After spending another year together, bringing their total time to an approximate of three years, Briggs had finally learned how far to push Salimoon to near death. He did so in the weeks following their return to the "cabin" in the woods after months of inactivity in a home within the city. It was during a fight where Sali's Divine Boon activated due to her heightened excitement. Brigg had, after months of begging, finally agreed to teach her Polish so she could find her way around or converse with others when they were out at the stores. There was just a caveat, She had to win against him in a fight at least once.
The result was as expected, Briggs pulled out all the stops even though Salimoon had enough charges on her regeneration to attack without a break. The only issue was that Briggs was not as careful as he usually was. Taking her down was as difficult as a four year old taking down a raging bull but he managed due to his long years of experience and his own enhanced body thanks to the Blood Contract that he had with Sali. The best result, however, was that she earned another achievement in the process, gaining points for the first time after years of gaining anything.
"Third huh, I can see that faded soul getting the achievement first thanks to what happens with Death's hero. I can't even guess who got second place based on what I know about the original story, there is simply nothing in the information that would lead to a near death encounter. Hm. Regardless, this is sweet," seeing that she could get points from nearly dying, she had Briggs push their training to the limits in hopes of gaining some more points.
The fights from there on, in the newly renovated gym, exhausted all of her charges during each fight. A few weeks in, after not gaining a single point after the achievement, Salimoon felt the pressure that mounted on her back.
'The other champions will have either capitalized on their environments or made the best use of their limited skills and freedoms by now. If I stayed with my family, I would have more than ten times the amount of points that I have right now, which equals strength and safety. I'm sure that the other souls will not do anything to me since we are not actually the heroes from the story that we all learned or wrote about. But if, by chance, they decide to take the type of quests that involve messing with and fighting each other, I will be at a serious disadvantage. Not including my actual combat experience," Salimoon had the idea to gain points on the side after a fight with Briggs one day. She used what she knew and compared it to what Briggs could be doing.
According to the original story, where Jack was the soul that turned into the hero Salimon, the higher ups and researchers of the De Montes used his and the rest of the family's blood as a base in medicinal "potions" that effectively acted as natural anabolic steroids for healthy people taking them and as panaceas for the sick who were fortunate enough to partake. The normal transmissible diseases were practically nonexistent issues for the De Montes.
It was without question that her blood was used the same way during her first month of life. It's how she got most of her points, from indirectly healing people.
"Briggs can be doing the same thing," she chuckled to herself in the shower after a long fight session. She quickly rinsed the soap off her body and got dressed in a pair of shorts and a loose tee.
'Now how do I bring this up with him? I can't very well say…', Sali conjured up a plan and jogged downstairs to meet Briggs in his study. The man had also just finished his own shower and was now wearing a striped pair of pajama pants and a beater. His body was full of scars, most of which were faded as though they had been through the passage of time, but it was almost certain that they were brand new wounds gained from his regular bouts with Salimoon. He wore fluffy pink rabbit slippers and was currently thumbing through a stack of papers that he had just printed. There was a blood pack with straw in his other hand.
"I want points," Sali outright said as she placed her arms on either side of her hips.
"I don't know what that means. If you mean prints, I have your language lessons right here, I'm just now organizing them," Briggs shook his head and took out a few paper clips from his desk as he separated the sheets according to a lesson plan that he had displayed on his boxy computer.
"Points Briggs. Points. I need them. They are how I get powerful skills, abilities, and augments from the system, eh, Divine Store. I get them by doing certain things directly or indirectly," Sali pouted since Briggs simply looked at her for a second before dismissing what she said as a ploy to leave the house earlier than their agreement. She was about to get more into detail when Briggs put the papers down and leaned against the table. He finished the last bit of the blood that he had gathered from Sali and stretched his neck. The scars on his body faded at a visible rate.
"Ill bite, explain this point and divine store stuff," Briggs crossed his arms and narrowed his sights on Sali.
'If I don't listen, she is liable to go off running down the road or into the woods again,' he thought to himself.
