"Mr. Ozymandias. I have to admit, I was surprised to learn a man of your fame would stop by my small island. I wonder what brought you here?"
The first thing Eden noted was the was this Lord addressed him. His subordinates had called him Sir, implying respect, while he had stuck to a simple mister, meaning he was polite, but superior. He had also called the island his, which held strong meaning in the era of expanding empires that was the 1700s.
The man, who had been sitting, peered up his glasses, keeping the same refined pause. He almost looked like he was posing for a painting, his stance probably comfortable but undoubtedly classy.
This still did not hide the dark feeling Eden had felt, though.
That did not scare Eden in the slightest though. If anything, it intrigued him.
He placed a hand onto the free chair, not to sit, but to lean against it in a casual manner. After all, sitting without being invited to would be plain disrespectful, but to remain standing like an arrow would show subservience, so he felt like this was a good middle ground.
If he thought anything of it, the Lord of the island did not show any trace of it, so Eden spoke, keeping up with the casual attitude, "I am simply passing by, looking for a job that would require my set of skills."
This was about as direct as Eden could be to ask for a side mission. Seeing the Lord smile, Eden knew he was onto something, but he still added, "I apologize for my ignorance, but to whom do I have the pleasure of talking?"
The Lord's smile did not waver as he replied, "My subjects and the Queen know me as Lord Morgan, but my friends call me Henry."
This sounded like a test, to see whether Eden would dare to call him by his first name or not.
Eden preferred to avoid it entirely, preferring to perform his own test instead, "So, Henry Morgan?"
The name did not ring any bell, but Eden found that repeating things with a questioning often led to people divulging more than they intended. If there was something to be known, a secret of some kind, it would give them the illusion that Eden knew about it.
And if there was one thing Eden had learned all these years dealing with people above him, it was that powerful people held many secrets.
And sure enough, Morgan's smile turned self deprecatory as he said, "Yes, like the infamous pirate who wrote the Pirate Code, and who died 40 years ago. I have suffered from the name, thinking I am his descendant. I can assure you, I am not."
Eden wisely kept quiet, as this tended to lead to even more information. When faced with silence, people would do their best to fill it up.
And anything Eden could learn from Morgan, he would take. The man was strong, hence important. It was fine for someone to have physical stats high enough for him to be able to see them, but Morgan also trumped his magical attributes, meaning he had to be a strong mage.
None of those learned in the arts of mysticism were to be underestimated, especially in this kind of world. NPCs hardly trusted Player mages, but the same was true the other way around. NPC mages always tended to be craftier, and harder to deal with.
Seeing that Morgan did not intend to expend on his name, Eden changed the subject by slightly pulling the chair he leaned on, and asked, "May I?"
Morgan gestured with his hand, silently giving his approval. Eden dragged the chair against the ground, making a ratting noise before he sat down, and asked, "So, Mr. Morgan, why did you call me? Would you happen to have a problem that would require my particular set of skills to deal with?"
No words were ever innocent, and the higher one climbed, the truer this got. And Eden found that neutrality often worked best with those superior to him. By neither deferring to him as Lord Morgan, or calling him Henry, but Mr. Morgan, Eden expressed his stance.
This was a subtle way of saying that while Eden respected him and his position, he would not be blindly ordered around either, and that if he wanted anything out of him, he should also offer something.
Morgan did not comment on Eden's choice, hence respecting the balance Eden had set as he replied, "I had two reasons for bringing you here. The first was that I wanted to learn of your purpose here. As I'm sure you would understand, I like to know what important people come to my island for."
Eden wanted to ask if he was worried Eden was here on a job, but that would be far too direct, implying Morgan was involved with something a Monster Hunter would hunt, so he instead asked, "And the second one?"
Morgan closed his book, setting it to the side as he raised his glasses, admitting with a smile of approval, "As you guessed, I do have a job that requires your unique skill-set."
"We may be rare, but I would not call Monster Hunters unique."
This was another bait. Eden had never heard of Monster Hunters in the Pirates of the Caribbean universe, but for people to recognize him as a famous one, there had to be others.
This time though, Morgan did not bite straight away. Instead, he got up from his chair, passing a hand through his long silver hair as he sighed in a tired voice, "I assure you, they are to me."
Although Morgan had not admitted anything, Eden felt like there was something more, so he probed a little harder, "As a professional, let me advise you, Mr. Morgan: you should not hire someone merely based on their reputation."
Morgan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Eden, but he was not worried. While it might sound like Eden was shooting his own foot, for Morgan to fetch him personally, without Eden doing anything, meant he already knew he was qualified for the side mission.
