Ghost of Culture

71 The Stake Of The Conques

And since the girl did not want to team up with me for this Conquest, I am not going to bother pressing the matter.

I am not going to beg her either.

Not for this kind of thing, obviously. Heh.

It is probably better for me to do this alone as well, especially when no one can see me when I am just a disembodied spirit. Probably.

I am actually unsure about being completely invisible to everyone as a ghost, but it is more than likely from my recent encounter with Zephyr in the hallway.

To be honest, I would have died if it wasn't for the ability to vacate the body and become a ghost.

And while I should have killed Zephyr when I had the chance, I just did not want to kill another person just because I could. Besides, it might create a bad impression of me on other players.

None of them seems to be as crazy as Zephyr.

I mean, none of them have tried to assault me yet.

Is it because Zephyr is a Wrathful Champion? What does that mean exactly, asides from her attempts to fight and kill everyone like Kira had stated? Feels like that is a normal thing for her. Right.

Just like perving is a normal thing to me. Hah!

Am I called a Lustful Champion because the Great Maker himself is the Primordial Sin of Lust?

Sounds very likely. Not that I am complaining. I am a super pervert after all. Ultra-super-duper pervert.

Booboobooboobs!

Just hope that my perversion does not cost me my life anytime soon. I need to keep my life to do more perverted stuff. It is my reason to exist. Hah!

Ahem.

"Fine. Be like that. But can I have your name at least? My name is Ghostly by the way. Ghostly Ghost. It was given to me by the Great Maker. He is awesome."

I response with a frown. Did not really like being rejected. It brings back bad memory, like a way back memory, from when I was in highs school. Real high school.

I am not sure what the hell is this, despite it looking and feeling like a real high school. Probably not a real high school. It is just a setting, based on a Japanese Manga.

The girl cocks head around, allowing me to see her eyes once more. They are pale greyish in color, not normal but not standout either. Strange. I usually like all girls as long as they are not dick. Literally and metaphorically speaking.

Maybe it is because of her power, whatever her power is.

She takes a moment to produce her nametag, just to show me her name. It is not in English. Not even in any language that I have ever seen before.

Looks a lot like Russian though, but not quite. I am under the assumption that everyone is from Earth, but that is not true, at least from her nametag.

Oh. Speaking of nametag, mine is embedded in the wall at the front of the school. Shit. I totally forgot about that when I run off after trying to molest Zephyr.

Well. If anyone asked about it, I will just bullshit my way out. I am good at that. Hah!

"It will be hard for you to pronounce, so I prefer to be called Ripley instead. By the way, are you calling the Primordial Sins the Great Makers?"

Ripley questions. Mostly out of curiosity, I think.

It is hard to tell from her plain face.

"Yup. Because he makes me into what I currently am, and I am grateful for it. Without the Great Maker, I would be trapped eh?"

I manage to stop myself from revealing unnecessary information. I cannot give away my secret power, as it will allow other players to counter my ability.

The ability to become an invisible and intangible ghost is the only real advantage that I have. Not quite intangible though. Still can get hurt.

Honestly, the possession power that I have is not for fighting. Well, not fighting directly.

I could find a more indirect way. Like bashing someone head in with a vase. Heh. What? It works.

"Oh, I see. May I ask which Primordial Sin your benefactor is?"

Ripley questions while paying some attention to the protagonist of the story. I am too, and so are the other players, but not as much as her. While I cannot see their thoughts due to them being players, it appears that everyone is formulating their own plan.

I should too. Possess that cunt and get more cunt. Find authorized novels in Webnovelfaster updates, better experiencePlease click for visiting.

That is pretty much it. Pretty simple, right?

The objective of the Conquest is to bring the hero and the heroine together. That is pretty much it, at least on the window. Of course, there is a little tooltip that tells me it is fine to create my own ending, as long as it does not involve stupid shit like wasting everyone.

It specifically states do not try and kill everyone in the setting or I will be heavily penalized. I guess that is probably the main reason why none of the other players are murderous. Phew.

"I will tell you mine if you tell me yours."

I answer while pondering how many Primordial Sins there are. Should be 7 right. Wrath. Lust. Gluttony. Envy. Pride. Sloth. And Greed. Yeah. That is about it. Why are there 8 players though?

"Primordial Sins of Greed, Avarice."

Ripley answers. That would make her Greedy Champion. Make sense since she didn't feel like sharing the victory with anyone. Why did she give me a healing potion though?

Oh, that is right, I am going to pay for that. That means I could get her service as long as I dish out the cash? Must be more than what she would get in return for winning the Conquest herself. Probably.

"Primordial Sins of Lust, Erosire."

I response before casting an eye at Kira, who is sleeping.

He is Slothful Champion. Simply due to his appearance and what he is doing. It is a very good guess.

"Lust? What do you lust for exactly?"

Ripley questions, completely unfazed at talking to me, a now known pervert. I am a Lustful Champion after all.

"Eh? What you mean what do I lust for? Girls, obviously. Cannot be guys. 100% straight here."

I response, finding the question weird. Lust is lust. What else could it be. Oh, I am curious if I am lustful because of the Great Maker or is it because I am lustful that the Great Maker appears before me. It is probably the latter since I have always been a pervert.

Hah!

