Left Direction was shaken. What was this little devil saying!?
'Her Ancestral knowledge must be incomplete!'
Left immediately understood. If she had her devil lineage's knowledge she wouldn't be asking such a bold question.
'Fear not bosom buddy! ol' Lefty will guide your blind path forward!'
Left's desperation for socializing willed him into speaking the secrets of the world to a newborn devil.
The eye swayed left to right, an indication of violently shaking his 'head'.
"Impossible little Hannya, even some Archdevils would die from that wish."
Hannya was perplexed at the eye's reaction. She didn't remember reading about something like this, she was even sure of the possibility. She only assumed the cost was high.
"What do you mean?" she questioned.
"Well, It's complicated. Devil's are indeed powerful, but they pledge to no gods. Only individuals that form soul contracts with a god can access an Akashic Intelligent system."
The eye looked at Hannya for a bit, then continued.
"I'm aware you possess 6 stars, the highest for a devil. You indeed have frightening potential, but even if you reach the current level of top power houses in Neel, the mana you expend for a system would kill you. And if it does not, you would become something close to a vegetable."
Left couldn't yap to a vegetable! It would be no different than talking to the table they were seated at!
Hannya pursed her lips, Akashic system? That phrase was never written in the thousands of chapters in the story. And only gods can do such a feat? That didn't sound right.
Sure they were powerful, but there were devils out there that could slap them around.
"Are the gods really that powerful here?" She asked. She felt that she was missing critical information.
The eye sighed.
"It seems I was correct. You only have a portion of your Ancestral knowledge. If you had, you'd be aware of your kins pitiful deaths along with the type of positions gods have in Neel."
He looked at her in pity. Knowledge was power, to him, she looked more and more like a blind girl unknowingly walking toward a speeding carriage.
Hannya gritted her teeth at this guy's haughtiness. Sure he was just an eye but his expressions were clear to her.
"Just answer the question." she hissed.
"Sigh , No they aren't 'that powerful', compared to the master, they are small fry. The reason they can grant their champions AI systems is because they can borrow the world's mana well to syphon the energy needed instead of their own reserves. That's the perk of godhood. In exchange they can't enter Neel for extended periods of time."
Hearing that, everything clicked. Hannya finally understood why no devils had systems in the past.
'Wait a minute..'
Hannya looked at the eye in confusion and suspicion.
"If it's not possible, what about the 6th Vainglory?"
The eye trembled. How? How does a newborn devil know of the young genius!?
Rage could be seen in the eye, and it's killing intent soared.
The air around the white expanse became thick and heavy and the ground began to tremble slightly.
Left was angry, he had seen the despicable betrayal of Vainglory's companions and the devil of greed. He had also seen the pathetic future of Vainglory to come.
His heart harvested for power, his brain lobotomized for secrets, his eyes removed for human magic artifacts, he was even castrated for the use of beastkin aphrodisiacs!
How can he not be angry? However, the anger didn't stem from his like of the child. In fact he barely knew him personally.
What angered him was, as the little girl mentioned, Vainglory had a system!
Not an AI system, heck, it could barely be called a system. In truth, it was more of a 'calculator' than anything else. But Left would never voice such an opinion.
Why?
Because that was the boon the Master himself gave to the young devil.
The Observer's boon!
The eye finally realized the little devil in front of him was on the brink of unconsciousness.
'Heavens! My buddy!'
He quickly reined in his aura and killing intent. When the air no longer solidified, Hannya collapsed onto the table.
"Gasp gasp"
She gritted her teeth, she was utterly helpless. She couldn't do anything. She even knew Left wasn't directing his anger at her, yet she was still almost crushed to death as collateral!
'I need to get the rest of the information and get out of here, I need to gather my strength!'
This was no longer the earth she knew. Any random tantrum from a powerful being could kill her.
'How am I supposed to protect Vainglory with this little amount of strength?'
She felt her anger boil.
Left observed the girl billing in anger, he knew he made a mistake, making a devil feel powerless tends to make them rather vengeful. At this rate, he could lose another buddy!
"Cough cough umm… little Hannya, I apologize for letting my emotions run wild."
He gave a small bow. He peeked over at her.
Hannya just stared at Left with an aggrieved look.
"..."
'Tch! Not enough huh?"
"Cough to show my sincerity as a buddy, I am willing to compensate for your emotional damages with a boon."
At those words, Hannya's ears perked up.
Left shook his head inside his heart seeing that.
'Still a young devil. Only benefits in their minds.'
