shattered into useless pieces. Once I was done destroying all the crystals I got a notification.

[You have performed a good act! +50 good aura (15)]

The first time we ran the dungeon, it took us just under 2 hours. The second time it took about an hour and the third time it took 30 minutes. At this rate, we could hit the dungeon a few more times before moving on to the next task. Meeting Nico at Beer.

"Do you want to hit the dungeon a few more times?" I asked. "It's not even noon yet."

"Sure! Let's do it!" Abigail said. "And then we can run the dungeon." She winked at me.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," I said smiling.

"Oh I'll threaten you with a lot more than a good time," Abigail said, a devious smile on her face.

"What does that mean?" I said.

"You'll see," she said.

We hit the dungeon 6 more times before noon. My remarks to Carl became more and more ridiculous.

—

"Do you miss your friends?" I asked.

"Yes," Carl said with tears in his eyes.

—

"Is mining your favorite activity or something?" I asked.

"No," Carl said

"What is it?" I asked.

"Making soap!" Carl said as he swiped his pickaxe at me.

—

"What kind of soap?" I asked the next dungeon run.

"Lavender with oatmeal exfoliant," Carl said.

"Interesting. I like it," I said.

"I'm happy you appreciate my hobby!" Carl said as his pickaxe came down.

—

"Are you happy?" I asked.

"Sooo happy!" Carl said sarcastically as he attacked me.

—

"Pull my finger," I said.

"Eww, no!" Carl said attacking me.

—

"Dude, why don't you just go home?" I asked.

Carl stopped for a moment with a puzzled look on his crystal-crusted face. "I can do that?"

"Sure you can. Just go home and make soap and be happy. I'm tired of killing you," I said.

"Oh. Ok. Uh, have a good one," Carl said dropping his pickaxe. He started walking down the cave tunnel we just came from.

There was a loud clink noise. "Ah fuck! I forgot I set these bear traps. Why didn't you disarm them when you came through here?"

"Sorry. We just disarm them in a straight line now. It's faster," I said.

"It's ok. I'll be fine," Carl grunted as he opened the bear trap and pulled out his leg. Then Carl walked out of the mine.

I looked at Abigail and said, "That was weird."

"You're telling me," she said.

After we defeated the crystal canine, and I destroyed the crystals in the chest, my good aura was at (315). I had gained good aura level 2 at 100 good aura and level 3 at 250 good aura. I turned on good aura level 3.

[Good Aura level 2: People are likely to see you as a good and trustworthy person]

[Good Aura level 3: People are likely to trust that you always have their best interest at heart]

The system told me that while I could display the aura of any good or dark aura level I had earned, there was a drawback. The farther away my displayed aura was from my current aura, the more mana it would drain. I thanked it for its warning and moved on.

After the last dungeon run, I checked my status. We had been popping all the cores we collected so I wanted to see what my stats were.

[Status]

[Strength: 470

Agility: 432

Stamina: 423

Intelligence: 3857

Dark Aura: 0

Good Aura: 315

Justice Points: 0

Bloodline: First of line

Class: Evil Wizard

Subclass: Bone Mage

Grimoires: Bones, Healing

Skills: Soul Inquiry, Evil Eye, Counter Evil, Auto Crit on Evil, Bonds of Loyalty, Experience Plunder, Multiplied Generosity, Emanate Good Aura (Level 1), Emanate Dark Aura (Level 1), Shared Suffering, Absolute Sincerity, Happiness Giver, Aura Manipulation]

By the time we completed the last dungeon, I was buff. Not just muscular. My muscles were huge. Normally I'd be worried, but Abigail was into it. She started calling me her "big strong man."

Meanwhile, Abigail still had dainty princess noodle arms, but she kept talking about how strong she was getting. And luckily for Abigail, I was into her dainty princess body. Not that I didn't appreciate other body types. I just thought this type looked great on her.

"So what do we do now?" Abigail said.

"Well, it's only noon, and I'm not supposed to meet with Nico until tonight. So why don't we visit Stylus early?" I said.

"That sounds agreeable," she said.

We arrived at the abandoned merchant guild hall. Stylus was waiting inside. It was rundown but functional. There was dirt everywhere but it was still furnished. There were tables and chairs. Everything we would need.

"Why so early?" Stylus said.

"There are some things I'd like to discuss. Also, we have time to kill," I said.

"He got buff in the dungeons today and he's afraid of getting too buff, so he made us stop," Abigail said.

"That's not. Whatever. We need to figure out how to find and destroy the other two branches of the Red Tail Fox Company in the city," I said.

"I don't know where they are. The only branch we had any contact with was the sales branch, and that was only through a drop-off point," Stylus said.

"They have storefronts to sell the crystals, but I don't know where their actual base is. They must resupply the stores from their base, the crystals only ever come from the base. They never go back. So there's no way to follow any one back to the base."

"What if we dropped off some crystals and followed whoever picks them up back to their base?" Abigail said.

"Wow. That actually a great idea," I said.

"Why are you so impressed? You don't think I can come up with good ideas?" Abigail said putting her hands on her hips.

"Uh, no? I just didn't know you wanted to participate in the dismantling process," I said.

"I'm just teasing you," Abigail said.

"Oh, good. I was worried there for a second," I said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"That is an excellent idea, Abigail. I wasn't surprised though," Stylus said.

"Oh, shush, you suck up," Abigail said sticking her tongue out at Stylus.

"Is that the plan then? When is the next pick up?" I said.

"Around 4 today," Stylus said.

"That's only 3 hours from now," I said.

"Then we better get going then, right?" Abigail said.

"Right," I said.