Making Game: CH 155 – Heavy Blessing (Patreon)

Standoff. That single word perfectly described exactly what was happening inside the dimly lit Luprime alleyway.

Arthur narrowed his gaze. A bright, burning gold light flared deep within his irises as he instantly equipped Athena's boon, channeling her primary deflect power. The air beside him shimmered. The Goddess of Wisdom materialized right next to his shoulder, her grey eyes locking onto the two strangers.

Horus kept his hands completely visible and took a slow, measured breath. "As I said, we just need to talk."

Arthur kept his combat guard raised high. He didn't let the calm tone disarm him.

Beside the dark-skinned man, Nehsy let out a soft sigh. She reached her hand forward into thin air. A faint ripple distorted the space in front of her sharp fingertips. She reached into the void, pulled out a crisp red apple, and held it up. "We really mean no harm."

Arthur froze, pure shock washing over his face. The visual effect looked exactly like an inventory screen. It looked identical to his own System inventory.

Athena, remaining entirely invisible to everyone except Arthur, leaned forward and muttered softly. "Well, that is highly interesting."

Horus watched the subtle change in Arthur's posture. "It is a blessing. A direct gift from Bepoo. I assume you know exactly what I mean by that name."

Arthur felt his mind churning violently. The name Bepoo echoed loudly inside his head. He searched through his memories, trying to figure out where he had heard that ridiculous name before.

Then, it clicked. It was the exact character name he and his brother had created during their early Stardew Valley playthrough. Furthermore, the name Asgard was the specific title they had assigned to their digital farm.

What possible connection could these two random aliens have to a private video game save file?

Arthur slowly lowered his fists, standing up straight from his defensive combat stance. He stared intently at the couple. "Who are you people?"

…

Meanwhile, Mizah sat alone in a secure room and stared at a flickering holo call.

The projection displayed the stoic, covered face of Eevlas Zin. The blind Qerrian woman stared straight ahead with unseeing eyes. "Explain yourself."

Eevlas did not accept this secure channel request because she remembered Mizah fondly. She took the meeting purely to pay off an old, lingering debt she owed to Mizah's current department head. At this point in her ruthless career, the Qerrian had already climbed the ranks to become a Level 9 Interrogator. 

She was only one single promotion away from leading her entirely own branch, assuming her brutal methods continued to prove sustainable and useful to the Stellar Accord.

Mizah swallowed her pride and began to explain exactly what had happened on the expo floor. She detailed the Caliburn VR seat, the lack of neural injections, and Logan Kim's smiling face running the booth.

As Mizah continued to spill the details, the reality of the situation became glaringly clear to Eevlas. Her former department had truly lost their objective the day Logan was terminated. It was an absolute disgrace.

For all these years, with massive government funding, this highly compromised capsule was all they had managed to produce. Meanwhile, Logan had taken a ragtag gaming studio and completely surpassed the Ministry, all without his new team holding the prestigious degrees required by Mizah's department.

Eevlas rested her chin on her steepled fingers. "I need proof. I was able to reveal Logan's true face all those years ago strictly because I gathered undeniable evidence against him. That evidence is exactly how he got cut from the department and turned into a Class F citizen."

For Mizah, those words sounded like a lifeline. She finally saw a sturdy rope to grasp, a way to climb past this massive, looming mountain called the Caliburn VR seat.

She nodded enthusiastically at the projection. "I understand. I will gather what I can."

"See that you do that," Eevlas replied coldly. "I have another pressing matter to attend to."

The holo call cut out instantly, leaving Mizah alone in the dark room.

Far away in a sterile, heavily reinforced facility, Eevlas let out a long sigh as the connection severed.

A sharp voice echoed from the shadows behind her. "Who was that, Eevlas?"

It was Verza Zal. The Qerrian interrogator was actually right in the middle of an active session.

Eevlas turned her blind eyes toward the voice and offered a thin, dismissive smile. "Don't worry about it. It was just an old acquaintance trying to catch up on history. May I continue?"

