Chapter 24: Learning of Imperfections
Humans were lousy and imperfect creatures. Even in the afterlife, they came to bars in order to drown out their despair and weakness. They drank and sang and had as much fun as they could. Vulnerabilities appeared in their expressions and characters, and the Sapphire Order were taking advantage of that. They were bribing and recruiting and giving promises to these drunk players.
They reminded Dasha of the Jehovah's Witnesses knocking on his family's door. Persistent didn't describe them, they were relentless. Opening the door and getting the Bible shoved in his young face was a core memory he would never forget. The Saintess had been subtly doing the same with him. She only left because she realized she couldn't convert. That was what he suspected anyway. There was no way she was talking to these drunk idiots out of the kindness of her heart. No way. Even Saints weren't that patient.
Regardless, Dasha learned two key things: one, that after Gate 50, the full force of the guilds would swing into the Heavenly Games. Currently, they were nothing more than advisors but once that threshold passed Dasha would be facing players with centuries of experience; two, that understanding magic was vital to a player's growth and that the Game System alone wouldn't propel him to great heights.
And there was a third, albeit it was to be expected. There was deep rooted politics in the Heavenly Games. Why was a Christian Saint with the agnostic Sapphire Order and not the devout Templars? Dasha smelled a story there.
'Open contracts.'
A long list appeared, albeit filled with only two titles:
[ Xavier — Blood Pact ]
[ Sapphire Order — Geas of Service ]
Xavier wasn't a friend but he could still message him and transfer points as their contract prescribed. So far, he had received nothing from him.