The eye, that was currently trading a heavenly boon for a gossip companion, thought.
"But….before that, where did you hear of the name Vainglory? He should not be a record in your ancestral knowledge."
Hannya remained calm, her openness to mention Vainglory's name was, of course, calculated!
She needed to know his whereabouts and the current state of Hellnia. And Left was the best person to ask for when it came to accuracy and truthfulness.
Why? Because The Observer and his eyes don't have a camp in Neel, they don't intervene in the world's events. They just watch…and gossip.
They are so neutral that the observer simply watched as Damien destroyed the mana connection of the world for his lovers and left.
So with that in mind Hannya answered, her voice firm.
"Vainglory's destiny is now tied with mine."
For some reason, the line made Hannya feel a strange sensation in her heart, but she pushed it down for now.
The only way to explain her knowledge of Vainglory was… obviously lying.
The eye could only snort at her words. He'd heard it plenty of times before. Those words were annoying.
"Fine, I know the rules, little one. 'Too many questions lead to too many changes'. I'll wait for the next path break, since I'm still curious about what you've seen."
Left knew talking about the future with Hannya was now impossible, but broken paths were still interesting. He shook his head, yapping about that was better than nothing.
"Of course you're a fate Devil. A Luxuria branch with a fate mutation, quite rare, but It all makes sense now. The readings on your soul discovery, my inability to see your future, why the master asked me to offer you a boon during the name selection…is the platform making a move?" Left wanted to speculate such a draw from Hellnia's devil pool.
Through Left's mumblings, Hannya was initially pleased with the result of her subterfuge, until she heard something that made her fury soar.
'This bastard slid a gift in place of my compensation!'
She wrote down this slight in her heart. Vengeance was brewing in the little devil's mind. She would get that compensation.
"Anyways, I'd like to know his current location and also how he obtained a system?"
Hannya asked, secretly ignoring the single freebie offer Left mentioned earlier.
The eye sighed once more.
"Vainglory's 'System' was a boon given by the Master called [Quantifier] at his birth, It was essentially just an encyclopedia fused with a calculator. It gave him no special abilities outside of understanding the things he saw."
"Wait, wait… didn't Vain have the [All Seeing Eyes]?" she questioned.
Left did not miss the way she referred to 6th Vainglory as 'Vain' but he said nothing.
"The master gave him [Quantifier] because he possessed the [All Seeing Eyes], a mutation like that would have destroyed his mind, and the master wanted to see what such an ability could achieve at its peak. The only time the master showed interest in Neel's happenings… and those bastards…"
Left could feel his anger rising once more, so he swallowed his words.
'Hidden lore?'
Yet another event unexplained in the book, Hannya just assumed being the intelligent cold handsome Vainglory was, he just created one using a wish!
"Anyways" Left continued. " As for where he is, he is bound at the bottom of the endless abyss in greed's domain."
Hannya's eyes shone. This was the perfect opportunity!
They have already moved him to the abyss. No one bothers to guard that place, in the eyes of Greed's followers there is no escape out of there.
Only after the magic Hero Abigail steals Vainglory's heart do the other Heroes of the other races begin poking around and taking parts of his body, leading to Greed's followers to move him once more.
'Heroes huh?'
Hannya's eyes turn cold. They dare touch what belongs to her? Her everything?
'Let's see how they like it.' Dark thoughts began to swirl in her mind.
Left, witnessing the rapid shift of Hannya's emotional state, couldn't help but feel a 'headache' coming on.
'From the look of things, she's dreamed of that future of her fated one as well, as expected of a bosom buddy! But…'
He could see her greed and promise of retribution. Her facade of composure earlier crumbled instantly when he mentioned the abyss.
'...attachment really isn't suited for devils. It always brings so much chaos.'
Both Devils were supreme bloods too. Left tried his best to suppress a heavy sigh. This would bring him a lot of work in the future, he was sure.
'At least the future of Vainglory might change now.'
To improve her mood, the eye spoke.
"Be at ease little Hannya, it has been 664 years since the gates of Hellnia has been destroyed. There are two years before anyone or anything can pass through." the eye said meaningfully.
And as he expected, Hannya looked at him with her cold eyes and grinned.
"Then there is more than enough time." Without much effort Hannya had obtained the answers she needed to move with purpose.
With that Hannya stood up and reached out her hand to the eye, not in the form of a handshake, but in the form of one requesting payment.
"Now if you will, Mr. Left, My boon."