Verza Zal leaned back in her chair and gestured toward the center of the room. "The floor is yours."

…

Arthur adjusted his focus, letting his vision sharpen in the deep shadows. He could see their physical features much more clearly now. They wore bulky, augmented synthetic hands specifically designed to hide their real ones. 

He knew exactly what kind of hands they were hiding. He had seen reports of those sharp, elongated fingers before. There were plenty of citizens with jet-black skin residing within the Stellar Accord. Only one specific race possessed those distinct sharp fingers.

Logan had talked about them before. They were the Dagmani. Their younglings possessed a terrifying biological ability to telepathically transfer their raw feelings and agony to anyone who heard their cries.

The pressing question echoing in Arthur's mind was why this man was looking at him with such intense familiarity. The stranger gazed at him as if he had just reunited with a long-lost friend he had never seen for a while. 'Was this Dagmani truly that trusting of a stranger in a dark alley?'

Arthur relaxed his shoulders slightly while keeping his guard firmly up. "I will give you a chance. Let me hear it."

Horus took a slow step forward and reached up with his synthetic fingers, pulling the heavy hood back to reveal his face. His eyes were shining with a profound, almost overwhelming reverence.

"It is a true honor to finally meet another who walks the sacred path," Horus said, his voice trembling with devout emotion. "We are devoted followers of the great god Bepoo. To see someone else who has been granted the divine blessing, to meet another messenger of Bepoo in the flesh... it is a miracle I never thought I would witness."

Arthur blinked, completely caught off guard by the sheer absurdity of the statement. "Wait. A messenger of who?"

Horus smiled warmly, clasping his hands together. "Bepoo. The grand creator who saved me in my absolute darkest hour. I was being hunted like an animal. Legionnaires were chasing me to my death across the desolate surface of my homeworld. I was bleeding and broken. Then, the great god Bepoo guided me to the Sacred Cave. He granted me his divine tools and blessed me with salvation."

Arthur felt his stomach completely drop. The puzzle pieces violently slammed together inside his head. Bepoo. The Mastery Cave. The divine inventory. It all pointed back to one single, horrifying truth. When he achieved one hundred percent completion on his Stardew Valley profile, the System had materialized a real-world Mastery Cave as a physical reward. 

He had assumed it spawned on some empty, barren rock in the middle of nowhere. Instead, it had materialized directly on Planet Dagma. And now, somehow, a desperate, broken civilization had found it and started worshipping him in the exact name of his digital farm save file. They had survived against all odds using the leftover mechanics of his profile completion.

Internally, Arthur cursed loudly. How in the stars was he supposed to explain this to these people? Fuck. This was entirely the System's fault. He did not even know where the cave had materialized at that time.

Just as Arthur was agonizing over how to gently break the news, Nehsy stepped forward. Her real, razor-sharp Dagmani fingers materialized in the dim light. She reached out and firmly held Horus's hand.

"That cave is the new origin of our people," Nehsy explained, her voice grounded and far more analytical than Horus. "Because of the writings left inside, we proudly call ourselves Asgardians. We came to this expo because we discovered a terrifying truth. The sacred cave, our true origin point, appeared exactly pixel for pixel in your video game. And your game was released to the galaxy months before Horus ever found the physical cave."

Arthur looked at them and finally saw the whole picture. They were incredibly faithful. These were deeply hurt, traumatized people who were given a tiny sliver of light in their absolute darkest hours.

The least he could do was tell them the truth. But, he refused to be naive enough to tell them the entire history of his system. He needed something, a single truth enough to show them he lacked any divine status.

He took a deep, steadying breath and looked directly into their hopeful eyes. He reached his right hand out into the thin, empty air. A ripple of golden light distorted the alleyway, and Arthur pulled a massive, gleaming Infinity Blade from his spatial inventory.

"I too have the exact same so-called blessing you are talking about," Arthur stated calmly.

