Ten seconds passed after Rimel opened the book's cover. When she finally came back to herself, she was breathing hard.
"Tell me, kid, what's your talent? Tell me everything you see!"
"Okay, I'm telling you, Max, big brother!"
Purification
– Level 1
– Removes evil effects from sinners controlled by the Fallen and makes the target immune to control effects for the next ten seconds.
– If the Fallen is a higher level than the user, the chance of success drops by 10% per level.
– Level 2 needs 10,000 successful Purifications.
Her cheeks were red with excitement, and she was smiling so big her face seemed to stretch. She told me all about her new talent one by one.
But she wasn't the only one happy. When I heard this, I almost jumped and danced in Bagcilar District like crazy.
"This is a useful ability! It lets one of us attack while another is immune in the area!"
Sukrucuk didn't understand much, but he guessed things were going well from what I said. There were four regions in our village, and we were immune in three of them.
"Now, Sukrucuk, I'm sending you a party invitation. Do you accept?"
I had been thinking about this for a while. The party menu wasn't out yet, so I tried this, even though I wasn't sure how it worked.
"Brother Max, there's a text and two options in front of me. What should I do?"
"Calm down! Read what it says!"
From my experience, I was right — it was the party invitation for our enemy.
"The sinner named Max has invited you to join the party!"
"Yes" or "No"
"Yes, of course!"
The request reached Sukrucuk. All he had to do was accept.
"Yeah!"
A new menu opened for me. This was where I would set the party options. It was clear that the choices made use of the evil in people because of Hell.
Loot Share Random / Leader Experience Sharing Joint / Loss Proportional Kick the Sinner Out of the Party Break the Party
It was both confusing and simple for the leader. Luckily, I was here. We decided loot would go to the leader, and experience would be shared among partners.
"Come on, let's go get the last member of this village!"
I was sure the lazy one was waiting where I left him, but my teammates were worried.
"Who is this friend, Max?"
"Someone like us, he has zone immunity!"
Sukrucuk was a cautious type, usually nervous, even with me at first.
"There are four regions around us and four people who, like us, fell to the First Floor of Hell with their last sin. First, we must kill the Fallen around us as a team. Then, it looks like we'll explore other places from here!"
That was my plan. First, build the core team and level up, then move to new areas after we finish the mobs nearby. But I forgot something.
"Rimel, you took something besides books and money. What's that?"
I had completely forgotten while forming the party. I hoped she found something useful.
"Are you talking about this? Is this something to use?"
As soon as Rimel said that, she screamed. Before I could ask what was wrong, she started crying again.
"Girl, what happened again? Don't lose it all the time!"
Sukrucuk was surprised; we both waited for her to calm down.
"Max brother, this stick is called a Magic Wand!"
When she finally calmed down, she told us the name of the flat, a bit strange wooden thing in her hand. She was crying and scared but seemed lucky.
"Can you tell me the properties of the object? Then check your stats. Did anything change?"
Rimel dropped the weapon on the first mob. I hoped this chance would spread to the whole party.
Magic Wand
Level 0
Attack Power: +1
Magic Points: +1
It was a drop item from the starting village. Given the situation, it would increase the girl's most important stats by ten percent.
"Attack and Magic Points are now 11. The rest is the same!"
Rimel looked at the info on the screen and answered me.
"Ayyyy! Purification is written in the talent section. I'm so excited!"
She tried to dance with funny moves while wiping her watery eyes. Alarm bells rang in my head. I shouldn't have let her cry. I quickly changed the subject.
"Come on, let's go find our other friend!"
I changed the mood and said we would go to the Hardware District. I told them everything would be peaceful and easy. Was I going to be too optimistic again?
Suddenly, people around us fell to the ground like puppets with their strings cut. After a few seconds, I understood what was happening when they started disappearing.
The deadline had passed. After one day, these people were going to receive their punishment. After this, I walked faster because I thought our Toraman might be in this group.
When I got to where I left him, no one was there — no trace, no scent. For a moment, my knees trembled. I couldn't stand this evil world anymore. I fell. Yes, I fell.
Maybe I was only on my knees, but inside I was falling deeper. If I knew losing someone behind me would hurt this much, I would have hugged him and never let him go.
Of course, I'm not that sad. Or did you think what I just said was true?
If that lazy tin man had listened to me, he was now walking around us. If he had distracted me a little longer, that poor girl would have suffered instead. Oh well, I hope eight hours of intensive care will bring him back. If not, we would find another way to take care of ourselves.
"Wow, who's here? My brother is here!"
While I was joking, a voice echoed where we were. Toraman came running towards me with the book.
He escaped death — but how? As he ran like a mad cow, I asked him first.
"I didn't believe you, but something inside me kept saying, 'If he's telling the truth.' Just in case, I went to the bottom of the shield, sat down, saw one Fallen, and started to wait!"
He told the story again with hand and arm movements, living those moments again.
"A popping sound came behind me, and I turned around. People were falling like cut trees. At that moment, I said 'Go away.' I hit the Thinner I saw first — the man died. When he disappeared, a few coins and this book appeared!"
I didn't know if he came to Hell late or killed at the last moment. But he saved the day.
"Now, do you believe me?"
When he asked, my tone made it clear I was ready to curse if he lied.