World of Karik: A Game of Villains 54 Direct Evidence

I stood still, considering my options and thinking about what I should do next. If the old man was a crook, and this was all an elaborate fraud, what did he expect me to do? Run away? Highly unlikely. There would have been no sob stories in the beginning if that was the case. My savior probably expected me to be grateful enough to help him in return. If I was right, he would find me and demand payment very soon; if not, it still wouldn't hurt to keep an eye open. More importantly, the old man wasn't stupid, which meant that he would have more than a touching story prepared for me.

Deciding not to waste time, I sat down, hiding in the nearest crack in the stone. My nerves were slowly eroding. Ten minutes passed, then twenty... Maybe I'm just complicating things. Maybe he is just sick in the head. Maybe he really was a martyr and desperate to get out and feel the sunlight on his skin. Calm down, Vasily, this world is not a place where white and downy sheep roam. Such creatures are eaten on their first day here. If a person had any moral or ethical principles sixty years ago, that's probably long gone by now. Forty minutes. Maybe I just didn't believe in people.

"Why are you sitting there?" asked a familiar voice. "We have a lot to do. The Brachioson might come back at any moment. Let's go, I'm taking you to a special place. If you succeed, you will become stronger, and the two of us might stand a chance."

His voice sounded confident, and the short, chopped sentences had disappeared from his speech. He, probably, thought that a lost newcomer like me needed this to pull myself together. Without waiting for a reaction, the old man grabbed my arm and dragged me along with him.

"Thank you for saving me," I said, voice trembling. Let's see if I got it right or not.

You have received 5,000 deception points.

He believed me. What kind of a monster was this stranger if I managed to level my main attribute just by lying to him? Things were getting really scary.

"Don't mention it," the old man's pleased voice rasped and fell silent. He was either saving his breath or was afraid that he'd say something that would startle me, which he had already managed to do. The second reason was enough to keep me silent.

We had been wandering around the stone maze for almost an hour when we finally reached a small grotto. Heavy drops of water would fall from the ceiling from time to time, gathering on the floor in small streams, which merged into a single one a little bit further ahead. In the middle of the cave was a small island, in the center of which was a towering, blue obelisk. This 10 foot tall colossus was covered in glowing moss and was a true eye catcher. There was a relief on it, but only half of it had survived the flow of time and the harsh conditions of the cave. I didn't know how to read cuneiform, but it looked like a schematic representation of an object being dropped from a great height. I should remember this for future reference.

"What's that?" I asked.

"A hidden monolith," Syomin explained. He seemed oddly proud about it. He noticed my puzzled look and, with some irritation, added, "Haven't you heard of such stones?"

"I've heard about the Trade Monolith. What's the difference between a hidden one and an ordinary one?" There was no point in lying now. I wanted to let the old man think that I trusted him.

"Fair question," Syomin waved his hands vigorously. "Ordinary monoliths give you a predetermined skill for a predetermined promise, the so called geas. The hidden ones have no such limitations. You just have to properly express what you want."
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"Can I get anything I want?" I was skeptic. I shouldn't believe in everything he says. This was all very suspicious.

"Well, yes and no. You can get anything if you ask accurately enough. The reward will be worthwhile and the price won't be that high."

"What should I do then?" I wanted to find out why he had brought me here.

"Get closer and put your hand on it. Think about how you want a weapon that could defeat even the strongest of monsters. If you do it right, you will get the weapon and the knowledge needed to use it. But be wary, you only get one chance." This was reminiscent of what Petrovich did to the dragon. Why wasn't he the one stuck here, getting the weapon and the knowledge? Brachioson was clearly a fake. Our lancer managed to kill the guardian of our base, the strongest local inhabitant. Not to mention that he didn't spend 100 attribute points doing so! Damn it, Vasily, the less you know the better you sleep. For some reason, the old man really wanted me to accept this specific geas. At what cost, I wondered.

Like a sleepwalker, I moved toward the monolith, frantically trying to decide what to do next. Following the old man's advice was definitely a bad idea. Even if the same thing worked out for Petrovich, who could say that it would work for me, too? What if I tried to impose restrictions on the future geas? I mean, what if it would work only when I needed it? The price shouldn't be so great then. The stone blinked green for a moment as if confirming my request. I should decide what I want... Power? Perhaps not. There is something much more valuable and useful than that — information. I wanted to know what, or who, was behind this world and be able to separate truth from lie.

A strange desire for a person under the wardship of the God of Deception, I know, but such was my nature. Having made a decision, I put my hand on the monolith.

Geas "Truth for Truth" has been accepted.

You can offer an exchange of information to any living being. They must answer any question you ask, and you can distinguish between the truth and the lie. However, in return, you must answer truthfully to any question they ask.

Mandatory condition №1: the completeness of your answer should correspond to the completeness of your interlocutor's answer.

Mandatory condition №2: if your interlocutor lies to you, you get the opportunity to lie in response.

Mandatory condition №3: your interlocutor should know the geas's conditions.

Damn it, there were so many restrictions. It was not exactly what I wanted. However, I was satisfied with the fact that all of the cons had effect only while I was using this strange ability. Maybe it's not that bad, after all.

Chapter end