A brilliant glint of hope sparked in Horus's eyes. It was pure devotion, a profound relief washing over his face as he believed his unwavering faith was merely being tested by another divine servant.

Arthur tightened his grip on the hilt and lowered the heavy sword. "However, this is no blessing from Bepoo."

Horus's face was completely furrowed in deep confusion. Beside him, Nehsy wore an expression of profound shock, yet a subtle hint of relief washed over her features. The crushing weight of a terrifying cosmic mystery had just been reduced to a simple, tangible person standing in front of them.

Arthur could not help but sigh at the bizarre situation he now had to deal with. "Let us talk in a better location," Arthur suggested, letting the Infinity Blade dissolve back into his inventory. "It's almost midnight. Since this is Luprime, there are plenty of twenty-four hour cafes nearby."

They began to walk out of the alley in complete silence. As he matched his pace with the two Dagmani, Arthur chuckled quietly to himself. 'Well, at least I still got the night walk I wanted.'

It was a short walk until they found an open cafe glowing softly on the corner of the street. Arthur walked through the sliding glass doors and immediately noticed the crowded tables. There were dozens of university students hunched over their datapads, doing their assignments and pulling desperate all-nighters. 

Some of them were likely just waiting for their scheduled classes to begin. After all, each prestigious academy was situated on its own moon, rotating around Luprime in unique orbital paths. Because of the differing rotational schedules, students from Astra Nova or Aethelgard could land on the planetary surface at virtually any time of day.

Arthur walked straight to the robotic compadre staff hovering behind the counter. "I need one private room, preferably a noise-canceling one."

The compadre projected a translucent holo-screen in the air, allowing him to pick from the available room layouts. As Arthur tapped his selection, a female student walking past the counter suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Arthur?" she asked, her eyes widening. "Arthur Pendragon?"

Arthur turned around and saw a trio of students staring at him in utter disbelief. He offered a warm, practiced smile. "Hi."

One of the male students stepped forward nervously. "Can we take a picture with you?"

"Sure," Arthur agreed, "if you can keep it a secret that I'm here right now."

Arthur patiently did his thing, posing for a few quick photos and signing a digital datapad before waving the excited trio off. He then led Horus and Nehsy to the back of the cafe.

After a short while, the three of them were comfortably seated inside the soundproof room with their warm drinks resting on the table. Arthur sat down and took a sip. He watched Horus carefully. The Dagmani man was still heavily reeling from the shock, trying desperately to process the absolute shattering of his worldview. His previous incredulity had reeled back just a bit, replaced by a quiet, desperate need for answers.

Arthur seemed much more relaxed now that they were off the street. "Enjoy the drink. Luprime is the primary consumer of brewka beans in the entire galaxy. That is mainly because of all these sleep-deprived students."

Horus gripped his ceramic mug tightly. "Explain to me how you got the exact same power we received."

Arthur genuinely did not want to dive back into the terrifying mechanics of his System. He wanted to ease into the conversation and learn more about these people first. He let out a soft sigh and leaned forward. "I am a Solar."

It was a direct lie, designed specifically to protect his deepest secrets.

"I can't tell you in detail exactly how it works," Arthur continued, "however, one of its primary effects is that it materializes physical things out of thin air."

Nehsy leaned over the table, her dark eyes scanning his face. "Then you sent the cave to us? Are you actually Bepoo in disguise?"

Arthur shook his head firmly. "No. I am just me." He offered a gentle, sympathetic smile. "It was entirely outside of my control at that time. With more training and learning over the years, I finally grew to control it. This is as much as I am willing to explain right now, so please take it as my absolute sincerity."

Horus stared at his reflection in the dark liquid of his brewka. "Then it is just a pure coincidence?"

Arthur hated the idea of breaking a desperate man's hope, yet this massive misunderstanding could simply not go on.

Internally, Arthur violently debated this decision with the deepest parts of himself. Was this truly the right thing to do? Was it right to rob a man of his absolute faith? That very same blind faith was the exact tether that had saved Horus during his darkest time of need.