"Right. So, I get points by doing things that my system thinks are important. And like I said before, the system is like a divine authority that enables me to know or learn information and skills that would generally take time and effort to learn," Sali said. She paused for a moment because Briggs moved toward the door. On his way, he passed over the stack of papers that he had organized and paperclipped together in bundles.
"Walk and talk. And I remember what you said about your system, that it was granted by Gods that turned you into a hero or champion or something," Briggs left the study and headed toward the kitchen with the empty blood packet in hand.
"Points though, this is the first time that you are mentioning it in the three or so years that we have been together," he paused for a moment and frowned.
"Actually, you mentioned that you would have a lot more if you were still with the De Montes but you have only said that while you were complaining about the training," He continued walking until he opened a cabinet with a trash can in it.
"Okay. Now I'm letting you know. There are, as of right now, four ways to earn points according to the tooltips. I have to kill or harm people in some way, heal or help them in certain things, complete story missions, or complete quests that are generated through the system," Sali said.
"The first two are self explanatory, explain the last two," Briggs went into another cabinet in the kitchen and pulled out a short glass. He took an ice mould of a ball out of the freezer and placed the ice in his glass and afterward, he poured himself some whiskey.
"Story missions are special quests that are given out when interacting with any of the main elements of this world. For example, one of the main storylines concerns you and the Ghosts. The goal for us, as in me and the other three champions of the Gods, is to find the leader of the Ghosts and put an end to the inheritance cycle of your group. It's why I have so much information about you and the other members that I couldn't possibly have otherwise. Another main story quest concerns a Virtual reality game that will come out in two or so decades…", Sali tried to hide her excitement but she was thrilled to play some games as a major part of her life in the future. She loved to game, she just never had the time between work and spending time with her child and husband.
"As for regular quests, I have no clue how to get one other than stumbling upon one or what the rewards are since I have never gotten one before. I don't go anywhere," Sali frowned when she noted that Briggs nodded a few times before taking a sip of his drink. The sip was more of a gulp as he finished the whole thing. He then grabbed the bottle and poured himself another cup as he once again relocated to another room.
"So you need points for…", Briggs fed into the delusion. He had no choice since he was a monster that drank the blood of a child to recuperate his own wounds on more than one occasion and Sali was an inhuman freak that could heal from practically anything. His life was unordinary so anything Sali said should be taken seriously, if not as gospel.
"Buying new knowledge, skills, upgrades, enhancements, items, you name it, it can be bought. I need it to be on the same level as the other Champions. They will all have similar backgrounds and opportunities to gain points, points that I am missing because I have not been doing anything," Sali scoffed when Briggs pressed a few keys on the piano. The man sighed and nodded a few times.
"So you want to leave before our agreement to see if you can get a quest," Briggs tilted his head to side eye Salimoon.
"Exactly! I mean, not really. We can try and get a quest anytime by going out together, looking around. What I'm saying is that I need points, as fast as possible if possible. So that means killing, hurting, healing, or helping people now. I was wondering if there was a way that we could go and do something like that," Sali didn't get specific yet as she tested the waters.
"Say I can help you. We are not going out committing assassinations or murder so killing is out of the window since I don't want us being investigated or hunted by my cohorts. I don't have the same assurances as before…", Briggs played a discordant tune.
"Then there is hurting people. How much do we have to hurt someone? Do we have to physically harm people individually or can we just orchestrate the downfall of a household by placing debts? I could do either given enough time but then there is the fact that your system says you have to do it yourself or indirectly. Can I do something on your behalf or is there some sort of limitation?"
Briggs took a sip of his drink but just like the first time, he emptied the glass and poured himself another.
"You are contracted under me according to my Blessing, the power that I told you about, so you are part of something called my following. It means, if I tell you to do something on my behalf, it would count as my indirect involvement. I wouldn't get as many points as if I did something myself and in most cases, I won't get any points and will be compensated with something else instead, but there is no harm in trying some things out," Sali said as she read the tool tips on the relevant information.
