Godly Grey Sky

As Aeth walked back towards the gate, he thought about the implications of his Task.

Ten thousand Greys, that more than most people kill in a lifetime.

Most Rank X Tasks are completed around ages seven to ten years old.

After that, there IX Task, usually takes anywhere from three to five years depending on the difficulty

Aeth's X Task however, took sixteen years to complete, so people his age were Rank IX or about to be.

This was why he was surprised that Terra was still Rank X, despite being his age and so strong.

I'm not sure when she completed her Task, or even what it was, but I'm sure her IX Task is a hard one, considering she's a Rank X still, also why is she so strong for only a Rank X.

Aeth then thought of an idea.

I'm a idiot, I have Atlas

Atlas, what is Terra's IX Task.

*Answer, apologies, answer doesn't comply with System Rules*

System Rules?

Atlas, what are System Rules.

*Answer, System Rules are the rules Atlas has to comply to*

*Removing one Ethereal*

*Remaining, 16/20*

Huh? There are rules?

*Yes*

Atlas, what are the System Rules

*Answer, the System Rules are as follows*

*Rule One, only questions within your Rank may be asked*

*Rule Two, Ethereal cost must be proportional to how much Aether Torn values the question*

*Rule Three, any answers given must include Aether Torn in a shape or form*

*Removing one Ethereal*

*Remaining, 15/20*

Ah I see, this explains a lot.

So rule one is all those times Atlas told me I didn't meet the Rank requirement, so if I get to Rank IX I'll have access to more information.

The second rule is good to know, I always wondered why questions took different amounts of Ethereal every time.

This third rule though is the most tasking one, it very vague as what it means

Like could I ask, where could Aeth find a random sum of money, instead of asking, where is a random sum of money, it all seems very too exploitative.

I feel like I could get a lot of information from Atlas, more than I first thought.

In fact, why limit myself to just asking about my abilities, I could make a lot of money too.

Aeth then started smiling.

This could be the solution to my Task.

…..

Aeth had made it back to the Inner World with no issues.

He started walking back towards the Meadow District.

Before he went back to the guild, he wanted to stop by a shop to sell the Dark Tree parts.

So after a thirty minute walk, he had made it back to the Meadow District.

He turned down some allies and made it to the Sorat Shopping district, where he had shopped with Terra a few days prior.

Now Aeth didn't know any good shops to sell to, so he just walked in the first building that offered to buy materials.

The building was about the same size as Zach's had been, only it had two floors, had weird, red colored walls, with an intricate pattern.

This place looks tacky.

As Aeth walked in, he was greeted by a middle aged man at the counter.

The interior's walls were still red, with some shelves full of Grey parts like scales, talons, feathers, hide, fur, really anything you could think of.

The man had grey hair, some wrinkles on his face, and wore glasses, his hands also seemed shaky.

"Hello young man, what can I do for you?" The man said, in a soft and kind manner.

"I'd like to know if you'd buy his dark wood off me".

He placed the pile of dark wood on the counter.

"It's the body of an Abnormal Dark Tree, it was quite hard to take down"

The man then took a piece, then inspected it.

"Well it does seem to be of Abnormal Rank, and I am in need of some wood here soon, hmm"

The man thought for a few moments.

"I'll give you ten silvers for the lot"

Atlas, is ten silvers a good price for Aeth to sell this for.

*Answer, yes it would be a good price*

*Removing six Ethereal*

*Remaining, 9/20*

Damn that's a lot, why's the value of that question so high?

Maybe because I put a lot of value on it? Or maybe Atlas feels used.

"Sure, that seems fair" Shaking the man's hand.

You seem nice, I'll come back next time I need to sell something

The man then gave Aeth his money, then walked to the back with the wood.

Aeth then made his way out of the store, grinning ear to ear.

It worked! If I phrase myself as a target in the question, then I can get an answer to any type of question I want.

This was groundbreaking, maybe even cheating if you thought about it.

I can't even think about all the possibilities, I could do so much, sadly though it cost Ethereal, which I don't have a fast way of getting.

As broken as this was there were of course limitations.

First, it had to be phrased as a question, which wasn't so difficult to do.

Second, it cost more Ethereal the more valued the question is to Aeth

Third, this Rank wouldn't allow him to ask some crazy question like, how do I complete my Task as fast as I can, or what's my VIII Task.

But it could certainly help.

My main issue with my Task is how slow it'll be, it'll take almost a lifetime to complete it.

But with Atlas, I could speed it up.

I could ask, where's the closest Grey Creature to Aeth, sadly, this will definitely cost a lot of Ethereal.

I'll test it tomorrow once I get my Ethereal back up.

He then started walking back over to the guild.

I wonder if Terra found a new member, or a guild name.

…

After about ten minutes, he had made it back to the guild and looked at the sun.

Damn it's already around 6pm, oh! I wonder what Kara made.

Aeth mouth watered as he entered the guild.

He went to his room first, as he wanted to change his clothes as they reaked of the Outer World.

He unsummoned his Tools, hung up his sheath, put on a new set of clothes, and set his ten silvers on his dresser.

Wow, ten silvers, that more then I ever had in the Marsh District.

Aeth smiled, as he remembered how his life had changed so much in the past few days.

I'm unlucky and lucky, I guess you'd call that bipolar luck? I'm not to sure.

He made his way down the hall and stairs, then entered the dining hall.

He saw Terra siting down, eating some yellow, stringy thing, with some red liquid on it, and some bread.

Aeth then grabbed a plate of his own and sat down across from her.

"Hey Aeth, how'd the hunt go today" She said curiously.

"Oh it went great, no injuries, oh! And I killed an Abnormal Rank too, I sold its parts for about ten silvers".

"Oh wow! You sold it for ten? You must be a good businessman".

"You could say that".

Aeth could almost feel Atlas glaring at him.

Even if he knew she couldn't.

"Find any new members," Aeth asked, eating some of the stringy yellow sticks.

Why is so much food yellow?

"Yes! I did, I found one, she's a gloomy girl and seems to have rare type of Ability, she's also a Rank X"

"Oh that's great! So what's the ability?"

"Oh, I'm not to sure, my Reader Ability is really just a feeling, so I don't know exactly what it is, she has no intention to harm us"

Harm us, why say that?

"Well that's good, glad you found a third active member, where is she?"

"She's picking out a room at the moment, she should be down any minute"

Just then the door to the dining hall opened slowly.

A petite grey haired girl, in a ponytail, with purple eyes and a purple shirt and blue jeans on, her skin was pale and smooth.

As she walked through, Aeth [Six Sense] went off.

What? Why is that activating?

He then inspected the girl, staring at her intently as she grabbed a tray of food.

Is she gonna kill us? No, Terra's Ability said you wouldn't cause us harm, is this why she mentioned killing?

But why is my ability going off.

The gloomy girl then sat down, with a dark expression on her face.

"It's nice to meet you Aether, Terra has told me a bit about you" She said, very shyly, holding out her hand.

Is my ability wrong? No that can't be it either, god my head won't stop this ringing.

"Hello it's nice to meet you, what's your name?" Aeth said, shaking her hand cautiously, staring at her.

"My name is….. Eirene, it's nice to meet you"

She's shy? Your kidding.

How can such a small and shy girl trigger my [Six Sense]? Is it a Rule? God, this is driving me mad.

"Hey I'm truly sorry, but do you have some sort of Rule that makes you seem dangerous to others? Or something like that?

His [Six Sense] was driving him crazy.

"Umm…. I do, I do have a Rule"

"Do you mind sharing?"

"Oh no…. No I don't mind sharing, well, my Rule is called [Aphrodite's Hate].