Chapter 9
...
Looking around I couldn't see anything and only the small flickering flame provided me with any type of lighting in the area.
Should I wake up Aang and Katara? No, doing that would only raise them into a sense of panic, and sis wasn't anything special in fighting yet. Also, even though the situation was creepy, there was no notification from my Sense Danger Skill. Meaning the enemy was harmless, at least for the moment.
"Show yourself or I will have to assume you are an enemy," I called out, clutching my beat whale-bone spear.
Slowly out of the darkness came out a fox-like creature with shining eyes. Immediately I instinctively used Observation on him.
[Knowledge Seekers (Lvl 16)]
...Those are the Spirits who work for Wan Shi Tong? They go around the world gathering different books and knowledge.
The fox looked at me and then at the fish that I had roasting. "Oh? You want some?" I grinned. "Well, you could have just said so, there is no need to sneak around."
I went and got a roasted fish in a stick and gave it to the fox, it got closer to me and smelled the food first before biting into it.
"What a cute fox," I caressed the Knowledge Seeker and it let me. Perhaps it didn't sense any bad intentions from me, so there wasn't any need to be afraid of me. "I had a pet like you once, though it died after a while. For a time, it was a part of the family."
I had a dog who died when I was young, if there was one pet that I adored it would have to be that dog. Sadly animals didn't live too long, so only a sense of loss would be left behind after they died so I never got any dog or cat after that.
As the fox devoured the fish, it looked at me with puppy eyes.
"C'mon now, that's just unfair," I grumbled. "If you want more fish, you will have to give me something. How about a deal?"
It nodded in understanding and the Knowledge Seeker opened its mouth, and out of it came a book titled '69 Positions During Intercorse'...
I just looked at the fox with an emotionless look, "Are you joking? I don't care about this, it's more exciting to discover things by myself as I go along."
The fox heaved into something that seemed like a laugh and rolled on the ground like a dog.
"You are fox spirit, don't act like a smart ass," I picked it from the back of its neck and turned the fox around to a sitting position. "What might seem funny to you also wasn't very funny to me."
It appeared to have its mood go downward and its ears folded at my words.
whine*
The Knowledge Spirit also had his feelings hurt very easily. "Anyway, learn to take a joke man," I slapped it on the back softly. "Do you have some kind of Martial Arts books?"
While using the food and guiding the conversation to this wasn't exactly good on my part. But if no one knew, then it wasn't a bad action… yeah, I will need to come up with an excuse if I am found out in the future. Better prepare for that outcome.
[For carefully planning for the future, Intelligence increased by 1]
[For planning about your future in a realistic manner, Wisdom increased by 1]
Come on now Gamer Interface, you are encouraging bad and manipulative behavior…
No answer came in return for my thoughts, so by my observations until now, this 'System' had no self-awareness. It was more like a Gamer Interface than a System.
The fox took out another book from its mouth, this time the title was 'Kyoshi Warrior Fighting Style'...
This would normally be good, but I was going to visit Kyoshi Island in the future and learn from the masters there. The book was useless to me. "Soo… now this will make me sound needy, but can't I have something like Chi Blocking or something at that level."
The fox's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but I was trying to sound a little naive here so I could get it to let its guard down and give it to me. After all, not just everyone can learn Martial Arts from a book.
"C'mon man. I am traveling with the Avatar and have no bending. Do you expect me to fight with a boomerang? I would be no match against a bender," some fake scenarios came out of my mouth. After all, I had held back skilled Firebenders with just a crudely made spear. But I also needed to get that Chi Blocking book and level that up to a monstrous level.
The fox didn't seem convinced by my argument, so I decided to use my trump card. Burning my hands behind my back, I sneakily used inventory and took out some fish. "How about I cook you five fish? After all, I won't even be using this for fighting, I just want to read it out of curiosity. After all, people can't learn how to fight from books, especially something as complicated as Chi Blocking."
At first, the fox spirit wasn't convinced but finally gave in and a book about Chi Blocking appeared. As I picked up the book a notification appeared in front of me.
[Do you want to learn Chi Blocking?]
[Yes] [No]
I dismissed the window for the movement and put the book in my bag. "Thanks, buddy," I petted the cute fox. "Now let me cook these fish for you."
As I had expected, when I mentioned that I didn't intend to use the book for war it was immediately given to me easier. After all, Wan Shi Tong doesn't want his stored knowledge to be used for war. Well, that's his problem. Now I just need to learn this skill as soon as the fox spirit disappears.
The night passed by as I cooked the fish for the fox spirit and even made friends with the little guy. Though he couldn't talk, he understood me and would nod or shake his head when I asked him some questions.
