CHAPTER 56: SYSADMIN

The talk with Gertrude went smoothly. She was already expecting the apprenticeship to land, and her answer was just to hug Marya and congratulate her, with tears in her eyes.

They might not be related by blood, but a mother is always a mother. Sensing their need for privacy, Cecilia returned to her home.

:::

"But, Master. How will you take Marya with you to Drakenhof?"

While Marya was at the inn packing her things to move to Cecilia’s house, Mina came and asked the crucial question.

"Well, this might not be the game anymore, but several of the game systems are still in place. But it is simple. You go there now and make a new rune in that room, then you come back."

"If you say so, it must be true."

In truth, she didn’t have a hundred percent certainty that it would work, but she felt like it would.

The ’follower’ system was a legacy that wasn’t accessible in the menus, so she couldn’t just add Marya as one. But ’trade’ was still active. Teleport runes weren’t tradeable in the game, of course, but she felt like she could bypass some of the restrictions now.

((Still, I’ll be giving a backdoor key to the queen’s home to a little girl. I only need to make sure it’s one-time use only.))

:::

Later, right before the sun dips below the horizon, Cecilia, Marya, and Mina are in the basement of Cecilia’s house.

"Do you see this glyph on the floor, Marya?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

Cecilia smiled, seeing her student as excited as ever.

"Can you appraise it?"

The girl nods and touches the rune.

[Bound Teleportation Rune (active)

A personal teleportation anchor originally created and bound to Morielen Thal’Mor. Its sigils form a lattice of mirrored coordinates written directly into the substrate of the world, allowing for instant transportation.

- A user can only maintain three active runes at any given time.

- Runes can’t be shared, duplicated, or transferred.

- Living beings, mounts, or items exceeding the transport limit are strictly banner from transit.

- Only the original owner can establish or modify their coordinates.]

"Whoa... tele... portation? Instant transportation? That’s how we will go to Drakenhof in time for dinner and then come back to sleep here?"

"Very good, Marya. That’s exactly it. A long time ago they were for the exclusive use of the players. But now..."

Cecilia produced a scroll of the type that was already familiar to Marya.

"I want you to learn most things on your own, instead of resorting to these scrolls. But this is not something you can learn in the traditional manner, so use this."

Marya nodded vigorously and took the scroll, opening and reading it with a voracious speed.

Soon, the scroll had disappeared, and Marya was already creating her first rune. She then used appraisal on it.

"It worked, Sensei! It worked!!!"

"Perfect. Congratulations, now you have your first rune. If you ever find yourself in a dangerous situation, you can simply teleport to one of your runes. Did you understand how it works?"

"That’s true... So, if bandits lock me again like this time, I can just tele... port back here? Is that the right word?"

"Yes and yes for both questions. This really saved me more than once, back in the day. Do you want to test it? You can go upstairs, then use the rune."

"Okay!"

Marya ran upstairs. She toppled on the last step but managed to regain equilibrium before crashing down.

"Be careful!"

"Yes, Sensei. I’m sorry."

She went out of the basement and closed the door behind her. A few moments later, she was standing in the center of her rune.

"Whoaaaa! This is so awesome! But Sensei, how would I use this to go to Drakenhof? Don’t I need to put my rune personally there first?"

Mina was watching it all in amused silence, nodding proudly at the girl.

"That’s my apprentice. Clever as always. Well, what I’m about to do now is against the rules. But those rules were made for a world where players did whatever they wanted and were the true rulers. The world of today is different and needs new rules."

Cecilia made her UI visible, then issued a mental command to open trade with Marya.

[Error. Subject doesn’t have inventory. Trade closed.]

((Hm... busted before the first step, huh? Inventory is another thing from the game that simply ’existed.’ It wasn’t a technique that I can ’teach.’ But let’s see...))

Cecilia focused her consciousness for the first time on that faint ’noise’ she was hearing below the surface of reality. And it responded, like water when you enter a pond, sending ripples throughout reality.

Her next mental command was to enable inventory on subject Marya.

[Checking permissions. User: Morielen Thal’mor]

[Permissions failed. Administrator not registered]

[Checking recursive permission...]

[Access granted]

[Subject Marya Solaraen - Inventory = enabled]

((IT WORKEEEEED!!!))

Cecilia couldn’t resist but do a small fist bump in the air while cracking a smile.

"Huh? Sensei, did you do something? I just felt a bit funny..."

"Yes, I did a little something. Open the system screen and see if there is something different in it."

Marya’s eyes switched out of focus as she opened the panel, but soon she was squeaking excitedly.

"There is... There is a new button here. Inventory. It is... It shows what I’m wearing? And there are all these slots... Is this how you carry stuff around, Sensei?"

"Indeed, it is. If you put something inside the inventory, you will be able to carry it anywhere, without needing a backpack or using your arms. But is there a group of three icons on the lower right of the screen?"

Marya’s eyes shifted around before she answered.

"Yes... Oh, is this where the runes will be? One is occupied... It’s this one I just set."

Cecilia nodded. Everything has been going smoothly.

"Perfect. Now, let me try this..."

She issued a mental command to open trade with Marya, and the trade screen opened up properly.

She then issued a command to add the rune in Aelindra’s house as part of the transaction.

[Error. Item restricted from trade]

((Use administrator privileges.))

[Access granted]

[Subject: Marya Solaraen - initiating trade]

[Trading item: Bound Teleportation Rune (active), location: House of Morielen Thal’mor, Drakenhof]

[Awaiting confirmation from subject Marya Solaraen]

[Marya Solaraen accepted. Trade concluded successfully]

"I have it! It’s now in my inventory, in the second rune slot!"

"That’s great. It means that now the three of us can go. But this is a one-time-only rune. I’ll ask you to dismiss it later, because that rune’s location is a room in the home of Queen Aelindra."

"Q-QUEEN???? Are we going to the queen’s home???????"

The one to answer that question was Mina, who was trying hard not to laugh.

"Yes, little Marya. Cecilia is the mother of the queen herself. Remember what she asked earlier about the several secrets she has? I think that now you better understand the severity of it."

Mina’s words worked in toning down the girl’s excitement. Visiting a queen was not a simple matter. And being the queen’s very mother was beyond what the little girl’s imagination could fathom. But she was able to fully understand the seriousness of it all.

"I understand. I won’t tell anyone, I swear."

"Let’s get going, then?"

((Hehehe. It worked... I really got some administrator privileges. I wonder what the actual administrators will do when they notice, so it’s better that I don’t overuse them. But still, it’s so thrilling... I feel like a cheater in the game.

No, but I shouldn’t focus on that. The metaphysical implications of it all are what matter. There are two ’realities’ coexisting and affecting each other. There is the game’s reality with all its systems, and there is the real reality below it. And I can walk both... like Ephemerys walk life and death...

What are you talking about, ....? Wait, why am I talking to myself in my head like I was another person? Am I going delulu for good?))