My perversion is powerful enough to drawl the Great Maker to me!

That alone makes me super proud. Like super proud.

"By the way, what do I have to pay you for the healing potion from before? Also, just out of curiosity, where did you get healing potion from?"

I question.

"That is fine. Think of it as a gift. You haven't unlocked shops yet. Of course not, since you not like me, a Champion of Avarice. You will unlock it at level 15 or so. It depends on your stats."

Ripley answers.

"Oh."

I response simply, finding that depends on who is my Great Maker, I get different benefits. Guess I will have to grind to get to level 15 as quickly as I can. Having the ability to buy consumables is awesome.

Never know when someone is going to kill me for fucking their daughter, mother or whatever. Hah!

Out of curiosity, I ask Ripley what level she managed to unlock the shop. It was level 5. She is currently level 10. Unholy shit! I hide my level, obviously, and she did not ask, I play it cool.

No one is higher than level 10 because that is the limit for F-rank Conquest. Speaking of Conquest, this is her fourth one around. An away game since she is not the host of the game.

"This is actually my first Conquest. I want to host a game in the future. Any pointer?"

I question.

"No. Other than the fact that you should not. Hosting a game is extremely dangerous to you and those that you know. I host my first Conquest out of curiosity, and it is not something that I would do again."

Ripley responses before frowning.

"Why? It can't be more dangerous than being a visiting player?"

I question, becoming quite curious. The System did not really say much about the danger of Conquest or how it is conducted. It merely tells me a bunch of restrictions and conditions. That barely scratches the surface of what the Conquest supposes to be.

The guy sitting in the adjacent table chuckles. He is also a player from the look of it.

"Only crazy people would host a Conquest now days. This is due to the introduction of Stake. Oh. The name is Hades by the way. Not my actual name. Just something that I choose because of a friend. I am a Gluttonous Champion if you are curious."

Hades introduces himself.

"You don't really look like one?"

I question and check out his body. He is not fat. In fact, he is super lean. Physically fit. It is hard to think of him a Gluttonous Champion, who should be drowning in food, right?

"I tend to overdo things. Has nothing to do with eating like most people believe, so let leave it at that, as I don't really want to into detail. Anyway, I am feeling about straight up wasting that guy over there because we all know he is a beta protagonist like every protagonist in these kinds of setting, so who is with me?"

Hades questions, inviting Ripley and me to commit murder.

I mean, what the hell!?

Also, why is nobody in the room find that strange. I mean not the players themselves, but all of the normal students here.

They must have heard what we are talking about, yet they show no reaction whatsoever.

"You will get penalize for that."

Ripley points out to Hades. She is referring to the penalty of murdering all the major characters.

"If only I kill him myself. If we all share in the penalty, it would be fine. The achievements and bonuses that we get at the end will be more than enough to offset the penalty. But we have to do it quickly, so we get some time bonuses."

Hades points out and explains to me the finer mechanic of the penalty system. Killing major characters of the setting is not a good idea due to getting penalize.

It is a fix amount, and it is distributed amongst those who committed the deed.

Since one of the ways to conclude the Conquest is killing all the major characters, if all the players just straight up do that from the get-go, the Conquest would end instantly, netting some time bonuses.

And the faster you do it, the more time bonuses you get. It is that simple.

That said, the bonuses and rewards for completing a Conquest aren't enough to offset the penalty for a person, but it is enough for three or four people as penalty are shared amongst the offenders.

Equally too from the look of it.

I am unsure if that is true or not since this is my first Conquest. Hades has been through several already just like Ripley. The others too, probably.

"Even if I and Ghostly here agree with you on that, there are three others here, and they do not seem to be interested in doing that, especially that guy Kira in the back. I met him last Conquest, and while he doesn't seem like much, I can assure you, he is really strong. Rather not interrupt his farming unless I have to."

Ripley points out, making me look at Kira, who is sleeping.

That guy is super strong? Seriously. Did not seem like it from the outside. He is like the most lazy guy ever. He even said so when warning me about teaming up.

"Seriously? Oh. What is he farming?"

I question.

"He is Slothful Champion. He gains more Slothful Points by literally just sleeping, and there isn't nearly enough hour in the day to do so, but here in the Conquest, it is different. Time flows differently. Also, there is no consequences in making other people sleep until they die, at least for him."

Ripley answers me. That makes sense. Mine is Sexual Points. Why didn't it call Lustful Points? Not that important though.

"Wow. No consequences huh?"

An idea pops into my mind. So, I can fuck as much as I want without consequences?

That like giving me the key to the armory. Fuck yeah!

"Not for visiting players like us. For the host, there might, but it depends on what the stakes are. Those are hidden parameters in Conquest. Only visible at higher rank from what I am told."

Ripley states.

"Eh. Like what kind of stake?"

I question.

Ripley purses her lip before frowning faintly.

"Every stake is different from what I could tell, but when I did it, the setting takes some of my friends, putting them in place of characters. My friends did not recognize me, so I had assumed that it is just a coincidence. I should have paid more attention to them because they got killed in the crossfire during the Conquest."

Ripley sighs.

"They die in real life. The same way they had died in the Conquest. Being torn apart."

Ripley ends on a sad note while Hades just nods. Unholy shit! That means! That means!