Left was speechless. He had gone out of his way to comfort the devil and she didn't even give him a warm smile or thanks! They hadn't even made a deal for time yet!
'Shameless!'
But the more he thought, the more he realized he may have spilled the beans about the boon he had agreed to give her as 'compensation'. Upon failing to keep his mouth shut once again, he had lost another bargaining chip. He could only swallow his grievances.
With a reluctant sigh, he blinked twice.
DING
[Observer's Boon has been acquired!]
[The ability {Quantifier} has been established!]
[Status is now available!]
[Bestiary is now available!]
[Herbarium is now available!]
[Racial encyclopedia is now available!]
…
…
Seeing the familiar transparent text floating in the air, and the heavenly ding of notifications. Hannya was overjoyed.
'A System! Well, sorta. But still!'
The Quantifier had no quest tabs, no text to speech, and there was no store, but Hannya didn't care. She was a devil! She only needed a tool to help measure her own growth, so this was perfect for her.
'Now the moment of truth.'
Not caring about the other party, she stood up haughtily, pointed to the air, and shouted.
"Status!"
[
Name: Hannya 6th Luxuria
True Name: (?)
Lv: 1 - Young Devil
Age: 12
*NAA - Normal Awakened Average - at current level
MP: 500/500 - (NAA: 100/100)
CHI: 400/400 - (NAA: 100/100)
STR: 25 - C-
DEX: 50 - B-
INT: 70 - B+
END: 25 - C-
CHA: 45 - C+
CHM: 90 - A+
LCK: 5 - E - (Favored)
Bloodline: 6 Star Heart Devil(Mythical awakened)(Awakening…)
Wishes: 1(-5)
Devil Aspects: 4
Devil eyes: (Unawakened) Devil heart: (Unawakened) Devil Physique: (Unawakened) Devil Knowledge: (Locked)
Potential: SS
Innate Abilities(Passive): Subtle Charm(S), Danger Sense(C)
Innate Abilities(Active): Method Actor(S), Devil's Whisper(B), Hasty Retreat(E - Growth), Vicious Strike(A), Devilish Pose(EX)
Learned Abilities(Passive): Enduring Will(F - Growth), Cold Reading(C)
Learned Abilities(Active): NONE
Boons: Quantifier,(??? - missing information)
Curses: Greed's Mark, (??? - missing information)
]
…
…
Left was amused by the little girl's excitement by his master's boon. He inexplicably felt a sense of pride in the gift he previously attempted to double dip with.
'Ah well, I did promise a compensation boon, maybe I could also…'
He froze, incredulity flashed in his big eye. Why was he even considering giving TWO boons to a baby devil? On top of that a shameless one!
He looked back at the young devil and his eye became bloodshot.
She was no longer pointing in the air in excitement; she was staring into the empty air with black lines on her face.
"Is this some kinda joke?" she said.
'I Knew it! Devils are never satisfied! One look at her stats and she wants more!'
Left felt like he would pass out from anger. How could someone be so ungrateful! His Master had given this to her!
"Hey wazowski, can you see this?"
Hannya pointed to the empty air, Left assumed she meant her status screen. He ignored what he assumed to be some childish insult and answered.
"I could if I wanted to, but I dare not; The master gave you that, so it is for your eyes only."
He then added "That goes for the ones in Neel as well."
"So no one else can see my status?"
"Correct." Left said curtly, he did not explain that his Master had allowed this function due to her mark.
"Can I see others?"
"Of course; You don't technically have a system. It is a divine boon from a high god, and its ability is to quantify things, therefore everything you see, touch, or hear, everything will be labeled for you. As long as you will it."
"I see, then that's perfect." Hannya smiled. At least that's an advantage. She knew appraisal existed in this world, and some of the Heroes loved to abuse it to get ahead.
Hannya looked at Left, a newfound gleam in her eye.
'He really is useful.'
She had realized that he had already forgotten the deal he had prepared for the second she began to ask questions, her one freebie already forgotten. Since she was in a good enough mood, she decided to hear a couple of scand- secrets of the world for a while with him.
She walked back to her seat and sat down.
"Enough about me, let's talk about whatever you want to talk about for our last 60 minutes buddy."
Hearing Hannya's words, Left was overjoyed. He dared not waste anymore time, he had to cram all the drama happenings on Neel in a mere 60 minutes! Painfully unaware they had made no such deal nor time limit.
With a 'System', the timeline, and Vainglory's whereabouts. Hannya began to brew her plan of success, while Left chatted away about things that meant nothing to her.