《Cores of Astria (Working Title)》 Prologue Part One A feminine voice uttered "Welcome James, I am Astria, goddess of Feudalism." The man looked at the goddess "Where are we?" "This is my realm, you''ve been chosen to get a second chance." "Second chance? You mean that swarm of rats killed me?" "Indeed, which is why Johannes the cobbler won''t be joining you. The rest of his victims will be however." "So what happens now?" "I explain the new world, you have a status, try thinking about it."
James Cooper Attributes Body Indigo Blue Blue Mind Indigo Blue Blue Respect Indigo Blue Blue Assets Indigo Blue Blue Skills Fundamental Reading Writing Mathematics Green Orange Red Etiquette Crafting Carpentry Blue Blue Blacksmithing Blue Blue Barrel Making Indigo Indigo
"What do these words mean, I see one of them has changed as I try to interpert them." "The top line is your name, we''ve appended your old profession to make it fit the way things work here. The next line says Attributes which everything has and is then followed by Body, Mind, Respect and Assets with there raitings, you''ll see for you they''re all the same, one Indigo and two Blue dice. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. The next block is Skills, divided into Fundamental which all humans need and Crafting, there are also more categories such as weapons, magic, interactions and histories." "Oh, the first one has changed." "That represents your ability to read, it is a Skill, hopefully by the time we''re finished it will be up to Yellow Yellow Yellow which is what is normal for sapient beings of this world, such as humans, elfs and dwarfs." "Shouldn''t I have more Skills, maybe my language." "These are just the ones you already had that translated, you should see the Skill for the language appear shortly, it is indeed measured here but wasn''t where you came from. You also had different Attributes which don''t all translate. Try calling up the update window."
Reading added at Orange Red Trade Tounge added at Green Red Red Reading advanced to Yellow Orange Red Trade Tounge advanced to Green Yellow Orange
"So it looks like I''ve gained two Skills, Reading and is the name of the language Trade Tounge?" "That''s correct. This word means Red, this one Orange, Yellow, Green. Skills can also be rated Violet which means you''ll be better than with Indigo. I think the progression should be obvious to anyone familiar with rainbow symbology." "That means Barrel Making is my best Skill." "Correct though you need at least three colours associated with the Skill and the first three have to be at least Yellow before you are considered competent." "One more in each of my Crafting Skill then but my Fundamental Skills need a lot of work." Prolouge Part Two Meanwhile, Drath, God of Death was having a similar conversation with Bishop Carmen. Both of them were disembodied voices at this point. "But enough, let me tell you of the differences between me and your old god necromancer." "What do you mean, necromancer?" "You have the power to raise creatures to undeath, that is what we call a necromancer here." "Very well, continue." "Your old god was a god of undeath, while I am a god of consecrated graves. It was in favour of the creation whilst I am more about their destruction. I will grant you the powers I need you to have. Your talents will be turned to make dispelling the animation magic easier. Now I will teach you the ceremonies of my faith." Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. After the lesson Carmen invoked the update window.
Ceremony Skills unlocked Wedding of Drath Green Yellow Yellow Funeral of Drath Blue Green Yellow Birth Ceremony of Drath Orange Orange Orange Investiture of Drath Yellow Orange Red Confirmation of Drath Green Yellow Orange
"Another important change, slavery is legal in much fewer circumstances. Only cores and gods may have slaves and they must consent knowingly to the consequences. That said, take this Cathedral core, you''ll want to plant it to start your replacement Bishopric. It will automatically collect taxes and tithes. Now let''s get started making your new body."
Across several days throughout the godly realms, the victims of the swarm had such conversations with the voices that called themselves gods. Here a god of chance and a dwarf gambler, there an elf shipwright and a godess of crafting, a king had been the first conversation for Astria and she had also spoken to the rest of his family but most of the victims were human peasant children and which voice they spoke to was truly random. Chapter One - Sarah Point of View The people now demonstrated a much wider range of forms, for the system that displayed the status had a broader definition of human. Whilst most adults had simply created younger versions of their previous bodies, the children had shown no such restraint, adding animal features or turning their skin what would have been unnatural hues. Sarah Tonin, previously Serotonin, had been an elf but had given that up for a form that fitted her better, one of the few adults to make more significant changes, her ears significantly less pointy, about what the gods expected from a half elf, a thing that wasn''t possible in her old world, you either were an elf with human blood or a human with elf blood. She looked like a female human for the most part, if one with blue skin and green hair. She had a fuller figure than before when she''d looked more like a classical work of art. Sarah had been the most familiar with the sea of all the candidates and in spite of identifying as a shipwright had been given a district core and appointed harbour master by the combined will of the assorted deities. She would have two subsidiary buildings at the start in addition to the harbour office, a dry dock and a cooperage where a man called James was going to be resident. She called up the configuration menu for the core, it had an bird''s eye view map of the district, which had been set by the mayor who controlled the town core. There were three highlighted areas, representing the valid placement for the three buildings. The dock needed to extend into the water but be partially on land, whilst the other two needed to be wholly on land and not overlap with another building. Satisfied with the locations, them being in a row that ran from the docks to the town square, she tried to assign a road going past all three, after a few false starts, the core cottoned on to her intentions and marked it out but presented an error suggesting it would need stone to complete to the intended standard and would just be represented visually for now. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. There was one more task before she could leave the core menu, she had to assign the shifts for the building. It wouldn''t let her put in anyone for more than eight hours a day, and if there were more than six she had to include a break. She also couldn''t assign anyone more than five days in seven or on their designated worship day. Apparently the core had inherited the labour laws of something called the European Union. That said it had its upsides, automatically calculating wages and dealing with people being unable to work, whether through illness or injury. It reported the status of the tools too but that was a double edged sword as it enforced a minimum standard. Now the essential management tasks were done, Sarah was ready to meet James. He proved to be more conventional in appearance, close to what a dwarf had looked like on the old world, a little under five feet and with a torso that reminded her of a barrel taking up about half his height, his skin tone was a preset refered to as Eastern European though Sarah suspected wherever that was would not be so homogenous, he had the matching black hair and brown eyes. He was focused on the core for the cooperage when she arrived, presumably setting opening hours unlike the office which needed to be staffed what was now twenty four hours a day, seven days a week including high holy days. She suspected he''d be allowed employees, possibly journeymen and apprentices or even maybe lesser masters. When James acknowledged Sarah''s presence, she introduced herself "Sarah Tonin, former elf, journeyman shipwright and somehow master of this harbour." "James, now James Cooper, by the old standards master barrel maker but by the new I need one more piece." "Good to meet you James, as you may have noticed, I have set out system markings for where a stone road will connect the dock to the square going past the door to your shop." "I''m feeling a bit strange about the fact the Etiquette skill seems to be making changes to me. The taboo against nudity being gone and us only being concerned with clothing for safety." "That skill more reflects changes you make yourself that bring you in line with how the gods want it to work." As the two of them talked, getting to know each other, the cores were manifesting the items they had placed, soon a dripping sound interrupted them. It was where the slave of the cooperage, Coop, a creature of black liquid was due to appear, apparently its body was being formed drop by drop. Chapter 2 The new tar person introduced itself. "I didn''t have a name in the old world. Was just a minor fire spirit. Now, I am Coop, slave of your core. May I recommend installing an alternative entrance to the harbour dungeon in the shop. Have a corridor going along the road. Some of my friends are now these creatures but working at the dock." The words confused Sarah, what did Coop mean by harbour dungeon, she had no knowledge of such a thing, though it sounded like something the district core was responsible for. Presumably it was meant in the context of a place of adventure rather than imprisonment, odd that the Trade Tongue used the same word for both though apparently it was based on a creole called English with a few minor spelling and grammar differences. "Well since neither of those exist yet and they are both my responsibility, I will have to leave you to it." Replied Sarah before heading off to the site she had chosen for the dock. By the time Sarah got to the dock, someone had upgraded her road proposal to a wider one one lined with trees, they''d even included the proposed name Tar Boulevard for it. Someone must be in charge of a core to which the one for the harbour district reported the way the one for the cooperage did to it. As she watched they added residences to the far side of the road. Sarah had a brief moment of panic when a message popped up saying Sojourn had identified her before she remembered that was the name of the being covering the duties of harbour master. The tar people would need a place to spend their downtime, a bunkhouse and maybe a tavern, though her improved Etiquette Skill reminded her that alcohol was much less acceptable to the new gods, it existed but they considered its consumption sinful. One of the advantages to having previously been an elf was that Sarah had above average statistics with Mind containing the word Indigo five times, Body and Respect three each and Assets twice. She also had a wide range of skills with triple Indigo, mainly related to sailing and Crafting but they included a smattering related to the theology of the previous world and a handful of magic spells useful at sea. She checked the update log, she had a new skill called City Planning but it otherwise didn''t show anything noteworthy. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. A notice popped up in her vision: Wolfe Glazier, glass-blower, was dissolved by Savage Beast, king slime. Respawning. Sarah thought on the strange message, it implied they had multiple lives. Something to contemplate later, she needed to finish setting up this dry dock.
James had been discussing his proposal for teaching Coop when the message came through. "Hey, what''s the significance of this message?" He asked it. "One of the prices the cores must pay their slaves is that they are killed by outside forces then they must be offered a new body to serve them further. This means I''d come back if someone other than you was responsible for my death and the gods didn''t consider it natural causes such as age, mundane disease or true misadventure." "So magical disease is excluded, but what do you mean by true misadventure?" "Examples include drowning without outside influences, being destroyed by an act of nature or starving as a result of your own miscalculation." "Ah, so further examples of things which are normally natural causes but which can be deliberately engineered. Thirst without intervention seems likely to be an additional item that belongs to that list and I take it that is not exhaustive but illustrative. I also feel that I am better with the new language, don''t think I would be able to articulate these thoughts before." "And even if you could, I did not speak the tounge of your land. It would have made these lessons much more difficult." "Let''s get back to discussing not only those but ones where you teach me what I should know about cores. It feels like you are an expert on the topic."
Wolfe himself was feeling very confused, one minute he''d been in a forest with a large blue squishy creature wearing a crown, the next he was materialising in a workshop full of strange alchemical devices like those his father made. In fact that looked like a younger version of his father, maybe this was his new workplace. "Went with the lupine look to reflect your name I see. Try using the appraisal skill, it should calm your immediate suspicion of me." "I''d ask how, but I suspect like my new form it was divine intervention. That doesn''t explain how I moved from where I was to here." "Part of the divine contract, when you passed away this became your afterlife. Should you die in a way the gods do not approve of you will return here." "It feels like there should be more to it than that." "Whilst normally they won''t interfere in destiny, they do demand you learn enough of the trade to make mundane items, they call them glasses and serve liquids from them. But first something easier, flasks for holding mundane items." Status Sheets Sarah Tonin Attributes Body Indigo Indigo Indigo Mind Indigo Indigo Indigo Indigo Indigo Respect Indigo Indigo Indigo Assets Indigo Indigo Skills Fundamental Vocabulary Indigo Indigo Indigo Reading Indigo Indigo Indigo Writing Indigo Indigo Indigo Mathematics Indigo Indigo Indigo Etiquette Indigo Indigo Indigo Crafting Carpentry Indigo Indigo Indigo Masonry Indigo Indigo Indigo Blacksmithing Indigo Indigo Indigo Ship Building Indigo Indigo Indigo Ship Design Indigo Indigo Indigo Repair Indigo Indigo Indigo Weapons Spear Indigo Indigo Indigo Sword Indigo Indigo Indigo This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Religious Scripture Indigo Indigo Indigo Religious Debate Indigo Indigo Indigo Priestley Rules Indigo Indigo Indigo Social Public Speaking Indigo Indigo Indigo Leadership Indigo Indigo Indigo Nautical Boat Piloting Indigo Indigo Indigo Ship Crewing Indigo Indigo Indigo Civil City Planning Yellow Red Red Spells Weather Frost Indigo Indigo Indigo Wind Indigo Indigo Indigo Current Indigo Indigo Indigo Rain Indigo Indigo Indigo Utility Rope Indigo Indigo Indigo
James Cooper Attributes Body Indigo Blue Blue Mind Indigo Blue Blue Respect Indigo Blue Blue Assets Indigo Blue Blue Skills Fundamental Vocabulary Green Yellow Yellow Reading Yellow Yellow Yellow Writing Yellow Yellow Yellow Mathematics Green Orange Red Etiquette Yellow Yellow Yellow Crafting Carpentry Blue Blue Blacksmithing Blue Blue Barrel Making Indigo Indigo
Wolfe Glazier Attributes Body Indigo Blue Blue Mind Indigo Blue Blue Respect Indigo Blue Blue Assets Indigo Blue Blue Skills Fundamental Vocabulary Yellow Yellow Yellow Reading Yellow Yellow Yellow Writing Yellow Yellow Yellow Mathematics Yellow Yellow Yellow Etiquette Yellow Yellow Yellow Crafting Glass Blowing Red
Carmen Andrite Attributes Body Indigo Indigo Indigo Mind Indigo Indigo Indigo Indigo Respect Indigo Indigo Assets Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Skills Fundamental Vocabulary Indigo Indigo Reading Indigo Indigo Writing Indigo Indigo Mathematics Violet Violet Green Etiquette Indigo Indigo Indigo Indigo Crafting Fletching Indigo Indigo Weapons Bow Indigo Indigo Crossbow Indigo Indigo Knives Indigo Indigo Exotic Polearms Indigo Indigo Quarterstaff Indigo Indigo Shield Yellow Yellow Yellow Spear Indigo Indigo Unarmed Indigo Indigo Social Acting Indigo Indigo Indigo Indigo Attention Grabbing Indigo Indigo Haggling Indigo Indigo Leadership Indigo Indigo Parenting Indigo Indigo Medical First Aid Indigo Indigo Religious Priestley Rules Indigo Indigo Ceremonial Wedding of Drath Green Yellow Yellow Funeral of Drath Blue Green Yellow Birth Ceremony of Drath Orange Orange Orange Investiture of Drath Yellow Orange Red Confirmation of Drath Green Yellow Orange Business Accountancy Indigo Indigo Administration Indigo Indigo Legal Fines Indigo Indigo
Coop Attributes Body Violet Mind Yellow Yellow Yellow Respect Green Yellow Yellow Assets Red Skills Fundamental Vocabulary Yellow Yellow Yellow Reading Yellow Yellow Yellow Writing Yellow Yellow Yellow Mathematics Yellow Yellow Yellow Etiquette Yellow Yellow Yellow Crafting Barrel Making Orange Red Chapter 3 It was time for James and Coop to have a meal break. Coop had an odd black orb that looked like it was made of water except for the colour, while the core had provided a similar clear orb and a bendy fruit with a yellow peel for James - he was told this was called a banana. After lunch, James gave a demonstration of how to create a stave from the log they had been given. It was a standard dungeon log, meaning it was the type that dungeons could drop as treasure in this world. As such it had a standardised grain and knots in known locations. He could tell he was getting better, presumably he''d gained the teaching skill and improved his carpentry. Coop was confident enough to try with a second such log and supervision.
