My eyes immediately lit up.
This was an item based off the "Ring of Sacrilege"!
’The details on the ring are quite nice...’
I thought to myself... it felt almost like an exact copy.
The small engravings around the metal, the dark coloration, and even the tiny markings around the inner side of the ring had been recreated perfectly.
The designers and producers of this place were definitely loyal to the wiki and the books.
The Ring of Sacrilege was a relatively simple item that appeared in [Cult of the Moon].
It was worn by a side character who used it during one of the missions throughout the story.
According to the book, the ring allowed its user to possess the same energy as a supernatural entity, allowing them to temporarily fool certain supernatural beings into believing that they were one of them.
Ironically, that side character ended up being mistaken for an actual supernatural creature during a mission.
He was killed because of it.
And, after his death, the ring was never found again.
It was such a small and insignificant detail in the story. But for some reason, it was one of the things I remembered the most.
After all, it was quite entertaining to think about the many ways that ring could have been used...
I picked up the ring and carefully fitted it around my ring finger.
It fit perfectly.
"Huh."
I smiled. It was almost suspiciously perfect... but I shook away my eight-grade syndrome thoughts once again
I looked at my hand for a few seconds before finally turning the ring over to check the price.
My smile immediately disappeared.
’That’s more than half of what I brought...’
I stared at the price tag.
’If I buy this, I can only afford one more inexpensive thing.’
I thought about it for a few seconds.
"..."
Yeah.
I was buying it.
There was no way I was leaving this place without this!
"Alright..."
I muttered before looking around the stand again.
"Hm... the other pair should be here somewhere."
According to the wiki, the Ring of Sacrilege wasn’t actually meant to be used by itself.
There was another item that could supposedly be combined with it.
And after searching around the stand for a while... My eyes lit up.
"There it is."
Beside the Ring of Sacrilege was a small white gem.
It was about the size of a fingernail, with a smooth, almost crystalline surface.
It looked like a tiny piece of glass that had somehow been frozen in place.
The inside of the gem had faint swirling patterns, almost like thin clouds trapped within it.
A small tag beside it read:
[Gem of Augury]
And underneath that...
[20% OFF — ONLY WHEN PURCHASED WITH THE RING OF SACRILEGE]
"Oh."
I stared at it pleasantly. That was convenient.
I vaguely remembered reading something about this on the wiki a few months ago.
There had been an entire discussion thread about whether the Ring of Sacrilege and the Gem of Augury were actually supposed to be used together.
Most people seemed to agree that they were.
Apparently, when the two items were together, the Gem of Augury could be inserted directly into the Ring of Sacrilege.
After which, a resulting strange ability known simply as [Augury] would be made available.
I picked up the gem and looked at the ring.
There was a tiny circular indentation in the center of the ring that I hadn’t noticed before.
’Was that always there?’
Strange. I should’ve been quite familiar with the appearance of the ring... how did I forget a slot was there?
I turned the gem around.
The shape of its bottom was almost exactly the same as the indentation.
"...So strikingly well made."
Curious, I carefully pressed the white gem into the center of the ring.
Click.
It fit perfectly, and there wasn’t even the slightest gap.
The gem seemed to have been made specifically for the ring.
I stared at it for a few seconds.
"That’s actually pretty cool..."
The wiki described the combination, [Augury], as an ability that allowed the wearer to perceive certain colors above a person’s forehead.
Each color represented a different condition or fate surrounding that person.
Black represented Death.
Yellow represented Good Fortune.
Green represented Disease.
Red represented Bad Luck.
Blue represented Turmoil.
But those weren’t the only colors.
White represented Purity— a person whose intentions were free from malicious influence.
Purple represented Supernatural Influence— someone being affected, watched, or manipulated by an outside entity.
Orange represented Conflict— a person who was currently involved in an unavoidable struggle.
Gray represented Stagnation— someone whose circumstances were unlikely to change, regardless of what they did.
And finally...
Gold represented Great Fortune.
Glancing around, there was quite a bit of excitement in my high schooler heart.
Of course, the price was nothing to laugh at, but I was quite happy and content with what I got.
I didn’t want to buy anything too big, as I was afraid of embarrassing myself in public about my interests.
At the same time, though, I wanted something that made me feel connected to [Arcana].
So this was quite the perfect item!
After heading to the counter to pay for the items I had bought, I waited around the lobby area for my friends.
Seeing as they were probably still looking for items, I decided to look around a bit more.
It was quite an interesting place.
I originally thought it was just a "small shop," but the inside was definitely bigger than what it looked like from the outside.
There were far more shelves than I had initially noticed, with small hallways connecting different sections of the store.
It almost felt like the shop had been designed to make people wander around.
"Hm?"
My eyes suddenly caught sight of something.
"There’s an upstairs area?"
I looked towards the far end of the shop.
It was an area I hadn’t noticed before, mostly because there weren’t any shelves or displays around it.
Instead, there was a small, somewhat empty space.
And at the end of it... A staircase.
I looked around. There weren’t any employees nearby.
There weren’t even any customers around that particular area.
’Can I even go up there?’
My eyes wandered around until I finally noticed a small sign placed beside the staircase.
It read:
[ONE-TIME ENTRY]
[GO UP FOR THE MOST EXCITING TIME OF YOUR LIFE! ?]
I stared at it.
"...What?"
I couldn’t help but laugh pleasurably.
’What a horrific way to advertise something.’
’It definitely suits the bizarre vibe of [Arcana], though.’
I found it quite amusing.
Maybe it was some sort of attraction?
Perhaps the shop had a small horror experience upstairs where customers could explore a themed room or something.
Considering how popular [Arcana] was, I wouldn’t be surprised.
And since it specifically said "one-time entry," it was probably some sort of special experience that they didn’t allow people to repeat.
Curiosity got the better of me.
I stepped forward.
’Well...’
I looked back towards the lobby.
My friends were still nowhere to be seen.
’...Why not?’
I said the phrase in my head that every soon-to-be-dead character uttered out loud.
I entered the staircase.