Morgan studied his expression, and probed back, "One could almost think you are belittling your fellow Monster Hunters, Mr. Ozymandias."
Eden smiled but said nothing, eventually prompting Morgan to say with a victorious smirk, staring right into Eden's eyes, "I must admit that I disagree with you here. After all, I already expected a lot from a Monster Hunter of your renown, but I still did not expect you to be learned in the arts of mysticism."
[Intelligence check…]
[Intelligence check overruled by 'Soul Overlord'!]
[Wisdom check…]
[Wisdom check overruled by 'Soul Overlord'!]
In an age where witches were still burned at the stake, exposing someone as 'learned in the arts of mysticism' was considered as something shocking, that would probably rattle about anyone. At the same time, Eden also felt a strong presence touch his mind, prompting the Intelligence and Wisdom, but it was swiftly shattered by his Talent.
Interestingly, it felt very different from the Analysis skill, though Eden did not know what its true nature was.
Whatever it was, Eden remained impassive. He might have been worried, had it been another NPC, but Morgan was a mystic himself.
Still, he had to keep up appearances, so he went at him softly, his tone faux-questioning, "The mystic is a vast subject, who is to say my supposed area of expertise aligns with your goals?"
Eden acted like both of their connection to the mystic was in the conditional mood, but his tone showed that it was anything but.
Despite his spell failing, Morgan smirked. His facial expression no longer had any of his earlier grace, his smirk showing traces of wildness as he decided to be the one to break the status quo.
"I can sense the presence of darkness on you, Mr. Ozymandias. Maybe you dabbled in the arts yourself, maybe you simply faced it one too many times. Either way, I am not one to judge, as I believe every branch of the mystic is worth studying. And whichever it is, it will be useful for this job."
Eden might act like he cared about appearances, but all he cared about from Morgan was a side mission, and he sensed that it was getting closer. Moreover, it sounded like it was a good one, as it apparently had some pretty strict requirements.
A certain level of reputation, strength and knowledge in dark magic, how many players of his level could claim to have all three? Seeing the other Players' reactions to the Necronomicon, dark magic sounded like an area of expertise that would be shared by very few people.
Even if all dark magic was not as dangerous to the user as the Necronomicon was, it would always hold a certain level of danger toward the user. It was dark magic, after all.
Moreover, these were only the conditions Eden knew about. For all he knew, there might have been more hidden conditions he had met needed to trigger this side mission.
Rubbing his chin to show he was thinking about it, Eden said, "What is the job then?"
Morgan opened a nearby drawer, and took out a map. Unfurling it, he said, "Somewhere on this island is a cave, one I have unfortunately been bared access from. What I need you to do is fetch a certain item from that cave."
[Side Mission (Explore the Cave): The mysterious Lord Henry Morgan has tasked you with searching for an artefact within a dangerous cave. Bring the item back to Lord Morgan to complete your mission.]
As expected, this all led to a side mission. Containing his excitement, Eden asked, "I am going to need a little more information to carry out this mission. What kinds of dangers should I expect? What is the item I will be looking for?"
Morgan nodded matter-of-factly, but warned, "This matter requires secrecy as it pertains to important secrets of mine, and I would very much prefer for there to be no rumors of my dealings spreading around, so I am going to need you to sign a magical contract before accepting the mission."
Eden frowned at the mention of the contract, but Morgan wiped it out just the same, before handing it over to Eden. Apparently, he had prepared it beforehand.
[Magical Contract]
[Rank: Rare]
[Punishment 1: Inflict status effect 'Severe Migraine' and 'Memory Loss']
[Punishment 2: Inflict status effect 'Instant Death']
[Clause 1: If either parties tries to speak of the ongoing meeting to a third party, they shall be inflicted with 'Punishment 1'.]
[Clause 2: If either party tries to mention the deal to a third party through any medium of communication, they shall be inflicted with 'Punishment 2'.]
[Clause 3: Any attempt to go against the deal will result in 'Punishment 2'.]
This was the first time Eden saw anything remotely similar to this in Dreamland, but to be fair, there were many things he did not know about Dreamland. Besides, he did expect something similar to exist.
After all, what worth was there in a man's mere word? In a world of magic, a spell that forced one to keep their word sounded like one of the first things to be created. What was more unexpected was Morgan taking such drastic measures to not only protect the mission, but their very meeting, meaning this held a great deal of important to him. Much greater than he had portrayed so far.