Elsewhere Wolfe was watching his father perform a demonstration of how to turn coarse dungeon sand into glass, according to their core this was the preferred raw material though other types of sand and dungeon gravel could also be used, it was simply that this type naturally resulted in the purest glass before additional action beyond simply heating it was taken. As mentioned, the first step was to melt the sand, then a spell of purity "Purify for Glassmaking" was cast on the result. Then was the actual blowing, a quantity of the liquid was removed, if required a spell to dye was cast at this point then the liquid was spun and blown into shape. These ranged from simpler bulbs to flat panes such as used for more expensive windows to complex shapes used only as improvements on similar devices made from other more reactive materials used in alchemy, not just spirals but ones that double back on themselves for example. The shapes seemed complex enough Wolfe suspected his father had hit at least triple Violet in the Skill. He himself was apparently only required to reach triple Yellow. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. So much glass had been used for the demonstration that Wolfe was required to heat more sand. The spell was new, something he''d not done before but his father guided him through. Then came the dying and shaping, crystal clear was ideal but normally unrealistic and impractical to make at least until he was better with the spell, bottle green was traditional but sea blue was also acceptable though this would actually result in a shade for some reason called Bristol, probably after a place where English was spoken, which was more translucent. At a critical moment, Wolfe dropped the tool through which he was blowing as an unpleasant smell hit his nose. The workshop was just inside the Tannery district with all the odiferous trades. Hopefully he could achieve some sort of skill against olfactory stimuli, maybe there was one called Resist Smell. The piece should have been possible to rescue but even with help from his father it was too deformed whilst hardened in a way they couldn''t risk reheating it. Still a useful lesson, even if he''d need another attempt to produce something workable.
Meanwhile Sarah was finalising the layout of the Harbour District, confirming the layout proposed by the person working the parent core and adding additional buildings that formed a wish list of properties. Then she was deciding where the docks would go, the ones for building, for refitting and repairing, for just providing safe harbour while the crew were ashore and for accessing adventures complete with vessel. The last item would bring the ship into a suitable dungeon for its class. Sarah decided she didn''t want one harbour dungeon, she wanted multiple which were collocated. They should be based on the resources people had brought with them as well as the size and power level of the group, three people with no food or water should have a much easier experience than a navy with holds full of adventuring equipment. Further, Sarah wanted to add enchantments to ensure the weather in the harbour. She began channelling the magic into it before realising she''d need to use the main core and cancelling the spell. A job for tomorrow. Prequel Story - Chain of Cores The core was confused, how had it popped into existence as a fully formed multiverse core? It knew there would be nothing until it created something. What about rules for subsidiary cores? No, a common system of physics seemed more important. It decided to make things like gravity dependent on planetary cores and speed of light based on the skill of the universe cores. As such vehicles with a higher speed attribute could achieve faster than light travel and jump skills would be opposed by gravity attributes. It set tasks to require so many success from a dice poll of twelve sided dice, starting with success on a 12 or Red, with progress through the colours of the terrestrial rainbow through 6 to 12 at violet. Skills would start at Red 1, letting them roll one twelve sided dice, with the number of dice upgraded for one Skill Point or the colour for five (six points could buy either R7 or O2) It decided it was time to create its first universe core, by its own rules it would need to succeed on a check but it had given itself every ability and skill at V100. 57 successes, a higher number than it needed, it could give the core extra starting skill points. The new core gave itself Blue summoning 10 which it decided was the relevant skill for creating Solar Cores. It would practice by creating several core-less galaxies using the training rules it''s creator had set. It took several millenia but it improved to B30 which it felt was enough to now take the risk. 14 Successes and a solar core was made. It would continue practicing until it was ready for a proper galactic core. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. The new solar core practiced for centuries making lesser solar bodies, asteroids and uninhabited worlds without cores, until it had G70 summoning and was ready to make a planetary core for a sapient planet. The rest of the system would remain subject to its will. 20 Successes, this would start the planet off at O10 on summoning. The planet in turn summoned a series of layers around its cores, preparing to create dungeons and towns with their own cores which in turn would summon monsters and adventurers. Dungeon cores had fewer needs so those got started first, when it reached O25. Only 2 successes meaning that the new core blamed its summoner and decided to try a demonic route. Whilst the first dungeon core was practising its summoning, the planetary core continued to create more things, trying again at O26, up to five successes which still wasn''t ideal giving the power but at least this dungeon was only planning on creating slimes. The planet continued to build, making sure that the two dungeons were where their respective cores wanted tobe, trying to reconcile with them. It actually decided to tell the first core that the demons were its servants in the same way that they were intended to be servants of the planet core. The two dungeons continued to practice summoning with lesser objects than the creatures, neither was ready for creatures yet. Once the planet reached O50 it tried creating a blank town core near the demon dungeon, if it managed enough successes it was going to give it to the demon dungeon as a peace offering. 14 successes meant they were siblings rather than the same person as intended though the town core did defer to the dungeon core. Chapter 4 It had been a week since Wolfe first died here. The various completed businesses were up and running, settling into a routine but people were now starting to go on intentional adventures to collect the materials for the remaining construction projects across what proved to be a Kingdom that Edvard III of Andrite had been put in charge of, he was now Edvard of Retowner, though he imagined later generations would call him Edvard I once they needed to diffienterate. The father of Bishop Carmen was now fifty years younger, meaning he would be in the fourth decade of his life had he been born with this body. Along with wife Adrette, daughter Henrietta and grandson Liam they made up the new royal family. Carmen had to recant the right of himself and his decendants when he converted to the faith of Drath, though that was a conflict with being a member of the clergy not the religion in general. Edvard was contemplating the core that ran the Kingdom and how he could not only drill down to the principalities that made it up but go further, down to their component marches and further in that vein until he got to individual buildings. In theory instead of going through the tree based on national administrative regions he could instead go through the ones for the church but in practice they were the same. Carmen now ruled an area known as the Bishopric of Principality which was the South West quadrant of the Kingdom and had a coastline. Henrietta also ruled a Principality, hers was unnamed as yet though it was currently listed with her name in the possessive, likey to later be a corruption of that name. Her Principality was the South East quadrant of the Kingdom and was to be ruled by the heir to the throne. The North West Principality was ruled by Carmen''s son Gareth and had been named New Andrite in reference to the Kingdom he no longer stood to inherit, whilst his daughter Carlotta stood as Carmen''s heir for the South West one. The North East Principality was known as New Virroy and was ruled by Edvard''s nephew Vincent who had been the Count of Virroy previously but had ascended to Prince, in the sense of one in charge of a Principality rather than one in line for a throne, upon arrival. Central to all four, though sprawling more over the South East, was the capital of Retown that was the monarch''s personal charge. The geography was not really visible in the current mode but there were a number of alternative views that could be used, in addition to this political mode, there was a geographical one, another showing desirability of living in an area and a fourth showing population happiness. He still didn''t comprehend what those were showing. As well as the maps, there were several tabs showing various statistics. One showed that a crime had yet to be committed in the kingdom, but would eventually show how many of which type - Edvard wasn''t nieve enough to think the world was now crime free.
John Quill had taken a new name, referring to a blow pipe conbatant. The former assassin found he had no compulsion to continue his previous trade but in practice was going to be turning the skills it gave him into those needed to clear dungeons. He had found a way to level his skill with the dagger by using it as more of a knife, though the world had a wider selection including various types dedicated to eating, fish, steak or table - in fact the Etiquette of when to use which was a Skill that overlapped the Knives skill which covered dagger combat. They had an equally wide selection of forks including one dedicated to cake which was a new design. Before he could start contemplating other options for cutlery he shook his head and called up his status. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
John Quill Attributes Body Indigo Indigo Blue Mind Indigo Blue Blue Respect Indigo Blue Blue Assets Indigo Blue Blue Skills Fundamental Vocabulary Blue Blue Blue Reading Blue Green Yellow Writing Yellow Yellow Yellow Mathematics Blue Yellow Yellow Etiquette Indigo Green Green Yellow Yellow Red Red Red Crafting Alchemy Indigo Yellow Yellow Skinning Red Weapons Blow Pipe Red Crossbow Indigo Yellow Yellow Knives Indigo Indigo Green
John had initially been surprised by the alchemy skill unit he discovered it also covered the knowledge of making poison. He had not used it since his reincarnation into his current body, he''d picked the jet black features because it would help him hide. Time he decided to see what this new adventurer''s guild was about he thought as he walked in the door. "Do you have a class?" Asked the short woman behind the counter, she looked like she was about three feet nine to John''s eye. "Were you not paying attention in the tutorial the gods ran, neither this world or the other has classes in that sense. I''m competent in knives, crossbows, alchemy and the fundamentals with a bias towards Etiquette." "The gods ran a tutorial? When was this?" "A little over a week ago, Moon Day First of Gateways was the day it concluded. They also declared it to be zero human empire as a new calendar started with the new year. Today is Thunder Day Elventh of Gateways." "Well I suppose that does explain some things but what is this talk of old worlds?" The red skinned woman asked. "It is home to most of the sapient species, humans, elfs, dwarfs and orcs. Only demons and slimes aren''t from that world, are you the former or the latter? From what I know it''s impossible to distinguish the six visually but the two native species didn''t go through the tutorial." "So that''s why my wings didn''t give it away, though I have never seen a slime with them. Not only am I a demon but the appointed guild master." "I hope I haven''t offended you. I''m a human looking to join the guild." "I suppose I shouldn''t have assumed that, though we do consider certain combinations of skills a class." "This isn''t the first time I''ve heard that, I think there was some talk of getting the system to recognise them, that said I want to move off my current track which was heading towards rogue and become more of a fighter, I understand that means broadening my selection of weapons to include at least three major categories including Foils or Swords." "Indeed, do you have coin to register with." "No, but I have been fighting beasts with my extant skills and have some of the products I was hoping to trade. I don''t have a good harvesting skill, these earned me skinning at red one, so the quality isn''t very high." "Well, let''s take a look and see what we can trade for that." John pulled out the three pelts he''d removed from wolves he''d killed on the way here from where he''d spawned, the guild master looked at them disappointed with the number of holes. "Thats enough to cover the registration fee but you''ll need to earn more before you can take the training. I recommend running the dungeon a few times - though I wouldn''t go past the first floor boss. Maybe come out when you have enough ingredients to make potion crafting practical. This token will allow you one run of the dungeon, though it may be better to find a group." "Thank you very much guild master. I agree, I will be looking for a group. Do you know of any with vacancies I''d be suitable for?" "No, though we do have two others looking to run the dungeon, they''re a rogue and a warrior which overlaps your two roles." "In that case I might look for a party willing to escort me for a share of the profits from the resultant alchemical goods. Is there somewhere I should wait or would it be better to post some sort of request?" "You can''t really afford either option but it looks like the first people to browse the noticeboard today will be here shortly. Stand off to the side and I''ll explain to them." Skill Definitions Part 1 Vocabulary The breadth of words of Trade Tounge that you know the correct definition, context and grammar of. Reading The ability to comprehend what another has written, especially by hand, more to recognise the words so the Vocabulary skill can provide their meaning. Writing The artistry to write either legibly or decoratively, at higher levels enabling you to do both. Mathematics Starting from Arithmetic but branching out into the various other fields such as probability, trigonometry and algebra. Etiquette The knowledge of how to act in order to avoid giving offence or committing blasphemy. Does not prevent doing so but provides a mental warning. Carpentry The skill of working with wood, used to transform felled trees into other objects and to work with those results that need further processing such as planks. Blacksmithing Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Processing iron and iron derived items such as steel bars, can be used to make weapons with such items. Barrel Making The signature skill of a cooper, used to produce kegs, tuns and similar items. Glass Blowing Used to heat sand and change the resulting liquid into glass. Also used to glaze windows and stain glass. Masonry The Skill for working with stone, includes not only laying walls but the cutting of stone from quarries and decorative carvings. Fletcher Although the word normally refers to the manufacturing of arrows, this skill also covers making other ammunition and hand held ranged weapons such as slingshots, shortbows, longbows and crossbows. Alchemy The brewing of potions and poisons, including those that restore or attack health and mana. Various alcohols are included as the vast majority attack mana. Skinning Incorporating tanning, this is the ability to remove flesh from animals (including humanoids), processing it into leather and using that to create furniture, clothing or armour. Spear This covers combat with basic polearms, collectively known as spears and tridents. Sword For medium swords, which are those that can be wielded one handed but don''t count as rapiers. Foils Light swords, such as rapiers, epees and foils, traditionally used for fencing Zweihander For heavy two handed Swords, starting from the hand-and-a-half, going upwards. Exotic Polearms The skill of wielding any long, pole style weapon evolved from the spear. Excludes spears and tridents which use the Spears skill and halberds which use the Axes skill. Axes Including the proper uses of the great axe, battle axe, hatchet and halberd. Blow Pipe Using a hollow tube to launch darts and other projectiles at Bow The skill to string longbows, shortbows and similar weapons and the firing of arrows from them. Knives The proper use of daggers and knives including kukris, athames and cake slices. Crossbow In addition to the care and maintenance and proper use of a crossbow to fire bolts also includes similar actions towards ballistas but not other siege weapons. Chapter 5 Astria was beginning the process to implement classes by reviewing the life path system that the other world had. She decided these didn''t work with the differences between how skills worked between the two worlds. Rather than having the circumstances of birth dictate how many skills one could learn it made much more sense they defined which. Astria reviwed what the native demons thought classes should be, for the most part it made sense but sometimes they were too specific. They thought a fighter needed one of the three sword skills when it should be more about diversity of weapons. She considered the archetypes, melee attacker, ranged attacker, defender, healer and crafter. In England which was another different world in which the multiverse core claimed to be born those that bothered to divide these called the most common versions Warrior, Wizard, Paladin, Cleric and Expert respectively. The first thing Astria did was consult the sheets for those that had accessed them since the tutorial. Here was one for a John Quill that showed several ranged weapons as well as the alchemy skill. He would only need the grenade skill to make a viable class in her opinion, which she was considering calling grenadier. Maybe she could issue him a quest to that effect. Whilst he worked on that she would consider the options for other classes.
