MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

'Something… feels off.'

As he proceeded to read through the buffs Ataraxia's titles gave after he became the plane's Archivist, Valyr began to notice that the stats his other self gained from the three titles were a bit higher than usual.

Unsure if there was any basis behind this claim that popped up in his mind, the young man decided to confirm his doubts by bringing the titles he got from the Mystic Plane up in his mind.

Ding!

Comparing and cross-referencing the effects each title gave to their respective user, Valyr eventually told his other self that he had seen enough, prompting the latter to stop sharing his vision as he turned to look at the former.

Though, just as he was about to ask what his other self thought about the titles he gained from his new position, Ataraxia instead began to wonder why Valyr had a frown on his face all of a sudden.

'Is there a problem with the titles?' he asked, a hint of fear briefly flashing across his eyes. 'Did I accept something I actually shouldn't have?'

'You didn't.' Valyr faintly shook his head, responding to the messages through their connection. 'I'm just… a bit angry at the moment.'

'Angry?" Ataraxia raised his eyebrow at those words. 'What for?'

'See for yourself.'

Whoosh!

Turning the tables around, Valyr went ahead and shared his senses with his other self, allowing the latter to go through the three titles he had received from the Mystic Plane after becoming its Guardian.

Although taken aback by being shown the titles at first, the latter quickly understood what the former wanted to show him, proceeding to go through the descriptions of the three titles one by one.

'…Huh.' By the time he was done, the young man more or less understood what was going on, prompting an odd expression to gradually appear on his face.

'That's weird,' said Ataraxia, extricating himself from the vision Valyr was sharing with him. 'Am I wrong in saying that the titles I got are… better?'

'You're not.' Valyr shook his head at the question. 'Though the distribution of the buffs are different, the overall effects of the titles you got are objectively better than the ones I got.'

'What's the reason, though?' asked the former in response, looking at his other self for answers.

'Who knows?' Valyr could only shrug his shoulders at the question. 'I could easily come up with a number of possibilities on why that's the case… but there's no point jumping to conclusions.'

'It's better if we just ask the source directly.'

"Say, Marcus." Acting upon his words the moment he came up with the thought, the young man went ahead and asked Marcus a question. "What's with the difference in titles?"

"The difference?" The latter briefly looked back at him in confusion, only for his expression to turn into that realization.

"Oh, the effects? Mystia already said it before, no? The effects of the titles are different because of the respective positions you've chosen to take."

"I understand that, yes," responded Valyr before shaking his head soon after. "But that's not what I was hinting at."

Seeing that Marcus' expression went back to confusion after hearing his words, the young man quickly understood that the former did not have a smidgen of a clue as to what he was talking about.

With that, he asked his other self to show off the effects of [Mystic-attuned Mind] to the others, to which the latter immediately obliged.

Ding!

Telling both Mystia and Marcus to take a look at Ataraxia's title after that, Valyr then went ahead and brought up the effects of [Mystic Physique] for everyone else to see, attracting the duo's attention towards it the moment they were done reading.

Fortunately, after looking back and forth through the two titles for a bit, both Mystia and Marcus began to understand what he was trying to tell them, with the latter eventually looking at Valyr with a slight frown.

"Is this the difference you were talking about?" he asked, to which Valyr nodded in response.

Seeing him nod in response to his question, Marcus went silent for a bit as he gave Mystia a brief glance.

Then, shifting his focus back to the two young men before him, the man let out a faint sigh.

"I see why you'd ask me that kind of question."

"From your perspective, the difference definitely feels unfair," he said, giving both Mystia and Valyr a knowing look.

"But… what if I told you I actually didn't know about it until the moment you showed me?"

"Well…" Hearing those words, Valyr could not help but feel a bit of anger bubbling within him, wondering how someone like the Mystic Plane's Overseer would make that kind of oversight.

Though, as he gave the man's words a bit more thought, the more it all began to make sense to him.

After all, with how many people there were that were currently a part of the Mystic Plane, there wasn't really much of a reason for the topic to come up.

Back when he had become the plane's Guardian, it went without saying that he had gone through the titles he received in order to get a better understanding of his strength.

After that, he did nothing else.

Never once did he entertain the thought of asking for Mystia's titles at the time. After all, aside from her being the one that introduced him to the Mystic Plane in the first place, there was a vast difference between their statuses.

With that in mind, he immediately thought that it would've been rude for him to ask her about it… even if she did not mind sharing it with him.

Plus, even if she did share it with him, the two of them might have come to the conclusion that the difference between the buffs of their titles was mostly due to the positions they were given.

However, now that there was a third person that had a same ranking position as them…

"Mystia, mind if you show us the same type of title you got from the plane?" asked Marcus amidst the silence, his gaze still affixed on the titles both Valyr and Ataraxia were showing them.

"Just wanted to confirm something."

"…Alright." Though she still wasn't entirely sure what the current conversation was about, Mystia decided to cooperate, slightly curious as to what the three had figured out.

Ding!

Looking through the effects of Mystia's title the moment she brought it up, Marcus briefly frowned before turning to look at the effects of the titles the duo got once more.

Closing his eyes for a bit after that, the man eventually let out yet another sigh as he gave them a self-mocking smile.

"Well… that confirms it."

"I can now say without a doubt that it's my fault."