After all, to Eden, his Rare rank Necronomicon Copy was his most precious item, while Morgan was ready to use a probably perishable contract of the same rank to ensure the secrecy of the whole matter.
The punishments were also no joke. The first sounded unpleasant, but the second was instant death.
But as he read it, the strongest emotion Eden felt, was curiosity, followed by greed. This contract would be a sure way of ensuring the trustworthiness of anyone else, but Eden was not like everyone else. He had his Talent, Soul Overlord.
During the past week, apart from his training, Eden had tried to learn more about his mysterious talent. He had not found much, but there was one feature he was getting more certain about every time it activated: total immunity to mental debuffs, or at least magically transmitted ones.
This was what had happened with the Necronomicon after all. Health Loss and insanity had been among the many debuffs he had suffered the first time he touched the book, but after he awakened his Talent, none of them could affect him again.
And Eden believed he was immune to these, and not simply resistant, because it was not just the Necronomicon he had resisted, but the charm from Lady Phoenix, as well as any Analysis thrown his way.
One was a status effect coming from a player that was obviously at the very top of the player-base, and the other was a system skill, one that was sometimes used by players just as powerful as Lady Phoenix. After all, while the average player would never interact with players of that level, Eden frequented the Nightmare Realm, which was shared by Players of all levels.
Of course, Eden's Talent did not make him completely immune to all debuffs. Any transmitted physically, such as the bleeding effect from Jason's Machete, worked all the same, as Eden had failed the Physique check when he had tried it on himself.
But even then, if his Talent truly shielded him from any magical debuff, it remained absolutely broken. Debuffs were a big part of magic, and skills in general. And in this case, if Eden was right about his assumption, then it should extend to magical contracts, since they were- well, magical.
The ability to ignore any and all magical contracts was game breaking, as he supposed it was something both Players and NPCs would rely on the stronger they were. As Morgan did.
Still, it was still only theoretical at the moment. He did not know for sure whether he really was immune to all debuffs, if the punishments of a contract would be counted as such, or if Instant Death could even be considered as a debuff.
After all, while he showed at least partial immunity to magical debuffs, he certainly was not immune to magical attacks. For example, if struck by Dark Bolt, the spell that came with the Necronomicon, Eden would take 100 necrotic damage, but his stats would not be decreased.
So while Eden had the very real possibility of being able to cheat the contract, he would rather not test his theory out with a clause that had 'Instant Death' as one of its punishments.
That did not stop Eden from being very interested in the deal, though. After a moment, he said, "I can agree to this. But considering how much you value the secrecy of this meeting and this job, I can't help but fear for my safety. What tells me you won't just kill me once the job is done?"
All pretense had already flown out the window by this point.
Apparently happy he was so frank, Morgan smiled, and praised, "I like working with smart people. I suppose you will be leaving the island soon, won't you?"
Eden nodded, "On the morrow, slightly before evening. To catch the pirates off guard."
Morgan raised an eyebrow and expressed his doubts, "I didn't expect a man like you to be part of the navy."
Eden recognized the probe for what it was and replied, "It's only recent. They wouldn't reject a Monster Hunter."
Morgan teased, "What about a user of dark magic?"
"They'd have to know first."
Morgan may appear cordial, Eden was not about to inform Morgan of his every whereabouts, magical contract. Although he could guess Morgan was about to add a clause to it, since he could potentially ignore its punishments, he would rather assume this ability was not unique than get shanked in the back.
Morgan smiled like he knew something more, but Eden's expression moved like stone, so he said, "Let me add a clause then."
Morgan took the contract back, and fiddled with it, before showing it back to Eden.
Indeed, a new clause had been added, that went: 'If either party tries to harm the other physically or spiritually, or to track them down with ill intent in the three days following the contract's signature, they shall be inflicted with 'Punishment 2'.'
Eden nodded slightly, believing it to be fair, before asking, "What about my reward?"
Although he would rather not seem desperate for it, having already hinted at needing one before, Morgan had still not said anything about it, and if Eden could bind him by contract, then he would.
Morgan raised his hand at his question, to placate him, "The task I am sending you on is a dangerous one, even for one with your previously established special skills," Eden did not bother correcting him, "so I will pay you in advance, once you sign the contract, since it might increase your chances of success."
At least Morgan made it clear that this was no charity of his. Still, it appeared he was quite desperate for what was in that cave. That meant Eden would receive Morgan's genuine help at least until he got that item.
Eden looked at Morgan, the contract, then faked hesitation for a second for appearances' sake, before signing it.
[Side Mission (Explore the Cave) Accepted!]