While waiting to find a new party, John heard a ding to signify a message. He opened up his interface though did not know what to expect. "New divine message" it read. He mentally selected it and it revealed a message "You almost meet the criteria for the imminent Grenadier class, you need to be competent in the Grenade skill which is used to throw potion bottles." As James was receiving that message, others were being sent similar ones about classes they were close to unlocking. A few people with extreme quantities of skills were being given classes that manifested as a result of the combination. Most of them had been either an elf or dwarf previously. For example Sarah had met the criteria for the Water Mage class having three spells that affected the element but could upgraded it to Weather mage by having two Weather Spells that were the same element but not Water, she already had a single Wind element spell so gaining competence in another of those would be quickest and the Thunder spell was recommended though it also suggested the Lightning Spell would be a good complement to the list. Another person with a large quantity of skills was Carmen could unlock the Fighter class by mastering all his current weapons. As a Bishop of Drath''s faith however it would be better for him to unlock the Dirgist or Eulogist classes which required the Dirge and Eulogy social skills as well as knowledge of the funeral rites of more deities or better grasp of the ceremonies of Drath respectively. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Back in the Guild Hall after the notices had gone out, John addressed the guild master. "Did you just get an announcement about the requirements to unlock your class?" "No, I got one informing me I had met the criteria for Guild Administrator." "Congratulations Guild Master." "Thank you John." With that, he continued to wait until someone arrived. A winged creature wearing head to toe plate entered the building. They addressed the Guild Master "Are there any escort quests available?" "Not formally but the three members without parties would each be glad to be escorted whilst they wait for a suitable spot to open. This is our newest member. I believe they have almost unlocked a class, while the others were aiming for warrior and rogue. Has yours been updated yet?" "Paladin, I need the light magic spell cure wounds to complete it and escorting others is frequently when it ends up unlocked." "Okay, I will need to confirm with the person your escorting which class they are aiming for." Turning to John "Which was yours?" "I''m almost to Grenadier, just need the Skill for throwing weaponised potions though I don''t actually have suitable potions to throw, need either alchemical fire or a contact poison, though I think throwing empty bottles counts and I don''t have any of those, so if you and your party could keep those from any you use for me to practise with it would be much appreciated." "Won''t be able to do that, we don''t make enough bottles that we can afford to waste them on something like that." "Then I suppose the new glass blower might be best to solve the issue but I can''t really afford anything right now. Is there a way I can gain money right now?" "My team can help you gather ingredients in the woods if that would help?" "I have the skills but not the equipment, unless we can sell them to other alchemists." "That is in fact viable, come outside and I''ll introduce you." "Thank you, I don''t think I''ve said but my name is John." "Lavella. Let''s get going." As they headed back outside. There were three more winged but otherwise indistinguishable people out there. Lavella introduced them "John, this is Damon, Granville and Vixen, team this is John." "Glad to meet you all. I understand you will be escorting me to gather herbs to help Lavella in unlocking the cure wounds spell and possibly any you need yourselves. I''m after the bottle throwing skill, grenade, to unlock my own class." "Well, let''s get going." said Damon "Just a quick check, my Etiquette skill is nagging at me for not doing this earlier but what is everyone''s preferred pronouns? Mine are he/him." "Myself and Granville are also he/him, while Lavella and Vixen both use she/her." Chapter 6 John and the party advanced into the jungle around the demon town. It was as good a place as any to begin looking for herbs, spices and other alchemical ingredients. John kept his crossbow at the ready, so that he could participate if they got into a fight. He also had his dagger handy and could swap to it if the enemy drew too near. The first thing of significance that happened after entering the jungle was a large green blob emerging from behind a tree. An acid ooze, a slime with animal levels of intelligence but which had to rely on sensing the vibrations of footsteps to locate its prey. Combat was joined, the ooze was big enough it was prepared to attack humans and similar creatures. John loaded a bolt whilst Lavella drew a broadsword, wielding it with both hands even though John didn''t think that was necessary. Vixen was armed with a club, Damon was duel wielding daggers and Granville was preparing a spell. The next thing John knew, a burst of flames which must have been the spell shot at the slime, he took this as a signal and loosed a bolt which went wide. The slime rushed at the group but the combined effects of the various slashing motions Lavella and Damon were making meant it went down before anyone got injured, even if the metal weapons were damaged. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The group stopped to take stock. Lavella said a brief prayer asking Grenith, god of the hunt, to repair the weapons damaged in this one. She looked over the group but they were all uninjured so there was not yet cause to try the spell she had been looking to improve. There were multiple plants around, John began examining them with a critical eye, as did the others. They had some trouble, although the alchemy skill covered identifying which plants had which properties, none of them had it at a high enough level to intuit what it would be for an unfamiliar substance. They also didn''t have a viable way to store the acid of the ooze. The next few weeks were similarly spent scouting the forest, trying to level the alchemy skill and unlock classes and getting into minor fights with easily dispatched oozes, though they did occasionally get ambushed by them and have their flesh start dissolving for a second or two before Lavella chanted her prayer of healing. ___ It had taken six weeks until Time Day, Third of War for the whole party to unlock the classes though John still didn''t have his but he was in a position to fund it. He''d found a way to use the cores to place orders and had requested the necessary glass bottles. All he had to do now was wait Wolfe''s father was really excited by the request, he felt Wolfe was ready for bulk crafting and this was an ideal test. Sarah was now selling scrolls containing her spells which should help aspiring water mages practice but still had no idea how to cast the spell Thunder. Coop was still learning how to make barrels but the requisite skills were improving, James had improved his teaching as well as those Chapter 7 Carmen was still settling in to the new accommodation that was provided for the bishop of his cathedral. Running water was not something many had encountered before the swarm, even his parents hadn''t despite being royalty. Though that wasn''t the strangest feature, which was a room designed to polish people aimed at other species for whom that was more appropriate than the air dryer provided in his bathroom. One of the benefits to the tutorial was the proof of existence of the gods of this world. Each had set their tithes then left the clergy to their own devices but knowing that Drath could contact Carmen with objections to the direction he was taking the church increased his confidence that he was doing it right, he hoped never to be reprimanded and that the channel would be used only for emergencies. Still, across Principality the clergy reported to Carmen and if one of them made a mistake it was his duty to fix it before their god had to step in. This applied regardless of the lower ranking cleric''s faith, a cleric being a generic term for a member of any clergy at any rank applying from lay preacher to pope. He was assured that he would be alerted in time to intervene by the vast majority of the pantheon. Back to the topic of his palace, with no need for a dedicated servant to run water here and there, the kitchen was much more efficient, allowing the cooks to focus on preparing the meals while they had a dedicated bus boy to tend the dirty pots and pans with a second dedicated to crockery and a third for cutlery. It was truly a luxury, especially with the core of the palace providing the raw ingredients. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. They were servants, not slaves, so they had to be paid but that was automated by the core which doubled as a bank. They had a salary measured in copper anchors, with one anchor being defined as the value of spending one day on dangerous labour, those who worked in the kitchen were automatically paid such a rate, due on the first of the month in arrears. It was taken from Carmen''s own account which was similarly automated and funded from the money which belonged to Drath. It was planned that the mint for the new coins would be part of the harbour dungeon in Fleet but that was still being set up by the elf the gods had appointed to run it. The Kingdom would similarly have silver sails, worth ten anchors and gold ships, worth one hundred anchors. Carmen still wasn''t familiar with every room in the palace or all the new staff, the only thing he was sure of was that Drath had approved all of them personally. Not all of them were human and that had been rare before but all of them had chosen their forms. The strangest beings were those newly risen to sapience, especially the quadrapeds such as the horses and dogs. It had shocked him the first time an animal had addressed him as "Your Grace" which was certainly a title he had earned when he was in the clergy of the previous world''s god of undeath but which he''d had thrust upon him in this by the choices Drath had made. Maybe a ride would be in order once he was finished though probably best to get to know the horses properly now they had worthy minds of their own and were on the palace payroll. Dramatise Personae Adrette Andrite, human female, queen of Retowner, mother of Carmen Ardersier Dice, male dwarf, patriarch of Clan Dice, has yet to appear on screen Astria, human female, godess of Feudalism Asvar, dwarf male, the world core, god of construction Carlotta Andrite, human female, Heir to Principality, daughter of Carmen Carmen Andrite, human male, Bishop of Principality, formerly Bishop of Glaymeer Coop, tar person hermaphrodite, prefers to be referred to by pronouns indicating it is an object, refers to itself as being enslaved by the core in the Cooperage where it works with James Damon, male demon, dagger wielding member of the party that escorts John Drath, god of death (consecrated graves), worshipped by Carmen Edgar, human male, master mason Edvard Andrite, human male, king of Retowner, father of Carmen The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Ernesto, human male, Abbot, formerly of Glaymeer Abbey Ffanya, human female, barber-surgeon Gareth Andrite, human male, Prince of New Andrite, son of Carmen Granville, demon male, fire mage with the party that escorts John Harvey, human male, aspiring wizard Henrietta Andrite, human female, Heir to the Kingdom of Retowner, sister to Carmen Imuel Dice, male dwarf, Heir to Clan Dice, gambling addict James Cooper, human male, first character we meet, named for his trade of cooper Johannes, human male, cobbler, released the swarm, did not leave the original world of the humans John Quill, human male, alchemist, was an assassin in his previous life Lavella, demon female, Paladin of Grenith and leader of the party that escorts John Liam Andrite, human male, first born of Henrietta, nephew of Carmen Olia, human male, barber-surgeon Rappan, male dwarf, peasant of Clan Dice Red Rum, centaur male, stable master to Carmen Sarah Tonin, human female, harbour master of Tonin''s Harbour in Fleet, was an elf and shipwright Savage Beast, slime male, not yet seen on screen but referred to as a king slime due to its crown, presumably blue, killed Wolfe Stav Flame, male fire elemental, father to the body Coop used to have Thea Dice, female dwarf, wife to Imuel Theodora Andrite, female human, wife to Carmen Vincent Virroy, human male, Prince of New Virroy, promoted from Count of Virroy following the transmigration, cousin of Carmen Vixen, demon female, wields a club, though not shown on screen has the berserk rage skill that qualifies her as a barbarian Wolfe Glazier, human male, glass-blower who was the first human to die to a king slime Chapter 8 Carmen met with his stable master in order to facilitate his plan to get to know the horses. There was something strange about the man he couldn''t quite put his finger on beside the obvious equine head and the roan fur covering the body. At the socially appropriate juncture the stallion introduced himself "Your grace, I am Red Rum, formerly one of his majesties studs." As Red Rum rose from his position of deference it became obvious what the strange feature was, he had a tauric body plan like the centaur of English myth though it had been less obvious given the portion that was normally human was a horse folk in his case. "Well stable master, I am here to meet you and the horses, see which of them are open to being ridden and when as well as getting to know them."
Asvar, the world core and god of construction (not creation, that honour belonged to the multiverse core) was considering implementing a dwarven avatar for when he needed to interact with the outside world. He sent out a prayer to his own deity, the universe core Thalia, who he worshipped as godess of gods since she took a feminine name even if he was unsure of her real gender. The prayer was responded to and a window with the default body appeared, the first thing Asvar did was change the species to Dwarf. He then increased the length of the beard to reflect his social standing as a lesser deity. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Asvar started considering the rest of the physical appearance of this avatar, muscle and fat mass; skin, hair and eye colour; height and proportion; hairstyle. In the end the only other true change from the default was that his hair and beard were made up of pebbles of granite matching the standard skin tone and his eyes were orbs of solid gold. It was locked in as a body he could use should he ever need one.
Imuel was one of the few beings that had begun with taboo skills at measurable levels, most had been brewers but he was a gambler and had ranks in a number of dice and card games to reflect that. Still, as a dwarf he''d been offered the patronage of several deities who''d wanted to help him by distracting him with other projects but he had a problem, he''d been an addict and he thought the plan conducted by the god of chance to substitute more acceptable uses for those skills was best. The god also covered games with more practical uses and proposed turning the dioramas some generals set up into a simulation using dice to reflect the possibility of injury or death. The English had several such games they''d be able to, well plagiarise was the closest word but the relevant copyright laws didn''t actually apply. Still he''d been furnished with a map of their world, divided into the major regions, such as was used for the game of Risk and had been practising using those rules but felt it was time to move on to something more complex with varied units and not just quantity to consider. Maybe, once the gods felt he was ready, he could again have his own body. At least in the meantime he could watch over the four remaining members of the clan that had also come over.
Astria was considering what she had seen, could she really look anywhere in the world, she''d been spying on the most interesting people so far, at least in theory. She was going to try looking somewhere without. The empty expanse of the deep ocean was a sensible target, no people here but there might be animals and monsters. Was that something cresting the wave? Yes, a slimy tentacle. Astria looked closer, it belonged to a jellyfish like being with a heart shaped crystal. English artwork often depicted heal slimes in this manner. She tried to call up its status, she was wrong, a heal slime it was but it was also a person since it had the target attributes, it looked like it qualified as a cleric under the new class system she had been implementing though it lacked the reading and writing skills. Chapter 9 The taboo against nudity being lifted had affected the lower end tailors, those that previously made things like ballgowns could continue to do so but the ones specialising in daily clothing for peasants were forced to diversify. Most such people ended up as either cobblers or tattooists but a few took to the new trade of flesh warper, using magic to modify people and other animals, which was much more reliable and safe than it used to be. In addition to the tailors, Coop had been practicing warping to make its body do things that were impossible without. It had also practised on James, temporarily changing parts of his body into tar. The heal slime that Astria had recently identified as sapient was even better at it, using it to supplement the curative magic that the species gained. Then there were the demons, amongst whom it had raised to an art to sculpt ones own bodies and whose punishments included being used as practice for those looking to gain the skills.
Astria was contemplating how she had been appointed as a deity but it was a simple statement that she had been purposely created by Thalia for the role along with her fellows. She moved on to reviewing her priesthood, which had no members yet even if she had worshippers - though most those seemed to be because she was part of the larger pantheon which they worshipped as a collective, one of her few believers who worshipped her outright was Edvard but that may have had something to do with her being a manifestation of the divine right of Kings and his position ruling Retowner as a monarchy. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Thalia had been having a nightmare in spite of her status as a core. She had seen herself speed running through Dracula''s Castle several times and it had been live action as opposed to any of the Castlevania games. She then was on a bar crawl with a group of people, all of whom were too ill to enjoy it and just ordering soft drinks. Finally she was seeing a future where humans were being converted into robots against their will. The next night, Thalia had a strange dream about an Irish couple who were trying to choose a traditional name for their daughter. The husband''s best friend was turning into women he knew by that name, first Niamh, then Grainne, then Maeve... This shifted into a stakeout to establish if a particular man was a werewolf. Next she found herself a military recruit but the way it was done seemed strange. The scene shifted, she was at a tennis court in her nursing home which had just closed for the day and somehow ended up trapped with a group of asylum seekers when she entered the floor her room was on. Trapped in VR during a robot uprising. Dressed as a baby for unclear reasons. Making chip shop or Chinese style curry sauce in a cooking competition... Thalia awoke craving nachos and wondering where she was going to aquire the maize or sweetcorn since these didn''t exist in any of her worlds yet.
Back with Asvar, his avatar was spinning wool into threads suitable for noble dresses, dying it as he went. A strange task for a dwarf but a perfectly normal one for a crafting god though his domain was more about the shells called buildings in which homes, shops and other businesses resided. He was preparing to turn those into rock-wool bricks. Chapter 10 Tailors hadn''t been the only ones to have their trade affected by the differences in morality between the two worlds. Butchers and chandlers now could not get raw materials from as wide a variety of animals, chandlers would need to switch from tallow to beeswax whilst butchers had to make sure the animals they took the meat from were comfortable and would respawn, which both cows and sheep agreed to but not the goats they''d also previously slaughtered. Farmers were discovering there practice with pitchforks was giving them the Spears Skill whilst those who made candlesticks had a crafting skill relating to the material they were made from. Farriers often had veterinary skills, the best being more veterinarian than mere fitters of horseshoes. Wolfe had been improving his glassblowing and Coop its barrel making, both had reached the journeyman level of triple Yellow whilst their respective mentors had gained the teaching skill and improved to double Violet Yellow with the craft skills they had been teaching.
Imuel was not the only one with psychological issues that prevented them from spawning in the world, there was a kleptomaniac whose condition was beyond what dungeons were intended to solve and a narcissist with seventeen counts of impersonating a member of the military or stealing valour outstanding. Imuel never encountered either of the others, it was more than not seeing them as they didn''t have physical bodies, he never communicated with them either. Imuel was getting better but it had been less than three months since his treatment started. He had discovered the concept of miniature painting and was using it as a form of art therapy with wooden figures provided by Sarim, the god of chance and games who had been assisting him. Once painted they could be used for war games, he had started preparing a wizard Harvey figure even though there was not yet a battle featuring one who cast spells by the method Harvey used before. Imuel was preparing the blue paint he''d chosen to match the robes being worn in the images of Harvey that Sarim had provided. Mixing the paints and applying them were skills that Imuel was gaining despite still not having a body of his own yet. Once it was completed he would be able to use it in a game against Sarim. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Thalia managed to purge the phase of nightmares by creating an undead diplomatic dungeon on one of the other worlds in the system with Asvar. Sarah was also updating the most basic level of the harbour dungeon, getting it ready as a suitable challenge for someone who had literally brought nothing with them. The gods and cores could use thoughts from Terra, the world that England was part of, up until its date November 30th 2019 but everything more advanced than the black powder weapons and other equipment the human residents had before the transmigration was taboo to use.
