The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 54: Fifty-three

With the matter about the new skill aside, Jannah stared at the skill window with wonder, the sentence below the skills have been bothering her.

Jeriel squinted her eyes at her big sister, watching Jannah place a hand on her hip and frown at the system, obviously bothered and distressed about something.

"You good?" Jeriel poked Jannah on the stomach which made the latter glance at her, but she look back to the air— system.

"Yeah." Jannah calmly stated, "I’m just wondering how I can make someone as my party member. It said on my skill window that more skills will be added if I have party members."

"Party members?" Jeriel raised an eyebrow at her, "We can’t have a party in here. We already have these zombies banging in the wall. We can’t risk our safety."

"I mean, you’re right.." Jannah cast a solemn glance at the floorboards. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

[Ding!]

Though, that solemn look of hers didn’t last long because the system have notified her about something again.

Jannah teared her gaze away from the floor and looked at the system’s texts.

[In the context of the word party, it is typically refers to a group of people who are playing a multiplayer game together.

A party can be formed by inviting friends or other people to join you in a mission. The party can then finish the mission together, often working together to complete objectives or compete against enemies.]

"Oh." Jeriel mumbled, blinking.

Jannah had read the text out loud so her little sister can get the gist of what a "party" means for the system.

They’re both clueless, but Jannah is glad that she can explore the system’s feature with her little sister, and not alone, all by herself.

"Is that all what it says?"

"No. I’ll read the rest." Jannah looked back to the system’s surface, opening her mouth to read out loud for Jeriel.

[Parties can be formed in a variety of tasks, including individual missions, side missions, and secret missions . Some tasks allow for parties of various sizes while others may have specific requirements for party size or composition.

However, if one of the members of this party is set on social bonds, status, and has been listed in the family tree, then there won’t be any need to invite that person as a party member since they’re a important and trustworthy figure for the player.

They will automatically be included in missions according to the player’s choice, leaving more slots for the player to invite more members to the party.]

"Social bonds? Status? Family tree? What are those? You know, the more information we got, the more questions we have." Jeriel grumbled out, crossing her arms in dissatisfaction.

"I don’t know." Jannah shrugged her shoulders and looked back to the system, "Family tree sounds like something about family. How do I get access to it?"

[Ding!]

Jannah flinched slightly in her spot, watching as the appearance of the system changed into a larger square with a large text on the top of the surface.

[Family tree:

(+)

(+)

(+)

Note: Please input the name of the person after asking for permission. If the name was input forcibly then that person’s information will be locked for a certain time, and the player will receive punishments. ]

"Why do you have to ask? Isn’t it obvious that I’ll be happy to be the first one to be listed in that family tree thing of yours?" Jeriel’s face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Sorry." Jannah chuckled out and pressed the plus sign on the surface of the system, "It told me to make sure to ask permission or else I’ll get punishments."

After pressing the plus sign, something pops up on the bottom of the system which consists of a flat, rectangular shape with a series of buttons and keys.

The keys are arranged in a black and red layout with letters, numbers, and symbols, as well as keys for various buttons with different arrows pointing on different directions, a button with a name of Enter, and Backspace.

The keys are made of bubble shape that looks soft to the touch, with symbols or letters floating or embossed on top, and those were illuminated with a dim light.

The text on the system changed, swirling all over the surface and bouncing on the rectangular prism on the bottom, before it bounced back up to form a text.

[Please enter the person’s name: _______ ]

"Uhh.. Jeriel.. Ki.. zha.. Rafe.. lon.." Jannah mumbled under her breath, eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she pressed the letters on the system that complete her little sister’s name.

After completing the process of pressing, she pressed the button of Enter out of instinct, which made the system’s surface changed right before her eyes again.

Hold on. Jannah’s finger froze mid-air as she stared at the changing appearance of the system, how did I know which key to press? I swear this is the first time I’ve done this.. But I instinctively pressed that Enter key.. Have I done this before?

Jannah felt a sense of nostalgia hit her, as if she has done this exact moment before, yet she knows it’s impossible for her to have done so.

