"Mass fraud," he said.
"What?" Kai was confused by the answer.
"Investnt sche. I ruined about four thousand families." He picked up his cup.
"I died and the system condemned to this world to pay my debt by entertaining people from so unknown place."
"The system in this world has a very specific sense of humor when it cos to the ability it gave ."
"Did you use it on purpose? At first?"
Long pause.
"Yes."
Kai nodded.
Not with approval or condemnation.
"And now?"
"Now I have forty-seven won who depend on this village to live, a system I can’t fully deactivate, and eight hundred forty-two thousand viewers watching try not to make a situation worse that I made worse myself." Jason set down his cup.
"And soone at the guild who doesn’t understand the difference between ’dangerous mage’ and ’complicated situation’ put my na on a red sheet."
Kai looked at the quest sheet still in his pocket.
Then at Jason.
"The quest says lethal magic of unconfird classification."
"Yes." Jason extended his hand.
A blue fla appeared in his palm — small, perfectly spherical, the kind of temperature Kai already knew from the combat room in the dungeon.
"Soul fire," Jason said.
"Side effect of the enchantnt system when I reach certain influence levels. I didn’t ask for it. I don’t control it well." The fla went out.
"Two hunters who ca to investigate two months ago saw it activate accidentally when I got startled. They ran. And I suppose in the report they put ’lethal magic’ because technically it is."
---
[GarcíaFTW: SOUL FIRE. THAT’S WHAT THE HUNTERS SAW.]
[NocheEterna99: he got startled and it activated on its own. The hunters ran and put "lethal magic" in the report.]
[StrearHunter: Kai has the face of soone completely recalculating the quest.]
[xSorinx: "complicated situation" not "dangerous mage." The difference matters.]
---
Kai was silent for a mont.
"What do you want?" he finally asked.
Jason looked at him.
"What do I want?"
"From this situation. From the village. From the system." Kai set his cup on the table.
"What outco do you want?"
It was the most direct question anyone had asked him in four years.
Jason took his ti answering.
"I want the won of the village to be able to leave if they want," he said.
"Without the system holding them back." Pause.
"And I want to learn to control it better. So the range of influence shrinks. Eventually to zero if possible."
"Can that be done?"
"I don’t know. But you’ve been here sixteen days and you already have things I haven’t been able to do in four years." He looked at Serah.
"And an SSS who clearly made her own decisions."
Serah looked at him from her position behind the chair.
"I am not under any system effect," she said, in a perfectly flat voice.
"I know," Jason said. "That’s why I ntioned it."
---
[NocheEterna99: "I am not under any system effect" — Serah clarified that very quickly]
[GarcíaFTW: Jason used it as an argunt in Kai’s favor. Smart.]
[StrearHunter: this isn’t going to end in a fight. Kai is thinking about sothing different.]
[xSorinx: there’s sothing Jason hasn’t said yet. I saw it on his face when he ntioned the four years.]
[Pedro_Sierra: Kai is analyzing the situation wondering why everything has taken this unexpected turn.]
---
It was Serah who noticed it first.
"There’s sothing else," she said.
It wasn’t a question.
Jason looked at her. Then at Kai.
"Yes," he said.
He picked up his cup. Set it down without drinking.
"Three weeks ago, soone contacted my stream," he said.
"Not a normal viewer. Soone who knew exactly what I am, how my system works, and how long I’ve been here." Pause.
"They offered information on how to leave Aethon."
Kai looked at him.
"In exchange for what?"
"In exchange for information about you."
Complete silence in the room.
[System — notification]
[The system notes that the conversation has reached a significant information point]
[The system suggests sothing doesn’t add up — recomnds not trusting this man]
---
[GarcíaFTW: SOONE KNOWS ABOUT KAI]
[NocheEterna99: AND THEY WENT TO JASON TO GET INFORMATION]
[StrearHunter: "in exchange for information about you" — WHO]
[xSorinx: Jason is telling us this. He didn’t take the deal. Or he did take it and he’s warning us. I don’t know which is worse.]
[Deral_Bleattler: viewers: 780,000. The number went up just from the silence.]
---
"Did you take it?" Kai said.
Jason looked at him steadily.
"No," he said.
Kai studied him for three seconds.
"Why not?"
"Because whoever contacted knew too much about to be soone who wants to help ." Jason finally picked up his cup and drank.
"And because you’ve been here sixteen days, there’s no reason to be against you."
"And what does that have to do with anything?"
"Because if soone wants information about you with that kind of urgency," Jason said, "it’s probably worth more to be on the side that doesn’t give them that information."
Kai looked at him a mont longer.
"Who contacted you?"
Jason opened his system panel.
Navigated to the viewer logs.
Turned the panel toward Kai.
The userna in the log was simple.
Three letters.
[A_D_M]
---
[GarcíaFTW: A_D_M]
[NocheEterna99: ADM. ADMINISTRATOR.]
[StrearHunter: THE STREAM WORLD ADMINISTRATORS ALREADY KNOW ABOUT KAI]
[xSorinx: and they went looking for him through Jason THREE WEEKS AGO. Before the dungeon.]
[Deral_Bleattler: this just stopped being cody]
[Current viewers: 890,000]
[The system notes a viewer increase of 97% in the last 4 minutes]
[The system also notes that Kai has been silent for 30 seconds]
[For Kai, that’s a long ti]
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