Arthur looked into the desperate eyes of the Asgardian leader. "You could say yes." He placed his hands flat on the table. "I am sorry… I'm no divine messenger, nor am I the divine."

He watched closely as a single tear rolled down Horus's cheek. The Asgardian leader wiped his face and let out a low, genuine chuckle. A bright, profoundly relieved smile broke across his dark features.

"Ah, where are my manners," Horus said, his voice lighter than before. "I am Horus. I hold the Combat Seat and serve as the Pope of the Asgard Order."

Beside him, Nehsy reached up and brushed away her own tears. Her posture relaxed significantly. "And I am Nehsy," she added softly. "I hold the Farming Seat and serve as a High Priest of the Asgard Order."

Arthur widened his eyes slightly at their grand titles. He nodded respectfully. "I am Arthur Pendragon. My guess is you both already know that." He offered a warm, relaxed smile to match theirs.

A comfortable silence settled over the soundproof room. The faint, muffled hum of the Luprime cafe faded entirely into the background. The two Dagmani gripped their ceramic mugs tightly, slowly drinking their warm brewka as the weight of the night's revelation settled in.

Arthur stared down at his cup. "I'm really sorry, Horus."

Horus lowered his mug and smiled. The heavy tension in his shoulders had completely vanished. "Please don't apologize, Arthur. For the first time in a very long time, I actually feel completely free."

Arthur blinked, thoroughly surprised by the unexpected reaction. "Do you mind if I ask why?"

Horus took another long sip of his brewka and set the mug down gently. "Ever since that fateful day in the Sacred Cave, I have always thought that I carried the crushing burden of a divine blessing I could never truly live up to. I thought the gods had chosen me specifically, expecting absolute perfection in return for my survival."

Nehsy reached across the table and held his hand firmly, giving him silent support.

Horus looked down at their intertwined fingers. "I can't lie. It broke my heart for a moment when you said it was all just a random coincidence." He trailed off, taking a deep breath before looking directly into Arthur's eyes. The fire of a true leader burned brightly in his gaze.

"However," Horus stated, his voice resonating with unshakeable conviction, "I refuse to see my people die in the hands of coincidences. I refuse to accept the fact that we have come this far across the stars and built an entire civilization based on a mere accident."

He leaned forward, his eyes locking onto Arthur. "I still choose to believe. I believe in Bepoo."

Arthur frowned, feeling a spike of worry. "Horus, you must understand. It is entirely..."

"I know," Horus cut in gently, his smile never wavering. "I know it's not real. However, because of that truth, I can finally see what I actually felt when I believed in Bepoo. I was learning to believe in myself. I believe in Nehsy. I believe in the other High Priests and the incredible power they hold."

Horus looked back at Nehsy, his expression softening into pure devotion. "I believe in my people having another peaceful sunrise, vibrant sunset, bountiful harvest, and joyous feast. It made me realize that Bepoo was never a single divine entity sitting in the sky."

He turned back to Arthur, beaming with absolute clarity. "Bepoo was me. He is Nehsy. He is you, my people, your incredible team, and everyone who strives endlessly for a better future. The strength was inside us the entire time." Horus let out a light, breathless laugh. "Who knew a blessing could actually feel this light."

Arthur widened his eyes. He sat in total awe, seeing exactly what he always tried to strive for. Horus was a magnificent leader who truly knew and protected his people. His perspective sounded exactly like a true blessing. 

Arthur could not help wondering about his own incredible blessings. His family. Juno. Ratik. The entire dedicated Round Table Studio team. Somehow, in that quiet moment, he remembered the vivid details of their smiles perfectly. They were his tether, his very own miracle in this strange universe.

Arthur opened his mouth to speak. At that exact same fraction of a second, Horus spoke too.

"Thank you," both men said simultaneously.

They stared at each other for a brief moment before both of them broke into a loud, genuine chuckle.