She felt incredibly confused, her mind struggling to jog down her memory lane to pinpoint any occasion or event in her life that might be related to this moment.

"I’m creeped out." Jannah said out loud, looking at her little sister and reaching out to hold Jeriel’s hand.

"What? Why? What’s wrong?" Jeriel was quick to step closer to her, squeezing Jannah’s hand in hope for calming her down, she could feel Jannah’s hand getting sweaty and she knew right then that her sister is really disturbed.

"I don’t know. It’s weird." Jannah frowned and grip Jeriel’s hand tightly, "I feel like I’ve done this before— you know? Like I’ve entered your name into this thing before this? I don’t know. It’s really hard to explain."

She felt like she lost memory or something that she can never regain. All she could do is stammer out words that doesn’t make sense to her, refusing to look back at the system until she calms down.

"It’s okay." Jeriel assured Jannah, squeezing her hand several times, "Deep breaths sis, deep breaths."

Jannah did as she was told, her chest heaving up and down, her diaphragm contracting and relaxing as she take in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Inhaleeeee. Exhaleeeeee.

It took Jannah a while before she could collect her composure, but once she did, she kept her grip on her little sister’s hand and looked back on the system.

[Jeriel Kizha Rafelon? What’s the player’s relationship with this person? Please pick one of the choices below.

[Mother]

[Father]

[Sibling {sister} or {brother}]

[Spouse]

[Others]

Once you’ve picked a position for the registered person, you can’t change it. ]

Jannah wordlessly pressed the option for Jeriel as her sibling and chose the {sister} option to specify the relationship between them in the family tree.

The system’s appearance changed again.

The window now shows a graphical representation of the family tree, with Jeriel’s name represented as a node on the tree, connected by a line that represents their family relationships— a sister.

The window included information about Jeriel, such as her name, age, and other relevant facts.

"The family tree showed me your personal information, Jeriel." Jannah uttered out in complete shock.

"What?" Jeriel blinked.

[Jeriel Kizha Rafelon:

Age: 19

Nickname: Jeri

Gender/Pronouns: Female

Sexuality: Straight (as of now)

Likes: Jannah, Hanzo La Mercuria, blue

Dislikes: Eulicies Devonio Zacharias

Hobbies: Baking

Occupation: Knight

Strengths: Jannah

Weaknesses: Jannah

Additional information about Jeriel....]

"Uhhh.." Jannah doesn’t know what to say.

She kept staring at the information window of her little sister, her eyes reading the third prince’s name beside her name.

She likes Prince Hanzo? Jannah blinked rapidly, not expecting for her little sister to develop romantic feelings for someone. She doesn’t look like she’s the type to fall for someone— for her superior— because she was hyper focused with her training.

Also, what? I’m both her strength and weakness? Jannah’s face scrunched up in confusion, looking at her little sister like she had grown two heads, before turning back to the system.

Jeriel didn’t like the Duke? The Countess wasn’t surprised when she read that, but the sexuality? Oh, that surprised her.

What the hell does "as of now" mean? Jannah wanted to grab the system and shake it violently for answers, but she jumped in her spot when Jeriel spoke.

"Isn’t it obvious that I don’t like the Duke? I thought I already told you? And it’s not just "as of now" or whatever you’re saying. I don’t think I’ll like him in the future as well." Jeriel huffed out, crossing her arms, but still holding Jannah’s hand.

"What?" Jannah’s eyebrows furrowed, "I didn’t say anything."

"You did. If you didn’t, I wouldn’t hear a thing of the words you just said." Jeriel scoffed and frowned at her.

"No, seriously, I didn’t say anything." Jannah insisted, frowning at Jeriel as well.

"Don’t lie." Jeriel squinted her eyes in a slight glare, "I clearly heard you."

"I’m serious. I didn’t say those things out loud. I was saying them with my mind—" Jannah abruptly cut herself off when the realization hit her in the head, Oh my god, you can hear me.

Jeriel’s face took a turn when she didn’t see her big sister’s lips move, but heard her voice in her head.

"What the hell?" Jeriel mumbled under her breath as she stare at Jannah with wide eyes, I can hear you loud and clear.