As soon as he went away I took the bag which had my book in it and didn't pull out anything. Just in case someone was observing me, and instead, I touched the book while still in the bag. The same window came up and I selected yes.
[You cannot learn this skill]
[It requires Intelligence 20]
[It requires agility 40]
"..." I had a silent moment for myself. Then I got up and started running immediately, opening my stats window at the same time.
Name: Sokka
Title: Wolf Warrior of the Southern Tribe
Class: The Gamer
Level: 4 (Exp: 14.2%)
HP: 250/250
MP: 125/125
STR: 18
AGI: 22
VIT: 17
INT: 17
WIS: 16
LUCK: 11
Point: 5
Yeah, I had to increase my agility stat exponentially and there wasn't a time better than the present.
By the time Aang and Katara woke up, I had an extra 3 Points in Agility. I also cooked breakfast for all of us and got an extra level in cooking.
"You won't believe just how beautiful the Air Temple is!" yelled out Aang in excitement after eating his vegetarian dish. "Sokka, we will also play some games there! It will be exciting, also some of my friends from the temple are probably super old… so that will be kinda weird."
Katara looked a little down once Aang mentioned his friends. After all, it was common knowledge that the air nomads had all been massacred.
"Aang," Katara began talking. "You know, it has been a hundred years since any Airbender has been seen, and the war with the Fire Nation also…"
She couldn't say the words, but even Aang knew what she meant by this. Though the young Avatar only grinned slightly. "The way of an Airbender is to avoid and evade, even if somehow the Firebender were able to reach all the Air Temples, some of the Airbenders should have been able to run away and live in hiding."
Ufff… that's some hopeful thinking there, but I won't say anything until he sees it for himself. After all, no matter what I said he would hold that hope until he saw the atrocities committed in the Air Temples.
I was kinda excited to go to the Southern Air Temple. There was bound to be some equipment to train my agility faster than just running. Airbending required one to be very agile.
Chapter 10: Aang Goes Home
Once we arrived at the Southern Air Temples, it was quite a nice structure. Something very majestic, even by modern standard, in a world where skyscrapers exist. The towers that were risen seemed like they were fused with the mountain.
"This is the Southern Air Temple!" Aang pointed at the place as Appa landed on the ground. "But… no one is here…" he looked around disheartened. "Where is everyone? There are no Fire Nation soldiers. So there would always be some Airbenders around…"
I put my arm around his shoulder and asked. "How about you show me those games? Though I can't Airbend, I bet I could beat you."
"I thought you would be hungry by now," commented Katara with a knowing smirk. There wasn't anything that needed to be said between us, we both wanted to distract Aang from any grief he was feeling.
"You have a bad opinion of your cool brother. If you only knew how cool I was… *sigh*" I shook my head with a disappointed look in my eyes.
"You? Cool? You're the opposite of cool." Katara took the bait and knew what to do. Thankfully this is just us trying to get Aang's mind off things, and she doesn't think of me like that… who am I kidding, Sokka left me with heavy baggage, his sister's opinion of him was about as low as it could go.
Though every younger sibling thinks of their older sibling as lame, they just knew too much about each other.
"Cmon now guys," Aang, like the pacifist, always intervene to stop any fight. "Sokka, how about we try those games?"
The game field was just a bunch of poles where the Airbenders could stand and on the opposite side was a target, that was called a goal. It seemed like some kind of football made for benders.
I sat on the opposite side of Aang. "You ready?" he asked, but before I could answer he threw the ball propelled by his Airbending.
Fwosh!
I barely was able to dodge the ball, and it hit the goal behind me. "Damn, that's fast."
"Yeah!" my airbending friend exclaimed in excitement. "Aang 1, Sokka 0."
"I was just getting used to it, Katara, give me my spear," a malicious smirk made its way on my face as my sister awkwardly gave me my spear. "Aang, let me show you how to win against an opponent who has an advantage against you," my words got his attention and my smirk widened, then I looked in surprise at the sky. "What?! Appa is eating a tree!"
"Where?" asked Aang, turning around.
With that, I used my spear as a baseball and hit the ball, with Aang distracted he couldn't react in time. "Hey! That's cheating!"
"Yeah, and that's my secret to dealing with opponents who have an advantage against me… just cheat…" I shrugged nonchalantly with a smug look on my face. "Don't be mad that I am just good."
Aang got agitated by that and his fighting spirit fired up. "I will show you how to win fairly."
[Quest: Win Against Aang]
[Compete against the Avatar and win in a long-forgotten airbending game.]
[Rewards: 200 Exp]
For such a difficult task, the rewards were kinda bad. Though it was still just a game of no major consequence so it wouldn't give any big rewards.