Homelessness was not an issue across the world, sure there were people who had experienced it but as part of the fact Retowner was divinely mandated they had a constitution Astria had written which meant its cities needed to have housing for 175% of the population. Of course this was not the only thing the document provided for, the statement about slavery was also formalised as well as the details of working conditions. It had details of minimum wages for various trades, maximum prices for goods and services, things that sales tax could be applied to and how much, what rates income taxes and tithes could be set to and other such concerns, even specifying details of tax rates for things that didn''t yet exist but which the English had. There were details on the rights and responsibilities of every job, not just those you''d expect such as the king, tax collectors and sherriffs but things like farmers, plumbers, shepherds, bakers which exist and astronauts, journalists, personalities and programmers which were conceivable. It literally covered everything Astria could conceive needing rules. There was a section on protections based on all sorts of diversity, not just the obvious ones borrowed from Terra. There were the rules of each religion as related to her by their gods incorporated as well as those for her own faithful to follow - in fact every religious exception to another section was spelt out. There were rules for every physical, spiritual and mental act. Obeying them would improve the Etiquette skill for a civilian but government officials would automatically suffer the proscribed penalties should they choose to ignore those specified for the job they were performing. Chapter 11 Yenpar, the city founded to grant delvers to the demon dungeon, was now the base for John. At one point it had been the de facto demon capital by virtue of being their only settlement but they had since purpose built another elsewhere. John still wasn''t used to the fact most of the citizens were red skinned and had wings, meeting their definition of imp even if not the classic one since they were over three feet. A few were other subspecies of demon. He was one of only two humans in town. The Glazier family had finally fulfilled John''s order for potion flasks to contain the chemicals he wanted to toss at monsters in order to advance his grenade skill enough to unlock the grenadier class and it was the day he was due to dive the dungeon having redeemed his token. The same party as usual would be escorting him and he felt he was effectively a member at this point, especially as the system didn''t currently have a means to enforce it yet - though he''d heard rumours that it would be more flexible than what the guild anticipated, rather than the set four it would be variable from two to nine outside dungeons, whilst the cores would control inside. The local dungeon here in Yenpar was indeed fixed at four for a recognised party but reports from human lands showed that Tonin''s Harbour, the dungeon in Fleet, was going to cater for anything from one to a billion - though John had trouble with the concept of a million, let alone a thousand times that number. Lavella and her party had updated their weapons to match what they had been aiming for with their respective classes, they''d trained with them to the limits that they could outside of the dungeon, at least with non-leathal sparring. She now wielded a warhammer, while Damon now duel wielded daggers, Granville supplemented his fire spells with quarterstaff combat and Vixen now paired her club with a hatchet. They dived into the first room of the dungeon, which was similarly occupied by imps though these were armed with swords. The melee began with Vixen parrying one with her axe as John threw a bottle of acid at another. It was five on four and John lost track at this point, he stopped trying to focus on his allies beyond establishing who needed the most help and dousing only them with contact healing potions poured out of the flasks. By the end of the melee, he found that the dungeon was treating him as some sort of support and forcing him to mix potions whilst the others continued the delve. He was cut off from the group and could only observe though he was still close enough to throw the results successfully but he found attempting to guide the results to the target using magic was working better. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. After the battle that was the dungeon he checked his upgraded log.
Grenade Skill improved to Orange Orange Orange Alchemy Skill improved to Violet Green Green Green Telekinesis Skill added at Blue Green Green Pyrokinesis Skill added at Yellow Orange Red Poltergeist Class unlocked
John was naturally disappointed not to have improved enough in skill for the class he had wanted but was glad he seemed to have stumbled upon another one with an unfamiliar signature skill, he''d not heard of Telekinesis before which was the magical skill that had let him manipulate the potions once they''d been completed or Pyrokinesis which let him manipulate the temperature of the dungeon made flames. Thinking about this, John considered maybe it was something to train Granville in, it seemed like it would complement his class letting Granville manipulate existing fires. Granville should already have Pyrokinesis given it seemed to be a type of fire magic. John was unsure if either of the new skills would be useful for the rest of the party though doubted they would synergise with Vixen who had the barbarian class. After a brief discussion, the group confirmed that none of them had either skill but as expected Vixen didn''t want them, neither did Lavella but both Granville and Damon were interested so they arranged to train now they''d finished the dungeon run. Chapter 12 There were now ways to get all sorts of items known as Decorator Jokes, such as Tartan Paint and Long Waits. People who wanted to start the tradition of sending apprentices for non-existent products had sent them to aquire weights measured in length rather than mass or time. Sarah had considered and rejected these as treasure for her dungeon, in the end limiting it to the traditional gold coins. Sarah and the other residents of the harbour district had been practising the Skill that let them transform into living flames, herself and James had to be coated in the substance the skin of Tar People were made from first but that was much easier than the Flame On process which gradually improved them to Fire Elementals while being reversible. James and Coop were still making barrels in the time they were not practicing with Sarah and the team from the docks. Both of them had unlocked the cooper class now. It was strange for them that someone had reverted the names of the days of the week and the months to the same as English when they realised that they had lost track of what April should be called in Trade Tounge but it was easier to track the schedule, especially as the dates almost lined up, with the day of the week being one day later than the equivalent earth year, it would have been Saturday April First today but instead it was Sunday.
Meanwhile Wolfe was still studying glassblowing but had moved on to considering what was going to be in the containers. He was ensuring the intended contents affected their manufacture. He was also assisting his father with installing glass planes in suitable windows. They had both unlocked not only the glass-blower class but also the glazier as a result. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Imuel had been doing enough of the simulated wars to unlock the wargamer class, which also required he make his own figures as he had been doing. Sarim considered him recovered enough that he was finally ready to decend and join his family in the Mortal Realm on the planet that belonged to Asver. Imuel was now in the second Hold of Clan Dice, where his father Ardersier held sway and had been ruling over Imuel''s wife Thea, his son Ranjit and Rappan, a peasant who had pledged to this Hold. The first Hold remained on the other world and its residents had survived the swarm by being out of range when Johannes summoned the swarm and the spell ending before it spread that far. After the reunion, Imuel assisted the Hold with its expansion but continued to make figures for wargaming during downtime.
The royalty were having more trouble unlocking classes, there were just so many more Skills required to run a country properly, a few of them had unlocked classes related to minor nobility. Carmen however had unlocked the Bishop class as the various ecclesiastical skills he had were the perquisites. Several others with lesser versions of those skills had unlocked lower ranks of clergy.
The slimes had been very confused recently, when they''d started gaining classes, not having previously had the concept. The update of the system to version Alpha-3 at the start of the previous month had come as a surprise as all of them had been born under Alpha-1, though the splitting season when new slimes budded was imminent. The healing slime was particularly confused as the class overlapped significantly with the powers from the species, until looking closer and opening the box.
Healer This class is awarded to those who have healing abilities at high level As with all classes this is a reflection of existing skills rather than doing anything on its own.
Chapter 13 The laws of the land meant that the human children would have to start school in September but the young of the demons were already doing so. If the gods had realised that they were people then it would also have applied to the slimes but instead they practiced an oral tradition from parent to child similar to how home schooling was intended to work. The humans were currently teaching their own children as if they were in master apprentice relationships with the parents and would continue to do so for those old enough not to be required to attend formal schooling. This would apply to Wolfe and Coop, who were sixteen and eighteen respectively on the anniversary of their birth in the previous year, Coop had turned nineteen on 1st April but Wolfe would not be seventeen until 2nd December. The people who worked at the docks were the siblings of Coop aged over sixteen but there were also some younger who would be participating in official education.
John had continued training and adventuring as support to Lavella and her party. He was even getting formal education through the guild over and above towards his throwing skill but they asked him to teach the Telekinesis Skill to those for whom it would be useful.
The first dives into the harbour dungeon had begun, these were a number of single vessel parties with one ship and thirty crew. Each of them was going through a separate instance of that version of the dungeon with a naval battle of there Ship versus another of the same class. As cannons were in their infancy in the previous world many of the shots fired missed. Eventually the dungeon''s vessels did manage to sink some of the others but those hands lost found themselves in a position as if they had never challenged the dungeon. Some of the others managed to still be afloat after sinking the rival vessel and were rewarded as predetermined with repaired vessels and healed wounds plus small chests containing gold coins. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Dives continued into the various dungeons across the world, meaning only the undead one was not being cleared regularly since that was elsewhere. The demons, slimes, humans, orcs, dwarfs, elfs, tar people and fire elementals all had their various adventurers improve in combat over the months. In August the undead dungeon overflowed and claimed part of the surface of the second world in the system to gain a population. Some of the former monsters, the ones that should be sapient, were linked in to the system and alerted to the existence of the gods. They were included in the next round of people to be educated, it not being September yet. Meanwhile they were encouraged to start being delvers for the dungeon.
Come September there were schools and colleges beginning across both worlds, teaching divinely mandated topics such as the history of the demons and the core skills. The six mortal, two elemental and four undead species were deliberately mixed as much as possible, with the new ghoul, vampire, ghost and lich species representing the sapient undead. The various foodstuffs for the undead were produced magically so they did not have to gain it from mortals like in legends.
Almost nothing noteworthy happened over the course of the rest of the year beyond people unlocking theorised classes, such as those for various ranks of nobility including Edvard becoming king by class as well as title and the adventurer''s guild spread out of demon lands and across both the mortal and undead controlled locations. On the first of January, there was a celebration of the anniversary of the transmigration. Everyone in Retowner was encouraged to participate but those elsewhere were not. The harbour dungeon continued its expansion and delves across the full range of dungeons continued. In July the first formal schooling for non-demons was completed and they were tested to see how much they''d retained. Some of them had missed the mark on mandatory topics because they had not had enough time to study the complete syllabus, allowances were made given they''d started schooling late - most had already been focusing on topics that were specific to this world as they had already been taught the other subjects previously. Chapter 14
Ricotta had been a man in body before everything happened but was surprised to discover the reason she never felt right was because she had the soul of the woman. Ricotta was the sort of person that would be interested in the new games Imuel was introducing, she had enjoyed the concept before but had been unable to join in due to the temper issues she had experienced.
Inheritance worked strangely in a world where both resurrection and duplication were significantly more common than normal. In practice there was no provision in the human laws as they presumed the original owner would reclaim them and the gods presumed belongings went with the soul, so they would carry on to the afterlife or go to the reincarnation.
The deities didn''t interfere with the weather, there was no need when the mortals had the spells needed. Sarah was just one such weather mage. As well as becoming a dungeon master, she had mastered a significant number of lightning, wind and rain spells including one that was intended to causes a sandstorm in a desert but which worked equally well on a beach.
Thalia found her scryings were becoming more and more disjointed, focusing on a single person in less and less detail and effectively giving a high level overview. It wasn''t just the other people and gods, mainly Astria, also using divination but that fewer things she was interested in were happening. She also wasn''t convinced that the scene with Ricotta had actually happened, it appeared to be the main core introducing a transgender character as tokenism. She didn''t deny transgender people existed, just that it wasn''t as pleasant for Ricotta as the scene made it look.
The multiverse core had in turn been watching Thalia and was equally concerned about the failure of her divinations, so went to see if he had access to the dice rolling logs. He did not have full access, he could tell that was being rolled for against his own skills. Still the Skill responsible for that was improving. The logs were accessed and showed that Thalia was just using the Skill she thought she was less frequently than she believed, she had Omnipresence at Violet Violet, which is what was being checked but there were often months between rolls. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The multiverse core checked its own character sheet:
Rajesh Singh Attributes Body Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Mind Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Respect Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Assets Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Skills Fundamental Vocabulary Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Reading Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Writing Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Mathematics Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Etiquette Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Godly Omnipresence Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Omniscience Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Omnipotence Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet Violet
Somehow Thalia managed to see the sheet belonging to Rajesh and learn his name, she thought this might be the first time it had been mentioned, no one else even suspected there were powers higher than her if Asvar was to be believed. It was time Thalia returned her attention to the world below. She needed to raise her skills. Maybe she could check in on John again. She did so but he was still in his teaching phase where others were learning how he had unlocked his Poltergeist Class.
The production of barrels by John and Coop had hit the threshold where Coop was ready to undertake the traditional Journeyman pilgrimage to see how other coopers did things. First a tour of the other distticts of Fleet to see how they differed from Tonin''s Harbour and then to the rest of the country would be how it used to work but it would be worth ensuring the elemental checked in with as many species as possible, if permitted it would visit the dwarfs, orcs and demons as well. It had already been trained in what remained of the way of the elfs by Sarah as she was one of the few who had knowledge of their version of the skill from the previous world. From what it knew, the undead were learning the demons methods by trial and error but may be planning to go into more formal education. Chapter 15 A good enough friend will help even in the face of overwhelming odds, the first step is to stop the odds from being overwhelming.
The deities had a hierarchy, not that any of them truly realised it, with Rajesh at the top followed by Thalia then Asvar with all the rest being on the next level down again. This hierarchy had some interesting consequences, including the fact everyone was technically General caste, regardless of the role they were ordained by Astria. This meant that their preordained position was as a leader of armies but they were having to fill vital roles without which a world could not function.
Olia was a Barber-Surgeon though the duties he performed were far similar to what was known as dental surgery than that title implied. One of the rival Barber-Surgeons had gone rouge and was implanting some sort of insect egg in patients'' mouths, which Olia was removing as they were swelling and causing pain. Olia didn''t have enough evidence for him to identify the culprit but had made sure to alert the authorities who were investigating.
The insect egg case had crossed Carmen''s desk and he was preparing for a divination to aid in determining the culprit. It wouldn''t be enough in isolation they''d also need to investigate properly - it would only justify sending someone undercover. It was especially noteworthy that this was outside his jurisdiction as a judge, that was for the ecclesiastical court whilst this was probably a criminal matter. Besides his rank was roughly equivalent to Pope, slightly less authority because Drath was not the one true god, the court he presided over was the equivalent of the supreme, which dealt only with the most flagrant abuses of process. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Another thought intruded upon the narrating awareness, language was not the only thing to leak through from Terra. If it had happened before that fateful day when the worlds had been separated then it was in the Skill database somewhere. It was starting to see various performers covering more recent music. This was generally fine under the laws of Retowner, if it was first published before 2004 then it was in the public domain as the laws were set up to prevent the more objectionable practices and as such rights could not be transferred either. It turned its attention to a musician attempting to perform the Bohemian Rhapsody and failing, they couldn''t quite hit the signature where each vocalist used multiple voices - the magic they were using was not yet strong enough.
In the harbour dungeon a man decends a gangplank towards a beach "Any tips for the upcoming battle?" "Your status reflects the skills you''ve displayed, not the other way round. Remember which team you are on, we are yellow triangle and they are blue semicircle. This is a mirror match, so for each of us there will be someone with the same skills and equipment." He looked down at himself, he was now dressed as a fire ant - the dungeon had provided the costumes for his team, presumably because it had already spawned its monsters as black soldier ants with the skills. The melee was joined, he was fighting an opponent sword against hammer as the rest of the crew came onto the beach to engage the enemy. The one he faced struck a solid blow crushing his knee. He managed to retaliate by hacking off its left arm but the hammer then came down on his head. He found himself facing a message "Preparing to respawn outside dungeon. Waiting for outcome of group. Please feel free to practise against the training dummies while you wait." Chapter 16 There are two tar people children, one turns to its flame elemental mother and asks "Have you ever met an alien?" "Of course," comes the reply "after all your father is human." To which the father retorts "So are you, an alien I mean, after all only slimes and demons are not." "And children first born since we came to these worlds."