"Besides, I was actually thinking that we do something different," Sali looked away from Briggs as he turned to face her.
"What were you thinking?"
"Well, first. I think you should start a business selling my blood as a health transfusion on the Hearth Net so I can get healing points again," she was bright eyed and bushy tailed as she brought up the idea that had been rattling around in her head for the last three years into their joint venture of acting as father and daughter. She knew, thanks to the information that was shared about the world that the champions were in, that there was a market that was a universally sanctioned institution that openly sold illegal services and goods. In her world, it was known as the dark net or black market, but in this one the service was known as Hearth Net Services or HENS.
The bar for entry was a bit awkward compared to what she knew about it from her world but apparently, the world's governments didn't hammer down on this necessary evil. In this world, people were allowed to do whatever they wanted on HENS. The people using the service just couldn't complain when someone did something to them, so most people kept it copacetic since the governments of the world indirectly controlled the security of the service.
If something was too untoward, no one would stop a third or even an invested party from taking matters into their own hands. In other words, those that did too much evil on such an open site usually didn't last long. Sali didn't know about all the nitty gritty details since none of the champions had interactions with their world's variation of HENS, just like her.
"How do you know about that… You know what, I know why you know, your system," Briggs held the bridge of his nose and sighed.
"I cannot indulge in your fantasy of being a blood donor. The health concerns are many but the safety concerns are even more important. Your family could easily track the effects of your blood back to us since you are one of the handful if not the only De Monte to not be in their household as of right now," Briggs drank another cup but instead of pouring himself a fourth, he took a swig straight from the bottle.
"I cannot allow them such an easy avenue to attack us. Instead, I will dedicate more time to teaching you the local language so we can volunteer at nearby soup kitchens and the like to see if you can get points. As for something a little more substantial, I have been working on starting a brokerage business from the house using burner phones. It's why I have been staying in my office after our sessions. I will put in some more effort to get this venture off the ground. I can ruin a lot of lives and help just as many people if I place my money in the right places," Briggs slumped over the piano and thumbed the keys to play a melancholic tune.
"We can also go out more to see if you can get a quest from your system. We will keep trying while we are in the city, as for the next few months, focus on our combat and your studies," he nodded a few times and stood up.
"I will plan out a few more lessons," he left Salimoon to her own devices as he walked back to his study with the whiskey bottle.
'Well then. I think that went well,' Sali went to her room to study the native language of the area. In a flash, months passed and they were back in the city. Sali found herself throwing a small duffel into her bedroom on the third floor of a three story family building that did not have the same amenities as the Cabin.
"Let's go into the city and see if I can get a quest from my system," Sali asked Briggs with bright eyes as she barged into his room on the second floor.
"Have you unpacked already?"
"No," Sali shrugged.
"We will go after we are both unpacked," Briggs decided.
"But we can do that later. We are missing crucial daylight hours."
"It will take you five minutes to unpack."
"It will take forever, let's just go right now."
"I said my piece Salimoon. Do it or don't, whether we leave is up to you," Briggs did not stop unpacking.
Salimoon groaned and went back to her room to unpack.
"I'm just going to take a nap, we can go out tomorrow," On the way, she had a bright idea and yelled to Briggs.
She went upstairs and locked her bedroom door. After taking a few steps away, she went back and unlocked it. Instead she balled a shirt and put a sleeping cap on it. She then took the duffel and stuffed it underneath her blanket to make it look like her body was there. She placed the false head on a pillow and fluffed it to make it appear as though she were sleeping.
Afterward, she opened the window to her room and looked out of it. There was a taller building right beside the house that created a small alley. Sali climbed out the window and dropped from her windowsill to a window on the second floor of her house.
She didn't know which room the window connected to and dropped further down to the ground floor. She did not notice that Briggs paused his unpacking to see her shimmy down. Since the window was connected to his bedroom.
Seemingly, without trying, Sali escaped from the new house that was in the middle of the city and decided to wander. She did not notice that Briggs sighed, stopped his unpacking, and followed her by climbing out of the window himself.