In the end, we played for hours and he won with a three-point lead. It was tiring and Aang could get very competitive, maybe because in the begging I was winning, but after a while, he learned my tricks. He didn't fall for the same tricks a second time, and coming up with new tricks for a game I never played before wasn't easy.
Though this game was worth it and amazing, I got a whole 8 points in Agility. Maybe having Aang as an opponent helped and he wasn't going easy on me either. But my agility was now at 33. Only seven more till I can learn Chi Blocking. Also from all my scheming my Wisdom increased by 4 and brought that stat to 20.
By the end of it, Aang was tired and he laid down on the ground. "Sokka, you have more stamina than a Turtleback Snorkel."
...I have no idea what that is, but my stamina was due to the Gamer's Body Skill. With just a little rest my stamina can be fully recovered, meaning that in endurance I was the best in the world. If it came to outlasting my opponent, I was pretty confident.
As Aang laid down, I went towards the corner of the game field. Almost fully covered in snow laid a Fire Nation soldier helmet.
[Fire Nation Soldier Helmet]
A hundred-year-old relic of a massacre. Due to its construction, it's quite hard to see from wearing the mask structure.
[Firebender Armour (Common)]
[An old armour that is quite hard to see in. But it offers a moderate amount of protection.]
"What's wrong-" inquired Katara before her eyes widened at the sight of the Fire Nation helmet sticking out of the snow. "No… Aang…"
"Should we tell him?" I asked, not as bothered as her by the revelation. After all, the Air Nomads are already dead, crying about it wouldn't change anything. "He has to know about it. Soon he will discover the thing himself."
"Let's not right now, better try and ease him into it along the way," she mumbled, using her waterbending to bring the snow down.
I went along with her decision. Not wanting to be the one to tell a twelve-year-old kid that his whole family and anyone he has ever known died. By now Aang was probably so far in denial that showing a helmet of the Fire Nation wouldn't be enough to convince him.
"Well, let's get our Avatar to show us around this place." I insisted, grabbing Katara's hand. She was still a child whose mother was killed by the Fire Nation. While I was worried for Aang too, in comparison to the amount I was worried about Katara, the worry for him would feel insignificant.
"Hey, Sokka, do you think we can win this war?" She wondered as we walked together.
Looking at her eyes, the uncertainty in them was saddening. So to lift her spirits, I patted her head. "Don't worry, as long as you have me here, it's pretty much guaranteed that we will win."
Katara chuckled at my silly confidence, but at least it got her mind off some terrible things. Having a reasonably smart sibling was a pain, they always thought of depressing things.
After some resting, Aang showed us around, introducing us to a statue of Gyatso. He then showed us where the monks used to meditate, his unclean room, he also guided us toward some other places and explained a little about the culture.
Along the way, I snatched up some items and put them in my inventory. I ended up robbing from another historical site, just like when I did in the Fire Nation ship.
In the end, we arrived in front of a very ornamental door with a strange contraption in front of it.
Aang looked at the door in a trace and then looked down in sadness. "There is someone I am ready to meet."
"I…" Katara wanted to say something but seemed hesitant at first, but in the end, she took a deep breath, and her gaze hardened. "Aang, I don't think there is anyone who could have survived on the temple for a hundred years unaided."
"But I did," Aang refuted. "I lived in an iceberg for a hundred years."
Katara looked at me for assistance, but I just shrugged. What could I say? The dude had a point.
Aang bends two focused currents of air into the large doors' ornate mechanism. This caused the locks to disengage and the doors to slowly open.
Once the door is fully opened, there is only darkness seen on the inside. Aang walked forward bravely, showing no fear. Katara and I followed him, into what would probably be one of the most despairing moments in his life.
As predicted, there were hundreds of statues of the previous avatars in the darkened room. While Katara and Aang looked at the statues, my gaze wandered towards another statue that didn't seem like it belonged to an Avatar.
The statue was right behind the door and it was of a monk with a ferocious look in his eyes. Below its statue was a craving that seemed hurriedly written.
-I'm so curious about knowing the unknown, it can be scary, but I see it as a game.-
Reading this sent a chill down my spine.
[For reading the phrases of a well known Monk, you have become wiser]
[Your Wisdom has increased by 1]
[Your Wisdom has increased by 1]
[Your Wisdom has increased by 1]
[NEW QUEST!]
[•The Mysterious Monk's Inheritance]
[A mysterious Monk who constantly chased after the unknown has left his heritage all around the world. Finding it all will enable the Monk's radical last words to not be lost in the annals of time.]
[Completion Reward: 150,000 Exp. 1 Unique Skill, 30 Wisdom, ???? Title.]
Those rewards were too high for this to be just a normal quest. There was more to this quest than the description said.
[You have gained 1 Intelligence]
Yeah… something's going on here...