Sometimes the gods attempted to play seven dimensional noughts and crosses but it was difficult as they could only perceive four spatial dimensions. This was one of the games that Sarim had attempted to introduce to Imuel but even he didn''t understand the rules well enough- however illusion magic had enabled them to play on a set of nine three dimensional grids that were interconnected in a comprehensible way. They''d just finished such a match and were now discussing the next figure for the wargaming that Imuel planned, he intended to hand carve a figurine representing Edvard who would be leader for his army which could be interpreted as Retowner. An interruption came in the form of Ranjit, son to Imuel, offering beverages which despite their guest were dwarven stout. Sarim chided him "The gods do not approve of alcohol, they''ve gone to great trouble to ensure the water is safe to drink though they do not disapprove of using it as a base for herbal remedies." He sounded like he was quoting something, probably the book of Astria. "And besides, you know they watch your father more closely than most given his gambling, though that is in remission so we [stet] will let him stay."
A being calling itself The Reporter had turned its body into a sporting mascot that looked like a bulldog. It had been trying to start a baseball team by using Mind magic on others and making them wear similar costumes. Once the gods found out about its three victims it would be in trouble for creating slaves to Sarim improperly. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. The Reporter had also been trying to sell shares which was explicitly forbidden as part of the heresey of gambling. Sarim had set going after it for this as the next priority for Carmen once the issue with the dentist was concluded - he assumed that it actually was necessary for Carmen to participate throughout. If it had been more successful in creating a league it seems likely it would also be guilty via the medium of sports betting.
Carmen continued with his investigation into the rouge barber-surgeon and was now ready to begin a scrying that was more than just visions from the gods. He set up the purpose made mirror he had purchased from the Glazier family atop the dedicated marble pedestal and gazed in. He focused on Olia''s most recent customer, tracing them back through a number of scenes of mundane farming to the extraction then through a few days of pain while the family saved the fee, not realising how charges for medical services had changed. Before that were a couple more days of the customer living what appeared to be a normal life then it went to someone cutting hair before poking around in the mouth and back to an inspection of the body - it appeared to be what was known as a check up. Carmen saw the face of the barber-surgeon as the vision in the mirror continued to rewind then the outside of the premises with the signature poll and the name of a town, which was slightly distorted. The visions faded and he had to secure the mirror then rush to begin writing down key evidence before it left his memory. With this, a warrant should be viable.
Back with Sarim and Imuel, they were discussing how card collection worked. It was going to be fixed based on number of combats with monsters that could drop them, so that the contents of the card pool would never rely on luck. Everyone who used card magic would then be allowed to construct a stacked deck to draw from. Sarim wanted Imuel to be part of the test but was worried it might cause a relapse but Imuel said it shouldn''t be a concern if it worked as described though he was prepared to risk further rehabilitation if it did. Chapter 17 Details of something called "Pup Cadets" had reached Carmen, it appeared to be The Reporter attempting to start a junior baseball team.
The secret of alchemy was that it originated to make the best alcoholbut that didn''t really matter since there was now a taboo against drinking it.
There was a leak but fortunately it was from a storm drain out of a cliff into a sea, so it would be a suitable location to make a deliberate exit as the lack of one seemed to be the cause. Eventually Sarah would have to deal with it but she wasn''t aware of it yet.
"Gwen, Gemma, Emily, Jane, Andrew, Eric, Thomas, James; None of my names; None of my names." Sang Emma, frustrated with the number of people who called her the wrong thing. It wouldn''t be so bad if she was wearing her alternative form of Stephen who did indeed resemble the set of Orcish Octuplets she had just named but Emma was decidedly an elven female in this form. Her power of shape-shifting was rare but useful for a bard of her calibre. She would often match her race and sex to her role. Emma was the body she had been born with originally though, so this was her true form, even then things like skin tone, height, weight and eye colour shifted on a whim - though never drastically unless it was deliberate. Indeed, her lyrics continued "They call me devious, indecisive; They call me shape-shifter; that''s a correct claim, that''s a correct claim." But it didn''t fit the tune. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Emily had another song with the lyrics "Id take Sonic over Shadow any day. You were such a fool to give us something rather cool then take it all away." Which was about video games as she understood them. She was going back to her attempts to harmonise with herself, using a combination of bardic spells and adding extra mouths, she still couldn''t get the famous Rhapsody down but was making progress with those with fewer vocal parts.
Thalia had been reviewing and sent a suggestion to Sarim that an appropriate punishment for The Reporter might be to turn him into the core of a werewolf themed dungeon with deck master werewolves for Imuel to run. Sarim agreed with her suggestion and asked Carmen to send him a prayer if there was a conviction, he only planned to do it if The Reporter was found guilty of something. Thalia considered the options of who to look at next, should she look in on one of the other gods, an adventurer, a noble or a craftsperson next? Maybe she should just attempt the trick Rajesh had demonstrated to check the logs for the behind the scenes dice rolls? That seemed like a good power though she wondered if she could even attempt it. She tried and came back with an error but it was good enough to come back with it showing the roll for this attempt was failed rather than it being something beyond her abilities. Chapter 18 Emily and her party were in the boss encounter on the second floor of the dungeon at Tonin''s Harbour. They had been facing off against a creature that began as a four headed crocodile but had gained extra when they were decapitated in a hydra like manner. She had summoned a metal box in which she was hiding with her friend who had taken the form of a fairy and a man wielding a halberd. Outside Barbara, the party tank, hefted her battle axe and aimed it at the creatures tail with the theory that it would strike the body or the soil of the arena floor if she missed. She felt compelled to shout "Called shot: tail" as if it were the missing task to a spell she was casting. She did indeed completely miss the creatures form. The crocodile tried to bite Barbara in response but she dodged to the side before hitting it with the flat of the blade then the haft, which the crocodile soon bit down on. The battle axe might need to be repaired or replaced, Barbara didn''t know never having a weapon damaged in a dungeon before. At this point the spell maintaining the metal box dropped and the rest of the team was forced to reenter the fray. The fairy shot a magical lightning bolt at the creature, which its sodden form seems especially susceptible to. Emily thought it would be a good idea to further boost such spells and started singing a medly of songs from Grease. It did not have the intended effect, instead making the floor slippery underfoot which worked to the crocodile''s advantage. With a final snap of its many jaws, the group found themselves back at the entrance in the state they had been in before the attempt.
Carmen still only had the two cases on hand, the rouge barber-surgeon and the reporter, though that would gradually change over time. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Drath had been unconcerned about the various undead, creating them via a dungeon core was not against his tenets, only raising them from those who had been subjected to funeral rites broke that rule, so it wasn''t something Carmen would have to add to his workload. The investigation into the barber-surgeon was still with the guard since there was no evidence of sacrilege yet. Carmen was still scrying when they found new victims but the only noteworthy thing was the recently graduated Ffanya who covered when Olia was off had been a woman and midwife who had retrained, reflecting the difference between the gender norms of the two realities since here that was perfectly normal. Carmen''s primary case, The Reporter, who was turning people into animated bulldog costumes if the new reports were to be believed, was ongoing - he had yet to prove a single allegation but was not in a place where he could leave to investigate personally. Either it would need to become even more serious or the guard would need a breakthrough in their case.
Featherford, Rochcock, Rochdale, Rosterdale, Roosterdale, Rosterton, Roosterton and Dale were all names rejected for the town of Scoop where the Bulldogs are due to play. The Reporter was feeding lies to its latest victim about the nature of baseball and getting fitted for a uniform. As a result they were currently donning a costume. A few minutes later and they were undergoing a process that on Terra was known as plushification where they turned into a sapient teddy, though like the others they had the bipedal bulldog form. As a red six appeared in several places on the t-shirt that was part of the costume including written as if it were a surname, the victim asked "What now coach?" But knew without having a reply spoken the answer was batting practice to get use to the rest of the team, the thought unclear on if it was there own or transmitted from elsewhere. Chapter 19 There is a rumour of a tea house that can get you any food imaginable next to the Calico Quarry run by strange Tabaxi that will take all your money and recipes. It is not true, no one is sure what a Tabaxi is nor has anyone been to the Calico Quarry as it does not exist yet. Though it may be worth noting here that if the rumours were true it would be a mix of feline traits that the people display such as the mane of a lion with the tail of a tiger.
There was a literal dungeon for babies called Time Out Corner. It was located in a building known as the Scoop Daycare Centre. The screen claimed it was an ice, puzzle and trap themed dungeon aimed at bulldog infants. Wearing either armour or warm clothes was the solution for the first door - the dungeon was prepared to provide this if required. The second room was a very simple introduction to the concept of blocks sliding on ice, one had to be pushed to open the door but the ice ran directly from the block to the target button. The third room was a demonstration that the adventurer couldn''t stop on ice, whilst the fourth room combined the two and introduced blocks stopping adventurers that hit them. The four rooms were all that currently existed of the dungeon and its magic was currently working on turning the exit from the fourth room into a staircase below which it planned to add slightly more complicated tasks, pushing a block to trigger an icicle trap that would enable the adventurers to stop next to the planned entry to a sixth room.
Back at the harbour dungeon, Emma and her party were taking it on. She was in her ''true'' elf form, though she considered none really hers. The mirror match was going well as her reflection was unable to settle on a shape, which reduced the number of enemy combatants to three. There was an axe wielding dwarf who as he had not previously beeen a member of Clan Dice must have become one since the migration calling himself Gavin, there was David the Cryomancer who specialises in ice magic - or more accurately avoided fire magic and the remaining member of the party was Karen, a human who fought with a large mace. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Thalia noted this Karen was a different person to the narcissist that had been undergoing treatment with Imuel, being taller and having darker hair. She was also having trouble distinguishing between Emma and Emily but this seemed to be a result of Emma deliberately taking actions to cause that confusion including stealing the identity of Emma''s twin Stephen. Thalia refocused on the battle, three had been knocked unconscious but she was uncertain which was which not having given it her full attention - then mirror Karen swung at Emma and the scene faded - presumably all the originals were now defeated, which suggested that it had swung quite far the other way, just how long had she let her attention lapse? Two hours, well that wasn''t very much on the divine scale but it was a long time for a single duel such as these melees began. Actually now reflecting back on it, Emily didn''t have a twin called Stepen, though she did have seven total, so Emma was even more successful than Thalia had previously given her credit for since she was fooling the second most powerful diety Thalia was aware of with her ploy. Thalia was beginning to wonder if even Rajesh would be able to tell them apart much longer. It seemed plausible there logs could be entwined in the system if things went much further, Thalia hoped that was actually impossible. Chapter 20 Rajesh was remembering his trip to Earth. He had visited Ireland about twenty five years earlier for the turn of the millennium. He had enjoyed a visit to a sweet shop as part of a coach trip. He had been the target of a pickpocket who had tried to grab something from the inside pocket of his jacket, though that had been empty, allegedly to pay for eye surgery. He had celebrated the new year in Dublin. He had ended up staying for over a year, leaving just after the events on the eleventh of September two thousand and one. It had only been cut off from his worlds five years ago when the first pandemic since the demons came hit the Earth, Rajesh didn''t want to find out what effect the common cold''s latest cousin Covid-19 would have on them. It was later temporarily connected to the one that people had migrated from but that had only lasted as long as needed to transport all the incoming souls. Now no worlds falling outside his jurisdiction were accessible by inter-universal travel.
Thalia had found a new thing to watch. An octopus slime building enrichment toys for its fellows. She had spotted what seemed like an out of place brick bridge spanning a river and searched underneath where she had found the slime colony. They were expanding the brick structure so that it would, when completed, provide shade. The slime she was focused on was currently carving a boat out of a small piece of wood. The intent appeared to be that a hollow would be put in the centre which would form a maze with a small reward at the end. Based on her observations the customer would have to twist its limbs in a way that was natural only for slimes to reach a token that would give a discount on the next purchase, though Thalia had yet to see the slimes using currency. It would make sense though, the magic that ensured humans were paid was generalised enough, being based solely on profession, so those slimes which had jobs that could be described using that method would get paid too. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
These flashbacks and premonitions were getting increasingly more unpredictable. Thalia was getting essentially random details from random lives at random times. At least there was a brief respite whilst she experienced herself, here and now. Long term this couldn''t be sustainable, she had some twenty other people so far but that wasn''t the full list. She wasn''t even certain any of them existed, someone probably fulfilled the role she''d seen Rajesh having but no guarantees it was him. She was more certain that Asvar existed given she should have created him, as well as the core of that undead dungeon but that was really it. Actually, the thing with everyone being destined to be a general was a point against Astria though Thalia wasn''t confident enough to dispute it. The only visions that were verifiably false were those concerning Ricotta as they had two contradictory scenes occurring simultaneously. Still she''d have to admit this made her an unreliable narrator and she seemed to be the one doing so for the story that had started with Astria and James. Rajesh sent Thalia one of his memories, a friend he''d made who was discussing how a number of relatives had disappeared as if jumping from world to world. The friend in question went on to assert they had tied their power to Rajesh. Rajesh showed Thalia where the friend was now, they had jumped in as the demon town core was forming and been transformed into a citizen of the town as a side effect.
Rajesh then proceeded to send over assorted rule books that he had drawn inspiration from while setting the rules. He finally sent over what passed for the rulebook of their world, one of the things Thalia noted was towards the beginning - custom skills - saying if you tried to do something and it wasn''t covered by a Skill or Attribute or explicitly listed as not requiring a skill such as most biological functions then you''d still have to roll, though you should check the dedicated skill supplement first which had most of the magic and psionics. Chapter 21 Thalia found a metal switch that she flipped but it was a trap and she was shocked by blue electrical sparks. She shouldn''t have taken much damage as a deity but was still unconscious for several days. When she woke up she discovered that there was now a way to label distances as times such as a pair of shoes that was five years tall, two weeks wide and four hours deep. This confused her greatly, why had The Reporter decided on such a strange course of action?
It looked like Carmen finally had enough evidence and his people were making an arrest, ready to bring it to his court where it would be tried.
Shape-shifters like Emma had to be careful as there were certain diseases that only affected some forms, such as one that only targeted those with features taken from rabbits, and others that lay dormant until taking a specific form. Unfortunately for her, but not so much for Emily, Emma had taken the form of a pig and come down with a case of a flu like illness that could affect the quadrupedal form. She was feeling thirsty but was unable to drink easily. Perhaps reverting to a biped would solve the issue but the illness was triggering changes between other forms and had hijacked her power to change shape. The magic that was entangaling the two identies was being slowly eroded as distinctive features unique to Emma were being formed.
Jaron was the name of the avatar of the core of the demon dungeon. People were staring to experience what they were calling Jaron adjacent encounters where they met others of the same species outside the dungeon and they were hostile. It seemed Jaron was the only sapient of that species. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. John was one of those currently engaged in a melee centred on just one such creature. He was working with many of the demons adventurers to at least drive it off to a place where it wouldn''t be a threat to the craftspeople. They thought killing it would be possible but resource intensive. The trick he''d perfected with hovering bottles above a target then pouring the contents using Telekinesis was working but not fast enough and others were wounded during the fight, especially those confronting it with hand-to-hand weapons. About half of the combatants would need to rest and recover once they succeed and things were moving in that direction, one more major injury and it should retreat. There it was, the muscles on its left arm partially exposed and then cut meaning it was no longer usable became its motive for retreat. They''d herd it beyond the city walls, to the place that others of its kind were now living.
Rajesh was trying to set a Suduko. He had been exposed to the puzzles during his visit to Earth and had an idea where he wanted to see if he could limit it so that every number was either three or four away from its neighbours. It was proving harder than expected, he was beginning to think that he might need to break the rule with indicators somewhere. He was already into territory where in the convention he was using going between the four and eight would need to be indicated - and he''d just realised it was impossible without duplication in a row or column when he noted that, maybe just an anti whisper rule which would turn it into a 159 style puzzle instead? In the end he decided to just make it a long line crossing the whole grid where numbers did have to be a minimum of four apart instead of the maximum he''d originally planned.
Two beings discussed their encounter with a dragon and how it would be one of the surviors of the swarm since it lived outside the affected territory by quite some distance. One claimed they had discovered how to recharge magic items, which was likely given it was far easier under the new rules. The other expressed a desire to research planar magic so that they could take a company of mercenaries back there and have revenge. Then they started drawing up a charter for a proposed mercenary company. Chapter 22 Seth was known for two things, wearing a skunk costume and being fast at running the free fall dungeon. He thought it was quite nice of the dungeon to mix things up and occasionally present rooms out of order. What he hadn''t noticed due to the costume was the minimum tail length the dungeon enforced. He was going through another run now and had just arrived at the point where you hovered using the dungeon''s magic whilst she made a short speech. Thalia was wondering why she was learning this, her oracular powers seemed to be malfunctioning again, she couldn''t see how Seth would be relevant for years yet if ever.
The Reporter stood before Carmen, defiant of his authority, not accepting Carmen was allowed to speak for Sarim. Carmen accepted that as a member of the clergy of Drath he did not and order it returned to the cells until someone with such permission was available. As a consequence Imuel and Sarim were travelling to the court to resolve this issue but were taking the overland route as they were not skilled enough to safely teleport in. Carmen decided to use the wait to check in on the other noteworthy case with the rouge barber-surgeon. The guards had enough reports now to locate the culprit''s place of business or at least one of the locations where they''d performed the deed they were in trouble for. The guards were preparing for a raid, polishing armour and weapons, getting the needed documents to give them authority including permission from the other judge that oversaw criminal cases involving non-clergy. It wouldn''t be long now, though there might be a hunt if the accused wasn''t there. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Coop was heading for the seat of Clan Dice where it intended to learn how dwarf made barrel were different from the ones it was used to creating itself. Little did it know how bad that timing was, though truth be told even Imuel wasn''t to its level, there would be no-one with knowledge of how it was done in the old world either way. When Coop arrived Rappan greeted it but as its purpose became clear this moved into a barrage of questions with Rappan seeking to learn as much and as quickly as he could.
Emma was still ill, she found song lyrics from Earth were sticking in her head for extended periods, more than their status as earworms would justify. Emily was glad to have her identity back, though she had still kept several bardic skills resulting from the confusion. She had been the support member for the most active party to run the dungeon at Tonin''s Harbour, having invested seven hundred hours across two thousand runs, which was all the more impressive when the age of the dungeon was accounted for, that was half of the total it had been open to groups like hers. They were preparing for another run, they didn''t consistently make it past the reflections but they thought next time they reached it they had a sound strategy to deal with the hydra. Chapter 23 Rajesh had been trying to set a hexagonal suduko but had ended up with a similar number puzzle. Now his head was swimming with Mathematics memes. Rajesh found himself recreating the clown scenario from the betrayal board game then designing a puzzle platform game entitled "Is, Was, Will Be" to take a break - he wondered how he''d create suitable hardware now, though in practice it was the free fall dungeon.
Thalia was inspecting the various laws attributed to Astria. There were several financial focused ones, including the wages for all sorts of jobs including ones from later times than were permitted. Another set fixed the exchange rate of various Earth currencies to the local one, most noteworthy were that all the crypto currency was worth negative amounts with the best known one being negative one hundred thousand copper pieces for each coin. A random Australian voice started ranting about the shopping not being done and how there was no milk in the house before switching to an American reciting the navy seal copy pasta, it seemed her oracular powers had tapped the audio archive belonging to Rajesh.
Seth was continuing to run the free fall dungeon while Emily was taking on the crocodile hydra again. This time, she had the power of the candle flame spell to call on. It still wasn''t enough but her experience in the dungeon was preserved so she was improving in her fire magic skills. A few runs later and Emily had unlocked the classic fireball spell as a new skill. Meanwhile Seth had completed three further runs of the shuffled free fall dungeon and earned a Skill for controlled falling. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Sarim had finally arrived to grant legitimacy to the judicial proceedings against The Reporter. Carmen was now authorised to hold the trial. It began with the appointment of legal representatives for both sides but this was going to be an issue, there were literally no individuals with adequate legal skills to participate even though several had been holding mock trials for the two years since the transmigration as practice. Two were almost the right level and would need just one more case to be eligible. It would only be a day as there was a suitably quick example of a speeding case, though nothing capable of achieving the alleged offence of forty miles per hour in a thirty zone was actually road legal - all vehicles with such powerful engines were banned.
The search for the rouge barber-surgeon was at an end, he had been captured and was in custody, his trial would have to wait, the crimes he was accused of were more serious and it was hoped that once the trial of The Reporter was completed the lawyers would meet the requirements.
The speeding case got underway, the person who intended to be the defence lawyer had to make arguments about the unsuitable notices, whilst the prosecution lawyer relied on an argument about national speed limits. Both were making valid points but they proved to favour the defendant given the setting did in fact have a higher national limit than the speed in question. It was the first time anyone present had seen photographs such as those included in the evidence prepared for the defence as part of the scenario which were of English road signs. By the end, it was determined that if the case was real then the fine would be overturned as invalid though both lawyers and Carmen ended up with better understanding of English traffic law but which didn''t have an associated skill, even though Carmen found he''d ended up with some levels in an equivalent one for Retowner. Update Having trouble opening the draft document where I have saved chapter 24 so there will not be a new chapter until this is resolved. Worst case scenario is having to rewrite the entire court case but as it was only about 200 words shouldn''t be a major issue. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Hopefully this will only result in one missed chapter but no guarantees, seems to be an issue caused by updating notepad (actually the android counterpart) with the document open. Not sure how long this is but am currently having issues posting due to it being too short. Chapter 24 The trial of The Reporter was finally underway, Astria had set the procedures but Sarim was entitled to make decisions related to any gaps that needed closing. Carmen was presiding and the lawyers had been appointed. The Reporter was disappointed it hadn''t been able to choose its own legal representatives but that was the downside of only two being qualified and the other being the prosecutor. The opening arguments were presented. This case was about whether The Reporter was legally a priest and whether his actions with the baseball team were appropriate. Sarim bore witness that they were not in line with the teachings of the religion he intended and as such it would be formally devested if it was confirmed to be a priest currently. The Reporter was also allowed to speak in its own defence, explaining its logic and reasoning including wanting to share the joys of a plush form. In the end, it was established that had the events happened as a result of the subjects free will they would be fine but there was illegal mind control occurring. The sentence was relatively light given the crime, twenty years imprisonment for each victim to be served one after the other. This still meant a hundred and forty years in prison. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Thalia had tapped into a number of fictional worlds with her scryings, such as the time she had a vision of Narnia, but some of the weirdest were actually dreams from this reality, Rajesh had encountered the concept Cyberpunk and this morning had a nightmare about being stranded on a corporate space ship, which was considered more of a horror setting.
The ice dungeon was growing larger, it had now added a new floor which featured pits boxes had to be inserted into and another where boxes needed to be stacked and unstacked to navigate a 3 dimensional maze. The next floor after that was also complete with a puzzle combining the elements introduced so far, it was after all meant to be literally baby''s first dungeon but each was getting harder and targeted for a slightly older audience with this floor being aimed at people six years old and up.
The other dungeons were equally growing more impressive, the harbour dungeon now had three floors, the free fall dungeon had gained a second base form and was now mixing and matching from both, the demon dungeon now had creatures based on a wider range, the slime dungeon was Incorporating more environmental effects and the undead dungeon had enlarged its floors.
Emma was finally better but all her work taking alternate shapes was undone, she was currently stuck in her original elf form and would have to rebuild her shape-shifting skills all of which had been reset to not even Red.
The rest of the cast that Thalia had been looking in on weren''t doing anything noteworthy so she decided to check again in about six months when Coop was due to leave the Dwarven hold. Chapter 25 Thalia was still having visions of other worlds, a corporate newsletter, a group of people motorcycling up a mountain, a mother and baby changing room - fortunately empty, a game of football, an attack by bird-like aliens, the war in Vietnam being motivated by the rescue of mothers, a father-son shopping contest, a history teacher trapped in a painting for disrespecting taboos in their own art, a church that uses the dead as sports equipment. Finally she settled on something that should be from this world, the ice dungeon had somehow tapped her visions and was trying to work out how to incorporate narrow mountain ledges appropriately within its challenges - a short fall to the previous level was what it settled on. She experienced the sensation of having a man''s belt buckle in her mouth even though she knew of no such occurances, a consequence perhaps of others on the psychic plane. It was very similar to a sore throat but with a metallic taste as if she had bit her tongue hard enough to draw blood. Thalia was suddenly feeling hot for no apparent reason, she must have a fever. She saw what she thought was an apparition until it spoke. "Thalia, it''s Rajesh, the system alerted me to a claim you had Covid. Thought I better check for myself since there should be no way that could be true." "Feverish, throat sore, tasting blood." She replied. Rajesh looked at her "Not Covid but not good, I''d like to take you to a physician but we don''t really have any. Actually, better to bring them to you. I''ll summon Olia if I can, get him to give you a full physical." Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Thalia closed her eyes in a fit of coughing, when she opened them again there was a man standing there. She vaguely recognised Olia but couldn''t make him out properly. The man began to examine Thalia in the manner of what was known as a general practitioner. "Sorry, I''m unable to identify the exact type of influenza but a targeted disease curing spell should be within my abilities. I recommend quarentining the three of us until the issue is sorted and we know it''s safe."
The core of the ice dungeon was feeling guilty. It wasn''t exactly sure how it had caused the influenza that Thalia was suffering but knew it had. It decided that adding medicine to its rewards would help it feel better though it was going to have to be done in a responsible way that prevented children getting it without supervision. A voucher that would turn into the medicine when it was presented to an adult and the recipient was ill seemed like the best solution. Now that was resolved it contemplated what other rewards should be in the treasure pool. It wasn''t allowed to give random items, Sarim forbade that and it agreed, but it contemplated whether personalised rewards were permitted. It checked the codes of Astria, realised that they didn''t apply to the circumstances and decided to pray for divine guidance. No answer came, it had expected at minimum a confirmation of its understanding of the rules, maybe it could improve a Skill related to the question - Theology (Sarim) seemed appropriate - maybe it could improve beyond the base Red it had. Yes, it had an answer, Sarim was against random with the goal of a surprise, he was also against surprises in general. It turned out that the question was enough to improve the skill to Yellow Red and was likely to keep improving. Chapter 26 Outfits combining the aesthetics of caveman and butler. Installing a computer on a spaceship. A training montage. Fishing. A class on how to solve a crossword with its setter. Impersonating a famous business tycoon fromEarth. The Yin Yang round of the puzzle championships. Pyrography. Porn. Comedy music videos. The going out for an English sketch. A trial for impersonating a federal official - a former president of the United States being tried for using powers they no longer had and claiming to be their successor. These scenes and more assaulted the mind of Thalia. Some of them were visions from Earth, others were figment of imagination - though not all of them her own, they included other people''s dreams as well as her feverish ones. The most frequent scene was a super villain invented in 2023, about three months after the coming of the humans, and his army being inserted into a horror movie called Delta Epsilon Delta as a supplemental antagonist when it already had two. The quarantine was going to have to continue but it looked like the concept of that super villain was being transmitted.
A new dungeon that was an abandoned factory had popped up inside the quarantine zone themed on said super villain and another that took the form of a maze like hotel had appeared outside. The hotel maze was Stealth themed and was focused on evading capture. It had appeared in Demon territory and been detected by the guild, they were going to send John as part of an investigatory group as they did not yet have this information. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Rajesh had delved into the factory dungeon, which had a mind control villain theme. It requested acknowledgement that temporary control of the body by the dungeon was a risk. Fortunately Rajesh had thirteen Violet for his mental resistance score and was able to reach and defeat the Hypnotist boss based on the super villain without falling to its traps, though he did consider coming back and failing deliberately when he needed a break next.
The hotel dungeon was attempting to issue shares as rewards but that was a form of heresy that attracted fines of five thousand percent of the shares issued - in other words, for each unauthorised share the church of Astria was entitled to fifty. John knew intuitively that was wrong upon being presented with a splash screen detailing the dungeon before he''d even entered. Still the group was going to have to go in and make an attempt. John found himself in a strangely sterile room, separated from the others, and decided that the first goal was probably to reunite. He wandered into the maze like corridors. He still didn''t have a reliable supply of glass but had improved his Telekinesis to the point where he could use it to wield a dagger. It felt like hours before he came across a scene of two small girls singing a rhyme and blocking a corridor that he needed to backtrack from. It continued but eventually he found a room resembling a shop, with a counter, behind which was stored rack upon rack of keys. He ducked beneath it and made for what appeared to be the front door. Although he still hadn''t met the others, he was spat out of the dungeon where the Stealth specialist was waiting. Moments later the warrior was spat out "Did both of you lose the fight with the girls?" They asked. "No, I managed to exit the level through a window and the fall to the next one got me." Replied the specialist. John commented "I managed to find a door which was the intended exit to the next level but it is not ready yet." The mage appeared Moments later. "Those receptions are brutal if they catch you, I hope none of you had to go through that." Chapter 27 The bickering brothers were the demon dungeon and its associated town - or rather their respective cores which dated back to the creation of life on the world. It was also the name of a quest that the town core issued to enter that dungeon. For some reason the mayor had turned into a tiger person with gray fur and was holding a jar of coffee. They were offering it to the town core. "On behalf of your brother, I offer this gift?" They intoned in a less certain tone than normal. After all, caffeine was seen more as a curse, especially amongst the humans, and the jar somehow contained the freeze dried beans of the Arabica cultivar which was often the source of an addiction. The mental voice of the town replied, "I shall take this from you. Do not think I cannot see the intended insult it represents but that is on my brother." "I shall leave you to your introspection. We are always grateful for the wisdom it brings." The mayor chanted as they normally did when these conversations concluded since they sensed the core would have no further comment for at least a few hours, if not days, whilst it studied the item.
James was celebrating - achievements had just been implemented into the system and he was now recognised as having been the master of three who had ascended to journeyman including Coop who was now a master in his own right a mere three years after starting. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He wasn''t the only one to do so. Imuel had one representing overcoming his addiction. Emily had a different achievement to represent the situation with Emma, that one came as a pair with the orc getting good twin and the elf evil twin. Edvard had a set representing his leadership and Carmen had some for his judgements. In fact, everyone who had done something noteworthy had an associated achievement - the guild was trying to catalogue them all but there was a backlog which meant that they were popping up half way through interviews about ones members had gained. There were even some queued representing the efforts. Meanwhile Rajesh was investigating phantom entries relating to fictional characters - as far as he could tell neither a specific Riley or Serenity who had been issued certain major achievements existed in either reality, both being fictional characters who had their story start after the original separation from Earth and whose actions occurred in fiction during the period the two worlds were not connected - Astria having reestablished it during her fever. They had been amongst the easier spots, belonging respectively to a group that were getting them for Attributes from other systems and to those who performed their feat on future dates
Peskilin, a country on the world with the undead that is now run by green-skins and csn only ne discussed in vague terms due to magical contracts. Goblins from the green-skin dungeon in Peskilin. Contracts being required to specify penalties for breaching them and details of what each side is liable for. As always, these contextless flashes of insight left Thalia confused. At least she was over the illness and the quarantine was at an end. Chapter 28 A cursed set of camouflage barding. A wall of civil lawsuit paperwork. People with the heads of sharks. The visions grew ever more disjointed. A treasure chest that changes it ms contents left unattended. A person sneaks inside trying to find a magic potion but I''d turned into a giant rat. It''s owner selling food then later being eaten. An item that can only be used three times per person. A claymation of one person turning into another. All seemed to be a continuous nightmare but it was impossible to be sure.
Some of the residents of Tonin''s Harbour had started attempting to fish off the shore. They weren''t having much luck - after all the only thing that lived in the oceans currently were slimes and those were not interested in baited rods. Others had more success catching them with nets, but the slimes were making holes before they could be brought in. They were ignorant of the reasons for their failure, they had expected an ocean dungeon with marine wildlife to populate the seas but no such dungeon yet existed. Sarah continued to work both as harbour master and dungeon manager, she was currently considering what the fourth floor for land party delves would be like. Emily, the orc bard, and her group would soon be eligible to delve it, having gotten the third floor boss down to near death on their last visit. It was difficult to judge given health wasn''t measured as a number but was instead shown to those who could see the status of others as Effective Body - it had read Red upon their last defeat. Sarah thought on her coastline theme. Maybe an octopus, those were supposed to be relatively intelligent, perhaps with some weapons it could earn proficiency in? Yes, that seemed like an idea, a duel wielding scimitar once it reached the expected level of skill. The boss formed, knowing what the dungeon wanted of it and began a training montage. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Crime was no longer an issue in Retowner, somehow the vast majority of criminals from the old world had ended up with legitimate versions of their fronts, only two people had done anything worth bringing to the courts and both were serving their sentences. The closest thing to a crime that happened was the brewing of alcohol, which was discouraged and the faiths were trying to phase out - the motivation no longer existed as the price did not turn a profit. There was a man who had previously been a brewer but magic was so much easier here he found he was more frequently casting the spell to Purify water and it not doing anything because the water was already pure. He was then casting spells to make it better for its intended purpose whatever it might be and this was where the profit lay. It wasn''t that there were no protection rackets in the kingdom, it was more that there were laws about how they had to be run and what was required in exchange - every former crime lord who worked by this method was now effectively an insurance broker responsible for ensuring no harm befell their clients at the hands of their rivals or due to natural disaster. It was enforced by the system automatically allocating territory and collecting payments using the same method as taxes and tithes - in fact the system was an automated banking facility amongst its other functions. All this meant that Carmen had almost no work, he resorted to considering the Ricotta question but came to the conclusion sex, at least in this sense, had been abolished as an effect of the transmigration. If she wanted to be female, she was and it would have no bearing on the paperwork which should omit it. He ended up writing a report to his father with his findings, though advised this was the way the law currently operated so no change would be required. Chapter 29 John and the party were getting better at running the hotel dungeon, they could now run the two current floors in challenge mode where they were only allowed to touch the floors or additional opponents spawned. The planned third floor was going to be a boat of a type the didn''t recognise but was known as a cross-channel ferry, despite the name these were just any that carried both passengers and land vehicle - they also went between other parts of Europe than the implied England and France.
The woman once known as Silence of Dungeons had been one of those whose deaths during the tide had not been a direct result. Shortly before, she had been stabbed in the back and left face down in a flooded church to drown. Of course, her pseudonym didn''t actually relate to dungeons in the new sense, they referred to the other sense where it was a prison attached to a castle. She had been killing politically inconvenient prisoners, such as those suspected of espionage who were actually guilty, on behalf of rival kingdoms. During the transmigration, she was one of the few deliberately deposited outside the borders of Retowner. She had now spent three years living in the wilderness and had multiple skills related to that including being able to make bows and arrows, forestry and tracking. She was now going by Hannah, not that she had actually talked to anyone to tell them that. She had been hunting native wildlife, so was good at killing slime creatures with arrows. She was also the main delver of the slime dungeon. It wasn''t growing as much as the others, it was not onto the third floor yet and both its first two were smaller than others. She wasn''t even aware of a second floor boss. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
People who bothered checking their status were now starting to see a mysterious entry for lean-well. This was actually a Skill acquisition and improvement rate floor, it was supposed to be called learn-well but Rajesh had made a typo when setting it up. It was also supposed to be hidden, as he had done with other derived attributes such as health and beauty. Rajesh wanted to let people from Earth into the world but he''d have to fix the issue with the system including this bug and the one causing fictional characters to earn achievements, which was still happening.
The green market was used to sell items legitimately with the backing of church and state by those that had previously run the black market in the old world. It sold those goods that were no longer illegal. They also ran a red market, which differed from a black one by openly selling the illegal goods, mainly those who had previously been bootleggers, it was just shy of being a criminal act, the goods approved for now but likely to become illicit later. The red market was the premium seller of ale for personal consumption.
The harbour dungeon had decided to start distributing less experience when the ships didn''t rotate landing parties if they had a large enough crew. This wasn''t effective as it wasn''t actually awarding experience directly, status was after all just a reflection of skills and abilities demonstrated. It had no practical impact, especially as the dungeon did not have direct control. Chapter 30 Ted Marcus and John Mbusa were competitive swimmers. Tess Daley had been there coach before she was being warped all over time and space to join battles featuring transformations and giant robots. At least that''s what the most recent dream Thalia was having said. It morphed into a video game, an all portals, bo context run with a different character, though Thalia couldn''t tell who because it was from a first person perspective. Somehow the name Michael van Roundabout came to her, possibly an alias of the player. Finally it switched to an advert, "join Crystalplace the minotaur and her naga boyfriend for exciting adventures. " The setting resembled the demon town. Meanwhile, Rajesh was using a scale model of the solar system to locate good spawn points for his planned game for the people of Earth. He''d realised the folly of his original plan and was instead trying to make a computer game based on the world that he would be able to sell. It was going quite well, he''d used the language of the system to program it but made sure the fiction marks he had used for the achievement debugging were hard-coded in. This meant he''d know which were proper to the player and which their character. He had an extra character species tree called Factory Spawn consistent with the factory dungeon breaking and presets relating to several characters he felt would provide an interesting challenge, including James, Wolfe, Sarah, Thalia and himself. The easiest option read "Following the disbanding of the Assassin''s guild, John Quill has gained Telekinesis and joined the Adventurer''s guild."
Stella Glazier, mother of Wolfe, was having problems with her husband using the newly introduced Mark Property feature to lay claim to everything. She''d spent the whole day casting a spell called Correct Property Marking which changed the details to pull from a neutral external source - she thought it was the system though it was really based on the perception of its architect Rajesh. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Her husband had also been arguing with the local magistrate about fair prices, which ended up with him receiving a lecture on the differences between fair and just. The last action he had taken prior to his arrest was to kick their son out of the house. Stella had found an option in the system called the friends list and was using it to keep in touch with Wolfe. Her husband was guilty of the third most serious crime ever committed in the kingdom but it was just charging more than legal maximums for his goods, she wouldn''t believe that was even in the top ten crimes but apparently it was more that he was only the third person to do anything criminal according to the events that took place at the conclusion of the trial. Stella wouldn''t be able to keep up with the demand for glass due to her lack of training having served more in the role once known as housewife prior to recent events. That didn''t mean she wasn''t going to perform the duties her husband was unable to, more that she was unable to maintain the expected quality of his services.
Someone was trying to convince a Smith to make a level thirty three sword but it wasn''t working since that was another hidden attribute. How anyone other than those that could peak into records of Earth came across the concept was unclear but divine retribution was soon forthcoming after they refused to leave the Smith alone.
"I''m happy to be breaking foxes with the edge of the surreal." Declared the focus character of the latest dream. They''d been narrating people with strange properties such as being twenty-forty-thirty while opening a tin of purple not paint. Chapter 31 Thalia''s dreams moved on to a paint by numbers before settling on the image of what looked like a human boy in Ghostwood but could not have been and was probably an undead with a juvenile form. Arrowslung, the zombie in question, pulled out a tool that most people would recognise, it was one of the pointy things that builders used to apply pointing, and laid the first brick of a building that was going to be the adventurer''s guild covering the undead dungeon nearby.
Rajesh had finished adding the bathtub like spawn points and their power sources across the game world he had been building from the fork of the solar system map. Near the green-skin dungeon he added a map pin that read future site of Gowthe. Now he had to decide which jurisdictions to found the company that would make the game in - all of them seemed a little overkill but would give him the best protection against trademark trolls. Now how was he going to enable a full dive into the digital duplicate of his realm? Research was in order... As he sits there pondering this Rajesh gets an alert, someone got the sword swallowing skill and a quest to eat a specific sword. The alert was issued because this was the first quest generated through the system rather than by the guild or an individual. Looks like it''s the broadsword belonging to the best friend of the person with the quest, Bess Sworddancer needed to temporarily ingest the enchanted sword carried by Melissa Spellbourne.
Wolfe was still upset with his father''s actions, he should have been set upon his journeyman path instead of just being kicked from the house though the system disagreed and said it thought he has produced a masterpiece already and was assigning him to be the principal glass blower and glazier for Retown whilst his mother would take over here in Tonin''s Harbour, a name that had spread to cover the whole of the settlement that was the capital of the Bishopric of Principality. The debt for his life was repaid when his father evicted him but he needed to earn money going forward. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Clarrissa had spent the last three years having trouble improving her aromatherapy skills to the standard required to practise under the new laws, which included a medical licence. She was slightly annoyed that she had a listed class of shopkeeper rather than medical student which she felt would more accurately reflect the situation. Another part of it was worrying about her former best friend Karen who still hadn''t completed her rehabilitation. Caring about Clarrissa was one of the success criteria for Karen. Whilst waiting for inspiration to strike and to take her mind off the perceived betrayal, Clarrissa was helping the Adventurer''s guild with practice chases for those wanting to challenge the hotel dungeon. She was doing so at the recently opened Retown branch where most of the Adventurers were human but the senior guild officials were still demons.She was grateful she had yet to experience the new grocery shop boss in either its normal form or alternative milk and cornflake bullet hell mode.
A group had found a dungeon where you had to dress as astronauts but the costume could be switched so that it became a sort of underwear with only the part that would normally be that and a helmet still resembling a space suit. The first found in human held lands. Raymond, the "rabbitkin escapoligist" (who was biologically human but cosmetically a Rabbitfolk) was preparing to put on a medly of Queen songs after being caught posing as a woman for purely finical reasons by a local school. The dungeon was currently trying to work out how to connect the two planets with magic portals so wasn''t currently paying attention but when it reviwed the events was inspired to add a level famed on the famous video for "I Want to Break Free." Where Freddie Mercury dresses as a housewife. It''s current first and only level themed on "Space Oddity" by David Bowie. Maybe it would also add a timed survival level where they all had to listen to "Another One Rides the Bus", that parody which was supposed to have launched Weird Al. Hmm, each level themed after a different famous song from the 1970s on Earth. It would need some more knowledge, levelling itself as a bard might help it with the skills needed to dig into the archives held within the system. Chapter 32 Thalia was dreaming again. This time she was experiencing a game that combined hidden object mechanics and base building witnessing a scene where an object was being crafted to enable hunting - a bow which would unlock a hunt to search. As part of a board game night, giant severed hands chased a father-son and daughter over a map of Australia, if caught their characters would become zombies. She was not sure why they would have taken the risk given it was just supposed to be explaining the difference between the current and previous editions until she realised it was just a nightmare that had her up at four am local time. She tried sleeping again. A third dream, this one having discovered their next door neighbour is a Cannibal, a husband and wife team enter a competition to see who can marinate themselves the best. It''s much less distributing even when the rest of the neighbours family discover the plot - the children decides to leave but the wife sticks by him. During her night terrors Thalia had accidentally issued a quest to slay humans. Rajesh had to manually approve it. The records showed Takamatsu had donned the kamaka leaf set and attempted the quest but died in the attempt and not resumed it. That name meant nothing to either Rajesh or Thalia though research proved it to be the name of a slime drop. Rajesh was noticing how almost no-one had any mannerisms distinct from his own. Was it really the case that in the three years since the coming of the humans everyone had become just a voice? He thought they''d all started out that way but developed bodies in just a few days. He was thinking he might go back and review past scenes from other points of view if he could work out how. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Rajesh was struck by the idea to add an arcane construct to a reward pool which got him thinking about whether he wanted skill books in the system and if so how to implement them. His initial inclination was to make them merely mundane descriptions of the skill that could be practiced, whilst that might not be fun in a conventional game this was real life for the people who lived in his multiverse. Then he considered implementing cards for attack, defence and skills but not only was the system too developed, it went against the design philosophy to have them used outside the existing system designed by Sarim. He was struck by a passing fancy to change the system text to pink on red but decided it would be illegible so would leave the default white on blue but look at adding customisation options. Another image came to Thalia, a melted plastic container with rice inside was placed into a microwave. This did not seem like a good idea to her, who knew what consequences had caused the container to melt? It may even result in the rice becoming poisonous. A tree of wizard truth was designated outside a temple to a god of wisdom. This was the last coherent thought Rajesh had before the plastic fumes leaked out of Thalia''s imagination, causing both of them to collapse to the ground and the universe to tumble around them. End of first draft. Chain of Cores Rewrite: Chapter 1 A huge crystalline object that resembled a cluster of clear gemstones, several cut diamonds fused together, popped into existence. This was the creator god Rajesh Singh. In spite of everything Rajesh envisioned himself as a male of Punjabi descent and a former practitioner of the Sikh religion who had somehow attained divinity. In his opinion the Punjab should have become its own country when Pakistan was carved off from India by the British instead of being split between the two. That wasn''t really relevant right now, this was a separate multiverse and so Earth did not exist within it, though he did have a way to contact the original if required. It was likely this was a subsidiary simulation but Rajesh would treat it as if it was his own private playground. Rajesh got to define several things, including faith and physics. He modelled several major religious principles on those of Sikhism but planned to change some things, including creating an active and accessible pantheon. One of the core tenets of the new faith was that addictive substances, such as tobacco, alcohol and caffeine were taboo. So were addictive actions, gambling and loot boxes being prime examples. Wealth was also not acceptable though inevitable so he decided there should be fixed prices for everything enforced by the pantheon. His first decree that he would publicly issue was to ban acts that would create Wealth from nothing, again gambling was an example but the way it was worded so was the distribution of dividends to shareholders, in fact shares as they had been implemented in New York would be worthless. Next he began defining the system the new realities would operate on. He took inspiration from a number of works of fiction he was somehow aware of but nothing was quite right, the best method he could find was a system that gave a dice pool which slowly upgraded both in number of dice and in minimum roll to succeed. He was interested in a wider range of numbers than the three that method used, maybe starting at a one in twelve chance and getting better, rainbow symbology seemed equally useful but perhaps it should be based on the expanded version going from infrared to ultraviolet. He set things up so that there was a status display similar to the famous blue boxes, in fact it ended up being literally that. He gained a system administrator skill reading Infrared, this seemed inefficient given it needed multiple dice of different rank. Maybe he could work out a way to abbreviate it to the first letter or perhaps have the nine colours at the top of the system screen with the dice numbers at the intersection of attribute or skill and colour. Next Rajesh needed to define what the attributes were for various species he planned to include. He considered his options and thought that something fairly simple might work, dividing things into Mind, Body and Soul to represent inherent properties that could be improved and adding Assets and Respect for external factors that could be influenced. Mind represented things such as accumulation of knowledge, reasoning ability, numeracy and literacy. Body was things like strength, agility and comliness. Soul was less defined and included the ability to work miracles, cast magic and use psionic powers. Assets incorporated wealth, not just money but also possessions both tangible and intangible things such as whether you owned your home and if so it''s value were contributing factors. Finally Respect was based on social standing, personal actions and favours owed though those last also contributed to Assets. Rajesh decided this would be a good universal scale and each species would have these but be judged relevant only to their own kind. Rajesh was familiar with the concept of a caste system but chose to implement a divine command that all would be equal, belonging to his own Lion Caste from which military leaders were drawn by his understanding as opposed to the royal caste that the other common Sikh surname represented. After all that his status was as follows:
Body Infrared 1 Red 1 Orange 1
Mind Indigo 1 Violet 1
Soul Violet 5 Ultraviolet 1
Assets Infrared 1
Respect Ultraviolet 6
System Architecture Infrared 3
That didn''t look right so he tried changing it to meet the format he wanted.
Personal Details
Name Rajesh Singh
Species Dungeon Core (Multiverse)
Class Locked
Attributes
Body Infrared 1 Red 1 Orange 1
Mind Infrared 1 Indigo 1 Violet 1
Soul Violet 5 Ultraviolet 1
Assets Infrared 1
Respect Ultraviolet 6
Core Skills
Read Trade Script Infrared 2
Programming Skills
System Architecture Infrared 4
User Interface Design Infrared 2
Much better, though Rajesh noticed new entries that represented actions taken between calling it up the first and second times. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Rajesh also wanted to add achievements and was hoping that would do something to unlock his class. If he had set that up right it would reflect skill combinations with a total of three at Yellow or better - so it would ignore Attributes. That reminded him that he needed to actually program that part of the system. Maybe he should use classic fantasy classes for basis. No, that didn''t seem right. Simple classes for each weapon category as was seen in other stories with blue boxes like the ones he was creating seemed better. He went back to the topic of Core Skills, really he should set them for speaking, reading, writing and arithmetic, maybe another to represent social norms. There was something there already but for some reason he had called a combined speaking and listening skill Vocabulary, he felt he should separate that out into its constitution parts - he ended up with a list of eight items as he also split off spelling and grammar into separate skills instead of just having a general writing one. There was just him and the system at the moment, he planned to change that with five sapient species or rather categories of species - demons such as imps and succubi, slimes, a category covering humans, elves and dwarfs, goblinoids such as hobgoblin, bugbears and orcs, and finally undead such as liches, ghouls and wights. Rajesh realised a flaw in his plan with his lack of experience summoning things, how was he going to create the intended solar system he wanted them to inhabit. He should practice with something simpler like a hydrogen atom. That would eventually lead to air. He began several weeks of dull but necessary practice over which he defined the concepts of air magic. By the end he had also designed a system update box which now read as follows:
Programming Skill: Skill Coding added and advanced to Red 2 Orange 1 New Skill Category Unlocked: Air Magic Air Magic Skill: Summon Hydrogen added and advanced to Yellow 3 Class unlocked: Hydrogen Summoner, as no other classes unlocked class changed to Hydrogen Summoner Air Magic Skill: Summon Helium added at Infrared 1 User Interface Design advanced to Red 3
Whilst this activity wasn''t getting the universe created, it was working towards it, over the next few months Rajesh continued to begin skills to summon raw elements as defined by the periodic table before switching to trying to create fundamental forces. He picked up chemistry and physics as skills before realising he was specialising and gaining spefic skills belonging to those categories. He made sure that the source code reflected his new understanding. Alchemy had historically been impossible but he realised he could turn lead into gold by adding electrons and it wouldn''t be as cost prohibitive as he remembered. Though he was beginning to question if these were his own memories or if the Rajesh he thought he had been prior to being a core had ever existed - he just couldn''t reconcile their personalities. By the time he had reached summoning oxygen, Rajesh had started to work towards molecules in preparation for making water. He also realised that there were currently no spatial dimensions and was trying to create them at least temporarily. Years later, he''d been trying to summon more exotic elements that went past what occurred naturally but was starting to get a way to make the most basic ones permanent. His class had upgraded to Element Summoner reflecting the wider diversity of substances he could conjure with a Skill of at least Yellow 3, including mercury the liquid metal. Long term he was hoping to upgrade to at least Inorganic Material Summoner representing the power to create a wide range of molecules. Plan going forward Having trouble separating out the various unrelated threads into there own stories so thought I''d update everyone with my current plan: Continue writing Chain of Cores, the origin story for Asvar as well as the system. Start writing The Glazier''s Wife, the story of Stella who is the mother of Wolfe. The story is likely to switch between her view, her son Wolfe and her husband Adam as required. The Harbour Dungeon will include an updated version of the story of Emma and Emily but be predominantly from the point of view of Sarah, the harbour master. A more detailed version of the story of the character previously known as The Reporter which will hopefully be a police procedural but will take on whatever genre is required to tell it properly, especially as I plan to explore the character of Carmen as a primary focus. May well involve the ice dungeon as before but probably in a different role. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The experience John Quill has as a member of the Adventurers Guild, likely to have more action scenes than the other which will probably result in lower initial quality. Each of these stories will get there own volume and be separated out if all goes according to plan. Ideally I''d complete Chain of Cores first then focus on each of the others in turn and they''d be stand alone tales in the same setting. In practice I''m writing them all simultaneously and trying to do so in roughly chronological order. No guarantees about which will be updated when but my current policy of publishing chapters only if complete remains - I''ve just changed the definition of what I consider complete. If all goes well expect a chapter from one of these stories on 11 June 2023. Chain of Cores Chapter 2 Rajesh was debating adding flaws to his system - he''d come up with three related concepts of the Pinochio who everyone would learn the tell of, the wolf crier who had a reputation for lying and the Cassandra who would be disbelived no matter what. He was wondering if there was a better way to do this when he realised it didn''t really align with his goals, if there were flaws then there were perks and he didn''t want those gifted to the populace whether they be player character or not, assuming he was right about the whole simulation thing though he''d seen no evidence of outside influences beyond himself. He was considering how he wanted to handle guilds of players if such a thing showed up, he felt the fairest way was to have it work the same no matter the status of the founder in that regard. He was also thinking about disincentivevising killing, his first idea was to punish the entire guild with no experience for a week but that would mean he''d need to implement a method to track that and it went against the design philosophy he had of only using reflections of demonstrated skills and classes purely reflecting the best combinations. Checking the back end of the system while he thought about these and other topics, he spotted that others had been awarded achievements but Rajesh was the only one here so who were Thomas and Riley? He returned to his gravity manipulation practice while he contemplated the bug. The name Riley seemed familiar, he''d recently read a book featuring a character called that, did it also have a Thomas? He tried summoning the text. Two separate series arrived - one was indeed narrated by Riley but the other was about someone who was born Thomas and now known by another name. Could it be the fictional characters in question? Cross-referencing the events in the story with the acts required to earn the achievements in question showed that yes, it was the respective protagonists. Next he looked at the criteria for divine manifestation, he was unsure whether at will or in command was better but the default seemed to be both these cases. He''d leave that alone for now and revisit if it became a problem. Rajesh had six concepts for dungeon themes but nowhere to plant dungeons yet, that required at least enough space to hold another core, so he just set them as the default options. His next priority was to create a star of some sort. He thought that could be achieved by simply gathering enough hydrogen in one place but again that required there to be places. He returned to his practice. Currently he was trying to summon hydrogen and helium at the same time as the next step towards creating air for an atmosphere. Rajesh was making progress, slow though it was, and several years later had reached not only that goal but several related ones and could now summon all four classical elements, though not in large enough quantities to make creating an entire universe by hand practical. It would get there eventually but for now he was contemplating what other materials he could diversify into. It was also not time to try for lifeforms yet but he was on the path that would lead to future cores. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Returning to the primary grind Rajesh found his skills for individual elements had already reached Uranium but there were more to go, at least two hundred which was sixty more than his memories of Earth suggested there should be, they were trying to reach number one hundred and twenty five last time he checked up on the experiments like the one at Berkley that discovered Calafornium. His skills now included multiple magic categories reflecting not only his mastery of elements but also of physical properties. The ones relating to creating a system were also improving and he had additional ones for maintaining it. Rajesh was just now realising he hadn''t really been at this for years from an outside perspective. Time didn''t exist yet and once it did he would get to define what it was. He was still planning to go with the classic hours, minutes and seconds, since that''s what his mind was used to but he didn''t have to if he didn''t want to. Rajesh was starting to wonder how he could be so forgetful to have not reflected his personal ethics and morals in the system. He checked on the process to show caste and lock it so that everyone got the same standardised results. It was a tenant of his old Sikh faith that all were equal in this regard but he''d abandoned the religion when he started to view himself as a god. Still he wanted to keep that aspect for his worshippers, so just having a priest caste instead of the more delineated roles that had been present in India back in the day was in line with how he wanted the new outlook to be. Rajesh found himself working on the components of atoms again, proton, neutrons, electrons, the six flavours of quarks and both nuclear forces something he needed to create with his magic. It should be possible to make these permanent enough to make the molecules needed for more advanced materials. Why was he spending years at a time grinding disparate tasks on autopilot. It would be better to focus on those needed for the immediate goal in turn. He still wasn''t sure how to create a big bang analogue or if it would do anything if he did. He needed to switch to working out how he could control time like the mythical Saturn. With that thought, it was at this point Rajesh made a mistake he would later come to regret. He tried peering into possible futures. It was vague, starting out as a Morris dancer fighting a giant ant before transforming into a ballerina against a bee, a disco dancer and a wasp, a harpist and a termite, always someone who might be a minstrel against a giant insect. After rotating through a number of these alternatives including combinations such as the same harpist against that wasp and the ballerina against the ant, it started repeating scenes finally settled on a flautist and a moth. Chain of Cores - Chapter 3 When he returned from his vision, Rajesh reviewed what he had been trying to accomplish. His goal had been to start time and space as subjects under his divine command. The visions of battling minstrels in no way furthered this. Did he have a way of introducing time temporarily now? He looked over where he was planning to implement space, something was coalescing there into another gemstone in the style of his core. It seemed the prophetic images were causing something to happen. It looked like it was going to be a sapphire - certainly a translucent blue gem, uncut but suspend on six metallic - possibly silver legs like an insect with silken wings. He expected it was the thing that would bring forth the giant insects. This seemed slightly off from his reading on the topic but those were all works of fiction and this was his reality despite his doubts about whether it was truly real. In the way Rajesh represented order, the thing in front of him represented air. This wasn''t why Rajesh should regret looking into the future, it was instead the second such being turning into a ruby carved in the shape of a phoenix that was fire. It gave off the scent of burning plastic but unfortunately Rajesh didn''t realise that this could have any significance. There was a third such gem, that screamed water the way the phoenix did fire. It was also blue but unlike the silver and sapphire insect, it was closer to the solid turquoise of an angry sea, almost shifting into green. It was the shape Rajesh associated with cut emeralds and may even have technically been one, he wasn''t too sure on the definition - he''d have to check and therefore raise his relevant skills. There were delicate ebony fins attached, trying to make it look like a flying fish but failing due to the nature of the black wood. Scales were appearing on its surface, each facet of the emerald covered in carvings of them. It was beginning to take on a scent that was best described as the flavour of salt water, even though normally that would only apply to people with Synesthesia. Finally there was a brown rock for earth, it seemed plain but if one looked closely they''d be barely able to make out golden claws on what was currently the bottom. It was made of what was most likely sandstone and had an odour of mouldering leaves. Rajesh disregarded his four new subordinates, leaving them to their own devices as he resumed his grinds. They in turn ignored both him and each other as they explored their new powers. The next time he was updating the system, Rajesh found himself sneaking in obscure references to various media he''d consumed, for example there was a party to hit buff called "the man at the back" in reference to the lyrics of a song that had been at least thirty years old when he started. Each of the four elemental cores began grinding powers, the sapphire found itself learning ways to manipulate electrical current, moving towards the iconic chained lightning bolt spell. The ruby was mastering pyromancy, the divination technique which gave its name to fire magic where it was starting into a flame to see possible pasts and futures but found that thermal manipulation techniques, making things hotter or colder, were also things she had a natural talent for - the female gender coming with the divination powers. The emerald was naturally tuning itself to liquids of all sorts, not just the implied water whilst the sandstone found itself mastering various ground movement such as walking, running and burrowing. Whilst all this was happening, three further gemstone cores were forming. An onyx that looked like it was carved in the shape of a foetus, ironically representing death, with powers also relating to undeath but primarily focusing on making sure that the animating magics were dispelled. An opal to represent life, with wings of a white, possibly birch wood, that looked like a sort of angel due to the knots in the wood which resembled eyes that found itself learning healing spells. A glass orb, swirling with colour, similar to the orb often used by fortune tellers, representing chaos, complete with iron stand, the power it started with was the ability to shape others, sometimes referred to as polymorphing. The ruby found a list of names in the back end of the system and chose to call herself Thalia. She was also exploring what other permissions she had. It looked like she could submit feature requests to Rajesh. There was nothing she particularly wanted at the moment. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The onyx was finding itself growing more morally aligned with what outside forces would call good, it was against mind control, reanimation of corpses and other non-consensual acts. It found itself starting to draft a list of laws it would like everything to obey and tried to commit those to paper but was not getting that done due to actually having a way to create a writing surface itself. It would now start looking into a way to correct that, possibly a clay tablet would be a good next goal. Rajesh found himself looking over the status of the eight gemstones, himself included, and wondering about it when taken as a group. They were collectively referred to as the Eight Lords of the Core Elements by his system, each had slots for names as well as titles based on their form, such as the Glass Lord of Chaos or the Ruby Lady of Fire. Some of the genders were still blank, though the one was now showing as the Sandstone Noble of Earth having actively rejected both the male and female genders. The onyx was now showing with the name Drath, that was three of them so far with more than just their titles. Each of the eight found themselves planning their own realities, connected through a central hub of some sort. They got back to the grind, hoping it would assist their individual plans. Rajesh found himself also planning out the central hub connection. He was wondering if each should be a separate plane but from what stray thoughts he was catching it felt like it would be better to make each itself universe with its own set of planes but a standard system overlaid on them all. Rajesh returned to reviewing his own status, which now looked like this:
Name Rajesh Singh
Species Dungeon Core (Multiverse)
Class Air Mage Earth Mage Programmer
Body Infrared 1 Red 1 Orange 1
Mind Infrared 1 Indigo 1 Violet 1
Soul Violet 5 Ultraviolet 1
Assets Infrared 1
Respect Ultraviolet 6
Read Trade Script Infrared 4 Red 2
System Architecture Infrared 4 Red 4 Orange 1
User Interface Design Infrared 3 Red 3
Skill Coding Red 2 Orange 2
Summon Hydrogen Green 4
Summon Helium Orange 3
Summon Lithium Yellow 3 Orange 1
Summon Beryllium Red 2 Yellow 3
Summon Boron Red 1 Yellow 3
Summon Carbon Red 4
Summon Nitrogen Red 2
Summon Oxygen Red 3 Orange 1
Summon Florine Infrared 1
Summon Neon Infrared 1 Red 2
Summon Sodium Red 2
Summon Magnesium Infrared 1
Summon Aluminium Infrared 1
Summon Silicon Orange 1
Summon Phosphorus Infrared 1
Summon Sulphur Infrared 1
Summon Chlorine Infrared 1
Summon Argon Infrared 1
He was now noticing that his skills were no longer broken down by category, he felt that was right - several skills belonged to multiple categories but he supposed individuals could separate them out themselves. The List actually continued all the way to Oganesson with the remainder of the full list of one hundred and eighteen named elements he''d seen on the chemistry website when he''d looked them up.